Happy New Year
To all of you who have been reading my posts this year, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The pleasure has been all mine. God’s Word is so rich and deep! My prayer is that God will make His Word alive to you. That He will reveal things to you in scripture that you never saw before. That the words you read will reveal His gospel to you in every passage simply because it is there! I pray He will put a hunger in your spirit for more of Him. That you will not just remember the joy of your salavation, but that you will find joy in Him in the midst of suffering and pain, knowing He is with you.
I pray for the greatest year of spiritual growth in your life and mine in 2010. We should look forward to what God has for us in 2010! it’s going to be exciting!
God Bless You,
Kevin
Derailed
Just got through reading “Derailed” by Tim Irwin. If you are in any type leadership role, whether corporate or in you should take some time and read it.
I liked the CEO examples that were used to illustrate Mr. Irwin’s points. Character is a huge in leadership. You can be brilliant, but without character, you will derail your career, ministry, and possibly your life.
Tim shares some things we all need to be aware of as leaders that can help keep you from derailing. I don’t want to give away the book, but the points are nicely broken down to bring things down to a more human level.
The only down-side is that he used all corporate CEOs for examples. Would have been cool to get a couple of Christian examples of a derailing leader, but still a decent book.
Kevin
Here is Some Perspective for the Holidays
This video moved me greatly. In times when people are worried about presents and things, there are folks who are simply praying for their daily bread. There’s some perspective we all need at this time of year.
Thanks Carlos,
Kevin
Jonah (Part III)
In the last couple of posts we have broken down verse 1 and 2 of Jonah 1. We have been peeling back the layers of a book of the bible that on the surface looks pretty cut and dry on the surface in the message it’s getting across. What is actually being revealed is a much more powerful, multi-faceted, message. We can see a story of God’s love for His, the story of God’s call of reconciliation to those far away from Him, and the church’s role in the process. Let’s get to work shall we?
Jonah 1
1)Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2)“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3)But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
This is exactly how Adam and Eve reacted once they had sinned. They hid themselves from the Lord’s prescense. There was a breaking of fellowship with God. Our disobedience and sin once created a chasm between us and God. Jesus Christ came and bridged the chasm between God and man, and brought us back into right fellowship with Him. When we become aware of what He has done for us and refuse to respond, in many cases a time of breaking and subjection is soon to follow.
One of the things that really stands out in this verse as I studied it was the root meaning of “Tarshish”. It means “breaking or “subjection” (Gesenius’s Lexicon) Our sinful nature is constantly self-serving, self-centered, and self-motivated. Thanks to Jesus Christ, He has given us a new life, a new nature, new freedom. Where you were once self-serving you are now called by Christ to love others. Where you were centered around your own wants and needs, you are now seeking after the kingdom of God and those things that will glorify God and further His kingdom. This change happens in our spirit right away when we are regenerated and born again, however the change in our outward actions sometimes take some time and take some painful lessons to learn. Jonah had to go through a process of being broken and brought into submission to His will before he finally obeyed God.
As we grow as Christ-Followers, God shows us things in our lives that He wants us to submit to His Lordship. Sometimes these things are not so hard to lay down. Sometimes we refuse to lay those things down. We must be broken of those things. We must be disciplined. We must be brought into subjection to His will.
Some of the hardest people for God to reveal Himself to is religious people. God wants to reveal Himself but due to jacked up mindsets and putting God in a box, they have the hardest time accepting God when He doesn’t fit their mold. That mold must be broken so you can be free to receive everything God has for you and wants you to be. God wanted to reveal Himself to Jonah, but Jonah ran. What he didn’t know, is that he was running straight into subjection and breaking!
God help us to hear Your voice and give us the grace to obey You, even when we don’t quite understand what You are doing. Help us to know that no matter what, that You are working all things for our good.
Kevin
Jonah (continued)
A post or two ago, we started to study the book of Jonah. Let’s dig in some more shall we?
Jonah 1
2)”Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
It’s interesting that the sin of Nineveh was never revealed. As a matter of fact, the focus is not really on Nineveh as much as it is about Jonah. When we teach this scripture we should be aware that God was doing more than just saying to Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry out against the city, God was trying to reveal His character to a people (Israel) who knew the Law but didn’t understand the heart of the God whose Laws they were following.
It is no wonder that Jonah ran. Here is God telling Jonah, and Israelite, to go to the country of an enemy and call these people to repent of their wickedness. I can hear Jonah saying this to himself ”Why in the world would I do that? I am doing my nation a favor by not going!”. This is because Jonah didn’t understand the character of God. He was blind to see the God who shows mercy. He knew only the Law of Moses. He knew only judgement, so rather than “take the plunge” he ran, but God was not finished with him.
When Jesus came on the scene, the Pharisees with all their knowledge, didn’t know who Jesus was, just like Jonah. He came showing mercy and compassion. The Pharisees expected a great and mighty conquerer to come and bring judgement and destruction to Israel’s enemies. Jesus taught to love your enemies and do good to those who do evil unto you. Even though they had the very fulfillment of the scriptures they studied, standing in front of them, they were too blind to see who Jesus was. Just like Jonah.
On a practical note, God wants to reveal Himself to you in ways you have never seen Him. We have seen Him through a glass dimly. We have seen Him through the glasses of false religion and self righteousness. We have seen Him as a means to an end when we need something. We have seen Him as the “the big man upstairs”. We have seen Him in so many ways that are just not Jesus, but God is strongly desiring to reveal Himself to you and in you! He wants to shatter the mindsets of religion and self righteousness you have walked in for so long. He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven and you are free from its curse. He wants you to know that He loves you and wants to have relationship with you, not because you are good, but because HE is good!
Reveal Yourself to us oh God! Remove the scales from our eyes that we may see You as You truly are! Open our eyes so we can see, our ears that we may hear You, and soften our hearts that we may respond to You!
More to come….
Kevin
I Pray I May Have This Kind of Courage…
Here is a post from Matt Chandler right before his surgery today. Praying for you and your family brother.
What You Need
I was praying in my car on the way to work this morning, and I was asking God to help me with some things that I felt like I need help with. He began to speak to me and led me to Acts 3:
Acts 3
1)Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2)And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4)And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5)And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6)But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8)And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9)And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10)and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The beggar asked for what he felt like he needed. God gave him what he truly needed. There could be a countless amount of reasons that God decided to heal him at that moment but God gave him what he needed; the ability to walk. Why at this point? That’s something we can all ask Him one day.
After I pondered this story, He said: “My grace is sufficient. My mercies are new every morning. I will give you what you need when you need it.”
I think that sometimes if we get what we need too soon, it can easily turn to pride.
I look back on how many times I have asked God to back me up on what I thought was what I was supposed to do. I have fallen on my face so many times and I blamed God and would say “I thought you told me to do this! Why are you doing this to me?!” He was giving me what I needed. I needed to fall on my face. I needed to humbled. I needed to realize that God truly gives us what we need, when we need it, and how we need it. We must accept Him as our Lord and not just our Savior and truly put our trust in Him that no matter what, He provides everything we truly need.
Trust Him today. His grace is sufficient. He makes all things work together for your good.
Kevin
Jonah
I am studying the book of Jonah right now. I wasn’t sure what I would learn in a book that is centered around a guy who disobeyed God, got swallowed by a fish, and got spit out on the beach, and then decided to obey Him. What I have found is a book that is extremely relevant to our lives, both individually and as the body of Christ. A story that reflects Jesus Christ’s plan to save us through types and shadows. A story of the Great Commission.
Let’s dig in shall we?
Jonah 1:1
1Now the word of the LORD came to(A) Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
You may ask “why did you stop there?” God’s Word must be meditated on verse by verse. Line by line. We will probably look at multiple scriptures later, but let’s not miss what is happening here.
”the word of the Lord came to Jonah” This is powerful. The phrase “and the word of the Lord came” is used 109 times in the Bible!
Let’s break this down further, “the word of the Lord”. Let’s look at John Chapter 1:
1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2)He was in the beginning with God. 3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Skipping down a little:
14)And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus was the Word, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Jesus, who was the Word, came to Jonah! That’s powerful! The next word that comes after that phrase is even more exciting!
“came” this word comes from a Hebrew word “hayah”: to become, come to pass. It also means to abide, remain, continue.
Let me unpack this cause I don’t want you to miss this! The word of the Lord, who is Christ, came to Jonah, not only to speak to Jonah but to abide and remain with Jonah! This is a shadow of what Christ does in our lives! He chooses us, His Word (Jesus) comes and abides in our hearts, where He remains forever with us!
Within the very first scripture of this book, the Lord has already revealed his plan of salvation!! How deeply rich His Word is! How great is His love is for us! He sent His Word to us, Jesus Christ, who came and died and rose again, and sent us His Spirit that we may continually have relationship and abide with Him!
It’s amazing how much we miss when we pass over a simple scripture isn’t it?
More to come, thank you for reading.
Kevin
