The Transfirguration - It Ain't Over Till It's Over

"were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." Luke 9:31 Only Luke gives us insight into what Moses and Elijah were talking about. His departure would be the cross and its seeming defeat. The cross and its seeming failure. The cross and the appearance of unfinished business. A Messiah who did not bring peace, elevate Israel, and reign as a King from Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah are perfect for this job. Moses who had the unfinished business of not being allowed to enter the promised land. Elijah who was taken to heaven at a time when Ahab and Jezebel were still ruling and reigning and when some things that he was supposed to see accomplished were undone and left for Elisha to perform. So there is hope when we do not see the results we had hoped for. There is hope when this life goes not at all go as planned. There is hope when a cross appears and looms so large you cannot see beyond it. Life triumphs. His Life is eternal. Mercy triumphs over judgment. There is hope.

TRUST defined

Trust

 Rest 

Until 

Supernatural help comes 

 Trust

In Love With a Girl

The book of Ruth is a deep well that you can return to again and again for a fresh drink. This gentile woman who loved her Jewish mother-in-law so deeply that she left, home and kindred and went to a place she new not of, just like Abraham was called to do. This convert, who desired the God of Israel above all else. This humble servant, who never attempted deception or manipulation. This (former) Moabite, who did not try to convert Israelites to the Baal god or false worship, no not this girl, she erased the memory of all such deception with the simple words, "I am Ruth, spread your wings over me to cover me." She followed Naomi even though she was offered no way of having offspring or getting married. She just loved. She just served. Simple acts, that preserved the line of King David and the Messiah.

Tower Builders vs. God Worshippers

In Genesis 11 we see people who are out to build a tower to make a name for themselves.  The unity that they had would have caused them to be able to do so many things and to never call on the name of God.  So God in mercy destroys that unity and sets out to choose one family and call them to a life of worshiping Him and making His name great and being a blessing to the nations.

It turns out this is a process.  Abram's first interaction with Pharoah, is not much of a blessing to the nations, but God redeems it all and fixes it.  Abram's next interaction with Abimilech is a little improvement and God refers to him as a prophet, but only the intervention of God saves the day.  Abram is beginning to the know the God he serves, beginning to trust the God he serves.  Their relationship is building and growing.  It seems the way to worship God and make His name great is to love your brother and lay down your life for your brother.

The Fourth and Final Part

Our final part tied it all together.  We looked at Moses interceding for the children of Israel, willing. to have his own name blotted out of God's book to see them saved.  We looked at Paul being willing for his name to be removed from the book of life for his brothers.  When you see other people as your beloved brothers you are willing to love sacrificially for them. 
That kind of love will be shown to the chosen people when they are being hunted down by the forces of the anti-christ.  The followers of the Lamb that was slain will willingly put themselves at risk to hide Jews and preserve the lives of those targeted for death and destruction. 
But there is a need for something even greater than what was shown by the tenBoom family during the Nazi time because technology has increased astronomically since then.  The powers that be will have at their disposal infrared technology that will allow them to view how many bodies are in the house from the road outside of the house.  Currently electric power and water are able to be tracked in such a way as to tell how much is being used, and when it is being used.  God knew all this and He gave the body gifts supernatural abilities wisdom, prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. for the purpose of building up the body for the common good.  Sadly in times where there is no persecution these gifts have been used in a "look at me" kind of a way that cheapens them.  During the times of the persecution of the end times.  Love will be working through these gifts to supernaturally protect the people of God.  Many will still fall, but we cannot be killed, really.  Like the Lamb that we follow, there is a real victory even in our death. 
So the call for Messiah's community right now is to be preparing a body that as a community loves sacrificially and begins moving in the giftings in love with the essential idea being building up the community to be ready for times of extreme adversity.

Intercede or Die

It turns out "To Be Chosen" was part 1, "Wilderness" was part 2 and this is part 3.  We looked at Joel 2:12-17 and we saw that God is calling His people to intercede.  All of his people are to gather, to fast, to realize the sober seriousness of the times and cry out for mercy.  We looked at Amos 7:1-6 and we saw Amos being given a vision of the wrath of God being poured out and crying out to God for mercy.  We read in Romans that only a remnant will be saved among the sons of Israel.  Ezekiel 5:2 and 5:12 seem to indicate 1/3 of the people, so we lined up 6 people and saw that this would mean 4 of those 6 would die in the tribulation the great one.  Amos 5:3 and Ezekiel 20:37 combined with Leviticus 27:32 seem to indicate that those in the direct line of fire from the anti-christ, those not hidden or helped would see 9 out of 10 die. 
So the call is to intercede, the call is to prepare to love and preserve life, the call is to wake up and stop thinking the gospel is just about us, a friend recently said, it is never about us, and by that I think he meant, when we are born again and become a child of the most high King, all that is "us" is taken care of, then we, as recipients of so great a love, give it away, give it away now!

Wilderness - Let's Talk

This week we looked at wilderness in the Bible. 
We saw that it is definitely a place where God calls us out to be in a place with Him where there are no distractions.  This is just a face to face meeting with Him. 
There is a purpose in the wilderness for your life but also way beyond your life.  Just like every widower can talk with more compassion and comfort to another widower - God has a purpose in our wilderness to prepare us to talk of His faithfulness to the next people going through that wilderness.  Our words will cause hope and healing to spring up in their lives, because we will be speaking from a place of having gone through that same space.  Therefore, judgment begins at the household of God, we have our meeting with God where everything that can be shaken will be shaken and then we are ready to be released as wounded healers, people with the same limp Jacob had.  The wilderness reminds us we do not worship a God we can control.