Do you seek to worship Jesus?
Are you like King Herod who feared Jesus’ birth as a threat to his own kingship and authority?
Herod the Great was a notoriously cruel and paranoid ruler who murdered his mother-in-law, his wife and even his three sons. Most of us would not go so far as to attain that sense of control of life.
But many of us do feel “threatened” when Jesus asks us to enthrone him in the center of our lives. We may not voice it so blatantly, but we live so as to convey a life of half-hearted devotion, saying we will go so far and no farther with Christ.
The Magi spent all their lives in pursuit of knowledge and truth. They were skilled men of the East (Persia) who were renowned for their observation of the celestial events.
These men do bring their costly gifts to the King Jesus, but they start out in the wrong place – in Jerusalem.
We often seek God in all the wrong places. We are apt to presume God would work in certain ways, methods that make sense to us. It made sense for these Magi that King of kings would reside in the city of kings, Jerusalem.
A small passage tells us in Matthew 2:4-6, that Herod sought information regarding the birth of the Messiah from the chief priests and teachers of the law. How odd that there is no mention of these learned men of the Scriptures made no effort to determine where the child King would be born.
In pursuit of knowledge, they forgot the Source of all knowledge.
Finally, the shepherds - who were essentially the social outcasts of the day were in the fields watching over their flocks art night - were visited by a host of angels who announced the birth of Jesus. (Luke 2:8-20)
Nothing in the passage tells us of a moment’s doubt in the mind of these simple shepherds. They were not going to see the baby in the manger to verify the angels’ announcement: they were going there to worship.
Especially for one who brought up in a church background, familiarity with the lingo and exposure to various testimonies regarding encounters with God, it is easy to take on the attitude of “been-there-done-that.”
King Jesus was ushered into this world by a welcoming committee comprised of the lowliest and the most rejected group of people of His day.
But He was worshiped.
Do you seek to worship Jesus?
All that is required is the simplicity of the shepherds.
Not power and authority of Herod.
Not pursuit of intelligence like the magi.
Not learned scholarship like the teachers of the law.
But simplicity wrapped up in humility.
Because that is how the King of kings and Lord of lords came to earth.
--Nakwon EM December 24th Sunday Worship Service
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
kings & prophets VII: Elijah, the Depressed Prophet
A young lawyer in the 1800's suffered such a deep depression that his friends did everything they could to keep all razors and knives away from him. He wrote these words: "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not." This lawyer became the 16th president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln.
Depression knows no age, race or gender.
It can strike anyone and everyone.
It did for one of the greatest prophet par excellence, Elijah. No prophet surpassed the turbulence and significance Prophet Elijah's ministry held in the light of the coming Messiah.
This man single-handedly demonstrated the power of God before 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth, both of whom were predominant pagan gods of his day.
First Kings 18 records the glorious and triumphant show-down of God as the true living God who answered by fire.
Not a moment too soon - mere one chapter later - Queen Jezebel, the wife of Israel's king Ahab, threatens Elijah's life, and this sends the recently-victorious prophet into one of the deepest depression recorded in the Scriptures.
Dark times often follow times of great success.
Prophet Elijah traveled 125 miles due south (to Beersheba) running from Jezebel. He is so depressed he asks God to take his life away. As one pastor once said, he was struck with the "Tigger Complex": 'I'm the only one.' (1 Ki 19:10)
Despite the great victory not many days ago, Elijah felt his life an utter failure, and frustrated, fatigued and frightened, he waited for death.
But God not only does not answer his reckless request for death; He in fact never lets him die! As recorde in 2 Kings 2:11-12, Elijah is one of two people in the Bible who never tasted death.
God restores Elijah by three things:
Physical provision - as unspiritual as it sounds - is what revived Elijah enough so he may move on to the next lesson - encounter with God on the very same mountain upon which Moses had met God and received the Ten Commandments.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing a spiritually drained believer can do is to satisfy a very basic necessity of food and rest.
Once that is accomplished, God manifests His presence to Elijah not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in a gentle whisper.
Perhaps the great wind reminded Elijah of the wondrous miracle of God having parted the Red Sea so that his freed children of Israel can cross on dry land in safety.
Perhaps the earthquake reminded him of the walls of formidable city of Jericho crumbling down.
The fire - he did not to reflect upon history of his people - he'd just seen it; he'd called down upon God to answer by fire.
But the Lord, it says, was not in any of those awesome demonstration of power.
Elijah instead heard God's still small voice - the barest whisper.
And that whisper never really explained why things were happening the way they were. God never really provides emotional comfort for Elijah. Instead, he give him instruction to anoint three people - Hazael, Jehu and Elisha - who would bring about the downfall of root of pagan idolatry by annihilating the house of Ahab and Jezebel.
He was providing Elijah with a promise - which by the way, Elijah never sees fulfilled in his life time.
But it is enough for the once-depressed prophet, who in the same chapter goes to anoint his successor, Elisha, as God instructed.
It is almost a natural inclination for us to withdraw in times of depression. But that is a fatal mistake.
God does not allow Elijah to sit there in that dark cave drowned in self-pity.
He is pushed out into the world with a job and a promise - that there are 7,000 (representing God's perfect number as well as literal number) who were faithful to God.
We are never alone - despite what we may feel at any moment.
We may feel as if we are fighting a losing battle all on our own from time to time, but never allow yourself to swallow such self-pitying deception.
Find rest in God; Listen to His voice; and Receive His promises with a heart of faith and full assurance that God is always in control.
--from Nakwon EM December 17th Sunday Worship Service
Depression knows no age, race or gender.
It can strike anyone and everyone.
It did for one of the greatest prophet par excellence, Elijah. No prophet surpassed the turbulence and significance Prophet Elijah's ministry held in the light of the coming Messiah.
This man single-handedly demonstrated the power of God before 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Ashtoreth, both of whom were predominant pagan gods of his day.
First Kings 18 records the glorious and triumphant show-down of God as the true living God who answered by fire.
Not a moment too soon - mere one chapter later - Queen Jezebel, the wife of Israel's king Ahab, threatens Elijah's life, and this sends the recently-victorious prophet into one of the deepest depression recorded in the Scriptures.
Dark times often follow times of great success.
Prophet Elijah traveled 125 miles due south (to Beersheba) running from Jezebel. He is so depressed he asks God to take his life away. As one pastor once said, he was struck with the "Tigger Complex": 'I'm the only one.' (1 Ki 19:10)
Despite the great victory not many days ago, Elijah felt his life an utter failure, and frustrated, fatigued and frightened, he waited for death.
But God not only does not answer his reckless request for death; He in fact never lets him die! As recorde in 2 Kings 2:11-12, Elijah is one of two people in the Bible who never tasted death.
God restores Elijah by three things:
By His Provision (Rest)
By His Voice (Listen)
BY His Promise (receive)
Physical provision - as unspiritual as it sounds - is what revived Elijah enough so he may move on to the next lesson - encounter with God on the very same mountain upon which Moses had met God and received the Ten Commandments.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing a spiritually drained believer can do is to satisfy a very basic necessity of food and rest.
Once that is accomplished, God manifests His presence to Elijah not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in a gentle whisper.
Perhaps the great wind reminded Elijah of the wondrous miracle of God having parted the Red Sea so that his freed children of Israel can cross on dry land in safety.
Perhaps the earthquake reminded him of the walls of formidable city of Jericho crumbling down.
The fire - he did not to reflect upon history of his people - he'd just seen it; he'd called down upon God to answer by fire.
But the Lord, it says, was not in any of those awesome demonstration of power.
Elijah instead heard God's still small voice - the barest whisper.
And that whisper never really explained why things were happening the way they were. God never really provides emotional comfort for Elijah. Instead, he give him instruction to anoint three people - Hazael, Jehu and Elisha - who would bring about the downfall of root of pagan idolatry by annihilating the house of Ahab and Jezebel.
He was providing Elijah with a promise - which by the way, Elijah never sees fulfilled in his life time.
But it is enough for the once-depressed prophet, who in the same chapter goes to anoint his successor, Elisha, as God instructed.
It is almost a natural inclination for us to withdraw in times of depression. But that is a fatal mistake.
God does not allow Elijah to sit there in that dark cave drowned in self-pity.
He is pushed out into the world with a job and a promise - that there are 7,000 (representing God's perfect number as well as literal number) who were faithful to God.
We are never alone - despite what we may feel at any moment.
We may feel as if we are fighting a losing battle all on our own from time to time, but never allow yourself to swallow such self-pitying deception.
Find rest in God; Listen to His voice; and Receive His promises with a heart of faith and full assurance that God is always in control.
--from Nakwon EM December 17th Sunday Worship Service
Sunday, December 10, 2006
kings & prophets VI: the Nameless Prophet
At a time of spiritual and political decline, the nation of Israel divides into Northern and Southern Kingdoms, named Israel and Judah, respectively.
King Jeroboam becomes the first king over the divided kingdom of Israel and quickly commits a grave sin by creating two major "worship centers" at Bethel and Dan causing a great spiritual apostasy among the people of the Northern Kingdom.
A Prophet, whose name is never revealed, comes to Jeroboam and prophecies against the idol altar upon which Jeroboam was instituting idol worship; in effect foretelling of the downfall of idol worship.
Through three consecutive miracles (demonstration of God's effective power in the nameless prophets words), Jeroboam finally acknowledges the prophet's legitimacy and message, and when he invites the prophets to his dine with him, the Prophet tells him:
The nameless prophet goes on his way in obedience to God's specific command.
Enter an Old Prophet living in Bethel, one of the major centers of idol worship in Israel. His sons, having apparently had participated and witnessed the events at Jeroboam's altar, tells their father of the Nameless Prophet from Judah.
The Old Prophet urges the presumably younger Nameless Prophet to join him as Jeroboam has asked.
The Nameless Prophet gives him the same response he gave to King Jeroboam earlier (1 Kings 13:16-17)
But this young prophet's destiny changes completely because of the next few verses:
The Bible tells us plainly that the Old Prophet was lying. He deceived the Nameless Prophet.
The Nameless Prophet heeds the Old Prophet's lies and eats, forsaking God's direct command, and he pays for his disobedience with his life.
Here is a man of God who could have become famous and respected like Prophet Elijah who in fact did not even taste death but was taken up to heaven directly.
Where did he fail?
Was he not in fact deceived? Isn't the Old Prophet at fault?
The Great Wall of China stretching over 4,000 miles was built 2,000 years ago in order to protect themselves from Hun invasion. It appeared impregnable. But the enemy still breached it. Not by breaking through the walls or climbing it or going around it: They did it by bribing the gatekeepers.
Many times, we find that we fall into temptation not because we did not "fortify" ourselves correctly, but because of the most unexpected shortcoming we had carelessly overlooked.
This Nameless Prophet had just experienced great power of God working in and through him before an idol-worshiping King of Israel. But his "prior success" was not enough to keep him faithful to God's direct command.
Understandably, he must have been tired after the long trip, not having had eaten or drunk anything, to deliver a message to Jeroboam. It says in verse 14 that the Nameless Prophet was resting under an oak tree. He was on his way home, but he was too weary and needed rest.
He was emotionally and physically drained.
He was weak.
And the Enemy seized that opportunity.
A prophet in the Old Testament times lived under very specific and defined lifestyle as they served as God's mouthpiece and medium through which God would present His message to His people.
It was a lifestyle that gave no leeway for disobedience or mistakes, their lives often an allegory fo what God wanted to reveal to the kings or the people.
The Nameless Prophet was deceived. But deception is no excuse for disobedience of a direct command from God, and when all things are said and done, it is not someone else's responsibility that we obey God and follow His instructions.
He was a man who knew the voice of God and carried an important message for an apostate king and his people, a message backed up with incredible demonstration of the power of the living God.
And yet in his moment of weakness, he decided to yield to temptation.
How do you fall into temptation?
It is sad yet true that we often make provision for sin.
We know this thing to be something that does not please God, but we keep making it available to us.
Remember the story about the father and the son.
Paul exhorts us to "clothe" ourselves "with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Romans 13:14)
Do you make provision for sin; something you know you need to let go?
After you have crossed that bridge that led to that place you know draws you away from the presence of God, burn it, and don't look back.
We are all called to be living messages of the Living God. Your life is a message. You can choose to live a life like that of the Nameless Prophet who never really amounted to anything - just someone who met a tragic end.
Or you can count the cost and step up in faith and obedience to God's call on your life and make it count toward Eternity.
Don't make the mistake the Nameless Prophet made: don't look back and don't depend on others as an excuse for the easier way out.
--from Nakwon EM December 10th Sunday Worship Service
King Jeroboam becomes the first king over the divided kingdom of Israel and quickly commits a grave sin by creating two major "worship centers" at Bethel and Dan causing a great spiritual apostasy among the people of the Northern Kingdom.
A Prophet, whose name is never revealed, comes to Jeroboam and prophecies against the idol altar upon which Jeroboam was instituting idol worship; in effect foretelling of the downfall of idol worship.
Through three consecutive miracles (demonstration of God's effective power in the nameless prophets words), Jeroboam finally acknowledges the prophet's legitimacy and message, and when he invites the prophets to his dine with him, the Prophet tells him:
Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'
The nameless prophet goes on his way in obedience to God's specific command.
Enter an Old Prophet living in Bethel, one of the major centers of idol worship in Israel. His sons, having apparently had participated and witnessed the events at Jeroboam's altar, tells their father of the Nameless Prophet from Judah.
The Old Prophet urges the presumably younger Nameless Prophet to join him as Jeroboam has asked.
The Nameless Prophet gives him the same response he gave to King Jeroboam earlier (1 Kings 13:16-17)
But this young prophet's destiny changes completely because of the next few verses:
The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was lying to him.)
The Bible tells us plainly that the Old Prophet was lying. He deceived the Nameless Prophet.
The Nameless Prophet heeds the Old Prophet's lies and eats, forsaking God's direct command, and he pays for his disobedience with his life.
Here is a man of God who could have become famous and respected like Prophet Elijah who in fact did not even taste death but was taken up to heaven directly.
Where did he fail?
Was he not in fact deceived? Isn't the Old Prophet at fault?
The Great Wall of China stretching over 4,000 miles was built 2,000 years ago in order to protect themselves from Hun invasion. It appeared impregnable. But the enemy still breached it. Not by breaking through the walls or climbing it or going around it: They did it by bribing the gatekeepers.
Many times, we find that we fall into temptation not because we did not "fortify" ourselves correctly, but because of the most unexpected shortcoming we had carelessly overlooked.
This Nameless Prophet had just experienced great power of God working in and through him before an idol-worshiping King of Israel. But his "prior success" was not enough to keep him faithful to God's direct command.
Understandably, he must have been tired after the long trip, not having had eaten or drunk anything, to deliver a message to Jeroboam. It says in verse 14 that the Nameless Prophet was resting under an oak tree. He was on his way home, but he was too weary and needed rest.
He was emotionally and physically drained.
He was weak.
And the Enemy seized that opportunity.
A prophet in the Old Testament times lived under very specific and defined lifestyle as they served as God's mouthpiece and medium through which God would present His message to His people.
It was a lifestyle that gave no leeway for disobedience or mistakes, their lives often an allegory fo what God wanted to reveal to the kings or the people.
The Nameless Prophet was deceived. But deception is no excuse for disobedience of a direct command from God, and when all things are said and done, it is not someone else's responsibility that we obey God and follow His instructions.
He was a man who knew the voice of God and carried an important message for an apostate king and his people, a message backed up with incredible demonstration of the power of the living God.
And yet in his moment of weakness, he decided to yield to temptation.
How do you fall into temptation?
It is sad yet true that we often make provision for sin.
We know this thing to be something that does not please God, but we keep making it available to us.
Remember the story about the father and the son.
"Didn't I tell you not to swim in that river?" the father asked.
"Yes, sir" the son answered.
"Why did you?"
"Well, Dad, I had my bathing suit with me and I couldn't resist the temptation."
"Why did you take your bathing suit with you?"
"So I'd be prepared to swim in case I was tempted."
Paul exhorts us to "clothe" ourselves "with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Romans 13:14)
Do you make provision for sin; something you know you need to let go?
After you have crossed that bridge that led to that place you know draws you away from the presence of God, burn it, and don't look back.
We are all called to be living messages of the Living God. Your life is a message. You can choose to live a life like that of the Nameless Prophet who never really amounted to anything - just someone who met a tragic end.
Or you can count the cost and step up in faith and obedience to God's call on your life and make it count toward Eternity.
Don't make the mistake the Nameless Prophet made: don't look back and don't depend on others as an excuse for the easier way out.
--from Nakwon EM December 10th Sunday Worship Service
Sunday, December 03, 2006
kings & prophets V: Solomon, the Wisest Fool
How does a man who had received such incomparable wisdom - from God no les! - fall away so completely in the end?
Solomon, the third king of Israel, penned three books in the Bible: Song of Songs as a young man in love; Proverbs at the height of his wisdom and prosperity; and Ecclesiastes as an old man despairing of life.
As is true for all failures, Solomon's final apostasy resulted from progressive and accumulated sins, not overnight and not due to one shortcoming factor in his life.
As the second son of David and Bathsheba (the first having been taken away by God as punishment for their adulterous affair), Solomon was the embodiment of the perfect demonstration of God's mercy and redemptive love when God gave him the name Jedidiah, which meant "loved by the Lord."
And as much as David as king and father suffered a number of failings, for Solomon to have sought wisdom to govern God's people when he was asked for his greatest desire shows that David had made an impression on the young man.
But Solomon's seemingly sincere beginnings and even admirable request for wisdom lack the passion of David who sought God's presence above all else.
God grants him his request and Solomon indeed does become the wisest man who had ever lived.
But as we had seen in the life of Saul, the first king of Israel, a good beginning does not guarantee a good ending. And as awe-inspiring as Solomon's wisdom was, wisdom apart from a working relationship with God is mere worldly philosophy which in the end will produce death and despair as demonstrated so poignantly in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And relationship with God was - to put it mildly - not Solomon's forte. In fact, it suffered even in earlier years as king when he married Pharaoh's daughter in order to ratify a peace treaty; taking foreign wives was something God had specifically forbidden a king to do.
In fact, Solomon does not take one wife, but 700, plus 300 concubines!
Self-indulgence was a way of life for this man who had begun so well.
He accumulated, we are told, thousands of horses, imported from Egypt - yet forbidden deed for a king. Egypt symbolized the world, and horses strength. Hence, God was ultimately commanding any kings He established to lead His people to never rely on strength of men or the world.
Solomon's accumulationg of vast quantities of gold sealed his final direct disobedience and in essence sealed his fate.
It is odd that Solomon who already had everything wanted those few things God had specifically forbade him to possess.
But that is the oldest trick in the book - a trick that ushered sin into the lives of first man and woman and into every mankind thereafter,
The devil has a way of magnifying the few things God commands us to stay away from. Instead of enjoying the "Garden" God has offered us, we are temmpted to look beyond the bountiful blessing and seek out that which will ultimately destroy us.
The oldest Enemy of God will glorify the things we don't need to the point we think we need them.
The man who exhorted "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it costs all you have, get understanding" (Prov 4:7), the wisest man that had ever walked this earth second only to Jesus Christ, became the greatest fool who in the end, turned away from God in his old age, writing such depressing words as "Meaningless! Meaningless! ...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (Eccl 1:2)
J.I. Packer, in his phenomenal book entitled Knowing God, wrote:
Wisdom is far more than mere accumulation of knowledge of vastness of all facets of life. It is the ability to choose what is right.
The Bible exhorts us to seek wisdom. But take caution as to the sort of foundation upon which you intend on building that wisdom, because if not built on a working relationship with Christ, it will crumble and in the end bring about more agony and despair than joy and fulfillment.
--from Nakwon EM Dec. 3rd Sunday Worship Service
Solomon, the third king of Israel, penned three books in the Bible: Song of Songs as a young man in love; Proverbs at the height of his wisdom and prosperity; and Ecclesiastes as an old man despairing of life.
As is true for all failures, Solomon's final apostasy resulted from progressive and accumulated sins, not overnight and not due to one shortcoming factor in his life.
As the second son of David and Bathsheba (the first having been taken away by God as punishment for their adulterous affair), Solomon was the embodiment of the perfect demonstration of God's mercy and redemptive love when God gave him the name Jedidiah, which meant "loved by the Lord."
And as much as David as king and father suffered a number of failings, for Solomon to have sought wisdom to govern God's people when he was asked for his greatest desire shows that David had made an impression on the young man.
But Solomon's seemingly sincere beginnings and even admirable request for wisdom lack the passion of David who sought God's presence above all else.
God grants him his request and Solomon indeed does become the wisest man who had ever lived.
But as we had seen in the life of Saul, the first king of Israel, a good beginning does not guarantee a good ending. And as awe-inspiring as Solomon's wisdom was, wisdom apart from a working relationship with God is mere worldly philosophy which in the end will produce death and despair as demonstrated so poignantly in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And relationship with God was - to put it mildly - not Solomon's forte. In fact, it suffered even in earlier years as king when he married Pharaoh's daughter in order to ratify a peace treaty; taking foreign wives was something God had specifically forbidden a king to do.
In fact, Solomon does not take one wife, but 700, plus 300 concubines!
Self-indulgence was a way of life for this man who had begun so well.
He accumulated, we are told, thousands of horses, imported from Egypt - yet forbidden deed for a king. Egypt symbolized the world, and horses strength. Hence, God was ultimately commanding any kings He established to lead His people to never rely on strength of men or the world.
Solomon's accumulationg of vast quantities of gold sealed his final direct disobedience and in essence sealed his fate.
It is odd that Solomon who already had everything wanted those few things God had specifically forbade him to possess.
But that is the oldest trick in the book - a trick that ushered sin into the lives of first man and woman and into every mankind thereafter,
The devil has a way of magnifying the few things God commands us to stay away from. Instead of enjoying the "Garden" God has offered us, we are temmpted to look beyond the bountiful blessing and seek out that which will ultimately destroy us.
The oldest Enemy of God will glorify the things we don't need to the point we think we need them.
The man who exhorted "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it costs all you have, get understanding" (Prov 4:7), the wisest man that had ever walked this earth second only to Jesus Christ, became the greatest fool who in the end, turned away from God in his old age, writing such depressing words as "Meaningless! Meaningless! ...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (Eccl 1:2)
J.I. Packer, in his phenomenal book entitled Knowing God, wrote:
"Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal..."
Wisdom is far more than mere accumulation of knowledge of vastness of all facets of life. It is the ability to choose what is right.
The Bible exhorts us to seek wisdom. But take caution as to the sort of foundation upon which you intend on building that wisdom, because if not built on a working relationship with Christ, it will crumble and in the end bring about more agony and despair than joy and fulfillment.
--from Nakwon EM Dec. 3rd Sunday Worship Service
Sunday, November 26, 2006
giving thanks
Thanksgiving Day is past and gone, and in the wake of near-sinful consumption of food bordering on gluttony, it would be wise to stop and consider the real meaning of thanksgiving.
Though one day designated to express gratitude is past, our life of thanksgiving ought never to end.
Thanksgiving is not a "holiday"; it is a way of life for the child of God.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Apostle Paul tells us exactly what "God's will for us is in Christ Jesus" is:
Do you know that being thankful is God's will for you?
We tend to be preoccupied with what appears to be more "critical" aspects of our lives such as;
"Is it God's will that I pursue this?"
"Is it God's will that I marry this person?"
But the Bible is very clear on what God's will is - part of it being thankful in all circumstances.
Whether things be good or bad, happy or sad, pleasant or downright infuriating and stressful - in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES - we are called to be thankful to our Faithful Creator.
Even people without Christ know to be thankful when things are going their way, when the outlook is bright, their future assured, their finances settled, their dreams or hopes achieved, etc.
What differentiates a believer from a non-believer is not only what he confesses in his creed; it is his lifestyle and character that saturates and breathes life into that lifestyle.
The only way a Christian can truly obey God's command to fulfill his will by being thankful in all circumstances is if he takes on the perspective of God Himself in every facet of his life.
Be thankful...
1. For Difficult Circumstances, that suffocating trial, hardship that keeps you on your knees before God. King David as we had recently studied fell at the height of prosperity and ease. Your trials are not stumblingblocks to overcome, but a blessing in disguise - a means by which God keeps you in His sight at all times.
2. For Difficult People, that person that is in so many ways a "thorn in your side." She's someone you consider a "fly" in your ointment, one who truly brings out the worst in you. But remember, she cannot bring out what is not already inside of you. God desires to mold and shape you into the image of Christ, and the most powerful with which He accomplishes that is through people.
As Solomon says in Proverbs 27:17(AMP), those difficult people God brings into our lives is the chisel God is using to shape you into the vessel, the image He desires.
And finally, be thankful...
3. that God does not give you everything you want in prayer.
Imagine if God gave you every desire of your heart. I am confident very few of us would even be alive this day if God answered every one of our self-centered, childish, short-sighted prayers.
Are you truly thankful?
Then your heart will beat with the same heartbeat of a man named Horatio Spafford who penned these incredible words the moment he crossed the Atlantic Ocean gazing at the very spot where his four daughters had died previous day in a tragic shipwreck, his wife the sole survivor:
--from Nakwon EM Sunday Nov. 26 Worship Service
Though one day designated to express gratitude is past, our life of thanksgiving ought never to end.
Thanksgiving is not a "holiday"; it is a way of life for the child of God.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Apostle Paul tells us exactly what "God's will for us is in Christ Jesus" is:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do you know that being thankful is God's will for you?
We tend to be preoccupied with what appears to be more "critical" aspects of our lives such as;
"Is it God's will that I pursue this?"
"Is it God's will that I marry this person?"
But the Bible is very clear on what God's will is - part of it being thankful in all circumstances.
Whether things be good or bad, happy or sad, pleasant or downright infuriating and stressful - in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES - we are called to be thankful to our Faithful Creator.
Even people without Christ know to be thankful when things are going their way, when the outlook is bright, their future assured, their finances settled, their dreams or hopes achieved, etc.
What differentiates a believer from a non-believer is not only what he confesses in his creed; it is his lifestyle and character that saturates and breathes life into that lifestyle.
The only way a Christian can truly obey God's command to fulfill his will by being thankful in all circumstances is if he takes on the perspective of God Himself in every facet of his life.
Be thankful...
1. For Difficult Circumstances, that suffocating trial, hardship that keeps you on your knees before God. King David as we had recently studied fell at the height of prosperity and ease. Your trials are not stumblingblocks to overcome, but a blessing in disguise - a means by which God keeps you in His sight at all times.
2. For Difficult People, that person that is in so many ways a "thorn in your side." She's someone you consider a "fly" in your ointment, one who truly brings out the worst in you. But remember, she cannot bring out what is not already inside of you. God desires to mold and shape you into the image of Christ, and the most powerful with which He accomplishes that is through people.
As Solomon says in Proverbs 27:17(AMP), those difficult people God brings into our lives is the chisel God is using to shape you into the vessel, the image He desires.
And finally, be thankful...
3. that God does not give you everything you want in prayer.
Imagine if God gave you every desire of your heart. I am confident very few of us would even be alive this day if God answered every one of our self-centered, childish, short-sighted prayers.
Are you truly thankful?
Then your heart will beat with the same heartbeat of a man named Horatio Spafford who penned these incredible words the moment he crossed the Atlantic Ocean gazing at the very spot where his four daughters had died previous day in a tragic shipwreck, his wife the sole survivor:
When peace like the river attendeth my way,
When sorrow like sea billow roll,
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul!
--from Nakwon EM Sunday Nov. 26 Worship Service
Monday, November 20, 2006
kings & prophets IV: David, the Broken-Hearted
David was hailed as the giant killer because of his unwavering trust and faith in God. Despite the injustice of his circumstances, during his fugitive years, David honored God by honoring a mad king refusing to take his life however justified.
But more than anything else, what made David a man after God's own heart was a broken and a contrite heart.
We cannot know our true state of heart until it is tested.
And David was tested.
And failed.
Self-indulgence that defied God's command for a king to not accumulate many wives led David to sin against God at the epitome of success and prosperity.
David's self-indulgence is also demonstrated in his neglect: the tragic story of David's adultery and murder in 2 Sam 11 begins with a simple yet telling fact:
It was a properous time. David had defeated one of two greatest threats to Israel - the Ammonites, and defeat of their western enemy, Philistines, was only a matter of time.
From a practical point of view, David did not need to be out there.
But he should have been.
It was need not for the sake of victory at the battlefield, but for another battle raging in his soul.
By neglecting his duty, lulled by ease and comfort of firmly established kingship, David made a grave error of allowing complacency to dictate his life.
And it cost him everything.
From the moment David ignores his servant's information that the woman Bathsheba was a wife of one of his greatest generals, David dives headlong into sin that is followed by horrific consequences; incest, fratricide, intrigues, rebellion, civil war, disgrace...
As tragic as these repercussions of his sin against God were, David was tormented by far more excruciating pain from his sin: a chasm in the relationship between himself and God.
David's beautiful and poignant Psalm 51 was penned during this time as he wept and broke down before God in contrition and soul-wrenching regret.
More than anything, David knew he had offended God. What made David a man after God's own heart was his clear understanding of what sin was in His eyes. How despicable and unbearable sin was to a holy God.
Remember the wolf devouring his own blood gushing from his own sliced tongue as he hungrily licks on the sharp knife, impaled on its hilt on the ground, once covered with frozen blood to cover its deadly blade in the cold artic night by a shrewd Eskimo...
Sin is consuming and deceiving.
It will attract the eyes, deceive the mind, lure the unwary, and in the end, there is only one goal - it kills.
But we have hope in Christ, through the Holy Spirit who gently prods us to turn from sin, to walk away, to refuse to yield to what is often seemingly harmless entertainment or means of relaxation.
Be sure your satisfaction in life comes solely from God, through God, and in God alone, because you may discover that all this time, you had taken pleasure from sin at the cost of your own very soul, the dawn finding you dead beside a sharp blade.
-- from Nakwon EM Nov 19th Sunday Worship Service
But more than anything else, what made David a man after God's own heart was a broken and a contrite heart.
We cannot know our true state of heart until it is tested.
And David was tested.
And failed.
Self-indulgence that defied God's command for a king to not accumulate many wives led David to sin against God at the epitome of success and prosperity.
David's self-indulgence is also demonstrated in his neglect: the tragic story of David's adultery and murder in 2 Sam 11 begins with a simple yet telling fact:
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. (v.1)
It was a properous time. David had defeated one of two greatest threats to Israel - the Ammonites, and defeat of their western enemy, Philistines, was only a matter of time.
From a practical point of view, David did not need to be out there.
But he should have been.
It was need not for the sake of victory at the battlefield, but for another battle raging in his soul.
By neglecting his duty, lulled by ease and comfort of firmly established kingship, David made a grave error of allowing complacency to dictate his life.
And it cost him everything.
From the moment David ignores his servant's information that the woman Bathsheba was a wife of one of his greatest generals, David dives headlong into sin that is followed by horrific consequences; incest, fratricide, intrigues, rebellion, civil war, disgrace...
As tragic as these repercussions of his sin against God were, David was tormented by far more excruciating pain from his sin: a chasm in the relationship between himself and God.
David's beautiful and poignant Psalm 51 was penned during this time as he wept and broke down before God in contrition and soul-wrenching regret.
More than anything, David knew he had offended God. What made David a man after God's own heart was his clear understanding of what sin was in His eyes. How despicable and unbearable sin was to a holy God.
Remember the wolf devouring his own blood gushing from his own sliced tongue as he hungrily licks on the sharp knife, impaled on its hilt on the ground, once covered with frozen blood to cover its deadly blade in the cold artic night by a shrewd Eskimo...
Sin is consuming and deceiving.
It will attract the eyes, deceive the mind, lure the unwary, and in the end, there is only one goal - it kills.
But we have hope in Christ, through the Holy Spirit who gently prods us to turn from sin, to walk away, to refuse to yield to what is often seemingly harmless entertainment or means of relaxation.
Be sure your satisfaction in life comes solely from God, through God, and in God alone, because you may discover that all this time, you had taken pleasure from sin at the cost of your own very soul, the dawn finding you dead beside a sharp blade.
-- from Nakwon EM Nov 19th Sunday Worship Service
Sunday, November 12, 2006
kings & prophets III: David, the Fugitive
Although anointed at about 15 years of age, it is not until after another 15 years that David takes the throne of Israel as her next king.
During those 15 years, David is hailed as hero after his defeat of Goliath, loved by the people and the army, as well as the king's own son and his daughter, but also becomes a fugitive when King Saul through jealousy and fear seeks to kill the young hero.
David's life as a fugitive molded him into the king he needed to be, but as Gene Edwards in his book, "A Tale of Three Kings" points out, during those years he spent on the run from the mad King Saul, when he was hiding in caves, "These were David's darkest hours. We know them as his pre-king days, but he didn't, He may have assumed this was his lot forever. Suffering was giving birth, humility was being born. By earthly measures he was a shattered man; by heavenly measures, a broken one." (emphasis mine)
David had justifiable motive, opportunity and means to kill Saul twice, but he does not.
Why was David called a man after God's own heart?
It wasn't his victories that caused him to be so loved and chosen by God.
It was his heart, or more accurately, the state of his heart.
David chose to honor God by honoring a king - even one as mad as Saul - God had placed upon the throne through his anointing.
We often face or witness injustice in our lives toward us or toward those around us. We are tempted to "help God out" by taking action to right the wrong, defend the wronged, let justice be demonstrated.
But Paul reminds us in Romans 12:19-21:
Nothing in our lives happen by coincidence. To acknowledge His hand in every facet of our lives - whether good or bad - is to demonstrate our faith and trust in Him who is in control.
Do you desire a heart like David's?
Then let God be God.
Let Him be your Defender. Let the days in the cave of your hardship brought on by another be a moment to mold and shape your heart so that it will be just like His.
And from such heart, praise as this can be lifted up to God in His honor and glory.
--from Nov. 12, 2006 Sunday worship service
During those 15 years, David is hailed as hero after his defeat of Goliath, loved by the people and the army, as well as the king's own son and his daughter, but also becomes a fugitive when King Saul through jealousy and fear seeks to kill the young hero.
David's life as a fugitive molded him into the king he needed to be, but as Gene Edwards in his book, "A Tale of Three Kings" points out, during those years he spent on the run from the mad King Saul, when he was hiding in caves, "These were David's darkest hours. We know them as his pre-king days, but he didn't, He may have assumed this was his lot forever. Suffering was giving birth, humility was being born. By earthly measures he was a shattered man; by heavenly measures, a broken one." (emphasis mine)
David had justifiable motive, opportunity and means to kill Saul twice, but he does not.
Why was David called a man after God's own heart?
It wasn't his victories that caused him to be so loved and chosen by God.
It was his heart, or more accurately, the state of his heart.
David chose to honor God by honoring a king - even one as mad as Saul - God had placed upon the throne through his anointing.
We often face or witness injustice in our lives toward us or toward those around us. We are tempted to "help God out" by taking action to right the wrong, defend the wronged, let justice be demonstrated.
But Paul reminds us in Romans 12:19-21:
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Nothing in our lives happen by coincidence. To acknowledge His hand in every facet of our lives - whether good or bad - is to demonstrate our faith and trust in Him who is in control.
Do you desire a heart like David's?
Then let God be God.
Let Him be your Defender. Let the days in the cave of your hardship brought on by another be a moment to mold and shape your heart so that it will be just like His.
And from such heart, praise as this can be lifted up to God in His honor and glory.
--from Nov. 12, 2006 Sunday worship service
Monday, November 06, 2006
kings & prophets II: David, the Giant Killer
How do you fight and defeat a Giant?
We all face "giants" like young David did. The giants in our lives come in two forms: the visible & the invisible. The first is not difficult to detect. It is apparent. That giant of a financial problem, that person (be it a family member or friend) who is a burden or concern or is at enmity with my peace of mind, that annoying boss who has the compassion of a mad dictator.
The latter is not so obvious: it is the enemy within. It is the Goliath that comes in the form much like that of David's oldest brother Eliab and King Saul, one outright attacked the newly anointed young boy for shallow recklessness, and the other used factual reasons to discourage him.
But neither took into account the God of Israel on whom young David based his confidence for victory.
Ultimately, the battle was won before David ever faced the Giant in the valley.
Three important aspects of David's character prepared him to defeat his giant, the giant of his people, the giant who defied God:
1. Faithfulness - David never slacked in his duty as a shephered - the lowliest, the most tedious and painstaking job for any young man in Israel. It was his faithfulness to his work that prepared him for the battle to come.
2. Perspective - only David (who at the time was too young to join the army of Israel) understood the real issue at hand during this war with the Philistines. Goliath's insult of the armies of the living God was essentially insult of the Living God Himself. (1 Sam 17:26, 36, 47).
3. Trust - David's confidence in God's deliverance is demonstrated by his repetitious use of the word "will" when he addresses King Saul and Goliath.
How do you stand against your Goliath?
Do you cower before it like the entire army of Israel did, seeing only with the eye, never with the heart of faith in God to whom all battles belong?
Or do you make a stand with a full assurance of faith that He who promised is faithful?
We all face "giants" like young David did. The giants in our lives come in two forms: the visible & the invisible. The first is not difficult to detect. It is apparent. That giant of a financial problem, that person (be it a family member or friend) who is a burden or concern or is at enmity with my peace of mind, that annoying boss who has the compassion of a mad dictator.
The latter is not so obvious: it is the enemy within. It is the Goliath that comes in the form much like that of David's oldest brother Eliab and King Saul, one outright attacked the newly anointed young boy for shallow recklessness, and the other used factual reasons to discourage him.
But neither took into account the God of Israel on whom young David based his confidence for victory.
Ultimately, the battle was won before David ever faced the Giant in the valley.
Three important aspects of David's character prepared him to defeat his giant, the giant of his people, the giant who defied God:
1. Faithfulness - David never slacked in his duty as a shephered - the lowliest, the most tedious and painstaking job for any young man in Israel. It was his faithfulness to his work that prepared him for the battle to come.
2. Perspective - only David (who at the time was too young to join the army of Israel) understood the real issue at hand during this war with the Philistines. Goliath's insult of the armies of the living God was essentially insult of the Living God Himself. (1 Sam 17:26, 36, 47).
3. Trust - David's confidence in God's deliverance is demonstrated by his repetitious use of the word "will" when he addresses King Saul and Goliath.
How do you stand against your Goliath?
Do you cower before it like the entire army of Israel did, seeing only with the eye, never with the heart of faith in God to whom all battles belong?
Or do you make a stand with a full assurance of faith that He who promised is faithful?
moments
Happy moments, Praise God.
Difficult moments, Seek God.
Quiet moments, Worship God.
Painful moments, Trust God.
Every moment, Thank God.
Difficult moments, Seek God.
Quiet moments, Worship God.
Painful moments, Trust God.
Every moment, Thank God.
Monday, October 30, 2006
liar, lunatic, or Lord
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level of a man who says he is a poached egg - or else He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this manw as, and is, the Son of God: Or else He is a madman...or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool; you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
-C.S. Lewis
Sunday, October 29, 2006
gfa - first missionary support away!
Today, we collected for EM's very first "$1-a-day-for-30-days" Gospel for Asia native missionary support donation, and I thank and praise God we were able to begin our monthly support of SIX Native Missionaries at $30 per missionary per month!
God is good and faithful!
Let's continue to save $1 day for the next 30 days as we pray for these six missionaries who serve God day and night bringing message of hope of Jesus Christ to many remote villages where the name of Jesus has never even once been heard!
It is a wonderful privilege to join in with these brothers and sisters in Christ in obeying Jesus' Great Commission!
Praise God!
God is good and faithful!
Let's continue to save $1 day for the next 30 days as we pray for these six missionaries who serve God day and night bringing message of hope of Jesus Christ to many remote villages where the name of Jesus has never even once been heard!
It is a wonderful privilege to join in with these brothers and sisters in Christ in obeying Jesus' Great Commission!
Praise God!
kings & prophets I: Heart of Saul
We started a series on Kings of the Old Testaments beginning with King Saul.
The people of Israel, after centuries of backsliding, of each doing what was right in his own eyes, demand the last judge and prophet Samuel to give them a king like all other nations that surrounded them.
God sees this demand as Israel's rejection of God as their King. It wasn't that God didn't want to give them a king; years before, God already had planned to give them a king as we can see God warning ahead through His laws about kingship in Deut 17:16-17. What displeased God were the reasons for their want of a king:
The Israelites blatantly refused to acknowledge God who was their King, their leader over their armies to fight the battles.
It depicts a major transition from Theocracy (God-rule) to Monarchy (king-rule).
So God gives them what they want:
1 Sam 10:1-9 records the anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel which is confirmed by three evidences of God's providential work in Saul's life.
The man Saul was an impressive young man, tall and likeable, unassuming and generous.
God gives Saul three evidences to show His hand on Saul's anointing:
1. Instruction: regarding the lost donkeys which caused Saul to seek out Samuel;
2. Provision: Saul would be met by three going to worship God with provision which they would share with Saul; and
3. Inspiration: Saul would be met by a procession of prophets, at which time the Holy Spirit would cause Saul to prophesy along with them.
Samuel tells Saul in 1 Sam 10:6 that Saul "will be changed into a different person" once the three signs are fulfilled, but in v.9, it states, "as Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart..."
Saul's change of heart however never fully took root as we can see from his tragic downfall.
No amount of the supernatural or miraculous we experience will change our hearts. Having a heart after God, a pure and tranformed heart, does not come into being over night.
Saul disobeys God in increasingly grave situations until it finally culminates into God's rejection of him as king of Israel.
The metamorphosis of a believer's a heart into one after God's own heart - a heart moldable and touchable by God - does not consist in the degree or frequency or intensity of "spiritual" experiences, but in living out the truth of God in our lives in the mundane, the routine, the daily.
Is your spiritual walk with Christ built upon one hyped up experience after another, or is it founded upon His Word, worked out in your life in the midst of the ordinary by the indwelling Spirit?
--from Nakwon EM Oct. 29th 11:00am Sunday Worship Service
The people of Israel, after centuries of backsliding, of each doing what was right in his own eyes, demand the last judge and prophet Samuel to give them a king like all other nations that surrounded them.
God sees this demand as Israel's rejection of God as their King. It wasn't that God didn't want to give them a king; years before, God already had planned to give them a king as we can see God warning ahead through His laws about kingship in Deut 17:16-17. What displeased God were the reasons for their want of a king:
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."
The Israelites blatantly refused to acknowledge God who was their King, their leader over their armies to fight the battles.
It depicts a major transition from Theocracy (God-rule) to Monarchy (king-rule).
So God gives them what they want:
1 Sam 10:1-9 records the anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel which is confirmed by three evidences of God's providential work in Saul's life.
The man Saul was an impressive young man, tall and likeable, unassuming and generous.
God gives Saul three evidences to show His hand on Saul's anointing:
1. Instruction: regarding the lost donkeys which caused Saul to seek out Samuel;
2. Provision: Saul would be met by three going to worship God with provision which they would share with Saul; and
3. Inspiration: Saul would be met by a procession of prophets, at which time the Holy Spirit would cause Saul to prophesy along with them.
Samuel tells Saul in 1 Sam 10:6 that Saul "will be changed into a different person" once the three signs are fulfilled, but in v.9, it states, "as Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart..."
Saul's change of heart however never fully took root as we can see from his tragic downfall.
No amount of the supernatural or miraculous we experience will change our hearts. Having a heart after God, a pure and tranformed heart, does not come into being over night.
Saul disobeys God in increasingly grave situations until it finally culminates into God's rejection of him as king of Israel.
The metamorphosis of a believer's a heart into one after God's own heart - a heart moldable and touchable by God - does not consist in the degree or frequency or intensity of "spiritual" experiences, but in living out the truth of God in our lives in the mundane, the routine, the daily.
Is your spiritual walk with Christ built upon one hyped up experience after another, or is it founded upon His Word, worked out in your life in the midst of the ordinary by the indwelling Spirit?
--from Nakwon EM Oct. 29th 11:00am Sunday Worship Service
Monday, October 23, 2006
the seen & the unseen
The City of Jericho, one of the most well-fortified cities during that time, was the first city the Israelites conquered in their campaign to possess the promised land of Canaan. Accordingly, God commanded that the spoils of conquest be devoted to God (Joshua 6:17-19) unlike all other conquests that would follow.
But one man's disobedience (7:1) caused humiliating defeat before their next city of conquest - Ai. The three thousand armed Israelites were routed before the seemingly insignificant army of the peopel of Ai and even resulted in 36 blind-siding fatalities of war.
God reproaches the despairing leader Joshua and tells them why God was not with them in their next battle at Ai in Joshua 7:10-12:
Finally, the next morning, through lot, Achan of the tribe of Judah is singled out as the culprit, and he and his family along with all his possession in destroyed.
REASON FOR SIN:
Achan's sin began with what he "saw":
Someone said the eyes are the portals through which Satan works; whereas the ears are the portals through which God works.
The woman fell prey to Satan's temptations because she "saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye..." (Gen 3:6) King David "saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful..." (2 Sam 11:2)
Many of our sins begin with what we see with our eyes. Apostle John warns of the "lust of his eyes" as one of three things that mark the fallen world or sin nature in man.
The word "saw" in Achan's confession before Joshua and the Israelites is a significant word that goes beyond mere physical visual act: the root meaning denotes weighing of something's worth, to consider carefully, to observe with growing attention - in other words, worship. Achan "worshiped" what he saw, hence taking it was only a matter of time, all too easy when his greed and desire weighed heavily against God's command.
RESULT OF SIN:
Achan not only brought destruction on himself, but on all his family, who presumably from the narrative, were partakers of his sin since he hid the stolen plunder in his tent, a housing shared with all his family members. And even more far-reaching repercussion of his hidden sin was that the people of Israel were not liable to fear and dread from their surrounding enemies in the promised land who would no doubt know of their humiliating defeat. His one sin, seemigly harmless to any other soul affected the entire community.
God told Joshua that the Israelites could not stand against the enemy.
Sin does that.
Especially hidden, "un-dealt with" sins.
RELEASE FROM SIN:
God gave us a way to overcome the temptations of this world which relentlessly bombards us with audio-visual messages of pleasure and success and means to satisfy our every fleshly need and desire: it is so simple, we often miss it.
The key to overcoming such temptation, to not falling prey to deceiving pleasures of this fallen world with all its devices to draw us further away from God, and to remaining faithful to our calling in Christ is in our determination and obedience to His Word - a disciplined mind that fixes its faith-eyes heavenward, not fooled with lies espoused by everything around us telling us this world is all there is and all there will be.
None of us were made for this world, to live apart from God. We were made to spend eternity with our Creator and Father in heaven where there are no tears, no sin, no pains, no heartaches, no disappointments, no weariness, no rejection, no loneliness, no frustrations, and no evil.
Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!
--from Nakwon EM October 22nd 11:00am Sunday Worship Service
But one man's disobedience (7:1) caused humiliating defeat before their next city of conquest - Ai. The three thousand armed Israelites were routed before the seemingly insignificant army of the peopel of Ai and even resulted in 36 blind-siding fatalities of war.
God reproaches the despairing leader Joshua and tells them why God was not with them in their next battle at Ai in Joshua 7:10-12:
The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
Finally, the next morning, through lot, Achan of the tribe of Judah is singled out as the culprit, and he and his family along with all his possession in destroyed.
REASON FOR SIN:
Achan's sin began with what he "saw":
Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath." (7:20-21)
Someone said the eyes are the portals through which Satan works; whereas the ears are the portals through which God works.
The woman fell prey to Satan's temptations because she "saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye..." (Gen 3:6) King David "saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful..." (2 Sam 11:2)
Many of our sins begin with what we see with our eyes. Apostle John warns of the "lust of his eyes" as one of three things that mark the fallen world or sin nature in man.
The word "saw" in Achan's confession before Joshua and the Israelites is a significant word that goes beyond mere physical visual act: the root meaning denotes weighing of something's worth, to consider carefully, to observe with growing attention - in other words, worship. Achan "worshiped" what he saw, hence taking it was only a matter of time, all too easy when his greed and desire weighed heavily against God's command.
RESULT OF SIN:
Achan not only brought destruction on himself, but on all his family, who presumably from the narrative, were partakers of his sin since he hid the stolen plunder in his tent, a housing shared with all his family members. And even more far-reaching repercussion of his hidden sin was that the people of Israel were not liable to fear and dread from their surrounding enemies in the promised land who would no doubt know of their humiliating defeat. His one sin, seemigly harmless to any other soul affected the entire community.
God told Joshua that the Israelites could not stand against the enemy.
Sin does that.
Especially hidden, "un-dealt with" sins.
RELEASE FROM SIN:
God gave us a way to overcome the temptations of this world which relentlessly bombards us with audio-visual messages of pleasure and success and means to satisfy our every fleshly need and desire: it is so simple, we often miss it.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1-2)
The key to overcoming such temptation, to not falling prey to deceiving pleasures of this fallen world with all its devices to draw us further away from God, and to remaining faithful to our calling in Christ is in our determination and obedience to His Word - a disciplined mind that fixes its faith-eyes heavenward, not fooled with lies espoused by everything around us telling us this world is all there is and all there will be.
None of us were made for this world, to live apart from God. We were made to spend eternity with our Creator and Father in heaven where there are no tears, no sin, no pains, no heartaches, no disappointments, no weariness, no rejection, no loneliness, no frustrations, and no evil.
Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!
--from Nakwon EM October 22nd 11:00am Sunday Worship Service
Monday, October 16, 2006
the first resurrection
Jesus is coming back soon.
Sooner than we think.
The events recorded in Matt 24:4-14 leading up to what is called "Rapture" (being taken up into heaven in a transformed body; 1 Thess 4:16-17 & 1 Cor 15:50-55) are unfolding before our very own eyes today in the world around us as we witness wars, "rumors of wars," natural disasters, brutal ethnic cleansing wars, etc. Both Apostle Paul (2 Tim 3:1-7)and Peter (2 Pe 3:3-7) warned that in the Last Days, hearts will grow colder and farther away from God and things of God.
Following the Rapture, we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive according to what we had done.
The moment following the Rapture marks the beginning of seven-year Tribulation period, during which those who were left behind will have to endure seven years of Antichrist's reign.
At the end of seven years, Christ returns ("Second Coming") to earth to reign with his saints (both raptured & tribulation saints) for 1,000 years, known as the "Millennium" during which Satan is bound in chains in the Abyss to be let loose at the end of 1,000 years for the Final Battle of Gog & Magog.
Apostle John tells us that those who reigned with Christ during the Millennium were all partakers of the "First Resurrection." They were blessed because "second death" had no power over them.
Once devil and his angels are thrown into the lake of fire, the White Throne Judgment will take place, where those who had not stood before the Judgment Seat of Christ will now stand before God. Those whose names were not written on the Lamb's Book of Life were cast into the "Lake of Fire," which is called the Second Death, where the lost souls, those who never made Christ Lord of their lives and heart, along with the devil and his fallen angels would suffer for all eternity.
Then, finally, we will be with our Lord and Savior and dwell in perfect Heaven (a new heaven and a new earth) forever, never again knowing heartache, pain, sadness, loneliness, discontent, disillusionment...
You get the idea.
So the question remains:
Are you ready?
Will you have a part in the First Resurrection? Are you sure second death will have no power over you?
Is your life completely devoted to God, your will and your desires aligned with His perfect will and desire?
Jesus is coming back soon.
Not tomorrow, not this coming Sunday, not when your life is settled and after you've attained to fullness of your dreams and desires, but NOW is the time of salvation.
What do you live for?
What is your greatest hope and purpose in life?
If your asnwer is not a certain and confident "Christ, and Christ alone," you will be surprised when the Day comes.
--from Nakwon EM October 15th 10:00am Sunday Worship Service
Sooner than we think.
The events recorded in Matt 24:4-14 leading up to what is called "Rapture" (being taken up into heaven in a transformed body; 1 Thess 4:16-17 & 1 Cor 15:50-55) are unfolding before our very own eyes today in the world around us as we witness wars, "rumors of wars," natural disasters, brutal ethnic cleansing wars, etc. Both Apostle Paul (2 Tim 3:1-7)and Peter (2 Pe 3:3-7) warned that in the Last Days, hearts will grow colder and farther away from God and things of God.
Following the Rapture, we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive according to what we had done.
The moment following the Rapture marks the beginning of seven-year Tribulation period, during which those who were left behind will have to endure seven years of Antichrist's reign.
At the end of seven years, Christ returns ("Second Coming") to earth to reign with his saints (both raptured & tribulation saints) for 1,000 years, known as the "Millennium" during which Satan is bound in chains in the Abyss to be let loose at the end of 1,000 years for the Final Battle of Gog & Magog.
Apostle John tells us that those who reigned with Christ during the Millennium were all partakers of the "First Resurrection." They were blessed because "second death" had no power over them.
Once devil and his angels are thrown into the lake of fire, the White Throne Judgment will take place, where those who had not stood before the Judgment Seat of Christ will now stand before God. Those whose names were not written on the Lamb's Book of Life were cast into the "Lake of Fire," which is called the Second Death, where the lost souls, those who never made Christ Lord of their lives and heart, along with the devil and his fallen angels would suffer for all eternity.
Then, finally, we will be with our Lord and Savior and dwell in perfect Heaven (a new heaven and a new earth) forever, never again knowing heartache, pain, sadness, loneliness, discontent, disillusionment...
You get the idea.
So the question remains:
Are you ready?
Will you have a part in the First Resurrection? Are you sure second death will have no power over you?
Is your life completely devoted to God, your will and your desires aligned with His perfect will and desire?
Jesus is coming back soon.
For He says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor. 6:2, emphasis added)
Not tomorrow, not this coming Sunday, not when your life is settled and after you've attained to fullness of your dreams and desires, but NOW is the time of salvation.
What do you live for?
What is your greatest hope and purpose in life?
If your asnwer is not a certain and confident "Christ, and Christ alone," you will be surprised when the Day comes.
--from Nakwon EM October 15th 10:00am Sunday Worship Service
service & meeting time changes
Hopefully this will be more or less permanent meetings times for our EM:
Our Sunday Worship Service will now take place at 11:00AM. Yes! We have our own room now! (And our own beautiful LCD Projector! Hee)
The Saturday Bible Study meetings will be at 4:30PM. (Not at church, but at my apartment.)
And finally, we are beginning Tuesday 6:30PM Praise & Prayer meetings this week.
Please come and be blessed!
One more reminder: We will be holding monthly "Lock-In's."
Our first one is scheduled for this Friday, 10/20, at 9PM. We will be studying about the Last Days, in more detail of what we learned during yesterday's worship service.
We will study in depth what the Bible tells us about the End Times and how we are called to live our lives as people of God awaiting the second coming of Christ.
Our Sunday Worship Service will now take place at 11:00AM. Yes! We have our own room now! (And our own beautiful LCD Projector! Hee)
The Saturday Bible Study meetings will be at 4:30PM. (Not at church, but at my apartment.)
And finally, we are beginning Tuesday 6:30PM Praise & Prayer meetings this week.
Please come and be blessed!
One more reminder: We will be holding monthly "Lock-In's."
Our first one is scheduled for this Friday, 10/20, at 9PM. We will be studying about the Last Days, in more detail of what we learned during yesterday's worship service.
We will study in depth what the Bible tells us about the End Times and how we are called to live our lives as people of God awaiting the second coming of Christ.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
"The Law" Part One: Genesis & Exodus
Do the Math: "Prophecy in a Name"
Methuselah = “(his) death” + “shall bring”
Gen 5:25-31 & 7:11, can you determine when the Flood came in relation to Methuselah’s age in the light of the meaning of his name?
Methuselah - 187 years old (Lamech is born)
Lamech - 182 years old (Noah is born)
So, 369 years have passed…
Noah - 600 years old when Flood comes
Thus, 369 + 600 = 969 years!
The Flood came when Methuselah died – just as his name prophesied.
Pentateuch: Five Books of Moses
Part One : Genesis – Book of Beginnings
Exodus – Birth of the Nation
Part Two: Leviticus – Laws of the Nation
Numbers – Wilderness Wandering
Deuteronomy – Laws Reviewed
GENESIS:
Chapters 1-11
1 – 3 Creation - Chicken or the egg?
4 First Murder
5 Genealogy
6 – 9 Flood of Noah Ark:
· Matt 24:36-39 as foreshadow of coming in Christ
· 2 Pe 2:5 Noah as preacher of righteousness)
10 Nations
· 70 nations from Noah (only 70 entered Egypt)
11 Tower of Babel: “Bab—El” – “Tower to Heaven”
Chapters 12 – 50
12 – 20 Abraham
· Unconditional Covenant – 15:17 (God does it alone; Abram is asleep)
21 – 26 Isaac – Jacob gets blessing (25) – All is to blame…
· (25:23) Isaac attempted to thwart God’s plan
· (25:29-34) Esau breaks oath he had made to Jacob
· (27:13) Rebekah tries to achieve God’s blessing by deception
· (27:11-12) Jacob’s only fear is getting caught
27 – 36 Jacob – the deceiver is deceived
· Laban (Rachel & Leah)
· His own sons when Joseph is sold as slave (37)
37 – 50 Joseph
· (45:4-7) Joseph has realized God’s sovereignty
· (50:25) Prophecy – “come to your aid”
EXODUS :
Chapters:
1 – 18 The Exodus: the Plagues, the Passover, the Crossing of Red Sea
· Acts 7 = the best “commentary” of OT. (7:17) – “another king” – hetero – not Egyptian – that’s why did not know about Joseph (Ex 1:8)
· 3:2 – Fire = judgment: judged, not consumed; i.e. mercy/grace
· Ten plagues of Egypt – deliberate attack on the gods of Egypt
19 – 24 The Law: The Mosaic Covenant
25 – 40 The Tabernacle: The Priesthood
Methuselah = “(his) death” + “shall bring”
Gen 5:25-31 & 7:11, can you determine when the Flood came in relation to Methuselah’s age in the light of the meaning of his name?
Methuselah - 187 years old (Lamech is born)
Lamech - 182 years old (Noah is born)
So, 369 years have passed…
Noah - 600 years old when Flood comes
Thus, 369 + 600 = 969 years!
The Flood came when Methuselah died – just as his name prophesied.
Pentateuch: Five Books of Moses
Part One : Genesis – Book of Beginnings
Exodus – Birth of the Nation
Part Two: Leviticus – Laws of the Nation
Numbers – Wilderness Wandering
Deuteronomy – Laws Reviewed
GENESIS:
Chapters 1-11
1 – 3 Creation - Chicken or the egg?
4 First Murder
5 Genealogy
6 – 9 Flood of Noah Ark:
· Matt 24:36-39 as foreshadow of coming in Christ
· 2 Pe 2:5 Noah as preacher of righteousness)
10 Nations
· 70 nations from Noah (only 70 entered Egypt)
11 Tower of Babel: “Bab—El” – “Tower to Heaven”
Chapters 12 – 50
12 – 20 Abraham
· Unconditional Covenant – 15:17 (God does it alone; Abram is asleep)
21 – 26 Isaac – Jacob gets blessing (25) – All is to blame…
· (25:23) Isaac attempted to thwart God’s plan
· (25:29-34) Esau breaks oath he had made to Jacob
· (27:13) Rebekah tries to achieve God’s blessing by deception
· (27:11-12) Jacob’s only fear is getting caught
27 – 36 Jacob – the deceiver is deceived
· Laban (Rachel & Leah)
· His own sons when Joseph is sold as slave (37)
37 – 50 Joseph
· (45:4-7) Joseph has realized God’s sovereignty
· (50:25) Prophecy – “come to your aid”
EXODUS :
Chapters:
1 – 18 The Exodus: the Plagues, the Passover, the Crossing of Red Sea
· Acts 7 = the best “commentary” of OT. (7:17) – “another king” – hetero – not Egyptian – that’s why did not know about Joseph (Ex 1:8)
· 3:2 – Fire = judgment: judged, not consumed; i.e. mercy/grace
· Ten plagues of Egypt – deliberate attack on the gods of Egypt
19 – 24 The Law: The Mosaic Covenant
25 – 40 The Tabernacle: The Priesthood
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
"let My people go!" or "let go!"
Eleven times in the book of Exodus, God says "Let My people go!" to the Pharaoh who stubbornly and repeatedly refused to give up the children of Israel. After ten devastating plagues, which were each a direct attack on the various deities of Egyptian pantheon, the Egyptians finally let Israel go.
The book of Exodus recounts the story of a God who sets out to call unto Himself a nation. It is a type and shadow of the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ. Just like the Israelites, we are called forth and delivered from our oppressor, Satan, and from his deadly grip on our souls and lives. Just as the Passover lamb was sacrificed prior to the exodus of the Israelites, Jesus, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for our salvation.
God's deliverance is two-fold: In Exodus 6:6-7, God promises to bring out and free His people, but also makes a covenant with them to make them His own and bring them to a land they will possess.
That is the "Let My people go!" part. Salvation is the work of God, not of man. It is a gift, not to be worked for, but received. It is God who saves.
But Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12 to "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling."
Being saved is not the end; it is the beginning.
Once we are saved, we must live in accordance with the faith we professed, and that is the "working out" part; that is, the "letting go" part.
God tells our enemy, Satan, "Let My people!" but He tells us to "Let go!"
As a teaching pastor said, "It took 40 hours to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel."
We see in the life of the Israelites in the desert that their progression toward apostasy caused the first generation to altogether be forbidden to enter the Land of Promise, to die in the desert in their wanderings for 40 years.
It is a progression from Unbelief, to Forgetfulness and finally to Blatant Disobedience and Deception.
God drives the children of Israel to the Red Sea with the Pharaoh's angry army in pursuit in Exodus 14. Israelites begin to cry out to God and panic:
Despite amazing miracles (plagues) the Israelites witnessed as God struck their enslavers, the Israelites did not believe or trust in God who had delivered them thus far.
Unbelief marks the first progression toward apostasy in any believer; failing to trust God's faithfulness and might, the same God who had already demonstrated his power and love in delivering us from sin and death.
Second step in progression toward apostasy is Forgetfulness. In Exodus 14, God does deliver them by parting the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to walk across the sea in dry seabed and drowning the Egyptian army who came in pursuit.
Chapter 15 records the song Moses taught the Israelites in glorifying the God who delivered them. But only three days later, in Exodus 15:22-25, when the Israelites come face to face with a trial - lack of drinking water at Marah, they grumble against Moses and God. They have already forgotten God's might and power.
Forgetful heart is never thankful. And it is a sure way to draw farther away from the heart of the Father and closer to apostasy.
Finally, the last step toward apostasy is Blatant Disobedience. In Exodus 32, while Moses is up on the mountain receiving God's laws during 40 days of fasting, the children of Israel commit a heinous crime of idol worship.
What is most astonishing from the above passage is that the Israelites were indulging in sinful outright rebellious revelry in the name of the Lord!
How is it possible?
They were calling this a "festival to the Lord." It shows the absolute depravity and deception among these children of Israel.
But Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:6-11:
In other words, to put it bluntly, the Israelites weren't some mad people we can cluck our tongues at. Our own spiritual walk is typified by the Israelites. When we are honest with ourselves, we are not so different from the Israelites, and just like them, we can also be denied entrance to our Promised Land if we continue down the road toward apostasy, blinded by our unbelief, living a life of ingratitude and forgetfulness of the faithfulness of God, and attempting to live for God while loving the world.
We are not all that different from the children of Israel from thousands of years ago.
The only major difference is that now we have the Holy Spirit who is our Personal Guide and Helper. We do not look forward to hearing from a mediator like Moses or some priesthood. We have the Spirit of the Living God who sits upon the throne of our hearts, directing our paths, teaching our hearts and minds to live a life worthy of His Kingdom.
The Law of God is no longer written on stone tablets, but in our hearts by His Spirit that resides in us as God promised through prophets of old.
God still speaks to us today: "Let go!" Let go of your ambitions, your pride, your own hopes for future, your dreams, your love for the temporary things of this world.
And He promises to give us something far more precious, something that transcends any and all pleasure or satisfaction this fallen world could ever offer - He gives us Himself.
Will you let go?
--from Sunday October 8 10:00AM EM Worship Service
The book of Exodus recounts the story of a God who sets out to call unto Himself a nation. It is a type and shadow of the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ. Just like the Israelites, we are called forth and delivered from our oppressor, Satan, and from his deadly grip on our souls and lives. Just as the Passover lamb was sacrificed prior to the exodus of the Israelites, Jesus, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for our salvation.
God's deliverance is two-fold: In Exodus 6:6-7, God promises to bring out and free His people, but also makes a covenant with them to make them His own and bring them to a land they will possess.
That is the "Let My people go!" part. Salvation is the work of God, not of man. It is a gift, not to be worked for, but received. It is God who saves.
But Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12 to "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling."
Being saved is not the end; it is the beginning.
Once we are saved, we must live in accordance with the faith we professed, and that is the "working out" part; that is, the "letting go" part.
God tells our enemy, Satan, "Let My people!" but He tells us to "Let go!"
As a teaching pastor said, "It took 40 hours to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel."
We see in the life of the Israelites in the desert that their progression toward apostasy caused the first generation to altogether be forbidden to enter the Land of Promise, to die in the desert in their wanderings for 40 years.
It is a progression from Unbelief, to Forgetfulness and finally to Blatant Disobedience and Deception.
God drives the children of Israel to the Red Sea with the Pharaoh's angry army in pursuit in Exodus 14. Israelites begin to cry out to God and panic:
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Exodus 14:10-12)
Despite amazing miracles (plagues) the Israelites witnessed as God struck their enslavers, the Israelites did not believe or trust in God who had delivered them thus far.
Unbelief marks the first progression toward apostasy in any believer; failing to trust God's faithfulness and might, the same God who had already demonstrated his power and love in delivering us from sin and death.
Second step in progression toward apostasy is Forgetfulness. In Exodus 14, God does deliver them by parting the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to walk across the sea in dry seabed and drowning the Egyptian army who came in pursuit.
Chapter 15 records the song Moses taught the Israelites in glorifying the God who delivered them. But only three days later, in Exodus 15:22-25, when the Israelites come face to face with a trial - lack of drinking water at Marah, they grumble against Moses and God. They have already forgotten God's might and power.
Forgetful heart is never thankful. And it is a sure way to draw farther away from the heart of the Father and closer to apostasy.
Finally, the last step toward apostasy is Blatant Disobedience. In Exodus 32, while Moses is up on the mountain receiving God's laws during 40 days of fasting, the children of Israel commit a heinous crime of idol worship.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. (Exodus 32:1-6)
What is most astonishing from the above passage is that the Israelites were indulging in sinful outright rebellious revelry in the name of the Lord!
How is it possible?
They were calling this a "festival to the Lord." It shows the absolute depravity and deception among these children of Israel.
But Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10:6-11:
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.(emphasis mine)
In other words, to put it bluntly, the Israelites weren't some mad people we can cluck our tongues at. Our own spiritual walk is typified by the Israelites. When we are honest with ourselves, we are not so different from the Israelites, and just like them, we can also be denied entrance to our Promised Land if we continue down the road toward apostasy, blinded by our unbelief, living a life of ingratitude and forgetfulness of the faithfulness of God, and attempting to live for God while loving the world.
We are not all that different from the children of Israel from thousands of years ago.
The only major difference is that now we have the Holy Spirit who is our Personal Guide and Helper. We do not look forward to hearing from a mediator like Moses or some priesthood. We have the Spirit of the Living God who sits upon the throne of our hearts, directing our paths, teaching our hearts and minds to live a life worthy of His Kingdom.
The Law of God is no longer written on stone tablets, but in our hearts by His Spirit that resides in us as God promised through prophets of old.
God still speaks to us today: "Let go!" Let go of your ambitions, your pride, your own hopes for future, your dreams, your love for the temporary things of this world.
And He promises to give us something far more precious, something that transcends any and all pleasure or satisfaction this fallen world could ever offer - He gives us Himself.
Will you let go?
--from Sunday October 8 10:00AM EM Worship Service
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Overview of the Bible
I. Books of the Bible
Old Testament (OT):
Pentateuch/Five Books of Moses (5):
Genesis - book of beginnings (Ge 1:1)
Exodus - birth of a nation (Ex 19:4-6)
Leviticus - laws of a nation (Lev 18:3-5; 22:32-33)
Numbers - Wilderness Wandering (Nu 14:26-35, Record of journey - Nu 33)
Deuteronomy - Laws Reviewed (Dt 1:1-4)
History/Narrative (12):
Joshua - conquest of Canaan (Jos 1:1-9)
Judges - value of relativism demonstrated (Jdg 2:8-23, 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25)
Ruth - Story of Kinsman Redeemer (Ru 2:11-12)
1 & 2 Samuel - Birth of Monarchy in Israel; rejection of God as their King (1 Sam 8:6-7)
1 & 2 Kings - Divided Kingdom (1 Ki 9:2-9)
1 & 2 Chronicles - Historical record (beginning with Saul's suicide) (1 Chr 9:1)
Ezra - Return of the Exiles (Ezra 1:1-4)
Nehemiah - Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 1:3)
Esther - Deliverance for Israel by the "Invisible Hand" of God (Es 8:1-4, 9:24-25)
Poetry/Wisdom Writings (5):
Job - providence of God & spiritual reality (Job 38:1-2, 40:1-5)
Psalms - worshiping God - through thick and thin (Ps 5:1-3)
Proverbs - wisdom (Prov 1:7, 4:7)
Ecclesiastes - Despair of men (Ecc 1:1-2, 12:13-14)
Song of Songs - Love of the Bridegroom (SS 8:6-7)
Prophets: warning of judgment, call for the apostate to repentance (2 Chr 36:15-16)
Major (5): Isaiah to Daniel
Minor (12): Hosea to Malachi
New Testament (NT):
Gospels (4):
Matthew to John - God in flesh (Jn 1:1-14, 20:30-31)
Narrative (1):
Acts - the promised Holy Spirit at work (Acts 1:8)
Epistles: Christian Disciplines & Doctrines (2 Tim 4:2, Heb 4:12-13)
Pauline Epistles (13): Romans to Philemon
General Epistles (8): Hebrews to Jude
Apocalyptic Writing:
Revelation - revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1-3, 22:20)
II. Concealment and Revelation
New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed;
Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
What is in a Name? [Genesis 5]
Adam = "man"
Seth = "appointed"
Enosh = "mortal"
Kenan = "sorrow"
Mahalalel = "Blessed God"
Jared = "shall come down"
Enoch = "teaching"
Methuselah = "his death shall bring"
Lamech = "despairing"
Noah = "comfort"
The very first Prophecy in the Bible:
"Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort."
Old Testament (OT):
Pentateuch/Five Books of Moses (5):
Genesis - book of beginnings (Ge 1:1)
Exodus - birth of a nation (Ex 19:4-6)
Leviticus - laws of a nation (Lev 18:3-5; 22:32-33)
Numbers - Wilderness Wandering (Nu 14:26-35, Record of journey - Nu 33)
Deuteronomy - Laws Reviewed (Dt 1:1-4)
History/Narrative (12):
Joshua - conquest of Canaan (Jos 1:1-9)
Judges - value of relativism demonstrated (Jdg 2:8-23, 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25)
Ruth - Story of Kinsman Redeemer (Ru 2:11-12)
1 & 2 Samuel - Birth of Monarchy in Israel; rejection of God as their King (1 Sam 8:6-7)
1 & 2 Kings - Divided Kingdom (1 Ki 9:2-9)
1 & 2 Chronicles - Historical record (beginning with Saul's suicide) (1 Chr 9:1)
Ezra - Return of the Exiles (Ezra 1:1-4)
Nehemiah - Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 1:3)
Esther - Deliverance for Israel by the "Invisible Hand" of God (Es 8:1-4, 9:24-25)
Poetry/Wisdom Writings (5):
Job - providence of God & spiritual reality (Job 38:1-2, 40:1-5)
Psalms - worshiping God - through thick and thin (Ps 5:1-3)
Proverbs - wisdom (Prov 1:7, 4:7)
Ecclesiastes - Despair of men (Ecc 1:1-2, 12:13-14)
Song of Songs - Love of the Bridegroom (SS 8:6-7)
Prophets: warning of judgment, call for the apostate to repentance (2 Chr 36:15-16)
Major (5): Isaiah to Daniel
Minor (12): Hosea to Malachi
New Testament (NT):
Gospels (4):
Matthew to John - God in flesh (Jn 1:1-14, 20:30-31)
Narrative (1):
Acts - the promised Holy Spirit at work (Acts 1:8)
Epistles: Christian Disciplines & Doctrines (2 Tim 4:2, Heb 4:12-13)
Pauline Epistles (13): Romans to Philemon
General Epistles (8): Hebrews to Jude
Apocalyptic Writing:
Revelation - revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:1-3, 22:20)
II. Concealment and Revelation
New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed;
Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
What is in a Name? [Genesis 5]
Adam = "man"
Seth = "appointed"
Enosh = "mortal"
Kenan = "sorrow"
Mahalalel = "Blessed God"
Jared = "shall come down"
Enoch = "teaching"
Methuselah = "his death shall bring"
Lamech = "despairing"
Noah = "comfort"
The very first Prophecy in the Bible:
"Man is appointed mortal sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort."
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
abraham: father of faith, friend of God
Abraham's faith is acknowledged three times in Hebrews 11.
In verses 8-10, the Hebrew writer speaks of faith of Abraham in obeying God's call; in verses 11-12, the writer reminds us that the fulfilling "mechanism" of God's promises was Abraham's faith that He who made the promise was faithful; and, most amazing of all demonstrations of faith in this patriarch is recorded in verses 17-19, in which Abraham offered his son as God commanded with faith that he would receive his beloved son Isaac back from the dead.
Resurrection was unheard of in Abraham's time. We have no account of any such thing until the time of Kings in Israel. Yet, this man believed God would do the impossible - the unthinkable - to fulfill the promise He made to his servant.
Now, that is faith.
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
I cannot imagine what must have gone through Abraham's mind when God commanded him to sacrifice his hope and dream - a culmination of everything he believed in God now to be relinquished in utter contradiction to logic and common sense.
But he obeyed.
And through his obedience, countless are blessed who call on God who is faithful.
More than anything else, Abraham's faith was real: it was never conceptual or ideal. It was real-ized.
His obedience was immediate. He went early next morning. Not after a week of fighting against doubt and confusion, asking his wife or friends about whether he'd heard God right.
Genesis 22:4 tells us that Moriah (where Abraham was to sacrifice his son) was a three-day journey from where he was. Three days is a long time to reconsider the sanity or insanity of his actions.
Abraham does not hesitate to obey God. His knife is on a downward plunge when the angel of the Lord stops him. And he receives as a result the greatest blessing a man could ever possess - to be "source" of blessing to other - a type and shadow of Christ's own ministry.
Interestingly, Moriah where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son is the same spot where King David built an altar and sacrificed in repentance (after having taken a census of his fighting men in Israel against God's command) when the angel of the Lord stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite after killing 70,000 Israelites.
And the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite is the exact place where David's son King Solomon built the Temple for God in 2 Chronicles 3:1.
And hundreds of years later, on that same spot, another Father offered his own Son as an atoning sacrifice for all humanity - in a place then called Golgotha.
A pastor once shared a story about a new member of his church who approached him after service upset after the service.
"Pastor," the man began his face grim, "I am very offended at this story you shared with us today about Abraham's sacrifice. How could a loving God demand such cruel sacrifice? What kind of God demands such a thing of any father?"
The pastor replied, "My brother, I am glad you are offended. Because that is what God did for us. No one stayed God's hand from allowing his own Son to be crucified. You should be offended."
It is small wonder God called Abraham His friend.
Are you a friend of God?
Can God "confide" in you as He did with Abraham in regard to Sodom and Gomorrah? Have you come to such a place as to know the very heartbeat of the Father that you would take no offense no matter what He demands of you?
--from Sunday October 1, 2006 10:00am Worship Service
In verses 8-10, the Hebrew writer speaks of faith of Abraham in obeying God's call; in verses 11-12, the writer reminds us that the fulfilling "mechanism" of God's promises was Abraham's faith that He who made the promise was faithful; and, most amazing of all demonstrations of faith in this patriarch is recorded in verses 17-19, in which Abraham offered his son as God commanded with faith that he would receive his beloved son Isaac back from the dead.
Resurrection was unheard of in Abraham's time. We have no account of any such thing until the time of Kings in Israel. Yet, this man believed God would do the impossible - the unthinkable - to fulfill the promise He made to his servant.
Now, that is faith.
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
I cannot imagine what must have gone through Abraham's mind when God commanded him to sacrifice his hope and dream - a culmination of everything he believed in God now to be relinquished in utter contradiction to logic and common sense.
But he obeyed.
And through his obedience, countless are blessed who call on God who is faithful.
More than anything else, Abraham's faith was real: it was never conceptual or ideal. It was real-ized.
His obedience was immediate. He went early next morning. Not after a week of fighting against doubt and confusion, asking his wife or friends about whether he'd heard God right.
Genesis 22:4 tells us that Moriah (where Abraham was to sacrifice his son) was a three-day journey from where he was. Three days is a long time to reconsider the sanity or insanity of his actions.
Abraham does not hesitate to obey God. His knife is on a downward plunge when the angel of the Lord stops him. And he receives as a result the greatest blessing a man could ever possess - to be "source" of blessing to other - a type and shadow of Christ's own ministry.
Interestingly, Moriah where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son is the same spot where King David built an altar and sacrificed in repentance (after having taken a census of his fighting men in Israel against God's command) when the angel of the Lord stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite after killing 70,000 Israelites.
And the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite is the exact place where David's son King Solomon built the Temple for God in 2 Chronicles 3:1.
And hundreds of years later, on that same spot, another Father offered his own Son as an atoning sacrifice for all humanity - in a place then called Golgotha.
A pastor once shared a story about a new member of his church who approached him after service upset after the service.
"Pastor," the man began his face grim, "I am very offended at this story you shared with us today about Abraham's sacrifice. How could a loving God demand such cruel sacrifice? What kind of God demands such a thing of any father?"
The pastor replied, "My brother, I am glad you are offended. Because that is what God did for us. No one stayed God's hand from allowing his own Son to be crucified. You should be offended."
It is small wonder God called Abraham His friend.
Are you a friend of God?
Can God "confide" in you as He did with Abraham in regard to Sodom and Gomorrah? Have you come to such a place as to know the very heartbeat of the Father that you would take no offense no matter what He demands of you?
--from Sunday October 1, 2006 10:00am Worship Service
Monday, September 25, 2006
Jesus in the Bible
Sixty-six books written by more than 40 authors over thousands of years, the Bible is the best selling book in the world. No other book has inspired so much love, reverence, awe, curiosity, bafflement, skepticism, resentment and hatred.
Over the centuries, people have tried to ban it for its influential ideologies, burn it for its divine claims, and dismiss it as mere literary wonder. But the Bible has survived through history of man who has attempted to use it for his social agenda, spiritual, emotional and mental manipulation, and political platform.
It contains words of a living God, and words of men and angels - both the messengers of God and of the fallen one. It recounts the beginning of men and forewarns of certainty of his end.
But more than anything else, the wonder of these 66 books is that each gives stunning revelations of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible points to Him, to His work of salvation.
In Genesis, Jesus is the Ram sacrificed in Isaac's stead;
In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb;
In Leviticus, He is the Perfect High Priest;
In Numbers, He is the Rock from which water gushed forth;
In Deuteronomy, He is the Prophet like Moses;
In Joshua, He is the Scarlet Cord on Rahab's window;
In Judges, He is our Judge & Lawgiver;
In Ruth, He is our Kinsman Redeemer;
In 1 & 2 Samuel, He is our trusted Prophet;
In 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, He is our reigning King;
In Ezra, He is our faithful Scribe;
In Nehemiah, He is the Rebuilder of everything that is broken;
In Esther, He is Mordecai sitting faithfully at the gate;
In Job, He is our Redeemer that ever liveth;
In Psalms, He is my Shepherd, I shall not want;
In Proverbs, He is Wisdom of God;
In Ecclesiastes, He is the Source to which all things return;
In the Song of Solomon, He is our Lover and Bridegroom;
In Isaiah, He is our Suffering Savior;
In Jeremiah & Lamentations, He is our weeping Prophet;
In Ezekiel, He is the Son of Man who sitteth upon the throne;
In Daniel, He is the fourth Man in the fiery furnace;
In Hosea, He is our redeeming Husband;
In Joel, He is the Spirit poured out on all flesh;
In Amos, He is our Burden Bearer;
In Obadiah, He is our Mighty Savior;
In Jonah, He like the prophet remained in death for three days;
In Micah, He is the Messenger with beautiful feet;
In Nahum, He is the Avenger of God's elect;
In Habakkuk, He is the Great Evangelist;
In Zephaniah, He is God mighty to save;
In Haggai, He is the cleansing Fountain;
In Zechariah, He takes away our fithy clothes; and,
In Malachi, He is the Lord whom we are seeking.
In Matthew, Jesus is King;
In Mark, He is the Son of Man;
In Luke, He is the Savior;
In John, He is the Son of God;
In Acts, He is the Spirit poured out on Pentecost;
In Romans, He is the Justifier;
In 1 & 2 Corinthians, He is Love personified;
In Galatians, He is the One who sets us free;
In Ephesians, He is the Christ who enriches us;
In Philippians, He is our Joy;
In Colossians, He is the Fullness of the Godhead;
In 1 & 2 Thessalonians, He is the Coming King;
In 1 & 2 Timothy, He is the Mediator between God and man;
In Titus, He is our Faithful Pastor;
In Philemon, He is our Friend, closer than a brother;
In Hebrews, He is our High Priest & Intercessor;
In James, He is the Great Physician;
In 1 & 2 Peter, He is our Comfort in suffering;
In 1, 2 & 3 John, He is Love;
In Jude, He is our Lord coming with 10,000 saints; and,
In Revelation, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Over the centuries, people have tried to ban it for its influential ideologies, burn it for its divine claims, and dismiss it as mere literary wonder. But the Bible has survived through history of man who has attempted to use it for his social agenda, spiritual, emotional and mental manipulation, and political platform.
It contains words of a living God, and words of men and angels - both the messengers of God and of the fallen one. It recounts the beginning of men and forewarns of certainty of his end.
But more than anything else, the wonder of these 66 books is that each gives stunning revelations of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible points to Him, to His work of salvation.
In Genesis, Jesus is the Ram sacrificed in Isaac's stead;
In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb;
In Leviticus, He is the Perfect High Priest;
In Numbers, He is the Rock from which water gushed forth;
In Deuteronomy, He is the Prophet like Moses;
In Joshua, He is the Scarlet Cord on Rahab's window;
In Judges, He is our Judge & Lawgiver;
In Ruth, He is our Kinsman Redeemer;
In 1 & 2 Samuel, He is our trusted Prophet;
In 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, He is our reigning King;
In Ezra, He is our faithful Scribe;
In Nehemiah, He is the Rebuilder of everything that is broken;
In Esther, He is Mordecai sitting faithfully at the gate;
In Job, He is our Redeemer that ever liveth;
In Psalms, He is my Shepherd, I shall not want;
In Proverbs, He is Wisdom of God;
In Ecclesiastes, He is the Source to which all things return;
In the Song of Solomon, He is our Lover and Bridegroom;
In Isaiah, He is our Suffering Savior;
In Jeremiah & Lamentations, He is our weeping Prophet;
In Ezekiel, He is the Son of Man who sitteth upon the throne;
In Daniel, He is the fourth Man in the fiery furnace;
In Hosea, He is our redeeming Husband;
In Joel, He is the Spirit poured out on all flesh;
In Amos, He is our Burden Bearer;
In Obadiah, He is our Mighty Savior;
In Jonah, He like the prophet remained in death for three days;
In Micah, He is the Messenger with beautiful feet;
In Nahum, He is the Avenger of God's elect;
In Habakkuk, He is the Great Evangelist;
In Zephaniah, He is God mighty to save;
In Haggai, He is the cleansing Fountain;
In Zechariah, He takes away our fithy clothes; and,
In Malachi, He is the Lord whom we are seeking.
In Matthew, Jesus is King;
In Mark, He is the Son of Man;
In Luke, He is the Savior;
In John, He is the Son of God;
In Acts, He is the Spirit poured out on Pentecost;
In Romans, He is the Justifier;
In 1 & 2 Corinthians, He is Love personified;
In Galatians, He is the One who sets us free;
In Ephesians, He is the Christ who enriches us;
In Philippians, He is our Joy;
In Colossians, He is the Fullness of the Godhead;
In 1 & 2 Thessalonians, He is the Coming King;
In 1 & 2 Timothy, He is the Mediator between God and man;
In Titus, He is our Faithful Pastor;
In Philemon, He is our Friend, closer than a brother;
In Hebrews, He is our High Priest & Intercessor;
In James, He is the Great Physician;
In 1 & 2 Peter, He is our Comfort in suffering;
In 1, 2 & 3 John, He is Love;
In Jude, He is our Lord coming with 10,000 saints; and,
In Revelation, Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords!
Monday, September 18, 2006
mission: a heart after God
This is the last of the four-part message on the Mission of Nakwon EM.
You can clik on each slide to see a larger version.
Our English Ministry will support the Gospel for Asia, an international native missionary support organization founded by K.P. Yohannan.
The excerpts I've shared about the realities of missions today can be read free online from Brother K.P's book, Revolution in World Missions, a very powerful and convicting book on missions. You will be astonished and blessed reading about how God can raise up one man in his poverty and hardship, and used him (and is still using him) for His work of saving the lost.
The first "Great Wave" or Movement among Christians was during the New Testament times ushered in by the outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
The Second Wave is recognized as during the time of William Carey whose pioneering work set aflame a flood of world missions in the 19th and 20th century.
The Third Wave which many missionaries and international missions organizations are recognizing is the Native Missionary Movement, in which through foreign financial support, native men and women are sent in as missionaries to their own people - a movement that has been proven far more effective than any foreign missionary endeavors.
As the Presentation showed, thousands die every day without ever having heard the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
K.P. Yohannan put it this way: each pulse we feel in our wrists - that represents someone in Asia dying without having heard the Gospel even once, condemned to eternal hell.
That is a shocking and heart-rending reality.
Even as believers, we live in such luxury and self-indulgence, having little or no experience of ever being persecuted for our faith, compared to millions in the 10/40 Window who must live in less than habitable conditions, suffering for their simple declaration of love for Jesus.
May our hearts beat with the heart of our Savior who has commissioned us to go into the world with His Gospel.
Our situation may not allow us to pack our bags and catch the next flight to Bombay, but we can reach out in different ways: prayer, for one, and most importantly; but also through financial support of native missionaries in organizations like Gospel for Asia where men and women actually suffer physical persecution for their service to God.
-from September 17th Sunday 10am EM Service
You can clik on each slide to see a larger version.
Our English Ministry will support the Gospel for Asia, an international native missionary support organization founded by K.P. Yohannan.
The excerpts I've shared about the realities of missions today can be read free online from Brother K.P's book, Revolution in World Missions, a very powerful and convicting book on missions. You will be astonished and blessed reading about how God can raise up one man in his poverty and hardship, and used him (and is still using him) for His work of saving the lost.
The first "Great Wave" or Movement among Christians was during the New Testament times ushered in by the outpouring and infilling of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
The Second Wave is recognized as during the time of William Carey whose pioneering work set aflame a flood of world missions in the 19th and 20th century.
The Third Wave which many missionaries and international missions organizations are recognizing is the Native Missionary Movement, in which through foreign financial support, native men and women are sent in as missionaries to their own people - a movement that has been proven far more effective than any foreign missionary endeavors.
As the Presentation showed, thousands die every day without ever having heard the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
K.P. Yohannan put it this way: each pulse we feel in our wrists - that represents someone in Asia dying without having heard the Gospel even once, condemned to eternal hell.
That is a shocking and heart-rending reality.
Even as believers, we live in such luxury and self-indulgence, having little or no experience of ever being persecuted for our faith, compared to millions in the 10/40 Window who must live in less than habitable conditions, suffering for their simple declaration of love for Jesus.
May our hearts beat with the heart of our Savior who has commissioned us to go into the world with His Gospel.
Our situation may not allow us to pack our bags and catch the next flight to Bombay, but we can reach out in different ways: prayer, for one, and most importantly; but also through financial support of native missionaries in organizations like Gospel for Asia where men and women actually suffer physical persecution for their service to God.
-from September 17th Sunday 10am EM Service
the simpler answer...where is the Tabernacle?
I reread the question and I realized, the inquirer is young, so here is a simpler answer to the question of the whereabouts or the discovery of the orginal Tabernacle:
No. No one has come so far claiming to have found the real Tabernacle.
It was built around the time of Moses and though it was carried into the Promised Land of Canaan during the time of Joshua nearly forty years after it was built in the desert, during the time of the judges in which the Israelites were mostly fallen away from God, at some point the Tabernacle is no longer mentioned, but only the Ark of the Covenant which was placed into the First Temple ever built - the more permanent Tabernacle built with beautiful and costly Lebanon wood, stones, gold and other costly materials by King Solomon in 950 B.C.
However, the Temple, a more extravagant version of the Tabernacle, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., its furnishings and costly things all carried away to Babylon just as God had told the people through His prophets.
We have no record of the Ark ever returning to the Land of Israel, though we know the temple was rebuilt many years later.
No. No one has come so far claiming to have found the real Tabernacle.
It was built around the time of Moses and though it was carried into the Promised Land of Canaan during the time of Joshua nearly forty years after it was built in the desert, during the time of the judges in which the Israelites were mostly fallen away from God, at some point the Tabernacle is no longer mentioned, but only the Ark of the Covenant which was placed into the First Temple ever built - the more permanent Tabernacle built with beautiful and costly Lebanon wood, stones, gold and other costly materials by King Solomon in 950 B.C.
However, the Temple, a more extravagant version of the Tabernacle, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., its furnishings and costly things all carried away to Babylon just as God had told the people through His prophets.
We have no record of the Ark ever returning to the Land of Israel, though we know the temple was rebuilt many years later.
where is the Tabernacle?
An interesting question in regard to the Tabernacle was raised, and I started writing out a response in the comment section, but I realized it was getting too long, so I think it more practical and helpful to post it:
The question was: "Did they ever find the Tabernacle?" And I am understanding that as in the original Tabernacle the Israelites built during the time of Moses.
That is an interesting question: one I have not heard so far in regard to the Tabernacle.
People tend to be far more interested in finding Noah's Ark...
In any case, to my knowledge, the answer is No, the Tabernacle was never found - not even a piece of it.
The Bible gives no record as to what happened to the real Tabernacle the Israelites had built during the time of Moses.
Immediately after entering Canaan, the promised land under Joshua (Moses's successor), the Tabernacle was located at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19), and the area of Shechem and Mount Ebal (Joshua 8:30-33).
The Tabernacle was then established firmly at Shiloh for many years (Joshua 18:1-10), continuing through all the period of the Judges.
Because of their sinful behavior, God allowed the Israelites to be defeated at Shiloh, at which time the Ark was captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:3,11). It was at this point that the Ark and the original Tabernacle parted company for many months, perhaps permanently.
When the Ark was recovered from the Philistines 7 months later (1 Samuel 6:1-2), it was taken to Abinadab's house in Kiriath Jearim (1 Samuel 6:19-7:1).
Although the Ark is again mentioned in the Tabernacle of The Lord when it was later relocated at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39), there is some doubt as to whether it was the original Tabernacle.
When the Ark was later moved to Jerusalem by King David (2 Samuel 6:1-2), after temporarily staying in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite (2 Samuel 6:6-17), it was just placed "inside the tent that David had pitched for it."
Even if the original Tabernacle had survived to Gibeon, it obviously hadn't made it to Jerusalem - otherwise, David would almost certainly have used it.
Later, the Ark was placed in the new Temple that was built in the time of King Solomon around 950 B.C. (later destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.) which was a lavish (and definitely more permanent) version of the Tabernacle with wood, stone, gold and costly materials during his prosperous reign.
I think it's safe to assume that the perishable portions of the Tabernacle, especially the ropes, cloths, and wooden parts along with leather (animal skins for covering of the Tabernacle) most likely wore out over the centuries and the Levites who were in charge of the Tabernale probably stored it away somewhere.
But since Solomon had built a more "permanent" place of worship and sacrifice for the Israelites, the original components of the tabernacle (whichever actually survived the times) were most likely forgotten and perhaps even lost and abandoned (except the ark).
I don't know of anyone who has ever made an archaelogical discovery of the Tabernacle or even the Ark of the Covenant, though some have come forward for discovery of Noak's Ark.
And most likely the reason for that is there are many who doubt the historical accuracy of the Great Flood during Noah's times and so the Christian Archaelogists are eager for some discovery that would confirm such catastrophic event thousands of years ago, whereas no one doubts the existence of the Tabernacle - deeply rooted in Jewish history (though some may doubt glory of God coming down in cloud or fire, etc).
No one questions that the Israelites had built a Tabernacle for their God. That in itself doesn't challenge anyone's beliefs, whether he or she be a foreign god worshiper or an atheist. But it matters a great deal that a Great judgmental Flood destroyed every breathing thing on earth including sinful men by God.
Whew! That was a long-winded answer!
I know - the answer was way too long, but before anyone is impressed I could find all the references, I cheated and got most of the reference portion of my response from an internet source. Thank God for www!
But it is interesting to read the book of the Judges which gives a tragic yet comic history of the Israelites who in their fallen state completely missed the whole purpose and meaning of the Ark of the Covenant and viewed it only as a means for worldly victory and protection from harm (as if just "having" it in their possession meant they were in favor with God), instead of the means by which God desired to communicate, govern and relate to His chosen people.
Hope this helps!
The question was: "Did they ever find the Tabernacle?" And I am understanding that as in the original Tabernacle the Israelites built during the time of Moses.
That is an interesting question: one I have not heard so far in regard to the Tabernacle.
People tend to be far more interested in finding Noah's Ark...
In any case, to my knowledge, the answer is No, the Tabernacle was never found - not even a piece of it.
The Bible gives no record as to what happened to the real Tabernacle the Israelites had built during the time of Moses.
Immediately after entering Canaan, the promised land under Joshua (Moses's successor), the Tabernacle was located at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19), and the area of Shechem and Mount Ebal (Joshua 8:30-33).
The Tabernacle was then established firmly at Shiloh for many years (Joshua 18:1-10), continuing through all the period of the Judges.
Because of their sinful behavior, God allowed the Israelites to be defeated at Shiloh, at which time the Ark was captured by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:3,11). It was at this point that the Ark and the original Tabernacle parted company for many months, perhaps permanently.
When the Ark was recovered from the Philistines 7 months later (1 Samuel 6:1-2), it was taken to Abinadab's house in Kiriath Jearim (1 Samuel 6:19-7:1).
Although the Ark is again mentioned in the Tabernacle of The Lord when it was later relocated at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39), there is some doubt as to whether it was the original Tabernacle.
When the Ark was later moved to Jerusalem by King David (2 Samuel 6:1-2), after temporarily staying in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite (2 Samuel 6:6-17), it was just placed "inside the tent that David had pitched for it."
Even if the original Tabernacle had survived to Gibeon, it obviously hadn't made it to Jerusalem - otherwise, David would almost certainly have used it.
Later, the Ark was placed in the new Temple that was built in the time of King Solomon around 950 B.C. (later destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.) which was a lavish (and definitely more permanent) version of the Tabernacle with wood, stone, gold and costly materials during his prosperous reign.
I think it's safe to assume that the perishable portions of the Tabernacle, especially the ropes, cloths, and wooden parts along with leather (animal skins for covering of the Tabernacle) most likely wore out over the centuries and the Levites who were in charge of the Tabernale probably stored it away somewhere.
But since Solomon had built a more "permanent" place of worship and sacrifice for the Israelites, the original components of the tabernacle (whichever actually survived the times) were most likely forgotten and perhaps even lost and abandoned (except the ark).
I don't know of anyone who has ever made an archaelogical discovery of the Tabernacle or even the Ark of the Covenant, though some have come forward for discovery of Noak's Ark.
And most likely the reason for that is there are many who doubt the historical accuracy of the Great Flood during Noah's times and so the Christian Archaelogists are eager for some discovery that would confirm such catastrophic event thousands of years ago, whereas no one doubts the existence of the Tabernacle - deeply rooted in Jewish history (though some may doubt glory of God coming down in cloud or fire, etc).
No one questions that the Israelites had built a Tabernacle for their God. That in itself doesn't challenge anyone's beliefs, whether he or she be a foreign god worshiper or an atheist. But it matters a great deal that a Great judgmental Flood destroyed every breathing thing on earth including sinful men by God.
Whew! That was a long-winded answer!
I know - the answer was way too long, but before anyone is impressed I could find all the references, I cheated and got most of the reference portion of my response from an internet source. Thank God for www!
But it is interesting to read the book of the Judges which gives a tragic yet comic history of the Israelites who in their fallen state completely missed the whole purpose and meaning of the Ark of the Covenant and viewed it only as a means for worldly victory and protection from harm (as if just "having" it in their possession meant they were in favor with God), instead of the means by which God desired to communicate, govern and relate to His chosen people.
Hope this helps!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
revival - most holy place
The Ark of the Covenant was to be made also with acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It was not a huge box, and in fact insignificant in size or perhaps even shape, except it was where the glory of the Lord came down and rested upon the Atonement Cover (or called Mercy Seat) where two gold-carved cherubims sat amidst God's very presence.
This is where God met with His people.
And this is where God meets the praying believer.
The Most Holy Place is where we hear the very voice of God, that still small voice. And it does not happen the moment we begin praying, just as the High Priest could not enter the Most Holy Place without having gone through the entire procedure starting from the entrance to the courtyard.
Pastor Kim taught of various ways God speaks to His people.
She emphasized that literal, audible voice of God is very rare, and more often than not the voice of the devil enticing us through confusion. Perhaps once or twice in a person's life will he or she ever hear the audible voice of God.
Mostly, God speaks to us through different means such as the Word of God, through our conscience, through other people's exhortations, and through prayer or praise.
The more earnestly we seek to hear the voice of God, unhindered by our preferences and prejudices, the more clearly we can hear His voice. Our willingness is the key issue. Are we prepared to obey Him no matter what He says?
Many believers have walked difficult paths because they "heard God wrong."
God is always speaking to us. But so is the devil.
The Accuser of the brethren is always out to confuse and torment us, to keep us away from seeking and finding the truth, to hearing God's voice.
But we will find that when we come before God without personal agendas, selfish, impure motives or desires, we will hear from the very heart of God in that Most Holy Place.
Prayer brings us to the very presence of God. It is a place where our boasts will sound flat in our own ears, our confidence melts in the presence of a humble God who gave up everything to make us His own. No one can boast and be cocky in His presence. Anyone who has entered that awesome presence will tell you: You don't thumb your nose in God's presence; you bow your head and fall on your knees.
May we enter His presence daily with a heart full of confidence in what Jesus has done - making a way for us to approach our Maker and King!
revival - altar of incense
In Exodus 30:1-10, God instructed Moses to build an altar about waist high and gave specific instruction as to how He wanted to maintained.
The incense was to be burned every morning and at twilight.
Three times in the book of Revelation (5:8, 8:3, 8:4), incense is referred to as prayers of the saints.
The High Priest entered the Most Holy only once every year on the Day of Atonement and only with the blood of the sacrificial animal.
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD. The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. (Leviticus 16:1-2)
Before he would enter, the High Priest would light the incense and take it just at the bottom of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place and allow it to fill the Most Holy Place with smoke so thick, it would veil the Ark of the Covenant, the only object in the small square room. Then and only then would the High Priest dare enter the Most Holy Place.
The incense (prayers) opened the way to the holy presence of the Living God. It was true then. It is true now.
Notice also God's specific instruction that they were never to bring their own concocted potion for incense (Exodus 30:34-38).
When coming before God, we are not to come with our own notion of holiness, our own prejudiced understanding of God. And most especially, we are to approach Him with pure motive and sincere heart that is broken and contrite in His way, willing to be broken His way, not as we prefer or think.
Leviticus 10:1-3 records tragic deaths of Aaron's two sons, Nadab and Abihu because they burned an unauthorized incense fire before the Lord. They were consumed by the "fire from the Lord."
We take so lightly today this approaching the Throne of Grace. Jesus did not make a way for us to approach our Holy God so we could come with arrogant impudence.
No. The same holy God to whom the children of Israel approached with trembling fear is the one whom we serve and know. I think we could do a lot today with a healthy dosage of holy fear in coming to our Heavenly Father.
Yes, there are moments when God feels so close, I can talk to Him about anything and even laugh and joke with Him (God has a great sense of humor, by the way, in case some of you never thought of that - He has made me laugh until tears came out of my eyes with his humor), but it ought never been forgotten that He is our awesome Creator, so holy and pure that He cannot look on evil. And no matter how "close" we feel with Him, we are not on the same "level" as Him. I am amazed at how much impudence God puts up from His children us.
But no man who stands before God can ever stand for long. He will soon fall on his knees before His holy presence. I don't know of any character in the Bible, from kings to slaves) who was able to stand before God (in both sense of the word).
We serve a holy God, who expects nothing less than our best, and then some.
It is when we are in awe of His presence, our prayers like incense rising to cloud the Ark of the Covenant, that we now enter the Most Holy Presence.
...to be continued...
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