Exodus 3:1-5 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
You and I live in an age of communication. It just boggles my mind to see how fast technology is changing today. About a year ago I saw a company that was promoting a new phone coming on the market that was going to be a 4-G phone. It was no time until other companies were coming on the market with the same technology.
They are now advertising the capability to make your own 3-D video, and you won’t have to wear those silly looking glasses.
We communicate through e-mail (even though most are only fowards), facebook, twitter and texting. I don’t know how to text and really don’t want to know. Just about everybody has a cell phone today. They are very useful but I do wish some people would turn them off so that you could have a meal or a private conversation whithout being interrupted by those pesky instruments.
The bad thing about using the phone today is that almost no one answers their phone. Most people screen their calls and lets voice mail hold them until a convenient time to return the calls. The only thing bad about that is the fact that some people never return their calls.
There is a universal question people ask each other in regard to left messages; “Did you get my message?” I wonder if God ever thinks about that in regard to us? He could say the same thing, “Did you get MY MESSAGE?”
There are some messages we get from God that we HEAR but do not HEED. I believe there are certain messages that God places in the path of each of us that we never get, or if we do, we don’t heed.
In the next few weeks of CHALLENGING CONCEPTS, I want us to review a very familiar and interesting message that was given to Moses. I want us to evaluate that call and compare it to how God calls and equips His servants for a specific task. I believe there are many parallels between Moses and today’s Christian worker.
As you and I look at this passage of Scripture in the coming weeks, I believe there are practical lessons we can learn. At this time in the life of Moses, he is in a very difficult time. He has felt the call to aid his kinsman in the flesh, but he has made some very obvious mistakes.
The history of Moses is far too extensive to cover here in this study and far too familiar to deal with in detail. After divine intervention, Moses ends up living in Egypt and according to Acts 7:22 “. . .Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”
As the older Moses grew, he began to see the suffering of his people. A choice had to be made. He made it and in Hebrews 11:25 we read of that choice: “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;” One day Moses saw a Jew being beaten by an Egyptian and took the matter into his hands and killed the Egyptian. He had to run for his life and spent the next forty years being equipped to lead his people out of bondage.
Moses had felt the call to help his kinsman in flesh, but he made a very obvious mistake. He tried to accomplish the work of God in the flesh. Because he did not have God’s blessing upon his action and he had to suffer the consequence.
Here is a warning for each of us. Operating in the flesh, our old carnal nature, cannot accomplish spiritual things. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he tells about his struggle with the flesh. Notice 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” If the Apostle Paul struggled with the flesh, why do we think we would be any different.
In our service for the Lord we must be on guard against this old adamic nature. Notice Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
The word “provision” means “forethought.” Paul is saying that the believer should not give flesh ammunition to our enemy. It’s pretty bad to think about giving our enemy weapons and ammunition to fight against ourselves. Instead, we are to “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ;” being clothed with Christ or making Him the government agent of our lives.
Instead of working in the flesh, God’s work must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Being controlled by the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that our ministry will not be done in the flesh.
Moses made this mistake, but God is the giver of second chances and He does so after 40 years of preparation. What Moses went through would have made the average man throw up his hands in frustration, but God developed him into the man He is going to call to lead His people out of bondage.
In the next few weeks of CHALLENGING CONCEPTS I want us to see how a Sovereign God chooses a willing servant to do a specific ministry. I trust you’ll read every one of these and allow that Sovereign God to speak to your heart.
That’s my view; how about you?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
GOD WORKS THINGS FOR OUR MORAL GOOD
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
In my study to teach Romans 8:25-30 this week, my heart was overwhelmed at how God has worked in my life through the years. My wife and I can attest to the faithfulness of God in dealing with us. Because I spent so much time this week on this study, I thought I would share some of the thoughts I received as I studied.
The child of God who has made a study of the Word of God or has sat under good Bible-based preaching knows that he or she is on a journey and is involved in spiritual warfare. If the believer is alert, he senses that battle day by day. Sometimes the Christian may feel that he’s alone; that he’s been abandoned, but the teaching of the Word of God assures us that we are never alone. Notice Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” After Abraham died, God made this promise to Joshua in Joshua 1:5 “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
In Romans 8:26-27 Paul reports that God works for and with us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to make intercessions for us. Have you ever come to the place where you just didn’t know how or what to pray. I have been there many times and I’m glad that the Holy Spirit knows more about what I need than I do. I’m glad that God did not answer some of my prayers and give me what I wanted because many times my desires were 180 degrees from the will of God for my life. Our thoughts and ways are not always God’s ways and desires.
A good example of this is found in I Samuel 16. God has rejected Saul as king over Israel and He sends Samuel down to the house of Jesse to pick the new king. Jesse lines his boys up and brings in the oldest boy who surely must be the choice God will make. We read in I Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
God is working His plan in our lives and He uses the Holy Spirit in that process. I’m glad that I’m not in this walk by myself, and I’m surely glad that I don’t have to fight the good fight of faith alone. In recent years I have come to love Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” God works in us to do two things: Gives us the desire (will) and the power and ability (do) to do His will (his good pleasure). So God is at work and He uses the Holy Spirit. But there’s another way in which God works. This is our next thought.
God works for us and with us through Providences. Notice verse 28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
As I mentioned earlier, we are on a Pilgrimage and we’re involved in spiritual warfare. That’s the bad part but there’s a good part. The first part of verse 28 does not say “And we wish or we hope or we suppose” It says “And we know.” We as believers can have a knowledge about what God is doing and it is founded upon the character of God. Our God is faithful; He is trustworthy: He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Here’s my take: To those who love God, He Who is faithful and true, works together all things for our moral good.”
Notice the phrase “who love God.” This makes this promise for believers. It is true that God acts in the best interest of all mankind, but this promise is exclusively for the child of God.
Notice also the phrase “work together.” These two words have the idea of a weaver carefully interlacing strands of colored cloth into something beautiful, using a prepared pattern.
The two words “all things” includes those things seen and unseen; good and bad, including evil deeds done by evil people. Some people have a hard time with this part of my explanation but they are forgetting that God is sovereign and He controls everything. I believe that everything that happens in our lives has to cross God’s desk first, and He has to place His stamp of approval upon it.
We now come to another part of the verse that is sometimes hard for some to understand. Notice the two words “for good.” What some people’s definition of the word “good” is only those things that are fun, prosperous, or successful. They cannot see how problems, trouble, heartache or serious illness can be part of the “good things” list. The problem is that our thinking is not the same as God’s.
God has a specific purpose in mind as He weaves all things together. All the Joy and sadness; victories and defeats; mountain tops and valleys are woven together to achieve a result of His choosing that also develops us into a vessel fit for His use.
Notice one last phrase, “who are called according to His purpose.” This phrase is linked with “who love God.” Notice John 14:15 where Jesus said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Jesus is the example of this. We read in John 14:31 “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do . . .”
God’s purpose is revealed in His commands. We demonstrate our love to Him by doing what He commands us to do. As we demonstrate our love to Him by keeping His commands, God weaves all the things that come into our lives into moral goodness.
Let me give you my interpretation of Romans 8:28: “For those believers who demonstrate their love for God by responding correctly to the things that He allows, He weaves the strands of every circumstance, influence, idea and deed for the purpose of creating moral good in their life.”
My challenge to all of us is that we let God work!
That’s my view; how about you?
In my study to teach Romans 8:25-30 this week, my heart was overwhelmed at how God has worked in my life through the years. My wife and I can attest to the faithfulness of God in dealing with us. Because I spent so much time this week on this study, I thought I would share some of the thoughts I received as I studied.
The child of God who has made a study of the Word of God or has sat under good Bible-based preaching knows that he or she is on a journey and is involved in spiritual warfare. If the believer is alert, he senses that battle day by day. Sometimes the Christian may feel that he’s alone; that he’s been abandoned, but the teaching of the Word of God assures us that we are never alone. Notice Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” After Abraham died, God made this promise to Joshua in Joshua 1:5 “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
In Romans 8:26-27 Paul reports that God works for and with us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to make intercessions for us. Have you ever come to the place where you just didn’t know how or what to pray. I have been there many times and I’m glad that the Holy Spirit knows more about what I need than I do. I’m glad that God did not answer some of my prayers and give me what I wanted because many times my desires were 180 degrees from the will of God for my life. Our thoughts and ways are not always God’s ways and desires.
A good example of this is found in I Samuel 16. God has rejected Saul as king over Israel and He sends Samuel down to the house of Jesse to pick the new king. Jesse lines his boys up and brings in the oldest boy who surely must be the choice God will make. We read in I Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
God is working His plan in our lives and He uses the Holy Spirit in that process. I’m glad that I’m not in this walk by myself, and I’m surely glad that I don’t have to fight the good fight of faith alone. In recent years I have come to love Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” God works in us to do two things: Gives us the desire (will) and the power and ability (do) to do His will (his good pleasure). So God is at work and He uses the Holy Spirit. But there’s another way in which God works. This is our next thought.
God works for us and with us through Providences. Notice verse 28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
As I mentioned earlier, we are on a Pilgrimage and we’re involved in spiritual warfare. That’s the bad part but there’s a good part. The first part of verse 28 does not say “And we wish or we hope or we suppose” It says “And we know.” We as believers can have a knowledge about what God is doing and it is founded upon the character of God. Our God is faithful; He is trustworthy: He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Here’s my take: To those who love God, He Who is faithful and true, works together all things for our moral good.”
Notice the phrase “who love God.” This makes this promise for believers. It is true that God acts in the best interest of all mankind, but this promise is exclusively for the child of God.
Notice also the phrase “work together.” These two words have the idea of a weaver carefully interlacing strands of colored cloth into something beautiful, using a prepared pattern.
The two words “all things” includes those things seen and unseen; good and bad, including evil deeds done by evil people. Some people have a hard time with this part of my explanation but they are forgetting that God is sovereign and He controls everything. I believe that everything that happens in our lives has to cross God’s desk first, and He has to place His stamp of approval upon it.
We now come to another part of the verse that is sometimes hard for some to understand. Notice the two words “for good.” What some people’s definition of the word “good” is only those things that are fun, prosperous, or successful. They cannot see how problems, trouble, heartache or serious illness can be part of the “good things” list. The problem is that our thinking is not the same as God’s.
God has a specific purpose in mind as He weaves all things together. All the Joy and sadness; victories and defeats; mountain tops and valleys are woven together to achieve a result of His choosing that also develops us into a vessel fit for His use.
Notice one last phrase, “who are called according to His purpose.” This phrase is linked with “who love God.” Notice John 14:15 where Jesus said “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Jesus is the example of this. We read in John 14:31 “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do . . .”
God’s purpose is revealed in His commands. We demonstrate our love to Him by doing what He commands us to do. As we demonstrate our love to Him by keeping His commands, God weaves all the things that come into our lives into moral goodness.
Let me give you my interpretation of Romans 8:28: “For those believers who demonstrate their love for God by responding correctly to the things that He allows, He weaves the strands of every circumstance, influence, idea and deed for the purpose of creating moral good in their life.”
My challenge to all of us is that we let God work!
That’s my view; how about you?
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