End of the year thoughts.


Willing, loving, joyful subservience and moment by moment dependence, the life of a follower of the Messiah!  A servant, who is totally dependent, so you see the beauty of receiving God's mercy?
Do you see the beauty of this life that is designed to destroy pride and elevate humility?

What wisdom!


Gentleness, tenderness two qualities we need more of.  Fruit of the Spirit available to whosover will. 


"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"   1 Peter 2:9  
"Holy race" ... singular... we are grafted into the one, already existing vine.


Exodus 19:5,6  "Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations--for the whole earth is Mine.
And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites."


Deut. 7:6   "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession, above all peoples on the face of the earth."


So instead of trying to create a new thing called "church" why not enjoy and rejoice in your inclusion by grace through faith into an already existing, chosen, holy, race?


Taking Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" in the tiny little bites that it deserves.  It is a very deep, very practical book.

One Family, One Father, Through the Life of Our Brother, By the Power of the Spirit

Complete Jewish Bible, Tree of Life Version, The Messianic Writings by Daniel Gruber.

Those are 3 translations that you could read that would make clear the simple beauty of Ephesians chapter 1,2 and 3.  Our foundation is so important, and the Apostle Paul, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin who still kept the law, and yet was willing to wrestle with Jacob (James) in Acts chapter 15 about how little was expected of gentiles who were being added to the Body of Messiah, that Apostle Paul, not some strange animal that was out to establish something new called the church, if that was his goal, why go back to Jerusalem, why consult with Jacob (James) and Peter at all?.  Abraham is our Father, there is One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.  The prophets from age to age have been speaking of this one body of the Messiah, the chosen people. The beauty is for the gentile who drops their pride and bows to enter into the tent of Shem, they become a part of the body of Messiah.  This understanding that there is no such thing as "church" because we gentiles are simply being caught up into the continuing work of God, Messiah's community, the Body of the Messiah, something that has been, is and will be.  There is no need for a new expression, just a proper understanding of the true calling and election, and the humility to agree with God that He has a right as Creator to select a chosen people and bless the nations through them.  Humility is the key to receiving that blessing.  "Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the Master's table."  BAM, woman you are in with the full blessing, healing and salvation of the family.  Welcome Home!
That is how gentiles get into the family, by humility.
Don't you see that the use of the words "Christ" and 'church' have been instituted by satan himself to twist and distort what should be clear and plain.  "Christ" would have made no impression on the mind of the Jew who made up the majority of Messiah's community in Acts.  Messiah connects the whole story together and shows the amazing continuing determination of God.
"Church" distorts and tries to introduce as new, something that is simply a wonderful opening up of something that is from ages past and will go on into ages to come, the Body of the Messiah, Messiah's community. 
To the faithful few who have made it this far.  Simply read Eph. chapters 1-3 in one of the translations above and see the beauty of being welcomed into the One family of God, the God of Israel, through the blood of the Messiah!

Only His Life is Good Enough

Oh I only had a moment of anger,
Oh I only grumbled a little bit,
I had to let off some steam,
I'm only human,

The fullness of God is available to us.
His Life can come and live through us.
We can be a new creation, that falls on the
Stone every moment.

Only His Life is Good Enough
My best is not good enough, in fact it is
filthy menstrual rags.  (Very vivid picture,
thank you Isaiah for not being afraid to
tell it like it is!)

Drop all the excuses, every one of them,
and violently press into death to self, pick
up your cross and follow the crucified Lamb,
who never spoke one word that was His own,
everything flowed from the Father, through
His submitted Life.

Jesus, Yeshua Himself, is the example of
what God can do through a man.  And His
life by grace through faith can do that same
thing through the corporate body, each of us
gathered in humility with His life at the center,
the focus, the nexus, the beginning and the end
of all we do.

Baptism Is A Very Real Death and Resurrection

Galatians 3:27  " For all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah."

It is  not possible to get the idea that baptism is just symbolic from the scriptures.

That idea came from satan.

He is the only one who benefits from a down grading of a true and deep reality, a dying and a rising again to new life.  He is the only one who benefits by making it some sort of an optional symbolic add on.

If the gospel is truly preached the response will be, "There is water, what prevents me from being baptized?"

Why not?

Imagine that you desperately wanted to learn how to play the piano. How cool would it be if all of the ability and life of the greatest piano player ever was put inside of you? Imagine your gratitude, your joy at being enabled to flow in the gifting you had previously tried so hard to achieve! Now you know why it is called good tidings of great joy!!!

 John 4:14 "The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”

The blessing of His life full and free living in us and flowing through us.  

Jesus said I would be "gushing fountains of endless life", now I need to ask Him and to wait for His response to this question.

Why am I not?

Kierkegaard Quote

"I therefore have decided to read only the writings of men who have been executed or have risked their lives in some way"

Kierkegaard

Mercy Lord!

Amos 7:1 "The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts at the time the spring crop first began to sprout—after the cutting of the king’s hay. ² When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord God, please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”
³ The Lord relented concerning this. “It will not happen,” he said.

Second Vision: Fire

⁴ The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I said, “Lord God, please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”

⁶ The Lord relented concerning this. “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God."


Amos gives us a beautiful model for praying for those we love. 
We simply recognize to Him that we are throwing ourselves totally on His mercy.  Oh Lord, they are so small, please forgive and show mercy!

Eternal Hell, no!

Amos 1:11  "Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Edom [the descendants of Esau] and for four (multiplied delinquencies) I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it, Because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword, Corrupting and stifling his compassions and casting off all mercy; His destructive anger raged continually, And he maintained [and nurtured] his wrath forever."

 

God has a problem with Edom and the problem he has with them is they are acting in a way that sounds like eternal hell.  The Lord sees that as excessive and a transgression, so why would He act in this way, He wouldn't... good answer!

^{1 John 5:11} "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
¹² He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
¹³ These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."


Who has eternal life?  No one, unless it is given from God, who is the only one who has it.  Only if you have the Son do you have this life.  So unbelievers do not have eternal life.  They will be punished as long as God sees fit and then they will perish period.  End of Story.  No eternal punishment for humans, because humans who do not have the Son do not have eternal life.

I hope this clears things up.

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

Luke 9:51  "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”^e 55But he turned and rebuked them.^f 56And they went on to another village.

57As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58And 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.” 59To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60And Jesus^g said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

For the first time today I realized that the "Let the dead bury their own dead" quote from Jesus came after Luke 9:51, which states the time for Jesus to go to Jerusalem and be betrayed and killed was drawing near, they were actually headed for Jerusalem when the encounter happens, so there was no time to wait around.  It wasn't in any way mean or insensitive, there was just very plainly a lack of time, and when He called, He could not accept an answer that delayed things.  Passover was His appointment and He knew it.

Bind Me, Seal Me, Keep Me

Lord I see Your wonderful promises, that I can live in an expectation of righteousness.  I can live not thinking, "I will surely sin today.", but instead "Thank You Daddy, that through the life of Your Son, I can walk in the Spirit today and be Your vessel."


It is possible, I know it, I believe it.


But then...life happens and I let down the One I love.


So I join with the bride and the psalmist and I cry out to be bound with cords to the sacrificial altar, I cry out to be set as a seal on His heart and His arm, carried by Him, kept by Him.  His faithfulness that cannot fail.  His love that cannot fail.


Thank You Lord, I am ever in need of Your mercy, and You ever delight to show Your mercy to me.


"Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame."  Song of Songs 8:6


"The LORD is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar."  Psalm 118:27

The Bridal Chamber Before the Banqueting House

There is only one solution to the "love of many growing cold because of lawlessness" time spent in the Bridal Chamber.

"He knew full well the cause of all her fears, her distrust sprang from her ignorance of Himself so He took her aside and in the sweet intimacies of mutual love her fears and distrust vanished like the mist of the morning before the rising of the sun." Union and Communion J. Hudson Taylor

The Messiah Was Amazed

Luke 7:6-10 "He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well."

 

The Messiah of Israel is amazed at the faith of a gentile.  A gentile who does not consider himself worthy of the time or attention of the Messiah.  A gentile who knows how authority works and who recognizes the authority of the Messiah to heal and forgive. 

I'm a gentile, my friend has one shoulder that has many tears in it and needs surgery, Jesus You have authority my friend needs the power of Your authority to heal, You have even given me that authority and I do love him, so, "Shoulder be healed in Jesus' Name."

ONE

One LORD, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all.
One Teacher, (call no man on earth your teacher)
One Father, (call no man on earth your father)

Don't sell your birth right to manifest the love and power of God for a bowl of soup, that is ultimate foolishness.

Thoughts from some moments with the King and His Kingdom.  

What's the Point?

The point of life, the point of having life, the point of being a person, is to glorify the One who made us.


By pouring out our lives, we can live in a place of manifesting the love of God to our fellow humans.


His life in me is my reality.


The cross cries out to our hearts, "I forgive you, I love you."  That is the rock on which we stand.

Jesus said He Is God

Matthew 23:34-38  "
³⁴ “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. ³⁸ Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”


The Lord is sending prophets, The Lord is wanting to gather Jerusalem and the nation under His wings.  The Lord is declaring the current leadership of the Jewish people to be left desolate.  The Lord is saying when the "until" for the full restoration of the promises to the Jewish nation will be.


The Lord is Yeshua, Jesus, as He makes clear in this section.


(A lot of scholars, say He only makes "God" statements in the Gospel of John which was written much later, but I think I am reading this correctly in Matthew and He is declaring right here that He is God.)

Mercy...end of story!

The amazing enthralling mercy of God wanted to gather all humanity into His love.  That crashed and burned on the flesh of man. So, next step, choose one people out of all humanity and reveal Yourself to them and pour out Your mercy.  That people eventually sees that in order for them to ever be right they will need Salvation in the form of a human, a Messiah.  The Messiah comes and only a small portion of the chosen people receive mercy and have the blindness of the veil of pride removed.  This remnant goes and faithfully proclaims mercy to the gentles.  The ultimate result of the gentiles receiving this mercy is to lead the chosen people to jealousy, and so one day that nation will be born in a day.  That chosen people, that bride will be united with their Husband on the very spot of their betrothal, a living example of the Faithful and True God.  At that glorious time they will for 1000 years fulfill their call to go to all the nations and preach the gospel.  Amen

Hosea 1:10   Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Faithful and True

Revelation 19:11 "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True."


^{The rider is the Messiah of Israel, He is Faithful and True and so "all Israel will be saved".
We have completely blown it, if the goal has become, "to get to heaven".
The Messiah with His love, compassion and power is supposed to be living in us, and His appearance in us is to be a precursor for the on-going work of God, of driving the chosen people to jealousy.
Merciful Father, bring us in to the unity, the oneness with Your Son.}

Call No Man on Earth Your Father

"But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.
Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven.
And do not be called masters either, because you have one Master, the Messiah. "
Matthew 23:8-10


Ultimately who did we come forth from?


Ultimately who is our source of wisdom?


Ultimately who is our Master?


The trinity shows up here as our answer and Jesus is solving
a very big problem here.


People were taking titles and feeling exalted because of them.
People were doing that "Animal Farm" (by George Orwell) thing where
they start out as brothers, but then become more important brothers, higher,
with more status.


Jesus observed that and had a solution that has so many benefits for us
it is almost unbelievable.


God is your Father, ultimately.  So if you find your true identity as a son or daughter all your 'father issues' are healed, and you are living as chosen, holy and beloved.


The Holy Spirit is your Teacher, recalling to your mind all the things pertaining to life and godliness, running every teaching past Him will preserve you from error and deception.


Jesus is your Master, your Lord, and the one whose life is being lived through you.  So (oh hallelujah this is good news) your Master who demands obedience is also the Life in you that obeys! 


It is for freedom that we are set free.

Humility, The Gift That Protects Us From The Fall

God is at war with pride.
Humility is the weapon He makes available to us.


It follows necessarily that true humility is not something we can obtain.


We must go to Him, His life is humility.


His life as always is what we need.


Pride is available 24 hours a day via the self.


Humility is only in Him.


Oh to be living in such a way that we are moment by moment aware of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Oh to be aware of our faults so that we can confess them and be healed. 


May God continue to hold up, His Love, as the standard and may we redeem the time.

Become Mercy

Don't stop at receiving mercy.


Become mercy.


His life in you is the way that it happens.
Your job - get out of His way.
Accept your role as simply His vessel

Called to Shine

Being forgiven is a beautiful thing, but it is not an end in itself, it is a beginning to a transformed life.


Our lives are meant to shine with His light.


Our lives are meant to give glory to the God who made us, and bought us back and lives through us.


Our lives can, quite naturally, be a true reflection of the sacrificial, servant love of God, and therefore all men will be drawn to Him.


There is no higher call!

Righteousness, Peace and Joy

"for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking,
but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit." 
 Romans 14:17


He is my righteousness.
He is my peace.
He is my joy.


A new creation with the Messiah in me.


Righteousness in me.
Peace in me.
Joy in me.


Dead and hidden with ChristMessiah in God.


Rest and trust in the Life that is in me, by grace through faith.

"but it was not like that from the beginning"

"but it was not like that from the beginning" 2nd half of Matt. 19:8 I wonder how often we have made excuses and hindered the work of God by unbelief because we accepted something far less than what God had planned "from the beginning"?! This is just the start of what God is placing on my heart. The sermon on the mount represents the life of the Messiah lived through us, just like 1 Cor. 13 is a summary of what it looks like when His love, loves through us.

"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Messiah in God"

  May we be truly dead and may His Life be manifested through us. 

A friend adds this,

"what's true in Him is true in you and as He is so are we in this world... because He is our life....Father for simple faith like a child"

and this

"yes! he offers us a life that does not know how to lust, etc... doesn't have a grid for unforgiveness

it is glorious!!!"

another friend adds this

"Exactly, dear brother! Because we are so far removed from the "genesis" of everything we have little sense of what is appropriate for right now, and have created fantasies and illusions out of nothing."  and I would add, we have accepted a disconnect from the very words that Yeshua spoke about us, in fact whole schools of theology and denominations have been established whose philosophy boils down to, "Did God really say?"

Oh God we are so in need of Your grace and mercy!  Restoration and Redemption are the strong words on Your heart, Come Lord Yeshua!

Lose The Excuses, Now!

Reviewing Isaiah 58 with friends, the problem the Lord was uncovering with Israel was having the right words but not His heart.  His heart reaches out, heals, forgives, gathers in the outcast, it is active and growing. 
The people had come to a place where they thought they could make God do their will.
They were trusting in acts done with a selfish motivation.


Enter the "sinner's prayer". 


The idea that you can pray a prayer and then go on living for yourself is not just foreign to the word of God, it is the exact opposite of Truth.


"My people have defamed My Name everywhere they go." is not just a lament over Israel, it is a current, up to the minute, cry of God as He sees a people who have allowed for a total disconnect between belief in God and acting and reacting under the control of the life of His Son. 


"That's just the way I am."  and other excuses like it, display a total misunderstanding of death to self, taking up your cross, and allowing the resurrection life of the Messiah to be the determining factor in your actions and reactions.  Behold all things have become new, is such great news, such powerful news, it must not be short circuited by excuses.


When we fail to be "in Christ" in the moment, we have the option to repent, we do not have the option to make excuses and go on living in opposition to what we say we believe. 


I wish I could convey the tone of this which is an urging us to recognize the incredible gift and beauty of having the life of the Messiah in us, available to us, to be a tremendous blessing to those around us. 


Much better than continuing to live with the disconnect and essentially telling the world that your God is a lie and people who claim to know Him are no different than any one else.

Can It Really Be This Simple?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9qzBR771bA&t=2130s

At 34:31 of this video for about 55 seconds Dan explains how to be a follower, a disciple of the Messiah Yeshua.
Again at 1:01:50 he practically demonstrates putting off and putting on.  "By grace through faith."


So I pray that we can grasp this by the grace of God.


We don't do discipleship, we become disciples by grace through faith.


Grace reveals a truth about Yeshua, and His life is the life that is in me, through faith.


The Messiah is like this...   The Messiah is in you - Grace...  The truth about the Messiah is the truth about me - through faith!


Jesus is not angry or impatient, He is in me - grace... Chuck is not angry or impatient because he is dead and his life is hidden with the Messiah - through faith.


Putting off is done by faith also.  I am not an angry, impatient man, Father I am being made and molded and shaped into Your image.  Self-centeredness will never rule my life again, the Holy Spirit empowers me to love like He loves.  By grace through faith.  Tender mercies and all the fruit of the Spirit is in me.  The old man is dead and behold all things have become new.  By grace through faith.


Can it really be this simple?

Stephen Got It. Do You Get It?

"⁵⁸ Driving him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out, “Lord Yeshua, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” After he said this, he died.  (literally fell asleep)  Acts 7 Tree of Life version


^"7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸ Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace—not by foods that have not benefited those occupied by them. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those serving in the tabernacle have no right to eat. ¹¹ For the bodies of those animals—whose blood is brought into the Holies by the kohen gadol as an offering for sin—are burned outside the camp. ^{[c] 12} Therefore, to make the people holy through His own blood, Yeshua also suffered outside the gate. ¹³ So let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. ¹⁴ For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come."  Hebrews 13 Tree of Life version 


The message spoken by Stephen through his powerful, miracle laden life was clear.  Spoken to the  self-appointed leaders of the chosen people, his strong message was Yeshua is Messiah.  That message does not leave wiggle room, and his audience knew it.  The message demands humble repentance.  Stephen was what the community of Messiah (no way I can use the word "church" here, this is too holy and that word is too screwed up) is called to be a body with no rights, a body willing to die that others may live, followers of the Way. 
Can we admit we are far removed from this reality? 
Can we acknowledge the need for humble repentance?
Can we put aside the gathering that frequently coddles self and promotes a self-centered prayer to get me to heaven?
Can we go out of the city and join Yeshua on His cross and Stephen in his stoning?
His life in us is a sacrificial love that cannot be defeated, even in death. 
And a man named Saul was watching...

God Sees His Son

"But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin]," Amplified 1 Cor. 1:30
All God sees is His Son.  Jesus is the object of the Father's love and we are in Him.


Religion keeps us captive to one day, to the not yet.  Relationship releases us into the full enjoyment of the moment. 
We are dead.
His new life is in us, making us a new creation.
We trust His life in us.
We can do nothing without Him.
Our job is to say, "yes" to His yes, surrender and trust.


When we truly see how He sees us (in His Son) then we are free to see others in that way too.


(Thankful for a very fruitful conversation with a friend.)

I Am Sending You Out With...Nothing!

Our week with 8th and 9th graders at "church camp" was drawing to a close and the burden of knowing that many of the campers were returning to hostile environments was on my heart. Searching for how best to prepare them for the transition I believe the Lord reminded me of how He sent out his disciples while He walked the earth. He sent them out with nothing. Nothing. Doesn't seem like good leadership until you realize He was putting them in a place of dependence and trust on the Lord their God. He was putting them in a place of seeing His faithfulness, in every meal, in every bed to sleep in, in every cold cup of water, in every bath. His ways our not our ways.


His question to them upon their return is powerful, "Did you lack anything?". 


I sent you out with nothing.


Wasn't it grand to see that the Father provided everything?


Wasn't it beautiful to be in a place of total dependence on Him?


The contrast between His way and our way could not be greater or more striking.

Death You Can Suck It! You are dead to me!

"O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" 1 Cor. 15:55

Yeshua takes the penalty of death for us.


The weapon that Satan was given by Adam to use against us, the weapon that Satan used to manipulate and threaten us was ripped out of his hands.


And NOW we are the people who love not their lives unto the death. 


Death in its many forms is dead to me.

Isaiah 53:10-12

Isaiah 53:10 "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors."


Resurrection and the overwhelming amount of life, healing and the will of the LORD that will happen as a result of the cross is the center of this section.  We could never list all the benefits that come to us as a result of the cross, but let's try!


Live grateful!

Our Works Don't Work

"A work will never work."  Dane

Our call is to yield to Love, sacrificially, voluntarily yield to Love.

Isaiah 53:7,8,9

Isaiah 53:7,8,9  "He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
He did not open His mouth.
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;
and who considered His fate?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
He was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
9 They made His grave with the wicked
and with a rich man at His death,
although He had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully."  HCSB

No complaint, no defending of Himself, no calling out of those who said they would be there no matter what, silence, willing silence under the cup of wrath.

Trust when nothing makes sense, when nothing is fair, when the help that you desire does not come.

Merciful God, prepare Your people!

Isaiah 53:4,5,6

“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God.  But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.  We all have wandered away like sheep. Each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done."  Isaiah 53:4-6 GNT and ICB translations.


The cost of grace.


Oh Mighty Father reveal the depth of this to us and draw worship from the depth of our being.  Deep calling to deep.

Comfort to the One Who Needed it Most

Studying through the amazing prophecy of Isaiah 53 it strikes me how much of a comfort these words, penned 700 years before the personal war that took place at the Mount of Olives, would have been to the One who was about to voluntarily lay down His life.  Many times this section although not down playing the very real cost also exalts the reward of His suffering.


"He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,
and the will of Adonai will succeed by His hand."


"As a result of the anguish of His soul
He will see it and be satisfied by His knowledge."


"The Righteous One, My Servant will make many righteous
    and He will bear their iniquities.<sup>"


"</sup>Therefore I will give Him a portion with the great,
and He will divide the spoil with the mighty—
because He poured out His soul to death"


Grateful to the one true God, who sees the struggles we will go through beforehand and prepares the comfort, strength, grace and mercy we will need for the journey.


Let faith arise!
Let gratitude arise!
Let praise arise!
Let worship arise!


For the Lord is good, His mercies are everlasting!

"They have no admiration and no welcome for One who comes, meek and lowly, to make His soul an offering for sin, and to be God's salvation to the end of the earth. It was not sin that troubled them: how should a Savior from sin delight them?" David Baron. (from the book, The Servant of Jehovah)


 It strikes me that the strong and true foundation is, "God I'm a sinner separated from You."


 Then the startling revelation from God that He has bridged that gap with His very life.


 Our prayer is that this foundation would be laid in the lives of those we pray for.


They may have to go through a deep intense time of pain to get there but the destination
is worth it.


If the foundation is not right, self will continue to sit on the throne and cracks will show up and eventually the whole thing will have to go through a re-do.


 If the foundation is right then no matter how long or how slow the process seems the completion of the job is guaranteed by the ONE who is Faithful and True, that is His name, that is His character that is the unshakeable, unchangeable nature of the One with whom we have to do!!

Ultimate Problem, Ultimate Solution

Ultimate Problem


“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶ men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Luke 21:25,26


Ultimate Solution


"I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." Jeremiah 32:40

Ongoing Renovation for the New House

That seemed like a better title than "Suffering and Glory" which I know I have used before.
Some scriptures that tie together suffering and glory, then a paragraph that has taken a lifetime
to learn. 

Luke 24:26

Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?”

Romans 8:18 [ From Groans to Glory ] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Hebrews 2:9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace He might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering in death.

Hebrews 2:10 For in bringing many sons to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—all things exist for Him and through Him—should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

1 Peter 4:13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.

1 Peter 5:1 [ About the Elders ] Therefore, as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of the Messiah and also a participant in the glory about to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you:

1 Peter 5:10 Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

Our flesh is the problem.  Suffering with the proper attitude of, “God what part of my flesh are You trying to show me needs to die?”, puts the suffering to its best use and leads to glory.  Glory in this case is the elimination of the flesh and the greater release of God’s Spirit within us.  It is a red flag when we see the same circumstances happening to us over and over, God is more than willing to walk us around the same mountain over and over until we get the message.  Sometimes it is a different mountain that looks similar but is dealing with a deeper more hidden issue, but it will still be the flesh being dealt with and the means of transformation is always the same. 

2 Cor. 3:18 “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Joseph Weeping

Very blessed to talk with a friend and see the number of times in the story of Joseph and his brothers that Joseph was overcome with emotion and had to go away privately to cry.

Until (still my favorite word) his brethren demonstrated a deep care for the heart of the Father and His love for His beloved son.

Thanks to Mark Klafter and others I have seen the beauty of the story of Joseph and how it lines up with Jesus but this going away privately to cry, to weep, to intercede is the very heart of God, and His love and grace are drawing us to into His heart for His people. 

Gentile pride dies hard, but let it die on the cross of the Messiah, who will complete the work He started because He is faithful and true.

The Privilege of Injustice - Art Katz

"God Himself has produced the distress, He employs man, but it is there to compel us to God."

This is a message of the very Life of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V4_VRUa5bw

His Son, and His corporate son

Listen to this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLDGVl8D5UU


Consider this...


A beautiful gathering of broken screw-ups takes place every Tuesday night near my house.  We call it a Bible Study, because "a gathering of broken screw-ups" is a little too real for most people.


We looked at Romans chapter 9-11 recently and especially focused on the partial blindness of the Jewish people clearly stated in Romans 11:25.


It was brought home to my heart in a way that I am incapable of expressing, how near and dear this is to the heart of God. 


His love ripped the veil of pride that separates the very limited value of education from the eternal value of His revelation.


His faithful, unchanging love revealed to one of us, the deep cost that His chosen people, the Jew, have endured during this age long time of partial imposed blindness.


His faithful, unchanging love brought with that revelation the deep appreciation of His grace, that comes with seeing the price paid by His son, and His chosen people.


Selah


and


Amen

Ephesians 5 the Profound Mystery of Marriage

All the stuff  I used as we tried to be open before the Lord as to the profound mystery of the Messiah and His community and the marriage relationship in Ephesians 5.

Do you see how we’re not talking about control today? No! We’re talking about the very opposite of control. We’re talking humility, selflessness, putting others first, all leading to beautiful unity in all our relationships. Who is our role model? Jesus, who put us first. Try putting some submission in your relationships. Watch for opportunities to yield this week, as an act of worship to the One who yielded for you.

Under the heading “Be filled with the Spirit” which should be our ultimate goal as individuals and as a body, Paul lists (1) Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

2. Making melody in your heart to God
3. Gratitude
4. Submit to one another in the fear of the Messiah

A) in marriage

B) children

100. slaves/masters

2 Tim. 3:12,13 “If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He will also deny us;

If we are faithless, He remains faithful,

for He cannot deny Himself.”

Eve not “ex nihilio” but made from Adam's rib.

Mistreating your wife is mistreating yourself because of the unity.

If you voluntarily submit to the curse you take away its power to bring death.

Submit (wife) your will given to another

Love (husband) your very life given to another

Men , be the first to apologize, pursue, cherish,

Focus on your role

the husband is not given any permission to make a wife submit

she is asked to voluntarily submit and if she doesn't oh well, that

is between her and God

our deepest joy is found in sacrifice

When people see how the husband acts, they are to see the Messiah very high calling

You and I are not the point of marriage

Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, literally my bone was removed and used, compare this to, we are partakers of the divine nature! Be amazed, stand in silent awe of the majesty of these words.

“ loving possession. He said, "She is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." He felt she was his own and belonged solely to him. Of anything there might be in the Garden, Adam was but owner in the second degree. But when he saw her, he felt she was all his own. By bonds and ties which did not admit of dispute, his bone and his flesh was she. Now, Beloved, at this moment let this thought dance through your soul—you belong to Jesus— altogether you belong to Jesus! Let not your love go forth to earthly things, so soiled and dim, but send it all away, up to Him to whom you belong—yes, send it all to Him. “ Spurgeon

100. “There is between you and your Lord a similarity of Nature and an intimate relationship! You have a mysterious extraction from Him and He has a loving possession of you—and a vital union with you. Come, now, we must only have a few minutes to catch some of the juice that will flow out of these clusters of Eshcol while we tread them for a moment, just to show what the wines of the kingdom are like.”CHS
101. The husband is not to demand submission from the wife. She is to offer it freely and lovingly. This submission is to her “own husband” only! Women are not subservient to men. They are equals, even in the home. But, God has invested leadership in the husband and he will be held responsible for the home. He will give an account for his actions as the head of the home when he stands before Jesus.
102. Alan carr

Helper is a word used for God's help numerous times. Eve has a high calling.

-------------

“Our help ^H5828 is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

Malachi 2:15 TLV
15 Did the One not make her with a remnant of Ruach?
Then what is the One seeking?
Offspring of God!
So protect your spirit—
do not betray the wife of your youth.

NKJV different
15 But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

Adam out of his rib – Eve literally they are one and whole together

Jesus out of His side the life blood of our salvation flowed and since His name means Salvation is of God we complete Him (though He is lacking nothing) by being the object of His salvation.

Colossians 1:24 we are His hands and feet and we display His heart to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do not try to prove you are better than others.

"Do not try to prove you are better than others." Philippians 2:3a  WE

"Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]."   Philippians 2:3 AMPC

Sadly my tendency to want to prove that I am better than you carried over into my life following the Messiah.

But now, by His grace, He has pointed it out, so soon and very soon, by His Spirit it will be defeated.

I wonder if the challenge is to see that the body, believers working together is indeed better than any one follower of the Lord.

I wonder if the call is to truly see the body and your place in it, and to completely and totally give up the unworthy ends of self-exaltation.

I wonder if the most prevalent idol of all is self.

Thank you Lord, when You reveal sin, we repent, You forgive and You begin the process of replacing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the tree of life.

I rest in You, I trust in You.