Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Unchanging Jesus

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THE UNCHANGING JESUS

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so (Heb. 13: 7-9).

“Oldies” love to speak of the “good old days”. Some of the old days were good. Children and young people could walk in the streets without fear. We did not have to lock ourselves in behind electric fences and security gates while criminals had free range of the streets. We were not plagued by or addicted to the big “Cs” – cell phones, computers, credit cards and cash loans! Living in debt was not the fashion as it is today.  We paid cash for what we bought and went without what we could not afford. We had less than we have to today but we were content.

Yes, we have the advantage of the technological age which makes life much easier – and much faster – in many ways. Yet it has brought with it all kinds of evil and many trends that are unstoppable – like an avalanche plunging down a mountain. Our youth are addicted to its trinkets; video games, cell phones, the social media, and television to the extent that they are losing the art of socialising face-to-face.

Everyone’s business is splashed across the internet so that they no longer have private lives. Information technology is the name of the game – some of it useful and much of it damaging and dangerous. Life is no longer about honesty, integrity, loyalty and faithfulness but about information, and how to use it to get the better of others; how to take advantage of others or get the best deal out of others. Unscrupulous people outdo themselves in outsmarting the unsuspecting public.

The one constant in a changing world is the unchanging Jesus. Our writer did not have to contend with all the temptations we are faced with today, but his generation certainly had its fair share of what hell had to offer. Jesus is unchanging and so are the standards of His word and the benefits of His salvation. The motto of those who belong to the world could be: “I want it and I want it now!” The motto of the people of God’s kingdom, on the other hand, must always be: “Jesus is Lord.”

How vital it is to be anchored to Him and planted on His Word! If there were “all kinds of strange teachings” circulating in the writer’s day without the written Bible, there are just as many today with the Word of God freely available to us. Peter spoke of ignorant and unstable people in his day who distorted the writings of Paul as they did the other Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3: 16).

Self-proclaimed apostles, prophets and teachers fabricate doctrines and garner a following of gullible people who have not taken the trouble to test what they preach and teach against the truth of God’s word. We ignore that responsibility to our own peril.

What is the antidote? Jesus is the constant to whom we must be secured. His word is the truth of who He is – not what we want it to say but what it does say – clear and simple. He has authorised leaders who, first of all imitate Him, and then who blaze the trail for others to follow. How do we know that they are trustworthy? Consider the outcome of their way. Scrutinise their fruit which cannot lie. Their fruit will reveal the root of their lives and their teaching.

How can we test the validity of teaching? Which motto are the teachers modelling – the world’s or the kingdom’s; self-gratification or self-sacrifice? It’s the heart that counts, not the flesh. There is no value in putting ceremonial food into the stomach but ignoring the condition of the heart. Grace is what God supplies to overcome the pull of the old evil nature with its ever-present demand for self-gratification.

All the rituals and ceremonies of their old way did nothing to change their hearts or alter their disposition towards selfishness. Death was the only solution – death to the old life through the death of Jesus and a resurrection to a new life that was powered by grace. All the doctrines and practices in the world that are good but do not change the heart and lead to submission and obedience to Jesus as Lord, are no more than hot air, filling the pages of thousands of books but making not one iota of difference to a single heart.

It all boils down to one thing – who or what rules your heart?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Sex And Money!

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SEX AND MONEY!

Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed be kept pure, for God will judge the adulterers and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’ (Heb. 13: 4-6).

Sex and money! Doesn’t the ungodly world revolve around sex and money? God has set the boundaries around which these two things are to be used for our blessing and benefit, and for His glory. When we stay within the boundaries, we enjoy God’s favour and blessing and both work for us as they should.

The problem is that human beings have said, “We don’t like your boundaries, God. They are too restrictive, so we’ll make our own rules.” However, our rules are – no rules. As far as sex and money are concerned, anything goes. The Hebrew concept of hell is a place with no boundaries. By casting off God’s restraints and refusing to believe that there are consequences until it’s too late, the human race has created its own hell on earth.

As bad as that is, what is worse is that the church, to a large extent, has followed suit. Church leaders, and prominent ones at that, rationalise sin away as though God’s standards are equal to “situation ethics” – whatever feels right to you is right. What passes for “love” is the excuse for every kind of sexual promiscuity and perversity. Homosexuality, for example, is condoned and excused because people of the same sex “love each other.” “Falling out of love” is a perfectly good reason for adultery and divorce, and pastors very often lead the way. As for fornication among the youth, well . . .

What passes for “God’s blessing” is a cover up for greed and even extortion within the church. How did we get to the place where we buy God’s miracles by being given the guarantee that, if we “sow into” so-and-so’s ministry, God will do what we want? The tragedy is that gullible, uninformed so-called “believers” swallow the bait and line the pockets of unscrupulous big-name preachers so that they can enjoy the hard-earned money of those they deceive. Guilt is the whip these “spiritual” leaders use to drive the people “in the name of the Lord.”

And what of what I call “charismatic shopping”! “For a gift of x amount or more (note the “or more” bit!), you can have this book, or CD, or DVD” or whatever is on offer. Have you ever! Imagine going into a shop and seeing the price of an article stated this way: “For a gift of . . . you can have this . . .” Isn’t is the same thing?

Satan, under the guise of promiscuous or perverted sex and greed, has staked his claim to be Lord, and laughs at those who follow him. He knows very well where he is leading them. He gets them exactly where he wants them, enslaved to sin and in line for God’s judgment. He knows he is heading for the lake of fire and he is determined to take as many with him as he can. He dangles the carrot of pleasure and gratification in front of the unsuspecting until they are hooked and then he laughs in their faces.

What should our attitude be to these two most powerful forces in the world – sex and money? God has set His boundaries – and our response should be to obey. The surprising thing is that, when we do, we enjoy more pleasure and gratification than all the pleasure people seek who do it by bending the rules. God is smart. He knows why we were made, how we were made and what works for us. He ought to, since He is our Creator, with apologies to the “big bang” people.

His rules are simple. Rule number one: You can have all the sex you want, within the boundaries of monogamous marriage and a faithful and loyal relationship. Rule number two: You can have all the money you want as long as you work for it and use it to serve you, your family and those who are in need. Money is a good servant but a bad master.

Within these boundaries you will live in and promote peace in your family and wherever you can be of help to others. Unity in marriage is a reflection of the oneness within the godhead.  Generosity with your money and possessions is a reflection of the generosity of our God who gave His only Son to save us from perishing in our sin. Our best and only response to love like that is to do what He tells us because He knows that it works.

A wise person, according to the Scriptures, is one who does what works. A fool is one who knows that what he does, does not work but he does it anyway. He does the same thing over and over again but expects a different outcome. How dumb is that! For us as human beings made in the image of God, there is only one thing that works – obedience to God’s instructions.

So why buck the system? You will not hurt God but you will certainly hurt yourself.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

The Gospel Makes the Difference

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THE GOSPEL MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (Heb. 13:1-3).

As Jewish people, these readers were required to be kind to strangers. They were to treat the foreigners among them with generosity because they had been aliens many times in the course of their history. Abraham was an alien in the land of Canaan; Jacob and his family were aliens in Egypt; the Israelites were foreigners in Babylon. They, in turn had opportunity to show kindness to those who were not of them because it was the right thing to do.

God even made provision for foreigners within their economic system. After every harvest, they were to give the firstfuits to God, and bring a tithe of the remainder to the temple where it was stored and distributed to the priests and Levites to support them and their families. They also set aside another tenth to celebrate God’s goodness with their families. Every third year they brought their “family” tithe to the temple to be given the poor, the widow, the orphan and the alien because these people had no inheritance of their own and no one to support them.

In all their dealings with people – family, fellow Israelites or foreigners – they were required to treat people with mercy and compassion. This was Jesus’s issue with the Pharisees and religious leaders. They were such sticklers for the law as they interpreted it, that they ignored the spirit of the law which was mercy. This was the difference between Jesus’s interpretation of Torah and the rest of the rabbis whom they followed.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter without neglecting the former (Matt.23: 23).

The writer reminded his readers that taking care of strangers had a hidden blessing. They never knew if and when they had actually been generous to an angel.

Abraham had the unique opportunity of being host to God Himself. Three men came to his tent and he welcomed them and prepared a sumptuous meal for them, not knowing that one of them was God visiting him in human form, and that the other two were angels. What if Abraham had sent them on their way without showing kindness to them?

The angel of the Lord had a message for him that he had been longing to hear for twenty five years.

“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Gen. 18: 10).

God had promised the childless couple a son. God had promised Abraham offspring as numerous as the sand on the sea shore and the stars in the sky, but it did not happen. Was God having him on? Abraham had begged God for a son but twenty five years went by and no baby boy arrived. In any case the elderly couple was way beyond having kids. They knew the drill!

But God came when all hope was gone – a stranger materialising out of the summer heat to announce that it was time. What if Abraham has missed the cue?

“Suffer with those who suffer,” was the next instruction. Why? We should be grateful that we don’t have to face what some of our fellow believers are facing at the hands of religious barbarians who think they are pleasing their god by being murders. What kind of a god is that? But that is not enough. Our writers says, “Don’t forget them. Identify with them.” We can’t physically be with them and suffer alongside them but we can pour our energies into praying for them. What will that do?

Aside from God supplying grace to them in their time of need, being aware of their suffering will not only soften our hearts towards those in need, but also towards their persecutors. Have you thought about that? Are we to hate them? No! Jesus did not hate those who crucified Him. He prayed for them. They were in line for God’s judgment. Jesus said that we are not to fear those who can only kill our bodies. We are to fear God who has the power to throw both bodies and souls into hell.

When we think of the terrible consequences of their actions, our hearts should go out to God in prayer for His mercy to be revealed to them. “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.

It’s the power of the gospel that transforms us from revenge to forgiveness and from hatred to compassion.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Once More

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ONCE MORE

See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven? At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words, “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably, for “our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12: 25-29).

Serious stuff! When God shook the earth at Mount Sinai, the people trembled with fear and begged Moses to speak for God because they could not bear to hear His voice. They were so afraid of the manifestation of God’s presence that they were not prepared to hear what He had to say and much less to obey.

What is the warning God issued then and continues to issue today? What does the Lord require of us that is so important that we will perish if we turn away? It’s the simple matter of obedience. God prizes the obedient response of His people above everything else.

Abraham was called the “friend of God”. Why?

Then the Lord said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised.’ (Gen. 18: 17-19).

Likewise David, who was the only person in the Bible whom God called “a man after my own heart,” received that honour for one reason:

After removing Saul, He made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13: 22).

Why did God remove Saul? The prophet Samuel had the unpleasant task of conveying God’s displeasure to King Saul because he failed to obey on two occasions. Saul disqualified himself from being king because of his disobedience.

“Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord? . . . Does the Lord delight is burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:19; 22).

Obedience is the hallmark of a true son. Jesus was the epitome of a son, submissive and obedient to the Father, even to the point of laying down His life because it was the Father’s will. He was the mirror image of the Father because He said what the Father said and did what the Father did.

God’s presence shook the earth when He descended on Mount Sinai to given His people His instructions for living life His way. In spite of His intervention, destroying the gods of Egypt and setting them free from their slave-drivers, they failed to obey time and again. He shook them out of their land into Assyria and Babylon, lands of slavery all over again. That was bad enough because of their disobedience.

A time is coming, says the writer, when another shaking will happen, but this time it will not be just one mountain but the heavens and the earth. Everything will be shaken like flour being passed through a sieve. Only that which has eternal value will remain. What about all the earthly things which we work for and treasure above the eternal kingdom which cannot be shaken?

God shook the earth with a global flood which destroyed everything by one family. He shook the mountain to reveal His power and majesty, and that His word is not to be ignored. He will finally shake everything and everyone and only that which is unshakeable will remain.

God often shakes our lives by allowing us to experience things over which we have no control. This is not judgment but mercy because He wants us to deal with the things that take our attention from Him before the final shaking after which there will be no time to put things right. There is only one way to show that we take Him seriously – by doing what He says. He has instructed us to walk in His ways where there is safety and protection. Every other way leads to death.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

What Changed Everything?

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WHAT CHANGED EVERYTHING?

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’ (Heb. 12: 18-21).

Why did God reveal Himself to His people in such a terrifying way? Could He not have tempered His appearance to them and made it a little less majestic and frightening?

We must remember that this is the same person who met Moses at the burning bush; the one who called Himself “I AM”. He was the same one who, when He was here in the flesh, said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The pre-incarnate Jesus revealed Himself to people time and again before He came to earth as a man. He often appeared as “the angel of the Lord” and spoke as God. This was the majesty and glory of the one who was to become the Son of God, a humble servant who came as a man.

The people of God had lived under the shadow of the Egyptians who worshipped the heavenly bodies and multiple other gods which were represented by idols. How was God going to impress upon them who He was so that they would take Him seriously and obey the word that He spoke to them through Moses?

His appearance on top of the mountain in blazing fire and smoke so dense that it shrouded the mountain top with darkness and gloom, and the terrifying noise of the accompanying trumpet and the sound of His voice, was something they ought never to have forgotten. It should have been a reminder to them and to their children, that their God was not one to be trifled with. He was holy and untouchable, unlike the Egyptian gods who were just like them.

This spectacle should have been indelibly imprinted on their hearts. They should have   taught it to their descendants, that the God who visited them in the desert, and who came to dwell among them in the tabernacle, was real. He required them to obey Him because the consequences of disobedience would be in keeping with who He was.

Why are we no longer terrified of this God? Has He changed? Has He relented and down-scaled His glory? What changed everything? Where is the unapproachable, untouchable God? Where is the God who demanded the death of an animal who strayed too near the mountain? Where is the God who demanded blood for every infringement of His holy standards?

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, who names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Heb, 12: 22-24).

God has not changed, but He put in place, through Jesus, the plan He set up before the creation of the world, that would change the hearts of people. His appearance at Mount Sinai as the unapproachable God was the stark reality of the monstrous barrier of sin that separated people from Him. No amount of animal blood could remove that barrier. It could only remind them of the sin that stood between them and God as an insurmountable barrier.

The picture is different now – not terror but celebration; not fire and smoke and gloom and darkness and trembling and weeping and pleading with Moses to stop, but a huge party attended by angels and people of all races, languages and cultures. No longer Mount Sinai, but Mount Zion – the place where God has established His name forever. No longer a God who was hidden behind an impenetrable curtain but Emmanuel, God with us. No longer fear, but perfect love. No more guilt and shame but laughter and joy and worship and thanksgiving.

God has not changed. We have because He changed us. Abel’s blood cried for revenge. The blood of Jesus speaks mercy. Hallelujah!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

 

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com