6-18-2022           4 Levels of relationship (with the Lord)

There are four levels in our relationship with our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Most of us might remember the parable of the sower and the seed (Matt. 13:1-8) and Jesus’ explanation (Matt. 13:18-23).  Some seed fell by the wayside, some on stony ground and other amongst the thorns and finally, some did fall upon good ground.

1          Don’t know God

Seed by the wayside(hears the word but does not receive it (Matt. 13:23).  A lot of people go to rallies and even to church and hear the word of God, but it goes in one ear and out the other, they don’t retain what they hear and they go on their merry way.  Satan has done his job.  He keeps those people from coming to know the truth.  So nothing changes in their life.  Until their hearts are ready to receive the word, we may as well be talking to a brick wall.  However, we don’t know when a heart IS ready to receive God’s word.  We continue to share, anyway.

2          Intellectually know God

There are, basically, two ways to receive God intellectually: by hearing the word and/or serving God in the church or other areas of our life.

In word - Scribes and Pharisees knew what to do, they just don’t do it (Matt. 23:1-3).  The Pharisees were the Hebrew gurus or masters of the scriptures.  They were supposed to know the “Law” inside out”, “left to right’ and every which way one can think of.  Unfortunately, knowing the word doesn’t necessarily mean actually applying it into one’s life.  Jesus reprimanded them for that.

We can memorize bible passages and cite book, chapter and verse on subjects we have learned, but the words ARE all that we know.  We don’t know the true meaning of those words or even how to apply them into our own lives, but we do know John 3:16 (God so loved the world …), whether we truly believe it or not.  Consider that Satan knows the bible better than any human out there.  He quoted half-truths to Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11) but Jesus responded with the whole truth.  Just ‘knowing’ the word isn’t enough!  We have to apply it into our own lives.

In service – fruits will tell the tale.  Not everyone who calls Jesus Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God.  People can prophecy, cast out devils and do all sorts of wonderful works, but Jesus might say to them that He never knew them, depart (Matt. 7:2-23).  Their worship is in vain because their hearts are far from Him, that is Jesus, (Matt. 15:8).  Too many people get wrapped up in the belief that the more things they ‘do for the church’ is a reflection of their greater spirituality.  Yes, we do need to do things for the churches.  Most churches need all the help they can get and willing hearts are greatly appreciated.  Unfortunately too many people get so wrapped up in serving, they forget to spend time with the Lord.  Just like Martha, who at the time, was so wrapped up in preparing the meal, she forgot what was really important and complained as her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38-42). 

All too often, these folks become like the seed on stony ground or among the thorns.  Their faith is shallow so when hard times come upon them (remember the problems of Job) or they become so worldly oriented in doing things they forget that they are serving God in what they are doing.  Others become discourage because things don’t go the way they wish and eventually those all will fall away.

Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24) and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10) each believed and were baptized in water for the remission of sin, yet because their hearts weren’t right with the Lord, they needed to repent.  The bible gives no indication that they did.  Not repenting would put them in the position of the five foolish virgins (Matt. 25:1-12), ten who waited for the coming of the Lord.  But these five were left out ‘in the cold’  because they weren’t ready when He did come for them.

3          Let God into our heart

God is love (1 John 4:8) when we truly love others, God’s love is perfected in us (1 John 4:10-13). 

Jesus forgave the man, suffering from palsy, his sins and he was healed.  Scribes were present and thought Jesus had committed heresy – calling Himself God.  Then Jesus said “Why do you reason within your hearts?...” (Matt. 9:1-7).  I mean Jesus IS Emmanuel (God is with us – Matt. 1:23).  As the Word, He was in the beginning and He was with God and He was God (John 1:1).  The Holy Ghost was in Him (Matt. 3:11-15) making Jesus the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 3:8-10).  Jesus did not lie!

So we Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).  How can we love others unless we love God first?  And at that, we need to love ourselves enough to invite Jesus into our hearts. 

Jesus said if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:14) and His commandments IS LOVE (Mark 12:30 & Mark 12:31).  WE have an upward love towards God and an outward love towards those around us!  Amen?

Jesus is the image of the Father (Col. 1:13-15) and we should be the image of Jesus  (Rom. 8:29) and that image is love (1 John 4:8). 

When we truly let Jesus into our life and our heart, our transformation truly begins.  From that point we should be renewing our minds (Rom. 12:1-2), yielding our lives to our Lord Jesus (Gal. 5:16-26).

Truly living in God’s love confirms that we will be with Him in eternity (1 John 5:12-15).  And we have entered into a growing relationship with Him.

4          Let God into our spirit

God is Spirit and those who worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).

When we come before God, we need to always be honest and truthful.  Also, our (human) spirit must come to Father in the ‘right’ Spirit (the Holy Ghost).  That can only happen once we receive Jesus into our heart so the Holy Ghost can take up residence within our heart (John 14:17, 1 Corinth. 3:16).  Jesus promises us the Holy Ghost

When we keep His commandments, Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit and promises us that He will be in us (John 14:15-17).   After the resurrection, Jesus stands before the disciples and shows them His hands and side.  Then He breathes on them and tells the disciples (& us) to receive the Holy Ghost (John 20:19-22), a command.  Just before ascending back into heaven, He said “wait for the promise from the Father, which you have heard from Me.” (Acts 1:4). 

And just before being taken up, Jesus tells the disciples (and us) that when the Holy Ghost is come upon us we shall receive power … (Acts 1:8), a promise.

Why the promise AND the command?

THEN (of course) the Holy Ghost comes and sets upon each of the 120 in the upper room as cloven tongues of fire and gives the disciples what to say and then causes quite a stir (Acts 2:1-18). (Paul speaks of speaking with the tongues of men and of angels (1 Corinth. 13:1).

There is a speaking in tongues, languages of man, which are not learned (but can be) and of angels (God-given) which cannot be learned but must be given by the Holy Ghost. 

What is our “Spiritual” Language?

The Spirit not only helps our infirmities, but we don’t always know how to pray so He intercedes for us with the Father through groanings (G4726 stegnamos – or sigh) (Rom. 8:26) and is man’s direct communication with God, the Father (1 Corinth. 14:2) because He speaks mysteries.

In His letter to the Corinthians (Corinth. 14:1-25), in part, Paul explains that ‘tongues’ builds up the individual but we also need to ask God for understanding (v 9-15) and when we are in the church an interpretation is necessary so those in attendance might know what the Lord is telling us – for the edification of all (v 14-19).

So, should we not speak in tongues in the church?  Of course we can, but our primary objective should not be to ‘show off’ (look at me, I’m speaking in tongues), but always to edify the church!  Remember, the Holy Ghost prompts us with ‘Spiritual tongues’.  We don’t dream it up all by ourselves or learn because others have ‘taught’ us.  It is a gift from God to help us walk closer with Him.

Arguments:

Holy Ghost was only for the disciples in the early church.

1          Jesus promises all believers will be able to do the works He did and greater (John 14:12).

This is a promise to ALL believers.  So just what did Jesus do?  He healed the sick, made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead and cast out devils!  Consider that Jesus gave the disciples authority to do these things while He was with them and then gave them the power to continue on with healing and miracles after the Holy Ghost came (Luke 9:1-2, Luke 10:1-17, Acts 3:1-10) as described in Acts chapter two.  Personally, I’m convinced that ‘greater’ means that Jesus gives not just ‘special’ preachers, but neighbors the ability to pray for neighbors bringing God’s victory into their lives. 

2.         When that which perfect is come all these things will pass away (1 Corinth. 13:10). 

Some say that when the bible was completed, that was when the perfect had come.  So just when was the bible ‘complete?  The apostle John tells us that if everything that Jesus told the disciples 2000 years ago were written down, he supposed the world would not be able to contain the volumes (John 20:30-31 & John 21:25).  Jerome published the first ‘complete’ Christian bible in 405 AD (or ACE), containing what we refer to as the Old & New Testaments (the Latin Vulgate).  John Wycliffe published he first English translation in 1382.  At least half a dozen more English translations were available by the time the King James Bible published in 1611.  Oh, and by the way, by 1639, the writers of the King James version decided that the seven apocryphal books were not “God inspired” so they took them out leaving us with the 66 books in most of our current bibles.  And how many translation have come out since them?  All ‘based on the original Greek’!  I’m not discounting any bible.  God forbid!  What I am saying is that no matter what version we have, we don’t have the ‘whole’ picture.  Is the bible perfect?  I don’t think so, but it does speak about the perfect (Jesus).  It speaks about what we need to know and as we prayerfully read ‘our’ bible, the Holy Ghost will show us what we are lacking in God’s love and how to apply it into our own lives.  Keep in mind that the Living Bible was originally a paraphrase written to help children understand the bible, yet it can still get us where we need to be.  Gotta start somewhere.  The Holy Ghost will lead us into more of what we need as we grow closer to the Lord. 

Jesus was made perfect so that through our obedience He has become the author of our salvation (Heb. 5:9).  So ‘what is perfect?  Or should I say ‘who’? 

The bible IS our guide, but he Holy Ghost brings us into all truth (John 16:12-14).

Again, God is love (1 John 4:8).  He operates in that love and expects us to learn to live in that love.

Needless to say, that when we are in the presence of God, THEN we will be in perfection.

We’ve seen:

Not knowing Jesus at all

Knowing about Jesus (understanding the bible, even memorizing scripture).

Taking a personal interest in getting to now Jesus.  learning what He truly expects form us and what we can expect from Him.  It takes two sides to come into agreement for a relationship to work.  Communication brings the two sides together.

But God wants to be up close and personal – not just knowing Him to say hi and wave, but to get close enough to hug Him and feel the warmth of His essence.  God had Israel build a temple so He could be with His people (Ezek. 37:27).  And today we are the temple of God (2 Corinth. 6:16).  In case you missed it, His desire is to be with us. 

Are you getting the drift here?

Amen

6-4-2022    The Watch

Just finished watching an episode of ‘Touched by an Angel’ (season 7, episode 14), ‘Bringer of Light’.  I loved how the writers of this episode (John Masius, Luke Schelhaas & Jason Jersey) brought together a mom, dying of cancer, an atheistic husband, an inquiring daughter (Lucy) and the existence of God. 

Start TV airs this show daily between 8AM – 10 AM (2 episodes) Eastern time (US). I love this show because it brings forth a lot of biblical truths with practical application.  But I almost didn’t watch this airing. I was thinking what I had to do before going to my daughter’s later for a cookout.  (OK, it was 90 deg. Out there and it WAS a cookout but an eat-in.  lol) 

Over this Memorial Day weekend, more than once, I said “Lord, what am I going to do for the blog this coming Saturday?” and I heard nothing.  Normally I eat breakfast as I watch the first episode Monday – Friday and today was no different.  Except that I only watched the beginning of the first episode today.  Because of the holiday today and the fact that our church is bringing in some special speakers this Friday and Saturday, I figured I had only one day (Wednesday) to get to the gym.  The plans for going over to my daughters today for a cookout was pushed back two hours so I realized I could still make it to the gym today.  I had time to make it to the gym today and my time wasn’t obligated until after 5PM Friday. I thought about it and it ‘dawned’ on me (Thank you Father) I should also be able to make it Friday as well (all three days).  So I had to quickly make out my routine for this week.  Did that and came back into the living room read my passage for today in the bible.  By that time it was almost 9:00 AM so ‘I said to myself I’ll see what the next episode (of ‘Angel’) is.  I found myself watching the whole episode!  No complaints.  I love this show.

At the end of the show I said to myself “Well that was good.  I’m glad I watched it.  Through these shows, Father always shows me a ‘little’ something He wants me to be aware of.  But, Lord, I still don’t have anything for Saturday.”  The Lord responded to me “Really?  What about the watch?”

In this episode, Andrew (John Dye) explained to the daughter, Lucy, in this family (Amanda Fuller) about a watch being found on a tree stump in the forest. 

In a nutshell.  The watch was just laying on a tree stump.  How did it get there?  Did the components of the watch just ‘come together’ there on that stump of their own accord?  Or did someone make it and leave it there to be found?  Response – someone had to make the watch and put it there, it couldn’t just materialize all by itself right there on that spot.  Did you see the watchmaker?  No.  Then how do you know the watchmaker made it and left it there?  Someone had to.  The watch couldn’t have made itself and put itself on that spot.  Oh.  So we see the evidence that a watchmaker made the watch and put it on the stump even though we didn’t see the watchmaker do any of this?  Well, yeah. 

Today, we see the evidence of our ‘watchmaker’ (God) in the world around us.  Science rationalizes that all this ‘just happened’ rather than admit that everything was created for purpose, with design by ‘someone’ (also God). 

Understand, that if we reject the idea that God created everything, then we don’t have to admit that there is a higher power in existence.  If we deny that a higher authority exists, then there is no commitment to that authority.  Therefore, if that higher authority doesn’t exist, we have no obligation to it (Him) and I have no guidelines governing what we do so can do whatever! 

Paul tells us that the ”Law” (10 Commandments) brings knowledge of sin.  However, where there is no knowledge of sin (to the knowledge of the individual) there is no realization of penalty for sin.  Yet we all still die a natural death (Heb. 9:27).  The eternal death is what we want to avoid – the judgment of God (Rev. 20:11-15).  Yet through ‘Law’ comes that knowledge of sin and sin brings forth death. But life comes through acceptance of Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:1-25).  Most people, in this world, really don’t want to die.  It is hard to imagine not existing anymore.  We see the finality of death when pets or people around us pass from this life.  What keeps a lot of folks pressing on is the hope of some sort of life beyond this one.  However:

Look at the world today.  Wars and rumors of wars, worldwide famine, worldwide natural disasters, rioting in the streets, rise in senseless murders!  (also mentioned in the bible by Jesus (Matt. 24:1-13) 

Most people agree that the world is a mess, yet not many want to do what is necessary to correct the situation.  Pass laws to correct the problem but ignore the root of the problem – people’s heart.  And that means a relationship with our Creator (God).

Paul reminds us in Romans chapter one how man has rejected God (even in his time) and then spells out the consequences of such action (Rom. 1:1-32).  In quick summary, God gives man over to his own desires and lets him wallow in them, to their own destruction.  Is this God’s intent for us?  No.  In his letter, Peter writes, to those who have received Jesus as Savior, in part  says is “God is not slack as man considers being ‘not caring’ but rather is longsuffering that none should perish.” (2 Peter 3:9).  This means that Father puts up with a lot from us, giving us every opportunity to let Him into our life – even until our last breath!  God could have (and probably should have) taken me out a long a time ago, but He has been patiently waiting for me to get the point where I am today.  And even though I am slow, He is still working with me.

God is the only ‘thing’ science can’t explain so it’s easier to deny His existence rather than admit that he’s responsible for all that is.  I mean, after all, look at the technological advancements man has made in the past 100 years!  From putting around in model “T”s to sending spacecraft beyond our solar system!  Man is pretty smart!  Man continues to learn to explain what he does see and reject what he can’t.  By the way, in the natural, we don’t see germs or even individual cells – but we ‘can’ see them through microscopes.  So we accept their existence.

Back to the watch found in the forest.  Just as Lucy considered the watch found in the forest, she knew someone had to have made the watch then placed it on the stump.  A watch just can’t make itself (right?).  And that watch couldn’t have walked to that stump on its own accord.  It has no legs nor the ability to ‘roll’ itself or fly up to and up onto the stump.  She concludes that someone must have made the watch then placed it on that stump. 

But consider, she never saw the watchmaker nor did she see him place it on the stump, but there  was the watch! Someone had to have made it and put it there!

We look at things through ‘natural eyes.  We try to explain or rationalize things to understand them (that’s OK) but when we hit a brick wall in explaining things, it is easier to deny it or say ‘it just happened’.  We can allow no room for a force (power), we cannot understand, being responsible.

In large, man refuses to admit that there is a higher authority which He can’t explain through natural means.  Amen? 

So why go through all this?  This is how too many people view God.  We may not be able to physically see Him, hear Him, touch Him, Taste Him, smell Him, but when we open our heart up to Him we can surely experience Him.

Our body can and will react to God’s presence in our life.  Jesus says that the Holy Ghost (a part of the Trinity and through ‘salvation’) dwells within us (John 14:16-17).  Oh, by the way, this same Holy Ghost was made available to us on what Christians refer to as ‘the Day of Pentecost.   12 apostles and 108 disciples were in the upper room, praising and worshipping God when the Holy Ghost came as ‘tongues of fire’ resting upon all the disciples in that upper room (Acts 2:1-18).

God is and does interact with us.  We need to accept that He IS (I AM – Exod. 3:13-14).  We need to learn how and when He does.  And He does through the world around us, the bible and our personal relationship with Him.

The closer our relationship with our heavenly Father, the more readily we can recognize when that interaction occurs.  Read the bible to get understanding about our Lord, then talk with Him to develop that relationship.  Talk?  That means pray!  Think.  How many times did you get to know anybody without talking with them?  Exchanging ideas and thourhts?

We may not be able to ‘see’ our (watch) Maker, but we surely can see the evidence that He has been here.  Look around.  Again, look at the world around us.  Not necessarily what man has done to it but the basic beauty of everything.  Get past what is just in front of our nose, then see the beauty of God’s creation and know that He IS.

Our Maker does exist.  He’s just waiting for us to discover Him.

Amen