Just over 20 years ago I was invited down to Oamaru to help out my friend with the system at the confectionery factory he was working at. On his recommendation, we took the detoured route back to Christchurch via the sky blue lakes of Central Otago and stopped at what became my favourite place in New Zealand at Lake Tekapo. He told us the "Church of the Lonely Shepherd" was a must see and so it was. The view to Mt Cook is stunning.
Of course it is the Church of the Good Shepherd, although he was on the right track because the job of a Shepherd can be a very lonely one. Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd in John 10. As usual, those listening to Jesus didn't know what he meant.
1 “Anyone refusing to walk through the gate into a sheepfold, who sneaks over the wall, must surely be a thief!
2 For a shepherd comes through the gate.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 He walks ahead of them; and they follow him, for they recognize his voice.
5 They won’t follow a stranger but will run from him, for they don’t recognize his voice.”
6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,
7 so he explained it to them. “I am the Gate for the sheep,” he said.
8 “All others who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.
9 Yes, I am the Gate. Those who come in by way of the Gate will be saved and will go in and out and find green pastures.
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
11 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 A hired man will run when he sees a wolf coming and will leave the sheep, for they aren’t his and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf leaps on them and scatters the flock.
13 The hired man runs because he is hired and has no real concern for the sheep.
14 “I am the Good Shepherd and know my own sheep, and they know me,
15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 I have other sheep, too, in another fold. I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice; and there will be one flock with one Shepherd.
17 “The Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may have it back again.
18 No one can kill me without my consent—I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right and power to lay it down when I want to and also the right and power to take it again. For the Father has given me this right.”
19 When he said these things, the Jewish leaders were again divided in their opinions about him.
20 Some of them said, “He has a demon or else is crazy. Why listen to a man like that?”
21 Others said, “This doesn’t sound to us like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of blind men?”
When we think of a shepherd In New Zealand, we think of green grass fields, beautiful countryside, mountains and lakes. We know it's hard work, up before the dawn, sheep shearing, docking, ensuring the sheep are well looked after in every season but we know it's a beautiful country so that more than compensates. But in Israel, the work of a shepherd was dangerous. Apart from the bandits, there were the wolves and lions and bears to contend with. A Good Shepherd was prepared to put his life on the line for the sheep.
It shouldn't have been hard for the people to understand what Jesus meant. Their history told them of David, the shepherd boy who became the King of Israel. Being a shepherd was the perfect training for the role. From guarding the sheep to guarding the nation. The Kings position is just like being a Shepherd.
The Lord had rejected Saul as King of Israel because he hadn't fully obeyed the Lord's command to kill even the Amalekite cattle, he had kept them he said for sacrifice to the Lord, although this was doubtful. He was the Bad Shepherd leading the sheep astray. How easy it is for a leader to go off track! In the role of King, it was Saul's duty to obey the King of Kings but he hadn't done it, a sobre warning to every church pastor or elder. What kind of message are we sending to the flock? We survive as leaders because of God's grace not because we are worthy of the position. God chose David a mere shepherd boy to replace Saul. It also says the Spirit of God never left David. We know later in life that David made some serious mistakes and was afraid that the Spirit would leave him as it had left Saul. Why did the Spirit leave Saul and not David? We don't fully know the answer to that question. We can guess that David's intention was to follow the Lord and to look after the people but we are somewhat guessing. We can only thank God for the grace we have in Jesus but we should never take it for granted.
On a positive note, when Samuel anointed David, the Spirit of God came upon him and gave him great power. He was now a super-charged Shepherd fit for King!
I had to laugh last week we went to the movies to see Jack Reacher. While there, I gazed around at the upcoming movies and I saw "Coming Soon... The Accountant!" Accountants of the World your day has finally come! There was Ben Affleck holding a machine gun... and I imagined him saying "Leave then beans alone". When the Spirit of God comes on a person, they are transformed from what they were before into a superhero for the Kingdom of Heaven : )
We underestimate someone based on what their job is or what they look like. God looks on the heart. If he anoints someone for a work, if his Spirit is with them, it doesn't matter what they look like or who they are in Society, watch out they will do amazing stuff!
David the Shepherd King, a picture of the coming Messiah, the Good Shepherd. Now see the transformation of David. A good musician also, now David was able to chase evil spirits away just by playing music. And he wrote so many Psalms! That is the difference the Spirit of God makes.
The Shepherd is made good, great even by the Spirit of God. We cannot do God's work without that transformation.
The Good Shepherd is prepared to lay down his life for the sheep. Being a Shepherd has this cutting edge, it is not always a passive role. During the day the sheep can roam freely, but at night they must be brought in and guarded. The thief and the wolves come at night. When a sheep goes astray, the Good Shepherd makes sure the others are safe then goes looking for the one. He cares especially for the one lost sheep.
After being anointed the first thing David receives is the instruction from his father to take some food to his brothers at the battlefield. That small request was about to take on gigantic proportions. We don't always know what's behind some of the small things that God asks us to do. David sensed the opportunity and was excited with the possibilities! He didn't think about serving up lunch to his big brothers. He was honoured to be going to the battle!
David rose early to do what his father asked - he was motivated, he couldn't wait to get there! But notice he made sure his sheep were looked after first - the Good Shepherd. Just because God has given us a step-up in responsibilities doesn't mean we can neglect the small stuff. That has to be taken care of too!
David arrives at the battlefield just as the Israelite soldiers are heading out shouting out their battle cries. It all looks good until... Goliath stepped forward. We can be brave in our heads but we have to be brave in our hearts.
David's heart was settled. He knew God was with him. His palms weren't sweating, he was as cool as a cucumber. David could see the big ugly bear on one side of the valley and all the frightened sheep on the other and he steps up to the plate completely confident not in himself but in the Spirit of God.
The enemy is big, intimidating, flashy and boastful. Goliath preys on the Israelites fears and reminds them of their weaknesses and that they were slaves, amounting to nothing. This is Satan's ploy. He wants us to think we are worthless, nothings, slaves to sin unable to break free. He is lying. Romans 8:37 says "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us".
David's brother Eliab looked down on him and told him to go back to minding the sheep because that was all he was good for. He didn't even trust David's judgment to find a good person to leave in charge of the sheep. Eliab was seeing David as just a young boy, jealous that it was David who had been anointed as King and not himself. He couldn't believe his bratty youngest brother was the one God had chosen. He didn't recognise the moment that the young Shepherd was becoming King.
David had to turn his back on his brother. Sometimes Gods path for us is a lonely one. My friend wasn't completely wrong to call him the Lonely Shepherd.
David expressed his confidence to the other soldier because he knew he could kill Goliath just as he killed the other wild animals. He knew the Lord was with him. No doubt he remembered the story of Samson. Samson was given like Jesus to be the saviour of Israel from the Philistines. Samson killed the lion when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him - it was a sign the Lord was with him. David knew the Lord was with him when he was able to kill the lion and the bear.
Saul, mind you was defeatist, lacking faith. He didn't know it but was handing over the kingship when he gave David permission to do battle. It should have been Saul! But David wasn't going to fight like Saul, he was going to fight like David however unorthodox that appeared : )
David puts the stones in his Shepherds Bag - The Good Shepherd had left his flock and was going to fight for his Nation. Goliath judged David as a nothing, a non-threat, he had made the classic mistake.
David came in the name of the Living God - Jesus. When David spoke, he boasted in the Lord - his confidence was in God, not himself, but he was extremely confident.
David killed Goliath with just a sling and a stone - how easy it is for our God to remove our enemies!
David was a nobody but suddenly he was a somebody - everyone wanted to know who he was. He had been transformed from Shepherd to King in that moment.
David wasn't a perfect person as we all know. Neither was Samson. If you examine anyone closely you will find flaws just like Samson, David, Moses, Abraham - they were all flawed in some way. But Jesus wasn't flawed, he was perfect.
He is a judge just like Samson he is a mighty warrior and good Shepherd just like David. His face shines like Moses, he is perfect in obedience to the law, he is like Abraham, the father of many stars impossible to count.
I hope that when you look at my life you see Jesus, something of him. Same for all of us I'm sure. Not just an Accountant, A Mechanic, A Teacher, A Secretary, A Nurse.... Remove all the imperfection and you will see the face of God, you will see Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
Where does the story of the Good Shepherd end in the Bible? As I said, there is a cutting edge. In the end there are the sheep and the goat nations. The sheep heard Jesus voice and responded in obedience to him and followed him. But the goats went their own way and were lost. The Good Shepherd calls a whole flock, a whole nation and I believe there are many he is calling to follow him. Will I go? Will I lay down my life for those Sheep? How will they respond?
I saw all the fortress cities of Brittany lit up in the night with fire, with their gates open - Rennes, Vannes, St Malo, Mt Saint Michel. Concarneau and even Fougères must have been there as Brittany was ablaze with light. The Good Shepherd walks in through every gate because he has the keys! The sheep had been safely guarded up to that moment and now the Shepherd has arrived for his flock!
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18
It's been a little while but I want to resume the series on the Evidence for God. A lot of people say there is no evidence for God. I say there is plenty of evidence so I will present it and you decide for yourself!
Today, Proof 8: Life After Death Accounts.
Two separate recent studies by German and British scientists claim to have proved life after death.
The German scientists stated that everyone experiences life after death.
The studies are not really new. Faced with significant testimonial evidence of both Near Death Experience's (NDE's) and Out of Body Experiences (OBE's), Scientists have attempted to explain what happens when we die. Their conclusion is that the brain is sending it's last few signals before it shuts down forever.
If so, Science can only prove what happens in the few minutes after clinical death. Science by it's own admission cannot prove what happens when the brain shuts down forever, the assumption is nothing happens.
I'm sure most of us have thought about what happens when we die. It is the great unknown but these accounts do give a glimpse that something lies ahead for each one of us.
Death is a reality we cannot escape. Some of us think we look good for our age but inevitably we will grow old and die. Less than 50% of people worldwide live to be 70. In NZ we have an 80% chance apparently. That day is not too far away for some of us ; )
For me, I look at Nature for the evidence. Spring follows Winter. A great tree grows from a tiny seed. A caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. A desert is transformed into a garden. What looks dead comes back to life under the right conditions.
If you are interested, I recommend you watch New Zealander Ian McCormack give his testimony of a NDE on the 700 Club.
Last week we looked at fasting, one of the secret weapons that we can use for the war we are embroiled in. Big things happen in the spiritual realm when we fast - it is one of the ways God approves for connecting the physical and spiritual realms.
This week we are going to look at the 2nd secret weapon of prayer.
And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.
Matthew 6:5-6
Isn't it interesting that Jesus emphasised the secret to prayer is secrecy? We think that prayer effectiveness is proportional to the number of people present but Jesus says the only people that need to be present at a prayer meeting are you and God. We are not seeking the attention of people, only God. God is the one who moves mountains.
Fasting and Prayer combined are an explosive combination and we are living in a time where we need to push back the darkness like never before. This is not the time to be playing Pokemon Go. This is the time to get serious and engage with the real enemy.
At the end of the 40 days fighting Satan in the desert, Jesus entered in to his ministry. Jesus makes the Declaration of War in the Temple that the year of Jubilee had arrived; “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18-19
Shortly after, he gave his Sermon on the Mount during which he taught how to pray. By comparing the Gospel accounts in Luke and Matthew, it seems as though he was responding to a question from one of the disciples on how to pray. They had been observing the miracles that he had been doing and they could see Jesus had a hotline to God, a power that had never been seen before. Huge crowds were following Jesus and they wanted to know his secret.
Let's say the Lord's Prayer out loud. I've used the old version because this is the one I remember best. Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
The recent experience being tempted by the Devil was fresh in Jesus's mind and you can hear that in the prayer.
There were 3 temptations Jesus faced and the response lines from the prayer are in brackets;
To turn stones to bread ("Give us this day our daily bread")
To throw himself from the temple so the angels would save him ("Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil")
To receive all the kingdoms of the world if he would worship the Devil ("Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven")
No wonder then, having experienced the most difficult life and death struggle himself, Jesus taught his disciples to pray "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil".
In essence the Lord’s Prayer is one for Spiritual Warfare.
When Jesus began his ministry, the fight really began. While we are sitting comfortably, the Devil will gently rock our chairs. But once we determine to take the Gospel to the World, we experience the same opposition that Jesus faced. Soon after Jesus started his ministry, John the Baptist was arrested and put in prison. What a great discouragement it would have been to Jesus. Don't be surprised at an immediate attack! So Jesus with strength and courage, takes up the work of John and goes out proclaiming John’s message “Turn from sin and turn to God for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”. And at the same time he begins healing every kind of sickness including demonic possession. This isn’t Jesus just being nice. He is rolling back the Darkness, chasing the Devil out of town. Taking the land back for God. We can't do that without engaging in Spiritual Warfare. We need to fast and pray.
This Spiritual Warfare continued all the way to the Cross at Calvary.
As with fasting, prayer needs to be from the heart to be effective. If we don't feel it emotionally then it will most likely be less effective. You know that family member or friend who is living their life apart from God and it's breaking your heart? You are afraid for them, you have cried many times for them. Keep letting Jesus know about those ones in prayer, it's not for nothing they are on your heart. Don't give up on them! On July 3rd 2009, the Lord told me to share the Gospel with my colleague who was leaving that day to return overseas and who I thought I would never see again. So I went out at lunchtime and bought a copy of John's Gospel and gave it to them. I'm still waiting... The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18
Everything Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer is a foundation, a guide for effective prayer. Jesus wasn't giving a magic formula nor giving the details of what to pray in every situation faced. Instead he sets the foundation blocks like the good builder he is.
The first part of the prayer is about our relationship with God and who He is. Quite often we start off our prayers with what we want forgetting that the most important thing to God is our relationship with Him.
Our Father - he's our Dad, he loves us. He's a good Father. He wants us to grow up and be successful in life, in our relationships, in our character. To do our best. to avoid foolishness and evil. He wants us to be wise, strong, beautiful and popular for all the right reasons. He wants us to fulfill our potential, to be healthy, blessed, fulfilled in our dreams but to do more than we could ever dream of. To have a good reputation. To leave behind goodness and a legacy to be proud of. To be courageous and stand up for what's right. To be faithful and true. To be hardworking, to have a strong foundation for the storms of life. To be filled with joy and to always have love. But if we're not on track for all of that we can expect some "correction" from Dad. Because he loves us!
Who is in Heaven - He's the Rock, a strong and mighty tower. A safe refuge. Heaven, that place where there is only peace and beauty and goodness and no evil. He is not susceptible to the troubles of the World, he can see everything clearly and he knows what we are facing, what we should do and where we should go. He is ruling over everything, every evil principality and power and every situation we are in. And he has untold number of angels at his command to protect us and guide us. A NZ citizen can appeal to the Privy Council if they face an injustice but we are heavenly citizens and we can appeal to the highest Authority there is but more than that, we are the kids of the King!
Hallowed be your Name - Let the mention of your name bring a hush. The demons are afraid of the name of Jesus. May everyone shut their mouths and stand in awe of you. When people look at us, let them be reminded who we represent. Don't let people use your name like a curse word, let them realise who you are.
Your Kingdom come - Your Kingdom come whether we are ready or not. May your power be demonstrated to the World so that nobody can deny you. When your Kingdom comes, people are going to tremble and fall to their knees and on their faces but let it be so! Let the earth shake. Do your healing and miracles so that the people will discover you are real.
Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven - Down here people follow all kinds of different rules and philosophies. Some follow a strict religion. Some just live by the "golden rule". Some people do whatever they like as long it doesn't hurt anyone else. Some do what they whatever want and don't care for how it affects everyone else! Some "Just Do It". Some are just looking after No.1. And down here there is one big mess! No-one has it all together, we're all a bit screwed up. But you are the Way, the Truth and the Life. You made us and you know what's best for us. If only we could do what you want and not what we want. Then we would have Heaven and not Hell on Earth.
Then after getting our priorities in prayer straight we can move on to what we need!
Give us today our Daily Bread - The Lord's Prayer is for the morning, asking provision for the day ahead. It is looking forward not backwards. This verse has a direct connection to the first temptation Jesus faced in the desert. We trust that God will provide even in the leanest of times because he is Jehovah Jireh. There is also more to life than our physical needs. We don't live by bread alone but by obedience to God's Word, doing his will on Earth as it is in Heaven. Doing God’s will satisfies us.
And forgive us our debts - Only the person who is owed the debt can forgive us. Jesus knew the day we were saved, it wouldn't be the last time we sinned so it's in his prayer! So many debts! Now God is our Father so we're not talking about things particularly. God doesn't give us something for a favour. He gives out of love. But there is a kind of debt in love. A feeling that you need to repay love with love. Because if we just take, take, take the giver can begin to feel they are being taken for granted. Those are the debts we have to God our Father and we can never repay them. Do we realise how much we owe Jesus for what he gave to us? That is our greatest debt.
As we forgive our debtors - The people who owe us something! Those debts we find a bit easier to remember don't we! We gave them something and they never gave it back. Or we did something for them and they never even thanked us for it. They took us for granted. Or they hurt us. Now we're holding a grudge and we don't like them and are angry with them. We need to forgive them that debt. We need to let it go. We can, if we remember that God has forgiven us a much greater debt!
The year of Jubilee was the year all debts were forgiven. It came once every 50 years! And with Jubilee came a promise of a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy. Instead of your shame you shall have double honour,
and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
Isaiah 61:7
In one of his parables, Jesus tells the story of the dishonest accountant who knew he was about to lose his job. So he goes around tearing up the contracts between his employer and his customers, writing down the debts in order to win some friends for when he is unemployed. Cancelling someone's debt can be the smart thing to do!
And do not lead us into temptation - As we saw last week, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by Satan. But Jesus encourages us to pray not to be tempted. Knowing our frailty, that is a very good thing for us to pray! Is there any weakness we have, any place we should avoid so we don't get tempted to do evil? When we are engaged in Spiritual Warfare, one of Satan's key weapons is temptation. Jesus is encouraging us to pray against Satan's weapon, to neutralise it. We need to anticipate when he is going to use it before we are in the heat of a battle!
But deliver us from the Evil One - Not just on a personal level, but our Nation, our World. We are unable to escape on our own from the grip of the Evil One. If we are trapped in our sin, the Lord is able to deliver us, Jesus paid the price for every sin to set us free. If we are in an evil situation through no fault of our own as were the Israelites in slavery in Egypt we can cry out as they did to the Lord to deliver us. He sent Moses and delivered them with many miracles and he can do the same for us through Jesus. We can be delivered from ISIS if we will cry out in prayer!
Speak out the Lord's Prayer and what each line means to you at this moment in your life.
In school I was hopeless at Chemistry. I could never get those chemical equations. An easy one to remember is H20. When two hydrogen's and an oxygen share electrons via covalent bonds, a water molecule is formed. However a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen can be explosive with just a spark. Even though I was clueless at Chemistry, we had quite a lot of fun in Science which I was reminded of watching this video explaining a chemical reaction involving hydrogen. Spot the Schoolboy, spot the Scientist!
Fasting and Sorrow
Today Fasting is in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, fasting is primarily associated with sorrow. The Old Testament had only one commanded fast, which is on the Day of Atonement, one of the 7 festivals of the Lord in Leviticus 23. If you read Leviticus 16, you will discover that the Day of Atonement was a day commanded for fasting. All other fasts were voluntary.
Interestingly the Day of Atonement is the only sad festival of the 7 and perhaps shouldn't be called a festival more a funeral! All the others have either feasting or music or both. The Day of Atonement was the day of sacrifice for sin and was a day for sorrow and repentance. We have an advantage in that Christ has fulfilled the Day of Atonement once and for all. We're not under any law to fast, it is not compulsory because Jesus has fulfilled the law for us.
So why did the the people fast in the Old Testament apart from on the Day of Atonement? In summary, we can say that the other voluntary times of fasting expressed a mournful, urgent seeking of God in distressing circumstances. Consider some illustrations;
2 Samuel 12: 16-18: David fasted and wept for his dying child.
Esther 4:3, 16: The Jews fasted when threatened with extermination at the hands of Haman.
Jonah 3:6-10: Nineveh fasted when Jonah pronounced judgment on them.
Notice the common thread from those examples. Those who were fasting were faced with extreme circumstances of impending death or God’s imminent judgment. Greatly distressed and conscious of their utter helplessness, they suspended their normal eating habits in an urgent, extraordinary seeking of God who alone could deliver them from their distress. Fasting appeals to God's mercy and compassion in times of uncommon anguish. Not unlike the current times we live in I would add!
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.
Joel 2:12-13
In other words, their fasting naturally flowed from profound spiritual urgency. It was not a ritual. Fasting was an outward expression of the inward reality of a broken heart. In fact fasting is a natural state when we are suffering. When we are sick or sad we lose our appetite.
On March 9th 2011 not long after the second Christchurch earthquake, I started on Lent for the first time. I was desperately seeking a breakthrough in my friends life for them to find faith in Jesus. You may have a family member or friend who is following their own way and is lost from God and this is making you very sad. This was my motivation for starting. In fact I am still waiting but in the intervening years I've been on a remarkable journey that has led me to Valencia and Brittany and I believe exciting things lie ahead if I persevere. At times I have wanted to give up thinking it's too hard or else I'm crazy. However, every time I've been at the point of my greatest discouragement, I am reminded of God's promise and that gives me the strength to carry on.
In many ways Lent is Old Testament and religious in that it is scheduled. If we do something merely to tick a box then our heart won't be in it, our faith will be very low and the results will be unsurprisingly next to nothing. However, many of us do have some sorrow for the way things are. It may be personal sin or struggle of some kind, it may be a lost family member or friend, it may be the sadness we see in the daily events around the world. With that sorrow we can take it to God during a fast and He will listen. We are not alone and powerless in our daily struggles. Jesus is with us and He wants us to have victory. Our joy in victory will be the greater in proportion to the sorrow we have endured.
Fasting and Spiritual Warfare
However, fasting is not just a thing to do when we are sad and helpless. In fact, fasting is a weapon of spiritual warfare. I have come to believe from my Lent experience that fasting as well as prayer are the essential secret weapons for every Christian to use in the battle for souls. We are living in a time of a great crisis where God is allowing the nations to be shaken from their comfort. The Church is the only place left for the World. We are at the harvest. There isn't a moment to lose!
Jesus
Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights while he battled with Satan. Immediately after, his ministry began. Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted, to do battle with Satan. It does not say he was led into the desert to fast. I believe that Jesus, knowing he was to battle Satan, chose to fast.
Fasting is a primary weapon of spiritual warfare.
Jesus's experience of overcoming temptation was preparation for future battles encountering demons and especially at the Cross when it would have been easier to give up the fight.
Fasting is a way to build up endurance
While fasting in spiritual warfare, things become clearer. Deuteronomy 8:3 says man shall not live by bread alone. This scripture didn't make a lot of sense until the day Jesus recalled it to Satan in the desert. It's as if it was there especially for that occasion.
John the Baptist
John the Baptist's call was to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was a voice in the Wilderness waiting for a great King to come and overthrow the Romans. John's message was one of sorrow, of judgment, eternal fire and repentance being the only means of escape. John regularly fasted - his diet was locusts and wild honey. The sorrow John felt which motivated him to fast made him an effective prophet. Jesus called John the greatest of men.
John didn't know who the Messiah was going to be but the Holy Spirit revealed it to him. God had told him that the one would be identified by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove so he knew what to look for. John was expecting a King like everyone else not his cousin! When the Dove came and sat on Jesus it must have been the greatest of surprises for him! Even John didn't know God's plan in full but fasting was an effective way to hear God's voice clearly and take the next step.
Moses
Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights before receiving the 10 commandments Moses was up on the mountain with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, and in all that time he neither ate nor drank. At that time God wrote out the Covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.Moses didn’t realize as he came back down the mountain with the tablets that his face glowed from being in the presence of God.
Exodus 34:28-29
Paul Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch were Barnabas and Symeon (also called “The Black Man”), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the foster-brother of King Herod), and Paul. One day as these men were worshiping and fasting the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Paul for a special job I have for them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them—and sent them on their way.
Acts 13:1-3
Daniel
Daniel was someone who regularly fasted during the captivity in Babylon. He fasted on behalf of Israel for forgiveness for their sins and great things happened in the spiritual realm. Then he said, “Don’t be frightened, Daniel, for your request has been heard in heaven and was answered the very first day you began to fast before the Lord and pray for understanding; that very day I was sent here to meet you. But for twenty-one days the mighty Evil Spirit who overrules the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the top officers of the heavenly army, came to help me, so that I was able to break through these spirit rulers of Persia.
Daniel 10:12-13
Ninevah For when the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne, laid aside his royal robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And the king and his nobles sent this message throughout the city: “Let no one, not even the animals, eat anything at all, nor even drink any water. Everyone must wear sackcloth and cry mightily to God, and let everyone turn from his evil ways, from his violence and robbing. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will decide to let us live and will hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” And when God saw that they had put a stop to their evil ways, he abandoned his plan to destroy them and didn’t carry it through.
Jonah 3:6-10
Wouldn't it be great if the President of France or the U.S. or the Chancellor of Germany recognised that what is happening in their countries at this time is not normal and was to declare a national fasting before God? What a difference that could make!
Summary
What I'm saying is that big things happen in the Spiritual Realm when we fast. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught on the connection between the physical and the spiritual realms. When Jesus said "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Jesus was connecting fasting with a time when God will satisfy us. God will not let his Children go hungry!
Please note that Jesus cautioned us against making it known when we are fasting because we are not seeking attention from people, only from God.
When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:16-18
The point is not to tell others to impress them with your spirituality. Fasting is a Secret Weapon.
Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ has said: “Revival will be preceded by a mighty move of fasting and prayer. The greatest awakening we have known is beginning; I see evidence of spiritual harvest all over the world ... Revival is Jesus. Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God. If we obey Him, He will reveal Himself to us. The manifestation is Jesus, not a mystical emotional encounter. When God reveals Himself, His people experience revival.”
P.S. Fasting is also known to have health benefits which I won't touch on today but if you're interested please read the following link. http://falconblanco.com/health/fasting.htm
In the beginning Big Bang, Scientists believe that the Universe became nearly it's current size in a fraction of a second - "According to the standard Big Bang model, the universe was born during a period of inflation that began about 13.7 billion years ago. Like a rapidly expanding balloon, it swelled from a size smaller than an electron to nearly its current size within a tiny fraction of a second."
Speed = distance / time
e.g. 100 km/hr = 0.028 km/second (approximately)
Speed of light = 300,000 km/second (approximately)
The expanse of the Universe is unknown but in order for the Universe to become nearly it's current size in a fraction of a second, it certainly moved much faster than the speed of light.
That kind of speed would break the laws of physics which limit speed to the speed of light except for the fact that the Universe expanded in a vacuum since there was nothing in the beginning (according to Scientists). If speed was limited to the speed of light then the Universe could easily be explained as 13.7 billion years old since;
time = distance / speed @ 300,000 km/sec
And we all know the Universe is very big!
BUT
As mentioned earlier, Scientists also say that the Universe became nearly it's current size in a fraction of a second. At that speed, time will surely not behave in the normal way.
A while ago, Scientists made a couple of interesting observations;
Clocks in moving objects run slower than clocks in stationary objects
Clocks run slower in deep gravitational wells
In fact, Science has not discovered a law that prevents time from going backwards. If Einstein was right, time can go backwards if you can travel faster than speed of light. And at such a speed as the creation of the Universe, it could conceivably go backwards a very long time, making things appear a lot older than they actually are. Which throws a lot of doubt on the age of the Universe being 13.7 billion years in my opinion : )
We are all waiting with great excitement for Science to discover the truth!
Before I went to France I wrote a few messages from Joshua and Mark during Lent 2016 and I revisited them to see whether I was on the right track! I realised there was two messages from Joshua I had missed and that was unity of the people and the presence of God. Last week we talked about how Joshua had entered the Promised Land but there were still the Canaanite, Amorite and other tribal nations to be defeated. God may have made us a promise, but it still requires faith and courage to obtain it! Jesus travelled all through Galilee teaching in the Jewish synagogues, everywhere preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of Heaven. And he healed every kind of sickness and disease. The report of his miracles spread far beyond the borders of Galilee so that sick folk were soon coming to be healed from as far away as Syria. And whatever their illness and pain, or if they were possessed by demons, or were insane, or paralyzed—he healed them all. Enormous crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, and the Ten Cities, and Jerusalem, and from all over Judea, and even from across the Jordan River.
Matthew 4:23-25
Go For 100%
People today aren't interested in just words. They want an experience, they need to know it's real. That's going to take some courage on our part but Jesus has said he will do it, just like God told the Israelites!
Jesus healed them all! Like Joshua many years before, Jesus was on the march throughout the Promised Land and instead of defeating tribal kings, he was defeating the spiritual kings that held dominion over Israel. We know our enemy will not surrender. We must go for total victory. Remember from last week that there is a tension between what we believe and reality but we should not lower our expectation!
At PCC we have both Communion and the Sharing Time to pray for healing. Let's be encouraged to maximise this time when we're in need!
"Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord. Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him, calling on the Lord to heal him. And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him. Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results."
James 5:13-16
The Whole Army - Unity
For 400 years the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt but then God sent them Moses who led all the tribes out of Egypt. In order to have victory and freedom there must be unity. A house divided against itself will fall.
These tribes had quite a lot of reasons to hold things against each other but they marched forward together as God went before them. Pillar of cloud by day, Pillar of fire by night. Giving them complete victory in their mission.
The message of unity is not an easy one to preach I think. Since the reformation, the Church has been divided and especially in our time. We have our reasons - the differences are quite marked. Truth is important. Where would we be if people didn't stand up for truth? The world really hates to hear a message of truth when it confronts the way they are living. But in the Church we are also fighting over the truth. We have fought against each other in places like Northern Ireland because of it. And we are a divided church.
There is a time for war and a time for peace. At the moment, the World is being lost and the church is divided on how to save it. But I hope that all of us agree on saving the world.
There are major doctrinal differences between the denominations but it's getting us nowhere when we fight over them. We need to lay aside our other differences, stop fighting each other and go and win the war. Catholic and Protestant churches can agree on the Apostles creed.
Jesus second to last command for winning the World was to love one another. The last was to go and make disciples, knowing that he will be with us until the end of the age.
So the Catholic and Protestant Churches that are prepared to move in the presence of God are having great victories in Europe.
In the passage above, a distinction is made between 3 different types of healing
Body
Mind
Spirit
Not all illness is of the devil! We need to recognise the role of psychologists and doctors in doing God's work of healing. The family I know in France, the father and one of the daughters are helping people with psychological problems and addictions. So I think the role of the Church is to believe and pray for the impossible and we have the doctors and psychologists as a back stop, and they have us : ) How do we get there?
“Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from me you can’t do a thing. If anyone separates from me, he is thrown away like a useless branch, withers, and is gathered into a pile with all the others and burned. But if you stay in me and obey my commands, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce bountiful harvests. This brings great glory to my Father."
John 15:5-8
We need to connect with God first. We need to be connected to the Vine. Without a daily discipline of getting filled, nothing will happen! And as a church, this also needs to be a primary objective - to meet with God together each week - we all need to press in.
This is what I saw in Lausanne. The worship team led the people in song and encouraged praying and singing in tongues and it was loud enough that you didn't feel embarrassed to try. People had theirs hands up and open expectantly not in their pockets! A prophetic word was sometimes given but there was an atmosphere of peace. You can't create something artificially but you can try to go a bit further! To kiss the feet of Jesus. To spend some time and not be in a hurry. In that atmosphere, I think partly because the worship was in French which was so great for me, I had tears coming down my face quite a few times! But mostly you could notice the peace. And once that was there, the faith was high and people were getting healed. Once they were healed they would get the person to pray for others in the audience who had the same problem. So the effect was multiplied because the faith was at a high level. I think that it is the benefit of church worship and we have it at PCC but we can go further and see more!
Ok so we can have a wonderful time in Church every Sunday but come Monday we have to go into the world. Going into the week, we need to get ourselves fully armed each day. The Devil is going to have a go at us if and when he can!
We can start each day with a small scale version of what we do in Church. Worship, hands open, prayers, word of God. We should start the day like this and wait for his peace to come, our days are going to go much better! Even a few minutes is going to be of benefit. We're such busy people we think we haven't got time to do this! The Presence of God is the first thing to seek in order to do what Jesus did.
Connecting to the Vine protects us from Evil and equips us
But where the Presence of God is so strong, we will find a reaction from darkness. The youth experienced this at an Easter camp a couple of years back where some people were screaming out, same again in Lausanne. However, because of the atmosphere of peace there was no fear and people were easily set free.
All the soldiers need to be fully armed with the armour of God as in Ephesians 6. We are soldiers for the King and we're on duty.
Helmet protects mind from confusion and doubts by reminding devil that we are saved forever
Shield of faith is needed to protect us as we advance as the devil will cast many doubts our way
Belt of Truth holds up the other pieces of armour and allows us to move freely and quickly
Breastplate of Righteousness protects the heart from sorrow
Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God which is for defence and attack (needs a strategy/objective for use!)
Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. Please note the Gospel is a message of peace offered with God but it needs to be received
Devils weapons
Doubt, fear, temptation, lies
Build up our imaginations, pride, sins (our weakest points)
Suffering when allowed (need to be careful when teaching this - reference Job/Jesus)
Results of sin are sickness, addiction, punishment, loneliness, regret, ultimately death
These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God and change them into men whose hearts’ desire is obedience to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
Fear Not
Once we crossed the Rubicon, there is no going back. This could get scary!
So at last Pharaoh let the people go. God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines, although that was the most direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land. The reason was that God felt the people might become discouraged by having to fight their way through, even though they had left Egypt armed; he thought they might return to Egypt. Instead, God led them along a route through the Red Sea wilderness. Moses took the bones of Joseph with them, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel vow before God that they would take his bones with them when God led them out of Egypt—as he was sure God would. Leaving Succoth, they camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. The Lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the daytime and by a pillar of fire at night. So they could travel either by day or night. The cloud and fire were never out of sight.
Exodus 13:17-22
The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were there 24/7. Jesus has promised he will never leave us not forsake us. The pillar was there day and night so the people could move at their own pace. God is faithful through all our circumstances. He is ready and with us even if we aren't ready.
The Lord led them on an indirect route because he knew they would become discouraged by having to fight the Philistines on the direct route. Jesus knows the reality of us! If things are taking longer than we'd like, it's because the Lord knows we're not ready and he's preparing us!
We have to move forward, we have to go to where he's calling us, even if we move slowly.
Extra: Upcoming Fiji Mission
The Elders have had a word from God on mission and PCC are acting on that word, in the same way I am acting on France
We are not going to stop until we have received from God everything that he has promised
7 people have expressed interest - Ela, Va, Deborah, Nicole, Vinze, Macgyver and Tala
It is a good opportunity to test our faith and grow, if you feel this is for you, please let me know
Very soon we begin to plan for the mission to Batiki Island ⁃ I can promise you it won't be easy, it will be a battle, I can promise you
Jesus will be with us, I can promise you that we're going to win if we have courage!
I'm going back to France because the job isn't done. When Jesus was on the Cross and his life work was nearly over, right at the end he proclaimed "it is finished". That is the job satisfaction that I want and my work there isn't done yet.
This is my second week back after my trip to Spain and Brittany in France.
Last week my Dad spoke on "Crossing the Rubicon". For those who weren't here, the idiom "Crossing the Rubicon" means to pass a point of no return, and refers to Julius Caesar's army's crossing of the Rubicon River (in the north of Italy) in 49 BC, which was considered an act of insurrection and treason. Julius Caesar uttered the famous phrase "alea iacta est"—the die is cast—as his army marched through the shallow river on it's way to Rome. Julius Caesar was governor of Gaul (includes Britain and France) at the time and was on the journey to becoming the Caesar in Rome. Incidentally, if you've ever read the stories of Asterix the Gaul, you will remember that there was one small village in Brittany that Julius Caesar could not conquer : )
Around this time 8 years ago, I felt that God was telling me to start a Soccer Academy in the local community. I approached Brent Davie, the director at PACT and we agreed that we would start in Term 4 at the Papatoetoe Central School. We went through the process of getting things ready, applying for a grant of $3000 for equipment, sending the invitations out to the local school and a couple of teams at the local club and planning the sessions. Everything went well, we had 33 registrations with about 22 turning up the first day.
Just over 1 week later it was Labour Weekend and disaster struck. I broke my leg playing football in an over 35 tournament down in Mt Maunganui holidaying with Bob and Tina McCoskrie and their family. As I lay on the Tauranga hospital bed depressed, I wondered if the thing that God had told me was real or whether I had just made it up.
In the weeks that followed, several people came to the party including Bob and Brent and a few people outside the Church and with their help we managed to finish the program in March 2009, me directing the sessions from a chair pointing with my crutches (not that I was really contributing).
It was a long recovery and when I returned to work I was still immobile and not able to complete the work they wanted me to do. For this reason, in April 2009, I was given an assistant for 2.5 months to help me complete my projects. Anaïs was an intern from a university in Vannes in Brittany, France.
That's when the French connection began. The following year 2010, her friend Galeb from the same university came once more to help me with some project work, the next year, Marie and in 2014 Galeb's sister Widaad who some of you will remember. At the same time I was surrounded by a number of other colleagues who happened to speak French - Nicté from Mexico, Anh from Vietnam and Chloé from Belgium.
The Soccer and the French pathways have been running parallel ever since. Towards the end of 2012, I felt that God was telling me to take the PACT Academy idea overseas, I was thinking Mexico at the time where Bob's brother Peter was helping run an orphanage in Tijuana. That Christmas, Tim Wills advised me to get in contact with Kim Beale who runs a Christian football ministry called Soccerplus who go on missions to South America. A few months later, I met Kim at Easter Camp down in Matamata in April 2013. Kim invited our boys Sean and Joshua to go to a trial for the NZ Crosswhites and Sean was selected to go to Sydney in 2013 and 2014. In 2015 I became the Assistant Director of the NZ Crosswhites and in 2016 there was the opportunity to go to Valencia Football Club in Spain - unique for New Zealand.
The 2 pathways have converged this year when I went to Spain and France during April and May. The Gospel stories of how Jesus called his disciples to leave everything and follow him have always stuck with me. I always felt that unless I did that I wasn't giving everything to follow Jesus. I don't want to arrive at the end of my life with regrets that I never answered that call when it was there. This time felt like the last opportunity and I didn't want to miss it. There were several other indications that the time was right that only a deaf and blind man would have failed to act! The terrorist acts in Paris in November 2015 were what finally pushed me over the line. I realised the time is very short and that I needed to act.
So I finished my job in March to work on on 2 short term projects which could develop into the long term;
⁃ A project involving Soccerplus NZ, Valencia CF and Vannes Olympique Club (VOC)
⁃ A church planting project by Chris and Fiona Lloyd in Auray about 20 km from Vannes
The work has started successfully;
1. VOC have welcomed Soccerplus to go next year for a match
2. Mhairi and I have met Chris and Fiona. Chris's mum died shortly after so it was not possible to continue in May but the relationship was started.
I've been corresponding with Chris since last year and he told me a number of things in relation to France, Church planting and the work he is doing in Auray. Firstly there are no known Christians in the town which has a population of 13,000. They have managed to attract 3 others from surrounding towns to help start the Church which after 2 years they hope will be in September. Secondly, French people only start seeking God when they have an absolute disaster in their lives. They come when they are desperate and they come with a lot of problems, making it difficult to pastor them. Thirdly, in French Society there is complete separation of the public and private domains. Faith is seen as private and therefore a Pastor has no status. The ground is so hard that to have a congregation of 150 is a megachurch in France. His expectation is that he won't reach 50 people by 2020 and there are 10 such churches in the Morbihan department (1 of 5 in the Brittany region). Morbihan has a population of 750,000, Brittany is about the same population as New Zealand. Based on those stats, there are 3000 Christians in Brittany. Now for me that is not good enough because it means that the people I know are highly unlikely to encounter true believers other than me and I am half a world away!
BUT...
I don't want to be like the 10 spies who came back with a bad report. I believe that God is going to do something amazing in Brittany and in fact I now believe in all of Europe.
The Breton culture is Celtic and it is very strong. The music is very spiritual and they have the Celtic symbols which originate with the Druids. There is a spirituality but it's not Jesus. The people have their way and it's going to take a great move of God to change it. But that's what I think is going to happen!
When Paul and Peter went to Rome they faced impossible odds. There was no way anyone but the faithful few would have believed that that culture with it's Caesar, it's army, it's gods, it's empire would ever change. Paul and Peter went and died there but eventually the Roman Empire collapsed and the Church took a hold.
From what I could see, France has everything horizontally but there is no vertical connection and there hasn't been one since the French Revolution. So although they have everything, they have been missing the most important thing for over 200 years and I believe there is a great hunger to find the real Jesus. Especially with all the problems they have now for which there is no human solution.
Before I went I had felt that the key for France was house churches - very suitable for their culture with a meal, wine, friendship, singing.
But while I was there, God showed me something much greater!
I have a friend Simon Bate who we know from our days in Palmerston North. Simon is a car designer for Audi and has been living for about 15 years in Germany. He has in recent years got connected with Bethel Ministries in California. Some of you will know them if you have seen the Finger of God documentaries.
Well as it happened, Association Internationale des Ministères Guérison (AIMG) who are connected to Bethel were running a healing conference in early May in Lausanne and both Simon and Mhairi encouraged me to go so I thought it was a good opportunity especially since that part of Switzerland is French speaking. It was great to Simon in Lausanne after so many years! We both commented that it was a very unusual place to meet up but that made it special to me. I have good memories of when I went there with my brother in 1989. It was so encouraging for me to be in a large gathering worshiping God in French.
Some very well known people like Heidi Baker, Todd White and Ben Fitzgerald were speaking as well a number of other key figures from Catholic and Protestant churches in France and Switzerland.
AIMG have some key objectives;
1. 100 million people to be saved in Europe - this far exceeds any expectations of the local French churches
2. The unity of the church to move in the presence of God and believe for healings and miracles.
3. To do what Jesus did and live with the tension and not lower expectations to the current reality
⁃ Based on giving people an experience of God rather than words
⁃ All denominations working together; Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Charismatic - but all operating in God's presence
"Europe will not be saved without the Catholic Church!"
AIMG are conducting healing meetings throughout Europe, often in Cathedrals and things are changing fast...
This has changed my thinking on the old Cathedrals somewhat - with some light and warmth and most importantly 1000 people singing to God, those places could be something else!!!
In Joshua 3-4 you can read how the Israelites stood on the banks of the River Jordan and Joshua gave the command for the people to cross over to the Promised Land. This was a big moment, the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham. The story they had heard for over 400 years was coming true!
When the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea 40 years before, it was a deliverance from slavery, the parallel is when God rescues us from our slavery to sin (addictions etc). The enemy chases after us to try and recapture us but God's Salvation is complete. We cross the Red Sea to freedom and the enemy is swept away.
But the Israelites still had to journey further through the wilderness to the border of the Promised Land at the Jordan River. That journey had taken 40 years because of their disobedience when it should have taken only a few days. But that disobedient generation had died and now a new generation was ready to take the land! Poor Moses, this should have been his moment. It wasn't his fault that the people were stubborn and disobedient.
When the new generation crossed the Jordan River, they entered into the Promised Land. There were still enemies in front of them but this time they were on the front foot because they were young, obedient and ready. God again parted the water so that they could walk across. The Jordan River is not very wide at the point where they crossed. It was not as spectacular as the Red Sea crossing, nevertheless it was a clear sign that God was with Joshua as he had been with Moses. The handing over of the leadership was complete. God confirmed Joshua's appointment in the eyes of the people.
When Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended in the form of a dove and settled on him and a voice from Heaven said
"You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased".
When God appoints his servant to a mission there is a public confirmation so that the people will know!
As with Joshua and Jesus, whether our enemies are physical or spiritual, before or behind us, above us or below us, it is God with us who will sweep them from our path. But we still have to do it, nothing happens if we remain where we are! We have to Cross the Rubicon!
But even when we move forward in faith, things don't happen as we expect. God's agenda is different to ours. The Israelites were in slavery for 400 years and then 40 years in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land. And they didn't waltz in singing lovely happy tunes. They had to fight for it! It's easy to start asking ourselves - "Is this real?".
I really love the Hunger Games movies. There is a conversation that Peeta and Katniss have in Mockinjay where Peeta is looking for assurance that he isn't crazy, that she loves him. It's the same question we sometimes ask God;
“When they used the venom on me, they would show me pictures of my life. At first they all blurred together, but now, now I can sort them out a little,” he says. “Like the ones that they changed, they have this quality, it’s like they’re shiny. They’ve been glossed over.” Peeta then poses a question directly to Katniss: “You’re still trying to protect me. Real or not real?” “Real,” she assures him. “That’s what you and I do. We keep each other alive.”
Life does not follow a Hollywood script - it's not always shiny and glossed over. It can be messy and confusing for long periods. There is a tension between what we believe about God and the reality where people are healed but not all the time. I believe PCC have had a lot of success in praying for people to be healed. Sometimes we can feel discouraged though. You know when Heidi Baker first started praying for blind people in Mozambique to be healed she tried 1000 times where nothing happened but then there was a breakthrough.
We read the Bible for guidance, we look for signs, we listen for God's voice sometimes in the advice of others, sometimes when we're alone.
It's easy to have faith in our comfort zones, but when we move out to where God is calling us to as the Israelites did, that's when reality sets in and our faith is tested. Like Peeta in the Hunger Games, that's when we ask the question "Real or not real?".
The instruction Joshua gave to build a monument of 12 stones, each representing the 12 tribes, was intended to be a permanent reminder of the miracle God did at Gilgal in parting the Jordan River. I don't think the monument can be found today - well it was nearly 3500 years ago! Does that mean it didn't happen because there is no evidence?
At some point there is no more evidence to be found, no more signs to be had, it's time to move forward in faith. It's impossible to please God without faith.
When I went to Men's Group on Friday, Ken asked me a very good question. He said, if I go to Brittany but in the end, no-one believes would that be a failure? In Hebrews 11 - the chapter on faith - where the writer who I think was Paul recalls all the old testament heroes like Noah, Abraham, Moses and so on who had success in their missions, he concludes;
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Hebrews 11:29-30
When we read Hebrews 11, there are success stories and there are apparent failures too. But the success or failure doesn't matter to God, what counts is the person's faith! What matters far more to God than our achievements is our faith in him, in other words, how close is our relationship with him? Some of the biggest achievers in our world are total failures relationally leaving a string of hurt people behind them.
But when we search our hearts and ask God "Real or not real", you can hear the reply coming back with assurance... "Real"
I'm happy with how things went on my trip to Brittany but it feels like I've only just begun and there is so much more to do. Before I went to France I wrote a few messages from Joshua and Mark during Lent 2016 and I revisited them to see whether I was on the right track! I realised there was two messages from Joshua I had missed and that was unity of the people and the presence of God. These are what I will talk on in the next week.
I can't lay out exactly what God is going to do or when he's going to do it. I don't know the details of what lies in the future only what to do next. Before then, I'll pass on these simple 3 questions to ask ourselves that I learned at the healing conference in Lausanne;
1. What has God told me to do?
2. What am I doing about it?
3. Who am I getting to help me?
May God give us all the grace to do what we believe!
There is an old Maori Proverb; "He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata."
- What is the most important thing? It is people. It is people. It is people.
As last year, I'll make one posting but will update it regularly with the progress through the next 6 weeks. I'll update the comments so you know the last posting date.
This is it! The moment has arrived that would determine our destinies forever. If only it had come with triumphant music, people singing in unity and thunderous applause, we would have recognised it.
But real life is not like that. Big doors swing quietly on little hinges and no-one knew what was happening. Only Jesus who arrived at this moment all alone inside.
Perhaps you are facing a death of some kind. Is the situation too difficult for your friends and family to understand or know what to say to you?
No-one knows and understands better than Jesus. Take it to him.
There are so many aspects of Mark's account that warrant much more deeper study than I can give now. Please take the time to consider each part of the final days in Jesus' life.
The Last Supper is re-told every week at Communion so we won't forget it! The story describes the intimate last meal Jesus had with his disciples. When he had so little time with his friends, he wanted to make it memorable for them. The sharing of bread and drinking of wine in the Passover meal suddenly took on new meaning. Jesus explained that the bread represented his body which would be broken for them and the wine his blood that would be poured out for them. He was the Passover lamb. The blood on the doorposts would be his. This is how he was going to save us from the Angel of Death when it passed over. We continue to remember this to this day and until Jesus comes again!
How could it be that after all that Jesus had done and all that time he had spent with his disciples that they all betrayed him in his hour of greatest need? Sure, Judas was the one who handed him over but all the other disciples ran away when they came to arrest him at Gethsemane. Three times Peter denied knowing him in the courtyard during the night of Jesus trial. How wretched they must have all felt to have betrayed their friend. Jesus said that it had to happen that way to fulfill scripture. He is so kind to forgive even the most unfaithful of us.
But it was the women in his life that stood with him right until the end and were the first there to greet him after his resurrection!
Mark describes an unnamed woman coming into the home of Simon the leper and pouring a very expensive jar of perfume over Jesus' head. I know I said I wasn't going to refer to any other passages but this is too interesting to ignore. John names the woman as Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, the man Jesus had only just raised from the dead. Luke says she was a prostitute.
Mary was the one who annoyed her sister because rather than helping with the meals and house tidying spent the time at Jesus' feet, listening to everything he was teaching to his disciples and others who had gathered at their home. Outcasts of society were frequently with Jesus so it wouldn't be a surprise that Mary was right there with him. And she was really listening. She heard him say he was going to suffer and die and perhaps she was the one who really believed him.
That is why she came with the jar of perfume to anoint him for burial. That is why she was weeping at his feet and drying his feet with her tears.
So like Rahab at Jericho, here was a prostitute who believed. Jesus knew his family history and that Rahab was in the royal line. When she anointed his head with whole jar of perfume as preparation for his burial, he recognised the beauty of the moment. The significance escaped everyone else. They thought it as a disgrace that he should let a prostitute touch him and condemned her for wasting the perfume when it could have been sold and the money given to the poor.
Jesus saw the beauty in a woman who loved and believed in him. Mary saw that this man was worthy, faithful and true and she loved him.
That's a love of another kind : )
It was the night before Passover. While Jesus had been moving around the countryside teaching and healing, he wasn't a threat to Rome and the Jewish Leaders couldn't touch him because of his popularity with the people. However once inside occupied Jerusalem he was at the heart of the Empire's outpost, an extremely vulnerable and dangerous place to be. As the Last Supper was progressing, Evil moved very quickly to seize the opportunity to kill Jesus. Mark does not note Judas leaving the meal as very few of the disciples were aware he had left. It is only revealed that Judas is the betrayer when the mob arrives to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane. How horrible it was to be betrayed by such a close friend.
Evil had to move quickly to get the deed done. This is clear when you consider the Crucifixion Timeline which started on the first day of the Passover (Mark 14:12 Note: evening comes first in the Jewish day). Pilate would have to be convinced within the space of few hours that Jesus was worthy of the death sentence. But it wasn't a trial, it was in effect a lynching. Crucifixion Timeline
6pm – Last Supper
9pm – To the Mount of Olives
12am – Mob arrives sent by the Priests and Officials, betrayal and arrest of Jesus
3am – Trial with the High Priest Caiaphas
5am – Rooster Crows
6am – 9am
To Pilate (Mark 15: 1 “Early in the morning”)
Trial with Herod
Pilate hands over Jesus
Flogging
Carrying the cross
9am – Crucifixion (Mark 15:25)
12pm – Darkness (Mark 16:33)
3pm – Jesus dies (Mark 16:37)
6pm – Jesus buried because in the evening it becomes the following day which is the Sabbath
Jesus was arrested and on the Cross by 9am. That’s only 9 hours from when he was arrested. It was too late before anyone in Jerusalem knew it. Everything had to be done at night and very quickly before the crowds knew what was happening. The Mob that arrested Jesus, the one organised by the Religious Authorities, was largely the crowd calling for him to be crucified. Mark gives a clue when he wrote;
“How about giving you the ‘King of Jews’?” Pilate asked. “Is he the one you want released?” (For he realized by now that this was a frame-up, backed by the chief priests because they envied Jesus’ popularity.) But at this point the chief priests whipped up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.
The answer to the question of why the crowd turned on Jesus within 5 days is that there were in fact Two Crowds;
The Mob that arrested Jesus was the one shouting for Jesus to be crucified not the Palm Sunday Crowd.
The Authorities completely misunderstood when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. They thought he was coming to take over. When he turned over the Temple tables they thought he was going to start a Revolutionary Uprising. They were afraid and they murdered him for it.
But Jesus had come humbly and in PEACE. To ride into Jerusalem on a donkey was a message of peace. To turn over the tables in the Temple only proved that the old religious system had failed and that he is the New Temple where the people can connect directly to God without the old religious practices. Jesus was no threat to Rome.
Pilate even knew Jesus wasn't guilty but he feared an uprising so he tried washing his hands of the responsibility. In doing so, he had sold his soul and he felt the guilt. Perhaps that is why he allowed Joseph of Arimathea to bury Jesus in a rich mans tomb rather than throwing him in a pit with the all the other guilty criminals.
A good story should always have a happy ending. How terrible it would have been if it ended at the Cross with all our hopes and dreams crushed. It is impossible to imagine the despair for those closest to Jesus in those hours that he laid in the tomb. We have the benefit of hindsight. They were utterly devastated. It was too much for his closest men.
At certain times in your life you realise which people are the closest to you. The ones who give you strength to carry on. Jesus had taken Peter, James and John up on the mountain where they had seen Moses and Elijah and heard God's voice. Only John was at the Cross. The women at the Cross were his Mum, his Aunt (Salome, the mother of James and John) and Mary Magdalene.
There had not been time on Friday for a full burial because of the Sabbath and the stone had been rolled in front of the entrance because the authorities feared that the disciples would come and steal the body. It was the women who went and purchased the embalming spices on Saturday evening and went to the tomb early on Sunday morning. What a shock it was to discover an empty tomb and hear that Jesus was alive! But they left bewildered and frightened not filled with joy. They had been crushed and didn't believe at first.
Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene. If it had been you who came back to life, who would you have appeared to first? To someone you loved the most? To someone who loved you the most? To someone you most wanted to believe? Has there ever been a more romantic moment in history than when Jesus appeared to Mary in the garden that Sunday morning? The Prince of Glory coming back to life and appearing to the woman he rescued from the Dragon!
This is a story without an ending. It is over to us now to take the Gospel to all the Nations. We are to use Jesus' authority to cast out demons, speak new languages and place our hands on the sick and heal them. We will be safe because Jesus will be with us until the end of the Age when he will return : ) I hope from these studies of Joshua and Mark that you are now convinced, like me, that Jesus was not just a man, that he was God. That's why I'm going for if God has paid the price for our sins himself, what is there left to accuse us after that and what have we left to fear?
When we went to Paris in 2012, we were taken on a mini-tour of the centre starting with the Notre Dame. The church itself took 182 years to complete (they don't make them like they used to!). In our fast paced world, we have lost the purpose that comes with committing to something for a lifetime. If it doesn't hold our attention for 30 seconds, we'll move on to the next thing. The Notre Dame, like many great buildings in Europe is very beautiful and if you look up close you can see the detail in the sculpted angels, saints and gargoyles that took so many years to complete. Just like us in Paris, as the disciples toured the temple in Jerusalem with Jesus they commented on it's beauty and the detail of the stonework. For the Jews, the temple was the centre of worship and during Passover, the city would swell 5-6 times it's normal population size.
What Jesus told them would have shocked them to the core. The temple was going to be destroyed! That would have made them very sad. If God would allow that to happen, what was to become of the Jews? When the Babylonians destroyed the previous temple hundreds of years before and slaughtered the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a select few including Daniel were captured and taken back to Babylon. What would become of the Jews when this next destruction would occur?
So they asked him another question and he gave them an extended reply that is just as relevant to us living today. Much of it reads like a report from the 6 O'Clock News. The rest makes a great Hollywood script and has been the subject of many books and films although even then it it difficult to imagine stars falling from the sky and angels going to the four corners of the Earth to gather the elect.
The message we should take from this is to look out and be ready for Jesus to return. We do not want to find ourselves with a nasty surprise like the rest of the World. I'll leave you to read the passage and think for yourself whether we are living at the end of the age. I look at what is brewing on the global scale and all the warning signs are that we are very close to the tribulation period Jesus described.
The prophecy concerning the temple came true in AD 70 when the Romans completely destroyed it. Since that time there has been no temple and no great high priest. It is truly remarkable and a sign that God has put an end to the old system of worship once and for all. Jesus is the new temple exactly as he foretold. He is also our Great High Priest for all eternity : )
"See you again when the stars fall from the sky and the moon has turned red over One Tree Hill"
The Passover was approaching and the gloves were off. Jesus was now openly criticising the Jewish leaders and they were trying to trap him into saying something they could arrest him for or which would undermine his popularity with the people.
If you tell people the truth they don't often like it. Jesus recounted the history of how the people had treated God in regards to the land they had been given and the blame lay fair and square at the feet of the Jewish leadership. They had not given God his dues as the land owner and every time he had sent someone to request his dues, they had beat them up or worse. Finally God had sent his only Son thinking they would respect him but they were going to murder him as well thinking that they could then take over the ownership.
Sometimes people treat us in a way that makes no logical sense and it hurts. We have given our best, our motives are pure, there is a better way and we are capable of delivering it but the bottom line is - the person sees us as a threat and they want to maintain the status quo. Their hearts are closed to any change even if it will be good for the community they are part of.
Like the poor widow, our work may not be recognised by others but it isn't hidden to Jesus! The good news is that God will personally honour you : ) You don't have to force the situation nor complain, you can accept the bad treatment because in the end you will be vindicated. It can be very difficult to accept the injustice but we can can look to Jesus and remember what happened to him. We have our faults which people can accuse us of but he was utterly blameless and it wouldn't be long before they would have him on the Cross. We are following in his footsteps and we are just a few days now from the destination!
Today is Palm Sunday, the anniversary of the coronation of the King of Kings : )
First of all I want to paint you a picture. Take a look at this clip from a football match! I’m sure you are wondering what that’s all about? If you’ve ever been to a big match you will know it is very loud. Yes and vibrant and happy… when things are going well.
In 1989 I stood in a crowd on the terraces at Arsenal. On May 1st we were only three and a half weeks away from winning the title for the first time in eighteen years. When we scored, you could not stay in the same place…you are picked up and physically moved by the crowd uncontrollably in a big random circle dance. It can be very frightening the first time. But when the other team scores the atmosphere completely changes. There is no big circle dance. First there is silence. Then there is a lot of abuse. Of the referee of course, the other team naturally, but surprisingly even your own team. You wouldn’t even recognise it was the same crowd. A crowd can turn very quickly.
London, Highbury Stadium, May 1st 1989 - Photo Bomber
The next thing I’d like to do is look at these photos from June 14th 1940, the day the Nazis marched into Paris. Famously Germany took France with barely a fight. In order for that to happen you need a betrayal from a collaborator at the highest level. What did you notice from the photos?
The most striking thing is that the streets are virtually empty of people. The faces you see are of people arms folded, tears, anger. On such an unhappy day as that when an invader takes over your country there is no cheering. Just silence except for the sounds of the horses clip clopping down the Champs Elysees and the sound of marching feet. That’s it.
A military parade like that is all about showing who’s the boss. There is a display of power to send a message to the people – that there is a powerful authority in charge, one to fear. The bigger the display, the more authoritarian and dictatorial the government tends to be. Certainly Nazi Germany was like that. But even today you see them in countries like North Korea, China and Russia especially. As a citizen in those countries you know that it is impossible to step out of line. If you do you will be shot or run over by a tank. As at Tiananmen Square June 5th 1989 just one month after I was at the Arsenal match.
Contrast that with this clip from the day Paris was liberated, August 26th 1944. Quite a difference isn’t it? Look at the happy crowds, what a wonderful day that was!
It’s April 6th, 33 AD and it’s about a week before the Passover on April 14th. There are large crowds coming to Jerusalem for the religious festival which lasts for the next week. 125,000 is estimated to be the number. Jerusalem normally has 25,000 so it’s going to be packed to the rafters. You know that large highly charged crowds tend to make authorities very nervous. Especially authoritarian dictatorial governments. High chance of terrorist activity. High chance of an assassination attempt. High chance of a coup if the people join in en masse.
You are Pontius Pilate and you were appointed Governor of Judea by Caesar in 27 AD and you know this place is a tinderbox. You cannot afford to lose control as you did once before. Your neck is on the line. So just before Passover every year you order a military parade to send a message to the large crowds just who is boss. The people don’t like it, there’s no cheering but it’s very effective at keeping them under control. There are also the occupied crucifixes just outside the city walls for the incoming crowds to walk by in case they missed the parade.
Now I want to set the scene just prior to Jesus going to Jerusalem. Up until now Jesus had been in the regions doing great miracles and was famous all over Galilee and Samaria but was lesser known in Jerusalem. The people coming to the Passover from out of town knew him well and they were excited asking amongst themselves “Is he coming?” You can imagine the excitement building as Jesus gets closer and closer to Jerusalem.
I was waiting 18 years for Arsenal to win the title. These people had been waiting 600 years for their Messiah and King.
Now a large crowd can make a make a very loud noise as you know. It is quite reasonable to guess that 50,000 people formed the crowd that chanted “Hail to the King!” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. How loud is a crowd of 50,000 people? VERY LOUD! That sound like a football match is going to be heard very clearly by Pilate sitting in his palace and by Herod who is also there for the Passover and it’s going to raise their eyebrows and nearly make them choke on their grapes.
The very first thing that Jesus does is to go into the Temple, turn over the tables and drive out the merchants. With a 50,000 crowd of people supporting him, to the Authorities it’s going to look like he’s about to start a revolution and take over the City. Because they were afraid he would start a riot, from that moment they hatched their plot to kill Jesus. But they would have to be clever because of Jesus’ popularity.
It has always puzzled me why the Crowd that shouted Jesus is King on Palm Sunday shouted for him to be crucified just 5 days later. We know crowds are fickle but that was a polar shift.
I want to share what I discovered as I researched Palm Sunday that I think is very important to understanding what happened between Palm Sunday and “Good” Friday.
There had not been a Jewish King in Israel since the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. King Zedekiah was the last king mentioned of the southern kingdom (586 BC). The last king mentioned of the northern kingdom was Hoshea (721 BC). Israel had been waiting nearly 600 years for their Messiah. Sometimes with God you have to wait a long time!
Do not be in any doubt who ruled Israel at the time of Christ. It was Caesar in Rome since 63 BC. And Caesar had three Roman Collaborators to ensure Rome ruled Israel with an iron fist!
Herod Antipas – King of Galilee and Paraea
·Appointed by Rome
· Father Herod the Great, the Butcher of Bethlehem (37 BC – 0 AD and not a Jew)
Pontius Pilate – The Governor of Judea from 27 AD
Caiaphas the High Priest – appointed by Rome 18 AD
The most surprising discovery for me was that Caiaphas was appointed by Rome. Forget all the spiritual talk from Caiaphas about Jesus being a blasphemer deserving death. Caiaphas wanted Jesus dead because he himself was a Roman collaborator with a keen interest in maintaining the status quo.
Jesus had arrived at the appointed time for him to die. Suddenly all the disciples dreams would be shattered. The Jewish Leaders were already against him. On Palm Sunday, almighty Rome was provoked by the threat of an uprising to crown a would-be King. But soon those same crowds waiting for their Messiah would turn when he didn't do what they expected. From within, one his own men would betray him and all his friends would abandon him to save themselves. Have you ever felt alone? Jesus understands, go to Him!
His opponents now spent their time trying to trap Jesus instead of embracing the amazing work he and his disciples were doing. If they were really interested in growing God's Kingdom, they would have been fully supportive.
Opponents like to drag you into a whirlpool of negativity. They came to him with a trap regarding divorce - is it OK since Moses allowed it? Jesus pointed out that the human condition is bad and divorce is a reality. God only allows it rather than supporting it. He is eternal and he builds and supports families to last. That is his intention. Jesus had to explain though that divorce in order to to marry someone else is just putting a legal stamp on adultery and is opposed by God. Other grounds for divorce are not referenced here.
Divorce is a big and painful topic and the Church struggles to handle the issue when it happens. I think we are very encouraging towards marriage however we're not sure how to manage divorce. Forbidding divorce won't work. Laissez-faire doesn't work either. There is no easy answer, it is a painful process for everyone involved especially the children so we have to do better! Like God, we need to be committed to people even when their lives become a mess even though there is a lot of pain involved.
What I see in the rest of the chapter is a continuation of Jesus overturning the tables of conventional thinking to show what it is like in God's Kingdom.
Next it was the place of children in society. Jesus taught that children's angels have full access to God's throne. As I read this I think about how in Church we send the children out to Kid's Church during the service. It is good that they are learning but are we missing a big opportunity? If children have full access to God's throne, perhaps we should be encouraging them to pray for people to be healed when those moments come up in the service.
Next a note to subscribers to the prosperity doctrine. Wealth and status are not signs of God's Kingdom! In fact, wealth very often gets in the way of people coming into God's Kingdom as it did with the rich young lawyer. Remember category 3! Rather than wealth and status, humility and service are true signs that God is at work in someone's heart. In God's kingdom the last are first, the meek inherit the earth etc. In the Kingdom of God, everything we know about the way the World runs is upside down. God's world is much more beautiful and accepting than our cruel world.
When James and John asked for positions next to God's throne, perhaps they were thinking of what Jesus had said about children having access but more likely they were thinking of wealth and power in the way people in the World seek it. Jesus told them what it means to be great in God's Kingdom;
"When the other disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were very indignant. So Jesus called them to him and said, “As you know, the kings and great men of the earth lord it over the people; but among you it is different. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be greatest of all must be the slave of all. For even I, the Messiah, am not here to be served, but to help others, and to give my life as a ransom for many."
It is incredible to think that God became like a slave, to die a humiliating death in our place. Only love could be that beautiful : )
Finally the passage ends with the healing and restoration of a blind man. In that society where sickness and handicaps were seen to be a result of sin, Bartimaeus was a beggar without any wealth or status. But Jesus heard his cries above all others and healed him instantly. With faith, things happen fast. It is the only requirement, God wants to do things fast! I'm sure Bartimaeus has been given a position of greatness in God's Kingdom because rather than going anywhere else, he immediately followed Jesus down the road.
Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. And Jesus replied, “Let me assure you that no one has ever given up anything—home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or property—for love of me and to tell others the Good News, who won’t be given back, a hundred times over, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—with persecutions! All these will be his here on earth, and in the world to come he shall have eternal life. But many people who seem to be important now will be the least important then; and many who are considered least here shall be greatest there.”
There are some things that happen only once in a lifetime and we never forget the moment. Sometime around 1992, I stood on the tee at the 11th hole of the Manukau Golf Club and hit a 3 iron into the green straight as a die, one bounce one metre from the hole and in it rolled! I ran up to the hole to check it was true and sure enough, there was my ball at the bottom of the cup - a hole in one! Unfortunately no-one was with me at the time to confirm it but I can say for sure it is true. I wasn't hallucinating! If it had happened on a Saturday in the foursomes, I would have had to buy an obligatory round of drinks back at the clubhouse which on match day would have been very expensive : )
In today's passage is the remarkable account of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. The last place that was mentioned in the previous chapter was Caesarea Philippi which is at the base of Mt Hermon so it is on this mountain which people believe is where the transfiguration occurred. Unlike my hole-in-one, there were 3 witnesses to the event. Now that was an awesome foursome : )
It was the moment the disguise fell away and the disciples could see who Jesus really is. What's more, Moses and Elijah appeared alongside him. So there they were - Jesus, shining like the sun, Moses the man who God had forbidden to enter the Promised Land while he was alive on Earth, Elijah, one of 2 men never to have died and then the voice from Heaven which said;
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Listen to Jesus above those great heroes Moses and Elijah!
Unsurprisingly the 3 amigos became very badly frightened from all that supernatural terror and could barely speak, except for Peter who babbled something stupid!! This was a once in a lifetime moment like no other. We so need the mountain experience to keep us going through the tough things in life.
Of course they had to come down from the mountain, back to life, back to reality. Once more Jesus began preparing them for what was coming, telling them that he was soon to suffer and die, something that seemed impossible to them after witnessing his power and glory on the mountain.
As they arrived down from the mountain the crowd at first stood in awe of Jesus. The people remembered Moses coming down from Mt Sinai with the Law so long ago. What was Jesus going to do? Suddenly someone broke ranks and they all ran to meet him.
They found the other 9 disciples arguing with the Jewish leaders. The disciples had been unsuccessfully trying to free a boy from a demon and it had quickly developed into a bit of a scene which the Jewish leaders didn't like. These were the same disciples who had only a short time before been going from village casting out demons left, right and centre. How quickly they had lost their confidence and faith!
Down here we face a constant uphill battle against the tide but without us the World would quickly lose it's way. We're no good to them up on the mountain. We are the salt and light. We need to get back to life.
By now the people were following him everywhere he went and hanging on his every word. Who wouldn't? He was setting people free and healing them of every type of illness and handicap. Not only that but now he had started providing bread out of thin air to feed the masses just like the stories of old with Moses and the manna in the desert. The people knew that Jesus had been sent by God and they thought he was the Messiah to save them from the Romans. When Jesus called people to follow him it was a "no-brainer".
But the opposition was growing too. When they arrived at Dalmanutha / Magdala (where Mary Magdalene) was from, he was confronted by the religious leaders who didn't like what he was doing which went against things they had been teaching from the Law. They claimed they would believe in him if he would do something in the sky that would be a sign that he really was the Messiah. They would believe in God, but only on their terms. It was a front, a phoney excuse. They set the standard for God and then when he doesn't do what they say, they claim he isn't real. Sound familiar?
They were ignoring all the miracles being done right in front of their eyes! Jesus refused to do anything different to make them believe. I have heard people say they will believe if God does them a miracle but even then they wouldn't. There are plenty of stories of miracles in the modern day and they are not hard to find on Google so people are without excuse.
They arrived at Bethsaida on the North Eastern side of Galilee where Peter, Andrew and Philip were from and the first person Jesus healed was a blind man. It actually took Jesus two attempts to heal the man. When we pray for someone to be healed we shouldn't be discouraged if our first prayer doesn't work, neither should we settle for anything less than a complete healing!
The passage ends with the reality of being a follower of Jesus. It's not all signs and wonders and happy times. Jesus began to tell the disciples all the things that he was soon to suffer and that he would die and be raised to life again. It's at the point of suffering that many people quit following Jesus (remember category 2 from the other day). As Peter begins to tell Jesus not to talk of suffering, Jesus rebukes him severely saying "Get behind me Satan!".
Following Jesus at some point means putting aside our own pleasures and picking up our cross. That is not a popular message that people follow after Jesus for. But it is the reality, so be ready. In those times there is only one way to survive - stick close to Jesus!
I never learnt to surf. I can use a boogey board of course and that's pretty cool but they say that catching a wave is one of life's most exhilarating experiences.
The disciples had caught the wave. They had returned from their mission on a high, after seeing people set free and healed. They had been doing the kind of things men can only dream about. Following Jesus gave them a new freedom from the Law and they followed after the Spirit instead : )
But in came the religious crowd with their criticisms making big complaints about small details instead of encouraging the disciples in the great work they were doing.
Have you ever had cold water thrown on you when you were going so well? Don't veer off into a ditch just because of some negative comments some person makes. Jesus is only interested in what's in a persons heart not what they look like from the outside. Stand strong with the Lord's approval!
Soon after, they are on the move again to Tyre and Sidon where the miracles continued and the movement kept growing. Wear your diamonds on the inside where the Lord can see them : )
The people who know us well can be the hardest to convince. They know us so well they've probably already found a box for us. Jesus, Joseph and Mary's son, carpenter, one of us.
But if God has called us, he has something in mind beyond people's expectations for us. If we find ourselves on our own in our mission, then this may be more a reflection on others rather than ourselves.
We need to find the faith within us that will help us do what God has asked. When Jesus sent his disciples out, they went with nothing except a walking stick. They must have looked like Moses or Joshua striding through the land on the mission they had been sent on : ) When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose. They had to rely on God for everything.
The mission was just like going into battle taking village by village, taking no prisoners. The only difference was that they were instructed to defeat demons so that the people may be set free and healed. If a demon was preventing a healing, that had to be cast our first. There could be no compromise.
When a village refused to accept them, they were told to shake the dust from their feet and move on. There always comes a time when people must decide. Even your friends!
When God is working through you, there will usually be severe opposition to frighten you off. The head of John the Baptist was a warning not to preach repentance. King Herod didn't like that message. The world doesn't like it either. You won't win many friends that way.
But the Gospel has a sweet edge. Repentance and Healing go together. The people are thirsting after both, they want something real not just talk! When Jesus tried to withdraw from the crowds for a while after learning of the death of his cousin, they followed him for what he could do for them. With great patience and compassion that only God could have (have you ever faced a situation where you have nothing left to give?), Jesus took the time to teach the crowds and to do a great miracle in feeding them. Sometimes people come to me to pray for them when I 'm tired. I'll do it grudgingly. Jesus isn't like that. He always had time for others.
When Jesus returned across the lake to Gennesaret, once more they faced a storm to get there and once more Jesus showed his power over the elements. This time when they arrived the crowds were welcoming. Was that the result of the witness of the man delivered from the legion of demons? I suspect yes! Day 31 Read Mark 5
After the storm was over they arrived at the other side of the Lake at Genneserat. This is a beautiful location on the north western side of the lake of Galilee in the territory allocated to the tribe of Naphtali. But in this beautiful location, something evil was lurking.
First the storm, then the first person they encountered was a man possessed by a legion of demons. His condition was so bad that he would wander the hills at night screaming and cutting himself.
Jesus told the evil spirit to come out of the man and then he sent them into a herd of pigs who rushed off a cliff and drowned. Was it wrong for Jesus to have done that? No! the Law forbid the people to eat pigs so what were they doing farming unclean animals?
When the people in the town saw the man healed and sane they had what may seem a very unusual response. Instead of being happy, they were afraid and told Jesus to go away. Sadly this is a reality when some people encounter God. They are afraid of the Gospel and reject it for how bad it makes them feel. It is not uncommon for people in Satan's domain to react negatively - they are quite happy living in the shadows! The medicine isn't always easy to give : (
Usually when Jesus healed someone he would tell the person not to tell anyone. In this instance, Jesus told the man to tell everyone what had happened to him. So the man went to the ten towns in the region (Decapolis) telling everyone he could find his amazing good news. What is in our heart flows out. If it is filled with evil, it will manifest itself in horrible ways but likewise, if it is filled with joy we cannot contain that either!
On the way to heal Jairus' 12 year old daughter, a woman who has been sick for 12 years touches his garment so she may be healed and because of her faith she is! Jesus only healed people and made them whole again. If we think of Stephen Fry's accusation, the truth is that it is not God who makes a person sick, that is Satan's doing. God is the healer, the giver of life. Believe in Him and don't forget to ask! He will give you good health as well : )
Later when Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from death, he specifically told the girls parents not to tell anyone. But do you think they were able to contain their joy?
Many people have a sense that there is something more than the life we see around us. Not long ago, Russell Brand, the English comedian responded to what Stephen Fry said in yesterday's post;
People want to know what out's there in the Universe, how it came into being from nothing, is there alien life trying to communicate with us? There's a way that Jesus speaks that wakes people up to a different reality.
Immense crowds were following him, hanging on every word he said. His words have the power to entrance you, to move you, to change you, to give your life a purpose.
The first parable about the 4 soils in today's passage explains how people respond to the Gospel. It has the power to change your life, turn your world upside down! For myself, I know I'm not category 1 or 2. I believe the Gospel and I've never given up on that in the face of a few trials. But I've always wondered if I might be category 3 -the one who gets distracted by the cares of the world and never bears any fruit. This is the year to prove, if only to myself, I'm category 4! Jesus wouldn't light a lamp without wanting to light up a dark room : ) "If you have ears, listen! And be sure to put into practice what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand what I tell you." Mark 4:23-25
What do you make of the final story in today's passage how Jesus told the storm to quiet down and it did? Like the disciples, are you unsure who Jesus really is? You can be sure!
Christians do a pretty good job of painting the picture of an angry God. We have plenty of scriptures both old and new testament to back us up and it's been a very useful message for converting a lot of people down the ages.
Unfortunately that doesn't work for many thinkers and will only succeed in turning them against God as Stephen Fry so eloquently puts it in the video below.
In the video, the interviewer asks Stephen what he would say if he was confronted by God. Again the message is God is waiting to confront us over our sin and unbelief. Sadly, it is the religious people who convey the kind of God Stephen Fry despises.
The flip side of Stephen's response is that if God is real, he would expect;
A world of joy
A world of justice
A world full of good health
A God who is very human
A generous, all wise, kind and loving God
In today's passage we find Jesus behaving like the God that we hope for;
angry about injustice
restoring people to good health and wholeness
engaging with friends and foe alike in a humble way
declaring any sin of man can be forgiven (including Stephen's!)
having full authority over evil
That's why the crowds loved and followed Jesus everywhere he went. He was the God they had been waiting for.
We jump ahead now from Joshua to the Gospel of Mark - the Good News of Jesus Christ. I want you to keep a watch out for the parallels between the 2 stories. I won't refer to any other books in the Bible now but if you want to, feel free to check Mark's references for yourself or else check the footnotes at the bottom of each reading.
Mark writes the story at a fast pace, he doesn't stop to explain everything that is happening like Matthew who keeps referring back to the Old Testament (a true Levite if ever there was one!), with the historical details of Luke nor with the personal details of his closest friend John.
Mark sticks to the facts. Out of the back woods in Nazareth on his mission to to die on the Cross at Jerusalem, Mark's Gospel covers the 3 years it took to save the World in only 16 chapters. We have 13 days of Lent left, I will try to shorten the time even more : )
It was a brilliant disguise. Like the spies at Jericho, the mission was too dangerous, it had to be done undercover. For God to save the World that he loves, he had to find a way to overcome his Law which cannot be broken without the death sentence being passed.
I want you to keep a watch for the things that Mark says about Jesus that reveal who he really is;
The prophecy to be ready for the Lord's arrival
His ability to baptise us with the Holy Spirit
The voice from Heaven proclaiming he was God's Son
His confrontation with the King of Evil
His authority over demons
His ability to heal the sick
His refusal to let the demons speak so he could maintain his disguise
Him telling people their sins were forgiven
His ability to read a persons mind
The way he could explain the mysteries of the Old as if he was there
His claim that he had authority over what may happen on the Sabbath
In the end you will have to decide for yourself. As C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity; I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else 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. He did not intend to.
As we reach the end of the book of Joshua, we all have a big decision to make.
My good friend from India told me that coming to New Zealand meant changing life long habits in regards to shaking his head as sometimes this was being mistaken for "No" when he meant "Yes". Communication is not what you say, it is what the other person heard. You may have thought you were clear and the other person may be nodding but you may be mistaken. You could be in India when you thought you were in New Zealand : )
When Joshua asked the people to choose whom they would serve, they all nodded in agreement and vowed that they would serve the Lord, but in the very next breath Joshua told them “All right, then you must destroy all the idols you now own, and you must obey the Lord God of Israel.” Joshua knew very well that they were still secretly keeping their idols and they had to give those up!
The Lord spoke through Joshua to the people reminding them of their history and how he had fulfilled all his promises to them before asking them to serve him. It is a good thing to count your blessings. If you look closely at your life, you will find that God has given you a lot. Before we make important decisions in life, we'd better consider carefully our blessings because if we don't have the Lord on our next venture, we don't have anything.
But Jesus told us to count these blessings and then he said that in order to follow him, we had to renounce them all! To really follow the Lord, you have to give up everything and you don't know that anyone will come with you. Even your family and friends might reject you - that is the cost of discipleship.
That is the choice that Joshua gave to the people of Israel - that is the choice Jesus gives to you and me.
Joshua was now very old and he realised he would not be completing the rest of the mission. There were still unconquered territories which included the land of the Philistines who were to prove to be a problem for the Israelites for some time yet.
However Joshua had done a great job of taking care of both their present and their future - we can learn a lot from him! He was a good father in every sense.
He had divided up the land among the tribes - both conquered and unconquered so that the boundaries were clear. One of the most important things we can do in life is to make a clear provision for our children by writing a will. There can be a lot of pain for them in the future where things are unclear which can lead to fighting among the ones we love. We do not want settlement of our children's futures to be in the hands of some unknown Judge!
Not only was Joshua concerned for their physical security by making provision for land, he was even more concerned for their spiritual well-being. There were 2 things he warned them specifically about;
Intermarrying with people from the nations around them
Any involvement with the gods of the nations around them
These are exactly the 2 things that affect our spiritual well-being the most and determine just about everything that will happen in our future. Joshua warned there could be any compromise on these 2 points without dire consequences.
Intermarriage (people who aren't Christians) "If you don’t, and if you begin to intermarry with the nations around you, then know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no longer chase those nations from your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a pain in your side and a thorn in your eyes, and you will disappear from this good land which the Lord your God has given you." AND Worshiping other gods (Basically things you love more than the Lord) "But as certainly as the Lord has given you the good things he promised, just as certainly he will bring evil upon you if you disobey him. For if you worship other gods, he will completely wipe you out from this good land that the Lord has given you. His anger will rise hot against you, and you will quickly perish."
Don't say to yourself that you will be able to change the other person so they will follow the Lord! Can a leopard change it's spots? See, I am warning you!
I've included the story of Samson (and Delilah - the Philistine) so you can read how the Israelites had to learn the hard way exactly what Joshua warned them about. Samson was the man who should have had it all but his life was ruined by some Philistine girls. You cannot play with fire and get away with it eh Bruce?
My Jewish friend at work gave me a timely history lesson today : ) After the exile to Babylon, ten of the tribes were lost, only Judah, Simeon and Levi remain today. My friend is a Levite, Jesus was from Judah.
Ironically, ever since AD70 when the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, there has been no High Priest. Effectively, God has cancelled the old system in favour of the new and Jesus is eternally the High Priest for everyone but especially the Jews.
The land east of the Jordan River allocated to Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh is now part of Jordan but these tribes are part of the ten that can no longer be located. It is believed that they exist among the other nations of the world, for example the tribe of Reuben is thought by some to have gone to Northern France. I'm not convinced it's true, but I'm sure it would be of interest to my French friends!
I believe the Bible is clear though that these lost tribes will be identified before Jesus returns. My friend told me that even though the state of Israel was established in 1948, Jews around the world are waiting for the Messiah to come before they will return to Israel. Since Revelation speaks of all the tribes, it means that these tribes will come to prominence again, which will be a very exciting time to be alive!
My friend also told me that some Jews living outside of Israel believe that creating the state of Israel has delayed the coming of the Messiah. It wouldn't surprise me. Mankind is very good at getting in the way of God's plans as we've seen from this Lent journey!
Now back to today's passage from Joshua. Once all the fighting was over, it was time for the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh to cross back over the River Jordan to their homeland in the East. Before they went back they built a monument that replicated the altar that was part of the Tabernacle. This was a definite no-no. Once the other tribes found out what they'd done they were afraid that they would suffer again as they had because of Achan. They formed an army and went to fight against the 2.5 tribes east of the Jordan.
But when the 2.5 tribes explained their reasons for building the altar, it became clear that they loved the Lord and that they weren't rebelling against him. This reminded me that as believers we must be very careful not to jump to conclusions about our brothers and sisters, condemning them without hearing what's in their hearts. Only God knows a persons heart so we need to be slow to judge. The heart of a person is more important than their faulty customs!
Finally you've got to live. You need a place to stay and food to eat.
The Levites received no land and were dependent on the goodwill of others. Because of the Law, the other tribes had to give up a tithe (meaning 10%) to support the Levites. So when the offering plate is passed around we shouldn't hold back for someones life is at stake.
The principle is that everything we have has been given by the Lord and we have a responsibility to share it with those who need it most, which first of all are the ones who have given up everything to be in ministry.
The tithe equates to a tax and is all the Lord asked for to take care of the priests. Given there were 12 tribes who received land and only the Levites that didn't, the Levites were on a good deal since 1/10 is better than 1/13! This shows that the Lord's intention was to look after his priests and pay them well.
It is the same principle as to why Paul instructed us to obey the government and pay our taxes. It is because the MP's are elected to serve the people. Please note, I am not saying that we should support corrupt governments but the principle of paying for someone who is a servant of the people is correct.
So when Jesus called his disciples to leave everything and follow him, he was really calling them to be priests. To do that, they had to trust that he could provide for them.
Matthew (Levi) was a tax collector. If he really was a Levite, he'd given his life over to money rather than serving God. Certainly he was doing the job of collecting the tithe but for the wrong government : ) Jesus knows who we really are and what we're meant to be and Matthew was called to be a true Levite and that's what he chose.
As I look to the future and my calling, I need to let go of providing for myself and trust that the Lord will provide for me and my family because he is more than able. In the past I have been able to give, now I am at the mercy of others.
Before it was abolished in England in 1965, the judges would put on a black cap whenever they had to make a judgement for the death penalty. There was a book called the bloody code which by the 19th Century had thickened to 220 offences for which the death penalty may have been given. Offences included "being in the company of Gypsies for one month", "strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7–14 years of age" and "blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime".
The majority of convicts were transported to Australia. It has been estimated that over 1/3 of all criminals convicted between 1788 and 1867 were transported to Australia and Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). It's true that Australians have criminal ancestry but in their defense, at least we can say that some hadn't committed any real crimes : )
Murder is one of the few sins that people agree deserves punishment and many would still agree that the death penalty is just. There are 3 things that are important in determining the judgement - intent, premeditation, provocation.
First-degree murder: any intentional murder that is willful and premeditated with malice aforethought.
Second-degree murder: any intentional murder with malice aforethought, but is not premeditated or planned in advance.
Voluntary manslaughter: (also referred to as third-degree murder), sometimes called a crime of passion murder, is any intentional killing that involves no prior intent to kill, and which was committed under such circumstances that would "cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed". Both this and second-degree murder are committed on the spot under a spur-of-the-moment choice, but the two differ in the magnitude of the circumstances surrounding the crime. For example, a bar fight that results in death would ordinarily constitute second-degree murder. If that same bar fight stemmed from a discovery of infidelity, however, it may be mitigated to voluntary manslaughter.
Involuntary manslaughter: a killing that stems from a lack of intention to cause death but involving an unintentional, or negligent, act leading to death. A drunk driving-related death is typically involuntary manslaughter (see also vehicular homicide, causing death by dangerous driving, gross negligence manslaughter and causing death by criminal negligence for international equivalents). Note that the "unintentional" element here refers to the lack of intent to bring about the death. All three crimes above feature an intent to kill, whereas involuntary manslaughter is "unintentional", because the killer did not intend for a death to result from their intentional actions. If there is a presence of intention it relates only to the intent to cause a violent act which brings about the death, but not an intention to bring about the death itself.
But Jesus said; Under the laws of Moses the rule was, ‘If you murder, you must die.’ But I have added to that rule and tell you that if you are only angry, even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call your friend an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
Matthew 5:21-22
The root cause of murder is anger. Guard your heart from anger, that was what Jesus was cautioning about. Ask the Lord to help you forgive and love others and let go of the offence completely. Revenge is the path to Hell. A murderer will say they are innocent but the Lord is not fooled. There is a coming day of judgement for them.
The 6 Cities of Refuge were created for those people who had committed involuntary manslaughter. People could run to those places until a proper trial could be had and their innocence declared. They were available to any Israelite or foreigner living in the land.
However, what is this passage doing in the Book of Joshua? The following commentary gives the clue that the cities of refuge are a picture of Jesus.
a. The Bible applies this picture of the city of refuge to the believer finding refuge in God on more than one occasion:
Psalm 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. More than 15 other times, the Psalms speak of God as our refuge.
Hebrews 6:18: That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
b. Points of similarity between the cities of refuge and our refuge in Jesus.
Both Jesus and the cities of refuge are within easy reach of the needy person; they were of no use unless someone could get to the place of refuge.
Both Jesus and the cities of refuge are open to all, not just the Israelite; no one needs to fear that they would be turned away from their place of refuge in their time of need.
Both Jesus and the cities of refuge became a place where the one in need would live; you didn’t come to a city of refuge in time of need just to look around.
Both Jesus and the cities of refuge are the only alternative for the one in need; without this specific protection, they will be destroyed.
Both Jesus and the cities of refuge provide protection only within their boundaries; to go outside means death.
With both Jesus and the cities of refuge, full freedom comes with the death of the High Priest.
c. A crucial distinction between the cities of refuge and our refuge in Jesus.
The cities of refuge only helped the innocent, but the guilty can come to Jesus and find refuge.
I felt that yesterday I had barely touched the surface on the topic of priests. It's partly because it's not exactly a good conversation starter. When people think of priests, they think of celibate holy men in long white (or black) robes, carrying incense and burning candles, chanting in dark castles and listening to confessions. It's all a bit weird. In more recent times, the image of priests has been tainted with the stories of pedophile priests.
As an institution, the Church doesn't do a great job of representing Jesus to the people. While in France, I went with my friend inside 2 churches. They were both very beautiful buildings and I'm sure the architecture and art inside them were interesting to her. But I know that a building doesn't really bring people to God. It's made of wood and stone and lifeless without the people. I told her the Church isn't the building, it's the people but I felt the explanation wasn't enough. In France I'm told there are hardly any Christians so the chance of anyone discovering Jesus is virtually zero. I realise that the only chance for my friend might be me.
Being a priest is a whole life commitment, you can't do it part time and you'd better do a good job of it because it is a big responsibility.
I thought again about the parable of the treasure in the field and how when the man discovered it, he sold everything he had to buy the field and get the treasure. To give everything up, he had to believe there was something worth far more to be gained. That's what a priest has done. He gives up everything the world has to offer to gain something of much greater value and he is filled with joy. As the video below shows, that is not the picture that the world has of a priest!
When Melchizedek gave Abraham his blessing, it was because he had something valuable to give that Abraham didn't have. Abraham was already a rich man but Melchizedek had something of greater value. People may have everything the world has to offer but without God they have nothing. It is our role as priests to bless them with what we have been given.
What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life?
Matthew 16:26
Due to a recent "promotion", a position has become available in our Mozambleak office.
Job : Priest
Job Description : Deal with other people's problems 24/7, build useful relationships, teach the unteachable, open the eyes of the blind etc
Salary : Not exactly
Propects : Bleak
Career Path : Downward
Pension Plan : No but includes life assurance
Serious applicants please, no fakers.
Feel like applying? Hmm, I didn't think so.
It doesn't make the list of worlds most desirable jobs and is unlikely to land you a partner. At least we live in the Modern World and have a choice, not so the Levites.
As the final 7 tribes received their land allocation, the Levites stood by and watched;
Benjamin
Simeon
Zebulun
Issachar
Asher
Naphtali
Dan
The Levites remained empty handed. Their inheritance was to be priests of the Lord. A priest doesn't receive material rewards in this life. We are better off to receive nothing from this world but wait for the world to come - that is far better. Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If you rarely feel like this world is your home but instead you feel like you belong somewhere else, then be happy : )
The Levites weren't "the" priests of the Lord, implying there are others outside of the Levites. That's you and me! The old way was to be born a Levite, now we become priests when we are born again.
How is that possible? Hardly any of us went to a theological college, we do not have a piece of paper to say we are qualified to be a priest. But when we were born again we received the Holy Spirit as our teacher so now we are more than qualified to teach others if we listen to his voice. Until people come to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, we are their priests! They will look to us, whether we like it or not. We have to follow the example of Jesus and that is a life that will cost us everything if we want to do a good job.
But when the time comes, if a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, then they don't really need us like before for they have the real thing instead. John the Baptist, that last old testament prophet and priest said "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less"
We no longer look to men to represent us to God. Neither the Pope, nor the local priest. Jesus is our Priest and he is all we need : )
“Why are you angry?” the Lord asked him. “Why is your face so dark with rage? It can be bright with joy if you will do what you should! But if you refuse to obey, watch out. Sin is waiting to attack you, longing to destroy you. But you can conquer it!”
Genesis 4:6-7
How do we respond in life when we are rejected? It is the ultimate test of our character. Can we forgive and love, or do we swear revenge and hate? To forgive is the pathway to life, to swear revenge is the pathway to death and Hell.
Is there any hope for the Middle East? Yes! The story of Jacob's family shows us how.
Joseph had received extra blessings from his father Jacob and a double portion of land from Joshua - one to each of his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Was this unfair to the other tribes?
Joseph was the first born son to Rachel the wife that Jacob truly loved and Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. The pain of rejection from the one that you love is the hardest to bear, no wonder the other sons didn't like Joseph.
It is a constant theme in the house of Abraham. Ishmael, the first born son was rejected and sent out from Abraham's household with his mother Hagar. He wanted God's Blessing too! Ishmael also had 12 sons just like Jacob later did.
Esau, the first born son of Isaac did not receive the blessing due to him because of a trick. When Esau saw the way Isaac had blessed Jacob by sending him to get a wife from his uncle Laban, he tried to follow the same path in going to his Uncle Ishmael.
The house of Ishmael lives with the pain of rejection and is naturally jealous of the house of Isaac. But God has not forgotten his promise to Ishmael and Abraham loves both of his sons : )
Joseph was only 17 when his brothers sold him down the river into slavery in Egypt. Ironically it was the Ishmaelites who picked him up from the pit and took him to Egypt. Ishmael is not out of the picture in this story and neither is he today.
Can you imagine at 17 being able to cope with the rejection of your brothers and then becoming a slave in a foreign country? Joseph suffered the most terrible of rejections, slavery, a false accusation and imprisonment but later when he had the opportunity he didn't take revenge - instead he forgave and was reconciled back to his brothers. And the result for Joseph? He won the love of his brothers and later received the double portion of land with no objection from any of the other tribes.
When I look at the Middle East, I wonder which brother will make the first step like Joseph. Will it be Ishmael or will it be Isaac?
Today we discover the significance of the inheritance of the tribe of Judah as we travel faster than the speed of light through history to the end of time : )
Judah's name meant "praise" and the prophecy Jacob made was this; “Judah, your brothers shall praise you. You shall destroy your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow before you. Judah is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. He has settled down as a lion—who will dare to rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, whom all people shall obey. He has chained his steed to the choicest vine and washed his clothes in wine. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth are whiter than milk."
Genesis 49:8-12
The territory of Judah includes Bethlehem, the city of King David and of Jesus and apparently the city of Jerusalem (v63) which later became the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, when Judah divided from the House of Israel. Later in Joshua 18 we shall see that Jerusalem was actually given to the tribe of Benjamin (the youngest brother).
The scepter meant that Judah would be a royal line, which we can see from the genealogy in Matthew went from Abraham through to King David right through to Jesus.
Jacob's prophecy pointed to the fact that the Messiah (Shiloh) would take over the rule of all the nations not just of Judah. Jesus referred to himself as the vine and us as the branches and yes his clothes were washed in wine (his blood).
The prophecy that Isaiah made about 600 BC is so amazing in it's detail. Even though Isaiah wrote that the Messiah would be cut off, nobody at the time understood what that meant but we have the benefit of looking back and recognising that this was fulfilled when Jesus died on the Cross just as his ministry was taking off.
What is so exciting is what Isaiah and Revelation reveal about the future. In the last days, all of Israel will be united and their territory will be expanded to include Edom, Moab and Ammon (refer to earlier map). We find it hard to believe that all the people living in Israel will be united, that their jealousy and fighting will end but it will be so!
And even better than that will be when all the nations look to Jesus as the Saviour of the whole world. Now only a few truly believe, one day all the nations will worship Him!
Who are the 24 elders of Revelation? It's a wonderful mystery but I can only think they are Jacobs 12 sons and Jesus' 12 disciples.
Revelation reveals Jesus as the Lion of Judah, here's that rousing Gaelic song to lift your spirit!
My Mum told me that when she was younger she went to a séance where the person leading the group told her to leave otherwise the séance wouldn't work. My Mum is a Christian, what she was doing there I can only put down to a young naïve curiosity. Séances should be avoided completely. There was a girl at my school who went to a séance and was told she was the devils daughter and she was severely affected by that. Another friend used a ouija board with some university friends and has been schizophrenic ever since.
The occult is dangerous, I've included a video below of the deliverance of Australian entertainer John Safron by well know minister Bob Larson. Before I go on, watch the video although it is disturbing so be warned...
We are asked what kind of God would tell his people to completely wipe out a nation, it's a fair question. The Deuteronomy passage tells us why God brought judgement on Canaan. The people there were very involved with evil spirits to the extent of sacrificing children. Canaan was saturated with evil and the people would not repent even when they were confronted by the Lord's army.
In our world we expect the governments and police to take action against evil manifest in that way, why should anyone criticise the Lord for doing what we would have wanted to be done if we were living in those times?
When Moses sent the twelve spies on a reconnaissance mission into Canaan, ten of them came back with the report that the land was full of giants and couldn't be conquered. I am sure that part of the reason they came back afraid was because of all the evil spiritual activity they saw. Demonic possession is frightening to see in one individual let alone on a national scale.
But Caleb had bravely spoken up that Canaan was there for the taking because he knew what the Lord had promised. No-one can stand against the Lord!
When they arrived in Canaan, Caleb approached Joshua for a share of the land even though he was not representing one of the 12 tribes due for their inheritance. But Caleb was like an adopted son and Joshua assigned the hill country of Hebron to him and no-one resisted him.
The thing that amuses me a little in the passage from Joshua today is that in order to determine who would get which portion of land, they rolled dice before the Lord! So what's the difference between rolling the dice before the Lord and conducting a séance with a ouija board? One very important matter - the Spirit behind the activity. Where God has specifically forbidden something, one of them being seeing a medium, it is because there is an evil spirit behind the activity and if you get involved you are opening the door of your heart for the evil spirit and his friends to walk right in. So don't do it!
Well, you might say, ouija boards are a modern invention, they are not mentioned in the Bible so they must be OK. If you won't heed the warnings of men like Bob Larson, then it is your responsibility to test the spirits. If the spirit agrees that Jesus is God in the flesh then it is from God and can be trusted. If not, the spirit is antichrist so watch out.
Sadly if you belong to the World, you will not believe a thing I say : (
When someone dies and after the funeral, the relatives gather for the reading of the will. This is where everyone discovers what their inheritance will be. Now it was time for the tribes to discover their inheritance. As usual there were some good surprises and perhaps a little disappointment but all was fairly allocated according to the measure of the children's blessings outlined in Genesis 49.
The first portion of the land was divided up by Moses before he died while the Israelites remained on the eastern side of the Jordan River. The territory was not genuinely part of the promised land because Moses was not allowed to enter it at that time. The first portion to Rueben was second rate because he lost his rank as first born by bringing shame on his father.
Reuben's name meant "God has noticed my trouble". Our names are significant, they mean something to God. My name means "fair and bright", I'll let you be the judge ; ) but Reuben's name had trouble in it and so it proved. He slept with the same woman as his father, how disgusting and insulting was that?! His land portion was not very good and he would always have trouble next to the Ammonites and Moabites. It is also next to the Dead Sea the lowest point on the Earth.
Levi's name meant "attachment". Levi grew up attached to his brother Simeon, both men of violence. Levi was told his anger was cursed and that his descendants would be scattered. But God does not abandon us and he chose the Levites to be his priests - men of peace but without any land of their own who would survive on the mercy of the other tribes. God can redeem any one of us from the worst of our sins. He can take our ugly and make it beautiful.
Gad's name meant "my luck has turned". Jacob had prophesied that a marauding band would come down on him but Gad would rob and pursue them. His land was threatened by the Ammonites but whenever trouble came to him, he would defeat it and make gains. God can make our enemies intentions rebound on them and the Bible promises an undeserved curse has no effect. Our worst moments with God can become our greatest triumphs : )
Joseph was Jacob's first born to Rachel after many years of barrenness and conflict with her sister Leah. Joseph's name means "may I have another". Sure enough Joseph's son Manasseh got another piece of land to the west of the Jordan River on top of the portion allocated to the East!
I've included above the passage from Revelation of that beautiful city that John saw because I believe it is significant in terms of the 12 tribes. The names of each tribe are on the 12 gates which means we will forever remember them! All cities have monuments to their great occupants, we should at least know a little of their history. It is wonderful how God takes the name our parents gave us with it's hopes and aspirations, then despite our failings through life, he redeems us and honour us in the life to come though we do not deserve it, it is as he first intended when we were born : )
Notice there are 12 foundation stones, I am sure they are representative in some way of each of the tribes but there is no time to investigate now. Look on the map and see that Jerusalem lies over the Jordan River. In the dream that John Bunyan had in prison, he wrote in Pilgrim's Progress how we cross the river with faith like Joshua and head for the heavenly city !
As I write this tonight, it's been a long day. There was a project training course to attend after work and then I had to pick up my son from soccer practice, waiting bored in the car for half an hour. I had dinner on my own because it was late and then there were the dishes to do. I spend a lot of time tired these days.
You think you can retire age 65? Forget it! God's got plans for you, you won't be lying on the beach or playing golf down the club in your sunset years. Forget the rest home, you have work to do. And not any easy work for old folks. Battles to fight, lands to conquer. The full portion, no half measures.
There was to be no passing on of the baton from Joshua in his old age, he was still young at heart. He had the youthful energy to carry on until the end. God told him he was old and then gave him the daunting list of further areas of Canaan to be conquered - the Philistines (land of the giants!), the Geshurites, the Sidonians, the Gebalites and the Maacathites... because he knew Joshua could do it!
You gotta admire the Pope haven't you? That old timer never gives up, they're not allowed to retire. Same for the Queen. Do it until you drop dead.
I suppose when you know that this life isn't all there is, you can keep going in peace. Above all, stay forever young : )
Sandcastles by Max Lucado Hot sun. Salty air. Rhythmic waves. A little boy is on the beach. On his knees he scoops and packs the sand with plastic shovels into a bright red bucket. Then he upends the bucket on the surface and lifts it. And, to the delight of the little architect, a castle tower is created.
All afternoon he will work. Spooning out the moat. Packing the walls. Bottle tops will be sentries. Popsicle sticks will be bridges. A sandcastle will be built.
Big city. Busy streets. Rumbling traffic.
A man is in office. At his desk he shuffles papers into stacks and delegates assignments. He cradles the phone on his shoulder and punches the keyboard with his fingers. Numbers are juggled and contracts are signed and much to the delight of the man, a profit is made.
All his life he will work. Formulating the plans. Forecasting the future. Annuities will be sentries. Capital gains will be bridges. An empire will be built.
Two builders of two castles. They have much in common. They shape granules into grandeurs. They see nothing and make something. They are diligent and determined. And for both the tide will rise and the end will come.
Yet that is where the similarities cease. For the boy sees the end while the man ignores it. Watch the boy as the dusk approaches.
As the waves near, the wise child jumps to his feet and begins to clap. There is no sorrow. No fear. No regret. He knew this would happen. He is not surprised. And when the great breaker crashes into his castle and his masterpiece is sucked into the sea, he smiles. He smiles, picks up his tools, takes his father's hand and goes home.
The grownup, however, is not so wise. As the wave of years collapses on his castle, he is terrified. He hovers over the sandy monument to protect it. He blocks the waves from the walls he has made. Saltwater soaked and shivering he snarls at the incoming tide.
"It's my castle," he defies.
The ocean need not respond. Both know to whom the sand belongs...
And I don't know much about sandcastles. But children do. Watch them and learn. Go ahead and build, but build with a child's heart. When the sun sets and the tides take -- applaud. Salute the process of life, take your Father's hand, and go home.
Before we move on and see how Joshua divided the land of Canaan amongst the 12 tribes of Israel, I think we need to go back in time again to get an understanding of the tribes. God had made a wonderful promise to Abraham and then it seems he had to unravel the mess successive generations made in order to fulfill it!
Remember, Abraham had 2 sons.
The first was Ishmael
The second was Isaac
I would love to know more about Ishmael's history but for now I'll stick to the Bible as it gives the history of Isaac's line in some detail.
Isaac had 2 sons to Rebekah, twin boys
The first was Esau
The second was Jacob who was renamed Israel
By a trick, Esau lost his first born rights to Jacob.
Jacob's family was a bit messed up. Jacob had children to his 2 wives/cousins (Leah and Rachel) and their 2 servants (Bilhah and Zilpah). Only the last 2 sons were from Rachel the woman he truly loved. His first marriage to Leah was the result of a trick by his Uncle Laban.
From Jacob's 12 sons we get the tribes and nation of Israel
Rueben (Leah)
Simeon (Leah)
Levi (Leah)
Judah (Leah)
Dan (Bilhah)
Naphtali (Bilhah)
Gad (Zilpah)
Asher (Zilpah)
Issachar (Leah)
Zebulon (Leah)
Joseph (Rachel)
Benjamin (Rachel)
When Jacob was dying he blessed each of his 12 sons (though some were more like curses!). Joseph was his first born son to the wife that he truly loved which I'm sure is why he blessed Joseph more than any of his other sons. These blessings took effect in later generations. Our words and deeds are powerful in passing a blessing or a curse on to the next generation. Be careful in your life so that your great great great grandchildren will live in peace!
At the time Moses lead the people out of Egypt, Levi was dropped from the 12 tribes and Joseph was replaced by his 2 sons Ephraim and Mannesah. The reason for dropping Levi was because his tribe were the priests and they were not to have land but to live from the tithe from all the other tribes.
In the future it is revealed in Revelation that Levi and Joseph will be restored to the list of tribes, Ephraim will be dropped but Manessah remains in Dan's place.
Let's also note that Jesus chose 12 disciples (refer Matthew 10:1-4);
Simon (also called Peter)
Andrew (Peter’s brother)
James (Zebedee’s son)
John (James’s brother)
Philip
Bartholomew
Thomas
Matthew (the tax collector)
James (Alphaeus’s son)
Thaddaeus
Simon (a member of “The Zealots,” a subversive political party)
Judas Iscariot (the one who betrayed him).
We do not know which tribe each disciple was from but most of them were probably from either Zebulun or Naphtali because these were the tribes who were allotted land around Galilee where Jesus was from. (Refer to the prophecy in Isaiah 9:1-2 and it's fulfillment in Matthew 4:15-16)
Later, Jesus revealed these 12 disciples would judge the 12 tribes of Israel.
"And Jesus replied, “When I, the Messiah, shall sit upon my glorious throne in the Kingdom, you my disciples shall certainly sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
Matthew 19:28
Note that Judas was included in this promise. I would love to know which tribe each disciple is going to judge!
PS
We know that the Apostle Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin because he told us so (Philippians 3:5) Day 14 Read Joshua 12 Matthew 4
Joshua 12 is a detailed summary of the Kings defeated and the territory taken by Joshua. Between the Bible readings, the previous maps and the video below we can get a pretty good understanding of the scale of the conquests Joshua made.
Did you know that Joshua and Jesus have the same name? Linguistically, in Hebrew the name Yehoshua/Yeshua/Jesus conveys the idea that God (YHVH) delivers (his people).
Notice in Matthew 4 the way Jesus treated people - he healed them all! The only fighting he did was against the unseen enemy.
When Jesus commenced his mission it was just after he had been baptised and tempted in the desert by Satan for 40 days. Right at the beginning the battle lines were drawn.
Jesus' mission involved moving through Israel systematically defeating the unseen Kings of Israel and driving the darkness out. Wherever he set foot, he terrified the demons he encountered and obliterated them. Just like Joshua had conquered the land of Canaan, Jesus defeated Satan's spiritual dominion over Israel.
No wonder Satan wanted him dead! When they finally caught and crucified him, they thought it was all over.
But Satan didn't know that he hadn't just lost his dominion over Israel, he had lost his World dominion as well : )
Even though we are to love our enemies and turn the other cheek, that does not mean we lay down our weapons and disengage from the fight. In fact we need to employ the same ruthlessness as Joshua to completely obliterate our enemies!
Which enemies are the Bible talking about? Ephesians 6 tells us that we are not fighting against people but against unseen evil principalities and powers. We must be fully armed and when we fight, it is until that unseen enemy is completely destroyed.
Everyone in the Western World thinks the Church is dying. Even church leaders to their shame are planning for a decline in numbers over the next 30 years.
Au contraire! Once fear takes over the enemy camp, we will have them. Satan and his troops are very afraid of a fully armed and battle ready Church.
Once the King of Hazor heard what had happened to the 5 Amorite Kings he was badly frightened. He sent word to all the Kings and tribes of Canaan and raised a great army to fight the Israelites at Gilgal.
But the Lord told Joshua to be courageous because within one day they would all be dead. Within a few days Canaan had been conquered. Each attack resulted in even more ground being taken.
In the same way, the Church is always only a matter of days away from total victory in even the most impossible of situations. The waiting time should be spent asking God to act and waiting for his instructions.
Anything could happen on the next 24 hours! Sorry I just couldn't resist slipping this one in : )
Day 12
I'm taking a pause from all this fighting!
This weekend we had our Youth Retreat at Mt Maunganui and the Crosswhites had theirs at Matamata. So I literally had my foot in 2 camps and while not recommended, in this case with the beautiful half hour drive over the Kaimai Ranges between the 2 camps and with the music playing, it's been OK : )
It started with Cain and Abel and has continued ever since. There is a deep river of blood flowing through the history of mankind. We do not know how to live in peace even if we have fooled ourselves that we have since World War II.
We love violent entertainment. We pretend to be horrified by the stories of the Roman Empire and the Coliseum. But we love the murder mysteries. Violent movies and video games are the best sellers.
The amount of bloodshed in human history is hard to comprehend. One count puts the number of victims of war in the 20th century at 187 million. That doesn't include the countless victims of communist regimes and civilians that have been murdered.
People blame religion. It's true. But they forget to blame the non-religious murderers.
Mankind is violent.
Killings in the name of God continue today.
And yet, God did give a clear instruction to the Israelites to kill, how do we explain that?
Well brothers and sisters, let's try : )
Firstly, Jesus said to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek if someone strikes us. The message of the Cross is forgiveness. God so loved the World...
So we don't have an excuse anymore. Anyone who hates his brother cannot have God's love within them. They belong to Satan.
Secondly, remember what we have learned. God had made a promise to Abraham and he cannot lie. The land belonged to Abraham and his descendants (which includes Ishmael as well). We are tenants on the Earth which belongs to God and he can give the land to who he wants. The Canaanites were occupiers of the land which God has given to Abraham.
Thirdly, notice the Israelites were to first offer a peace truce to the occupiers. It did not have to be a bloodbath. They could peacefully agree to be the servants of the Israelites. You might think well why would they do that, of course they would fight! But they had already heard about the miracles God had done in releasing the Israelutes from Egypt and they were afraid. They could have wisely surrendered as the Gibeonites had done but instead they knowingly chose to fight against God. Sorry, there's only one winner there!
Fourthly, God was bringing judgement on them for the evil they had done. They sacrificed children to their false gods. They were rampantly sexually immoral, treating everyone like a piece of meat. They were murderers, into the occult and black magic.They loved the darkness and God could not tolerate it any longer. We ought to be afraid because our world is like that today.
You know what the Gospel is, the Good News? God has judged our evil at the Cross. He took all judgement on himself!
We deserved to die but he took it all on himself. Only love would do that.
PS
I forgot to mention yesterday the miracle that God did in making the sun and moon stand still for Joshua for nearly 24 hours. I like the word "nearly". It's a sign the story is true even if scientists and historians would write the story off as a legend. I'm not even going to attempt to explain it, I'll just accept it happened because I believe in miracles : )
It is good to observe a detailed map of Canaan. You can see where the various tribes of Canaan lived. You can also see that the shape of the land is very interesting, how the mountains, rivers and valleys form natural barriers of defence. The Jordan River flows down from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea (the lowest point on the Earth!)
A more simple map is also displayed showing some of the key locations we have been reading. Joshua lead the Israelites into the land just north of the Dead Sea, close to Jericho. The first camp at Gilgal wasn't too far from there.
Don't forget, Israel is very small only 20,770 sq km, New Zealand is approximately 267,710 sq km!
The principle outlined in the Mosaic law was that God owns the Land and he allows us to be his tenants. He made the world after all, it is his! The maximum time you could own a piece of land was 50 years. Effectively it was only a lease.
However people are very protective of their territory because of the security it brings. We don't want to return it to it's rightful owner. The wealthiest and most powerful create laws and systems to prevent newcomers threatening their kingdoms. One of these is property ownership, a fairly recent invention in human history. Another is to arm yourself to the teeth in preparation for war!
If all else fails, the powers that be will seek a compromise. Beware of those types of deals! They have an alterier motive and limit your success.
When the Kings in the surrounding areas heard of Joshua's success in defeating Jericho, they quickly put aside any differences they had and united ready to fight the Israleites. They foolishly believed in their own strength.
But the people of Gibeon were smart and made a cunning plan to trick the Israelites by offering a peace agreement as if they were a distant nation not actually part of Canaan. Unfortunately, Joshua and the leadership did not consult the Lord and signed the compromise and then the leaders ratified it with an oath to the Lord!
The people of Israel were angry when they found out what had happened. It wouldn't be the first time that leaders forgot to consult their people ; )
However, Joshua could not break the vow without incurring God's wrath so the Gibeonites joined them if only as their servants.
Beware the compromise, take a pause and consult the Lord. It may be a trick and reduce your success.
If you won't make a compromise note you are seriously in danger after that! Even so the reward always matches the risk so take courage as Joshua did!
No compromise is a hard line, you have to be careful not to trample over the people God loves. Plenty of missions have done that. We need to keep the goal In mind but we should follow Jesus' example who set his face like flint towards Jerusalem for his mission to die for the whole world at Calvary. He never compromised, he faced serious life threatening opposition but he remained humble and only showed love towards everyone even his enemies. When the disciples asked Jesus to call down fire from heaven on a village that rejected them (similar to what Elijah had done), he rebuked his disciples.
His way was the humble way, the low road, like a Servant not a King. Our plans may fail, our lives may not end as we expect but God will fulfill his promise to us : )
PS
Isn't it wonderful how God fulfilled his promise to Moses in the Luke passage? Finally he stood with Jesus in the Promised Land!
When I read that even Joshua had to be told to be strong and courageous, I realise I'm not the first one to be overwhelmed by what God is asking me to do. My response was to create a plan but it's not my plan that will work, it's his! The valuable message I am getting from the Book of Joshua is to abandon my plans for doing God's mission. All I need is the Lord's instructions and then to follow them : )
After the previous debacle, the Lord spoke to Joshua with the details he needed to successfully defeat Ai.
He was to take the whole army
The Lord was going to defeat the King of Ai, the city and the country - victory was certain - and they were to do as had been done at Jericho
They were permitted to take the booty and the cattle
They were to set an ambush behind the city
The battle is explained below although please read Joshua 8 carefully and note he doesn't calculate the number of troops correctly!
I expect Joshua had to relay the battle plan by shouting the instructions to the Israelite soldiers. These instructions must be brief and easy to understand - you do not want chinese whispers taking effect amongst the troops when you have a battle to win - everyone must be clear on the plan.
For the 4 instructions the Lord gave, I observed the following;
Joshua was to take the whole army. The first time they had gone without any instructions from the Lord and sent only 3000 troops. God may send us on a mission but we should get more details from him, we should not be overconfident because of our faith! This time Joshua sends 30,000 of the bravest troops to set an ambush behind the city the first night and they were joined by 5000 more troops the following night once Joshua arrived with the rest of the army and had time to assess the situation. We're not told the numbers waiting with Joshua at the beginning of the valley but I'm sure it was a lot less to fool the King of Ai (but with enough strength to put up a good fight).
There is nothing like knowing that you're going to win before you start! The Lord was going to give the people of Ai to Joshua and they were to do as had been done at Jericho. It is disturbing to think that God instructed Joshua to kill everyone in the city because it doesn't seem to fit with God's character as revealed in the New Testament. However, if the sin of Achan was enough for him and his family to be killed, then God is consistent in judging a whole city for their sins. I think we would be wise to fear God rather than criticise him!
This time they were able to take the booty and cattle. This was a clear change of the Lord's policy and we can only speculate on why. Was it because it was too great a temptation and the Israelites could not afford to have another curse brought on them by disobeying the Lord again? God knows our failings and we are fortunate to live under Grace but let's make sure we follow his instructions not make our own plans!
The ambush is a very successful military tactic which has to planned with great precision. It is usually used when the strength of your army isn't as great and you need to outsmart the enemy. However, this was not the case here. There were only 12,000 people in Ai. The Israelites would have overwhelmed Ai with the size of their army however after what had happened with Achan, this was a good test of their obedience to proceed only by following the Lord's instructions. We have to learn that the Lord's way is different to ours, we should not rely on our own strength. In any case there is no mention of casualties this time.
If this story in Joshua doesn't scare you, it should! It has the power to shock even today. Achan had taken what was forbidden and he tried to keep it hidden. We may think what we've done doesn't hurt anyone else but in fact we can bring a curse on the whole community we are in. The truth will always come out.
Achans sins had found him out because it brought judgement on the whole of Israel. Even though relatively few of the 3000 troops had been killed in battle, the defeat was enough to trigger alarm bells for Joshua. Something was wrong! They were meant to march forward unopposed but they had been soundly defeated.
When a church is facing a crisis, it might not simply be the enemy attacking, there might be an underlying sin that needs to be dealt with.
So as a leader of the flock, it is important to watch out for sin, whether it be in the leadership or in the flock. If it's the kind of sin that will influence others in the wrong direction it must be dealt with. If it's not visible but there is the evidence of a crisis, there may be a sin to deal with and as a leader we should seek God as Joshua did before we react.
Sin is a serious matter, God will deal with it and judgement begins in the House of God. I really do not want my friends especially those who don't know God to have to face a judgement like that so I need to tell them the truth.
If you thought "Well that was under the Old Covenant, we are under Grace with the New Covenant", I'm sorry to have to recall to you the New Testament story of Ananias and Sapphira. It was the same issue - they were robbing God and they were lying about it. When they were confronted and they lied again, they both dropped dead. Whoah, that's scary!!!
I'm afraid that if you are a leader you are responsible for dealing with sin and it is a very unpleasant task. Joshua had to do it, Peter also had to, You are not excused because you have to protect the rest of the flock. That is why we give the opportunity to repent before judgement comes. Once judgement comes it is too late to repent.
So we can see from this history, that right at the beginning both of the nation of Israel and of the Church that something serious threatened their success. I've seen it time and again. When God is doing something good, the enemy will try to counter it and bring it to an end. Watch out!
There are 2 sins that must be dealt with in my opinion, Paul lists others in the 1 Corinthians 5 passage.
The first is theft which is what Achan, Ananais and Sapphira were guilty of.
The second is sexual sin. The most serious cases in my opinion are paedophilia and adultery because children are affected. I am not a Catholic but the Church has been afraid to confront the enemy within and excused itself by saying it wanted to protect Gods reputation. This is the exact opposite of what must be done! Notice that Joshua's concern for God's honour leads him to seek God and then to deal severely to the sin.
Sometimes we criticise Hollywood but we should thank them for making movies like Spotlight. We should weep because we have covered up the sin and the whole Church cannot move forward until it is severely dealt with once and for all.
Matthew 18 outlines the discipline procedure - note the emphasis on the high status of children in God's Kingdom. I saw something in this passage today for the first time which I would like to share with you. Jesus says;
“Woe upon the world for all its evils. Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but woe to the man who does the tempting. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better to enter heaven crippled than to be in hell with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Better to enter heaven with one eye than to be in hell with two."
Matthew 18:7-9
I have never thought it made sense for us to cut off our hands if we sin. But it does make sense if you think of the Body of Christ. If someone sins, particularly where a child is the victim, the end point of the discipline process is for the sinner to be excommunicated - cut off from the Body of Christ.
For an example of what happened in the early Church if a serious sin was discovered, please refer to the 1 Corinthians 5 passage.
1989 was the year that Communism fell in Eastern Europe - Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and most famously Eastern Germany when on November 9th 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. The Berlin Wall which had stood for 28 years was suddenly swept away by a tsunami wave of freedom.
Berlin Wall Falls November 9th 1989
The Communist Empire was over. The people were free once more! Immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall the South African government began the process of freeing Nelson Mandela from prison which finally occurred in February 1990.
This wave of freedom had started a few years earlier. Because of the Cold War and the ominous stockpile of nuclear weapons there had been tremendous fear in Europe for more than a quarter of a century. Events like the Chernobyl disaster of Saturday, 26 April 1986 proved the threat was real. At the same time there was a hope rising around the world for freedom. The Live Aid concert of July 1985 helped people everywhere realise that it was in their hands to rise up together to gain liberty.
The Style Council were the 2nd act at Live Aid on July 13th 1985 and performed “Walls Come Tumbling Down” which prophetically spoke about what was coming. The song had only been written a few months before and the first video for the song had been recorded in front of a small bemused audience at a small club in Warsaw, Communist Poland on April 13th 1985.
But Live Aid came and the message was for the whole world so Paul Weller bellows to the crowd at Wembley and to the global audience;
“Are you going to try and make this work or spend your days down in the dirt? You see things can change, Walls Come Tumbling Down! Governments crack and systems fall ‘cos unity is powerful, lights go out, Walls Come Tumbling Down!”
In April 1985 it did not seem possible, four and a half years later it came true! When I watch this video now I realise that not many people truly got the message. Most people were swept up in the moment, enjoying the music but without any lasting effect on their lives. Live Aid was a great day but we need victory every day.
Paul Weller was of course recalling the story from Joshua about the battle of Jericho. The walls that came tumbling down that day in history were Jericho’s.
Those ancient walls around the cities of our world are relics of an age gone by but the walls remain inside people's hearts, only God knows what evil lurks there. The human condition is so bad that it will take any good ideology or invention and twist it to be used for all kinds of evil. People blame religion for all the evil in the world but it is not, it is the sin in all of us. Then people blame their condition on their DNA or else their parents but it's not, we are all personally infected. You can't wipe that out with a gun or a bomb though people try.
Remember from the previous chapter with Rahab, the people of Jericho were already afraid because they'd heard what God had done for the Israelites at the Red Sea 40 years before. When the Israelites walked around the city for 6 days in silence, the tension must have been rising in the city - "what's going to happen to us?". By the time the 7th day came, the terror must have been palpable. When the trumpets sounded and the people gave a might shout and then the walls fell, it was already over, Jericho capitulated.
When Jesus rose from the dead with a great earthquake like what brought down the walls of Jericho, the soldiers were terrified and fell down as if they were dead and the Gates of Hell went under in that moment!
Inflicting fear is the greatest weapon in war. Once the people are afraid, they can be easily defeated. Genuine fear is overcome with courage from Heaven, when we remember who the King is! As the people walked around the city, the Ark of God was right at the back. When we realise that we have King Jesus behind us who has all authority in Heaven and on Earth, we can capture any city!
But unlike Joshua, our mission isn't to kill, it is to make the people his disciples.
I am reading Joshua in both French (in preparation for my travels) and in English and I noticed a very significant difference between my 2 versions.
The difference is in verse 14. When Joshua asks the man (who is an angel) if he is friend or foe, the angel replies;
"Ni pour les uns ni pour les autres. Je suis le chef de l'armée du Seigneur et je viens d'arriver. Alors Josué se met à genoux, le front contre le sol, et il lui dit: Je suis ton serviteur. Qu'est-ce que tu veux de moi?"
The angel said he was not for Joshua nor for his enemies. In other words, he showed no favouritism towards his friends over his enemies.
My English version reads;
"I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Lord's army," he replied.
Joshua fell to the ground before him and said "Give me your commands."
The message has a completely different impact. I found other English versions were in line with the French one so perhaps it is time for me to get a new Bible!
The reason God was going to give Joshua and the Israelites victory over the occupants of Canaan was not because he was more on Joshua's side than theirs.
It was because he was fulfilling the promise to Abraham.
If Abraham had listened to God and remained in Canaan, then the need to defeat the enemies would not have eventuated. And all this trouble in the Middle East that we have to this day would never have happened!
If only we'd listen and obey! So many years can be wasted...
A couple of other points;
Through no fault of their own but instead their disobedient parents, the men had to undergo the painful ritual for boys before there would be any further progress. Ask God to reveal to you anything that may have come from an earlier generation that is holding you back - you will know what to do next!
The day they entered the Promised Land, the manna from heaven stopped. The manna was a temporary provision while they were in the desert. God will always provide for us so we don't have to fear. All our trials are temporary, we are always heading for something better!
“When they used the venom on me, they would show me pictures of my life. At first they all blurred together, but now, now I can sort them out a little,” he says. “Like the ones that they changed, they have this quality, it’s like they’re shiny. They’ve been glossed over.” He then poses a question directly to Katniss: “You’re still trying to protect me. Real or not real?” “Real,” she assures him. “That’s what you and I do. We keep each other alive.”
Hunger Games
Being a person of faith isn't always easy. We read the Bible for guidance, we look for signs, we listen for God's voice sometimes in the advice of others, sometimes when we're alone.
It's easy to have faith in your comfort zone, but when you move out to where God is calling you to like the Israelites did, that's when reality sets in and your faith is tested. Like Peeta in the Hunger Games, that's when we ask the question "Real or not real?".
The instruction Joshua gave to build a monument of 12 stones, each representing the 12 tribes, was intended to be a permanent reminder of the miracle God did at Gilgal in parting the Jordan River. I don't think the monument can be found today - well it was nearly 3500 years ago! Does that mean it didn't happen because there is no evidence?
At some point there is no more evidence to be found, no more signs to be had, it's time to move forward in faith. It's impossible to please God without faith.
When I read Hebrews 11, there are success stories and there are apparent failures too. But the success or failure doesn't matter to God, what counts is the person's faith! What matters far more to God than our achievements is our faith in him, in other words, how close is our relationship with him? Some of the biggest achievers in our world are total failures relationally leaving a string of hurt people behind them.
But when we search our hearts and ask God "Real or not real", you can hear the reply coming back with assurance... "Real"
Eva Cassidy was an American singer who only became famous after she died at the age of 33 from cancer. She believed in God but wasn't part of any organised religion. As we learned yesterday, it is our faith that saves us so I have a lot of hope to meet Eva one day : )
In her cover of Wayfaring Stranger, she sings about crossing over the Jordan River as if she's nearly there, on the banks of the Jordan River with a clear view of that beautiful land just across.
"I'm going there to see my Saviour
Oh I'm going there no more to roam
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home"
I don't think you'll ever hear a more beautiful version than from someone who's seen that beautiful country!
Joshua stood on the banks of the River Jordan and gave the command for the people to cross over to the Promised Land. This was a big moment, the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham. The story they had heard for 400 years was coming true!
When the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea, it was a deliverance from slavery, the parallel is when God rescues us from our slavery to sin (addictions etc). The enemy chases after us to try and recapture us but God's Salvation is complete. We cross the Red Sea to freedom and the enemy is swept away.
But they still had to journey further through the wilderness to the border of the Promised Land at the Jordan River. That journey had taken 40 years because of their disobedience when it should have taken only a few days. But that disobedient generation had died and now a new generation was ready to take the land! Poor Moses, this should have been his moment. It wasn't his fault that the people were stubborn and disobedient.
When the new generation crossed the Jordan River, they entered into the Promised Land. There were still enemies in front of them but this time they were on the front foot because they were young, obedient and ready. God again parted the water so that they could walk across. The Jordan River is not very wide at the point where they crossed. It was not as spectacular as the Red Sea crossing, nevertheless it was a clear sign that God was with Joshua as he had been with Moses. The handing over of the leadership was complete. God confirmed Joshua's appointment in the eyes of the people.
When Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended in the form of a dove and settled on him and a voice from Heaven said
"You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased".
When God appoints his servant to a mission there is a public confirmation so that the people will know!
And whether our enemies are before or behind us, it is God with us who will sweep them from our path.
There are several other pictures we can get from this story of the crossing of the Jordan.
The first is that entering into the Promised Land is a big change from what we've been used to. Let's face it, the working life in the world is a tough one but Jesus said;
"Come to me and I will give you rest—all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke—for it fits perfectly—and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens.”
Matthew 11:28-30
In the mission God appoints us to, the work is easy and completely suited to me. That sounds like my kind of job : )
The second thing is that when God completed his work of creation, he rested on the seventh day. When Jesus died on the cross, he completed the mission of the salvation of mankind, proclaiming "It is finished!". When we are saved by placing our faith in Jesus death for us, we enter into his rest. We can rest from all our works to please God and rest in Christ... Every day! The Sabbath day of rest was merely a picture. The real rest is Christ because the work is finished : )
The crossing of the Jordan is also a picture to encourage us when we are dying that we are to walk forward in faith to enter the Promised Land and receive everything God has for us.
At the edge of the river we see the footprints of those who went ahead of us in the soft mud. I believe that is where Eva crossed
I've adapted and added to this message from a couple of years back.
There are some very remarkable things about this story about Rahab and the two spies as I’m sure you will have noticed.
Firstly what is a prostitute doing as the heroine in any Bible story? A prostitute lives a life of betrayal. Faithfulness means nothing to them. They have often been betrayed themselves by someone very close to them. 80-90% of prostitutes have been sexually abused or suffered incest as children. The average age of entry into prostitution is only 13, too young for a girl to make the choice herself. It is not difficult to believe someone such as Rahab would betray her city. However there are some people that Rahab wants to save and they are her family - father and mother, brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters in law, nephews and nieces. Given the statistics we know about a prostitute, that’s remarkable. The chances are very high that it was someone in Rahab’s family who first betrayed her. But her love for them runs very deep.
The second remarkable thing is why Rahab did not expose the spies but showed them kindness instead. It would have been worth a great reward from the king. Maybe enough to leave the life she was living. These spies had come to her brothel to stay the night. They were just like all the other men she had encountered, unworthy of any kindness. How did she recognise that they were Israelites, that they were different? Was it their accents? Perhaps it was because of what they didn’t do that she knew they were different. Clearly something made these men stand out to Rahab putting them in great danger. Which meant they weren’t particularly good spies were they? The obvious conclusion is that these two clowns were not candidates for MI5. Or were they? Perhaps I am being unfair to the spies. A spy will blend in, look ordinary. Where else to be than an inn and brothel with all it's secrets and where the men are only there for one thing, inattentive to the details around them? It's also very loud so you can have a good conversation without anyone else listening in.
But the most remarkable thing of all is that Rahab is counted as a person saved by her faith joining all the other Bible heroes. From the New Testament we read;
“By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient”
Hebrews 11:31
What did you say? This faithless betrayer who could trust in no one but herself was saved by faith? Yes, because she believed. You might say that is ridiculous and the Gospel itself is ridiculous for making such a claim. But belief matters. If Rahab didn’t believe she wouldn’t have hid the spies and covered their tracks. Her brave act of risking her life to save the Lord’s spies was because she believed.
What is even more significant about this story from 1300 B.C., which records can prove existed at least 600 B.C.?
Spoiler alert!!! Do not read any further if you want the big surprise at the end of the whole story ; )
Have a look at the Royal Line of David leading to Jesus in the opening chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. I used to think the genealogies in the Bible were so boring but now I realise there is much more to them than meets the eye. The purpose of the genealogy in Matthew is to prove that Jesus was the true King of Israel, not the impostor Herod who had been appointed by Rome. But if you look closely you will get a big surprise to see a name in the list you did not expect.
Would you like to add your name to the family tree that goes all the way back to Abraham? Romans 11 tells you how!
If you are a Jew, you can trace your line to Isaac - Abraham's second son
If you are an Arab, you can trace your line to Ishmael - Abraham's first son
If you are a Gentile like me, you're a peasant but like Rahab you are adopted by your faith : )
And that is the secret to a happy ending in the whole human story - Jews, Arabs and Gentiles alike are added back to God's Royal Family by their FAITH.
After the death of Moses, Joshua was appointed leader by God, with a clear mission.
Everywhere he went he had the Midas touch, it all became part of the promised land, because God was with him every step of the way.
The Lord didn't issue any warnings to Joshua like he had previously to the people under Moses. He just told him to be courageous. When your heart is right before God, he does not need to treat you roughly!
The people responded to Joshua's courage - a good leader must be brave. You cannot lead anyone without vision and courage.
Joshua had Faith in what God had said, so he wasn't afraid.
Anxiety and Fear can easily overtake us but we can banish Doubt, we don't have to accept it. We can if we remember what God has said and what Jesus has done for us!
Today was quite tough for me. My plan was rejected. Have I been mistaken? Was the future going to be one of confusion rather than clarity? No, I'm going to follow Joshua's example!
Day 1 Introduction
2016 is the 6th year for me doing Lent. The first time it was 6 days after the Christchurch Earthquake of 2011 but mostly I remember because during that time my friend started work at LeasePlan and I know that was the year we won the Rugby World Cup beating France in the Final!
This year is going to be very important preparation because I am heading to Valencia Football Club for 2 weeks followed by 6 weeks in France. I'm not expecting it to be easy so I will be very happy to receive your prayers and encouragement.
As we can learn from these chapters in the Bible, a lot of the trouble in the Middle East goes all the way back to Abraham, the founding father of all Jews, Muslims and Christians. He had God's calling to leave his homeland and a glorious promise and he made the right first move but like all of us he had that human frailty that lead him to make some disastrous decisions after that. Why didn't he listen to God and settle in Canaan, the promised land! Instead he ventured further and further away on south to Egypt, brought trouble into the Pharoah's household by lying about his wife and thereby putting his family and their future in danger. Within 250 years of Abraham's death, the descendants of his second son Isaac and his second son Jacob (renamed Israel) were in slavery in Egypt.
Fortunately God is full of grace and love towards us, and especially to the wayward son or daughter! God appointed Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery by performing many miracles so that he could fulfil his original promise to Abraham regarding Canaan! 400 years had been wasted because of Abraham's decision making, and we still live with the conflict created by his family split to this day. Even with God's grace, our choices today still affect our great great great grandchildren, the ones we'll never know.
Joshua was the stand out leader under Moses. He was not afraid to be the first to venture into Canaan on a reconnaissance mission, and came back with a good report even though the enemies there were powerful and ferocious. He believed God was going to give them the land "flowing with milk and honey" as promised and so he was not afraid. He proved his words weren't just bravado by defeating the Amalekites in the first battle after leaving Egypt while Moses prayed high up on a hill.
Then after Moses died, God appointed Joshua to lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the land God had promised to Moses, that he had first promised to Abraham.
In a battle, there is only one winner, you have one chance to live. When David stood before the Giant with just a sling and a stone, he took one shot, and Goliath was slain. When Joshua entered the land of the Amalekites, he was told they were all giants, but he was not afraid and he won a great victory.
During the Olympic marathon, the runners reach a point with just a few kilometres to go. One runner knows he must go now if he is going to beat all the other runners. It is not easy but that is what he has to do to win the race. He does not want his years of training to go to waste, so with one last push, with all his strength he goes! Not looking back over his shoulder but straight on to the finishing line and the gold medal. That moment arrived for Abraham at age 75 so I'm still a spring chicken compared to him : )
Will it be in our lifetimes that we will see the final fulfilment of God's promise with the reconciliation of all of Abraham's family in the land that God promised to him, impossible as that may seem. If it isn't, at least we can secure the future for our own future generations, for them to live in peace.
Just over 20 years ago I was invited down to Oamaru to help out my friend with the system at the confectionery factory he was working at. On his recommendation, we took the detoured route back to Christchurch via the sky blue lakes of Central Otago and stopped at what became my favourite place in New Zealand at Lake Tekapo. He told us the "Church of the Lonely Shepherd" was a must see and so it was. The view to Mt Cook is stunning.
