Fearing God and Trusting Christ in an Age of Terror

"As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?" And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:3-15 ESV)









These photos are from a 'Religion of Peace' Deomonstration that happened in London. They were left out of American newspapers but are being sent over over to the States from people overseas.

I felt the pull in my Spirit leading me to write on a text about trusting God that is in the book of Isaiah. I had not gotten a chance to finish this writing last night and recieved the pictures above today from a friend right before the rest of this writing was to be finished. I decided to put up these pictures because it is fitting to see the horror of evil that is active in the world and to realize that Christ said that the state of this world as it is today will get worse. What is even more astounding is that even after the world comes to the place of extreme chaos with famines, earthquakes, wars and rumors of war, "all these are but the beginning of the birth pains"(Matthew 24:8). It is very disturbing to think about all of this and then realize that even still it will get worse. Even the earth itself has been groaning and heaving like a woman in birth and will feel the sin and wrath that has been brought onto it. So much so that even "the stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light" (Isaiah 13:8 NIV).

Throughout history there have been many dark periods brought onto the earth as a judgement against sin. In the Bible a prophet named Isaiah underwent one of these times. While God has dealt with sin in Christ for The Body and nothing that befalls us as His child is a judgement from Him, there will be a time that the Most Patient One will have fulfilled the time given for repentance and will begin to pour out His anger upon all of creation and everyone alive at that time will have to under go it. The words God gives to Isaiah regarding the judgement about to come are words that are easily forgotten but serve as a reminder of what type of people we should be in an Age of Terror.

"The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:
"Do not call conspiracy
everything that these people call conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.

The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread,

and he will be a sanctuary;
but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured."

Bind up the testimony
and seal up the law among my disciples.

I will wait for the LORD,
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

(Isaiah 8:11-17 NIV)

This text follows up shortly after a somewhat disturbing encounter between Isaiah and God. Isaiah almost is no more because He sees God. God cleanses him and allows him to live. God then asks Isaiah to go be His representative and Isaiah gladly agrees. God commissions Isaiah to speak to this people and then tells him that He (God) has closed their eyes and ears so that they cannot recieve any of the Words of God. God nows goes on in this passage giving the warning to Isaiah that he is not to be like the rest of the people. He is not to fear what they fear or dread what they dread.

It is easy to turn on the news or read the paper and hear about the state of the world we are living in and become stricken with fear. It is easy to feel like God has some understanding of how desperate our world is and how we fear things in this life that man can do, but God calls us to fear no man. Who we should fear is God.

"The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread" (Isaiah 8:13 NIV)

Fearing God is not something that is easily understood by non-Jewish Christians. It is easy to think of the God of the Old Testament as different from the God we see in Christ. One is a God of wrath, the other a God of love. But it is still the same God; God has both wrath and love and is merciful but is also just. Jesus even teaches us to have the same attitude about Who we are to fear.

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28 NIV)

In Christ there is NO condemnation that can be brought upon us. As believers, the only weapon Satan has is the power to threaten us with unconfessed sin. He has nothing that he can damn us with. Satan can even kill us but He cannot do anything to seperate us from God. In Christ we even have peace not only with God but also with other believers though the blood of the Lamb. But this same peace that unites us as believers also divides us from the world.

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'" (Matt. 10:34-36 NIV)

People will stumble over Christ even after they have experienced His goodness due to the hardness of their hearts.

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." (John 3:19-20 NIV)

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV)

In today's world, the state of Christianity has been so influenced by Enlightenment thinking that we don't really know or talk about that people who are not Christians HATE God.

"The LORD looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.

All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one." (Psalm 14:2-3 NIV)

"The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so." (Romans 8:3 NIV)

One of the clearest examples of how badly man hates God when left to himself is in Christ and the Cross. Jesus is "the exact representation of God's being" and Man hated Jesus so much, that while He was on this earth as a human, they killed Him. Man in his natural state would kill God if they could get their hands on Him; they did and it is not hard to fathom that we would do it again.

It is not that they just hate God, they will hate all people who believe in Him also.

"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!" (Matthew 10:24,25 NIV)

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." ( 2 Timothy 3:12,13 NIV)

The Bible is clear as to the nature of what is coming in and to the world and what will happen to the followers of Christ on this earth. America may not always protect the Christian faith; America may not even be here. We cannot hope and trust that something as feeble as man or government to provide for us security. We have no security in anything but Christ. God's desire is not that we should avoid pain and all have democratic and religious freedoms but that no matter what happens to us, He will be known to the world through us to show that He is the most glorious thing ever! The most glorious thing ever no matter what befalls us in this life is Christ and the Cross and He will go to any length so that we and the world know that He is more valuable than anything. It is not only for His glory but also for our joy. We will never know what true joy is until we can consider all things as garbage compared to Christ.

Tragedy will behalf us both individually and corporately as the Body in this world but let us say with Isaiah:

"I will wait for the LORD,
who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him." (Isaiah 8:17 NIV)

One day the horror of sin will be over; we will no longer be subjected to the pain and suffering that are in the world and His patience will soon be no more with evil. The devastation that is to come in this time God has left for the fulfillment of His purpose will be terrible but we are not to fear it. God has loved us so much that even before we loved Him He died for us and saved us and will sustain ALL of His children through all that will come into their path on this earth. He has not left us alone and will come again.

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

(Rev. 12:12-17, 20 NIV)

Pictures, Stars and Dreams

I have had Jennifer on my mind for quite some time and finally woke up this morning (for the first time in a few weeks) with no nostalgia for the past. I was listening to the radio online and this song came on. It reminded me of exactly what her and I talked about with her just wanting "to be friends" when she decided to leave. I guess I have never turned the lights off yet.

I told you I'd leave a light on
In case you ever wanted to come back home
You smiled and said you appreciate the gesture
I took your every word to heart
'Cause I can't stand us being apart
And just to show how much I really miss ya

Every light in the house is on
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn
Thr front walk looks like runway lights
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night
Every light in the house is on
Just in case you ever do get tired of being gone
Every light in the house is on

If I should ever start forgetting
I'll turn the lights off one by one
So you can see that I agree it's over
But until then I want you to know
If you look south, you'll see a glow
That's me waiting at home each night to hold ya

Every light in the house is on
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn
Thr front walk looks like runway lights
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night
Every light in the house is on
Just in case you ever do get tired of being gone
Every light in the house is on

-Trace Adkins "Every Light in the House"

Surely God is in this place and I did not know it

"Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."" (Genesis 28:16 ESV)

Life is unpredictable. It usually does not turn out the way we think it should nor does it usually go how we expect it to go. It is often easy to be plagued with feelings of regret and a case of the "what if's" or "if only". There is this wonderful place in Genesis where this one brother named Jacob tricks his Dad into giving him his older brother's birthright. Back in those times, oaths had tremendous power. So much so it was believed that if you gave an oath blessing or cursing something, the oath somehow had some kind of power and binding over what was swore over. Needless to say, this was a pretty serious offense against his brother and although their Dad feels terrible about what happened, he cannot go against his oath. Jacob's brother threatens to kill him and somewhere shortly after all of that Jacob hits the road and flees for his life. In Jacob's flight he suddenly gets tired. It is an interesting story.

10Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28 ESV)

Here Jacob is asleep somewhere random on the side of the road and the LORD reveals Himself to Jacob in a dream. Jacob had spent his life hating his brother and does him wrongly and is on the run and out of nowhere in this seemingly "random" place God shows up out of nowhere and tells Jacob that He has a plan for him.

It is kind of how God does in the life of His children. We are out in the world "apart" from God's plan for us and He comes in a mighty way and opens our eyes to see Him. All of the stuff in our past is deserving of God's wrath but even all that God could use to condemn us for has led us to the place where God has revealed Himself to us. God has sovereignty guided us to the place where we would receive Him. All of the "what if's" or "if only's" we have are worthless in light of what He has planned for His children.

I cannot deny how God had purposed the past to bring me to where I am today but I still struggle with how all of the stuff going on right now fits into that. It is kind of like being aware of God's presence but not knowing how present He is in the situation. We get into situations and wonder where God is while the whole time God is leading us to a place to surprise us and bless us.

I do not know why all of the things that happen in the world happen. But as Christians, God comes to us and reminds us in a big way of who and where He is. Sometimes we immediately know His presence and exclaim "Surely God is in this place and I did not know it!"

Other times we don't always know it. We expect God to show up like He did to Moses but walk around depressed like Elijah. We give up and go hide in a cave. And yet the LORD still comes to us.

"And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19)

Sometimes when all of the world is coming at us, we need to get still before the LORD and have eyes to see God in the small things that He tries to speak to us in.

God wants to speak to us in the quiet place of our hearts and tell us that He is here. Not only that, but He wants to give us rest. Oh how I pray that we may have hearts to receive that with.

1"Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.[a] 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
"So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "[b] And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."[c] 5And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."
6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."[d]
8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God." (Hebrews 4 NIV)

I pray that you hear the voice of God speak to you in whatever is going on in your life and that you can exclaim: "Surely God is here and I did not know it!" Let us press on to know the LORD whether this time for us be hard or easy that we may be in the presence of God and enjoy Him forever more. Make that day Today.

Broken

My heart is deep with pain tonight. I have a friend who has some stuff going on right now that has not been known until tonight. I am broken that this person is doing what they are doing and even more broken that I was lied to and that they are unrepentant of it. What do you do when your worst suspicions about someone are confirmed? I go to the Lord. I really have no where else to go. There is this place in John where Jesus has a hard teaching and many of His follower leave. Jesus asks the 12 if they also want to leave and Simon Peter says: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68 NIV). Where else can we go?

Psalm 55 (New International Version)

11Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.

12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,

14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the grave, [b]
for evil finds lodging among them.

16 But I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.

17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.

18 He ransoms me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.

19 God, who is enthroned forever,
will hear them and afflict them—
Selah
men who never change their ways
and have no fear of God.

20 My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.

21 His speech is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.

22 Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.

23 But you, O God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of corruption;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
will not live out half their days.
But as for me, I trust in you.


Although I am hurting and grieving, or maybe because I am hurting and grieving, I will cling even more tightly to the Lord. Please pray for wisdom and an open heart for me in dealing with this situation. Pray also that God will grant this person repentance and restore them.

Torah de Bible

The first five books of the Bible have been on my mind lately. I felt the need to post this for all of us to remember not only what God has commanded us, but His faithfulness in Christ.

Deuteronomy 6 (NIV)
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.

20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." (Deut. 7:9 NIV)

The Kindness and Severity of God

"Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness."(Romans 11:22 ESV)

"Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6,7 ESV)

I have been thinking a lot about the contrast between "the kindness and severity of God". God is Love and does not willingly (literally: from His heart) "afflict the sons of men" but He is also just and does not let the wicked go free. It is truly only when we can know the fullness of God in all of His character when we can appreciate the fullness of who He is and to really know what His mercy and grace are like. God even desribes this in His declaration of who He is to Moses. Moses asks God for His name earlier in the book and He is told it. When Moses was asking God for His name, he was asking for how he was to distinguish this God from the other "gods" but that wasn't primarily his objective. In Hebrew culture names meant something about the person or their history. Mose was not only asking what do I call You but what are you like? Later on in Exodus Moses pleads with God to show him something more. He knows God's name, but He wants something more. Moses asks to see God but God denies him the request but promises to shield him and let His goodness pass by. As God is passing by He declares more fully who He is. He says:

"Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6,7 ESV)

This declaration of who God is is very reflective of what we as humans have come to know about God and His nature: God constantly desiring to have a people of His own but is also constantly having to pour down judgement because of disobedience. In the book of Job, Job has a lament where he is talking about how God should rightly bring judgement on people who do evil. He comes to a place in the passage where he has a realization that he is no better or different than anyone else and that he too has no way to stand against a Holy and Just God. No one is any better off than anyone else in that they are free to do what they please to their fellow men. ALL men will have to give an account for what they have done.

Job 31 (NIV)

2For what is man's lot from God above,
his heritage from the Almighty on high?

3 Is it not ruin for the wicked,
disaster for those who do wrong?

4 Does he not see my ways
and count my every step?

5 "If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit-

6 let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless-

7 if my steps have turned from the path,
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands have been defiled,

8 then may others eat what I have sown,
and may my crops be uprooted.

9 "If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door,

10 then may my wife grind another man's grain,
and may other men sleep with her.

11 For that would have been shameful,
a sin to be judged.

12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction;
it would have uprooted my harvest.

13 "If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants
when they had a grievance against me,

14 what will I do when God confronts me?
What will I answer when called to account?

15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?


The Law that God gave to Moses brought condemnation to all men on the earth. God does expect us to act justly but through the Law we will all come up short. Yet even in our shortcomings, the Name of God is still proclaimed: "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus 34:6,7 ESV).

Listen to what Jeremiah proclaims about God and who He is.

Lamentations 3 (NIV)
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.

29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.

32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.


For though the Law, even having a glory of its own, brought condemnation to all men into the world and casted us far away from the Lord, "men are not cast off by the Lord forever" and "though he brings grief, he will show compassion". He has done this is such a marvelous way.

"For the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
"The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind:
'You are a priest forever.' "
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant." (Hebrews 7:19-22 NIV)

Only because of Christ can we come boldly and securely forever into the presence of the Father. Not only did Jesus free us from the condemnation of the Law, He also gave us life that has freed us from the power of sin and empowers us to live to Him.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 NIV)

Oh how I pray that we may come to know and appreciate the depth of God's love for us in ALL of who He is! Sometimes the best prayers come from God's Word itself and I hope that anyone reading this will consider praying this prayer on a regular basis.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 4:13-21 NIV)

God is at work at work (Not a mistype).

I was blog reading today and read an amazing story that really made my week.

As many of you know, the church plant I am a part of just opened a coffee shop called Confluence. The whole intention of the shop is to give back to the community. All profits go back into reaching out to people and blessing them. The manager of the shop (who is also an elder) wrote on his blog today about how one small act done in a Christ-like manner throught the power of the Holy Spirit can have an impact that grows and grows. God has moved in so many ways in such a short time since the shop has opened. The site for the shop is www.confluencecoffee.com if you guys want to check it out.

It kind of reminds me of how 12 ordinary men filled with the Holy Spirit changed the entire course of this world from here and onto eternity. The post is titled "if mcdonalds can do it…". Please read (but only if you want to be blessed). Thanks to all of you who have been helping the vision of The River and of the heart of God in the many ways you have. Happy reading!

http://www.theriveraccess.com/brianleimone/