A clean heart to worship, O God

The presence of the Holy Spirit always is felt in a stronger, deeper way when we come together in our study and fellowship times!  

SELF-DECEIT. This past Sabbath, it seemed our study group felt pricked about self-deceit. We could see the reality of the dangers  described in our key Scripture passages resulting from making our own decisions outside of counsel from God’s word. It all came down to each believer’s willingness to trust God’s way or our own - and we have two strong pictures of our Lord’s broken heart plainly putting this before us.  In the fifth chapter of Genesis, He reveals the sin-sick condition of the pre-Flood generation:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that...when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great...and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (5).

And by the time of the break up of the Israelite nation that he had shaped, we see those generations caught in the same set of behaviors in God’s word through Jeremiah in chapter 16 through 17:

It shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?

Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law; And ye have done worse than your fathers; for behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me (16:10-12).

OUR HEART FOR GOD.  This condition of those who will not stay obedient to God’s words comes out of constant decisions to do one’s own thing - to go with our own ways and prefer our own reasoning.  God always speaks plainly to His people, laying out their errors with pain, and pronouncing his judgments - even while holding out the promises of hope and restoration if we will repent and turn away from sinning against Him.  But the confrontation with our own evil is important for us, as we see in Jeremiah’s continued prophesying:

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh...

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters...

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (17:5-9)

Trusting and believing in our own strength and innate virtue is a mistake.  Our capacity to trust this spiritual insight and believe it will determine our decisions to obey the Lord and walk in His truths...  

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study - And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

Christian Growth From Flesh to Spirit

From Flesh to Spirit - amazing journey!

God’s command to worship Him in a special way during Sabbath not only signifies our obedience to our Lord, it plunges us into the framework for experiencing Him: sanctification.


Bible Study Points: SCRIPTURE’S LIFE-CHANGING SIGNIFICANCE
THE POINT: THE NEWLY-SEEN TRUTH AND REALITY ABOUT GOD.   As we continue in obedience to God’s commands and claims on our lives he brings us deeper into relationship with Him.  One key change that happens in us moves us from experiencing our lives through self and flesh to experiencing our changing lives through Him and His spirit.


THE SIGNIFICANCE: THE STUDY AND INSIGHT
A Word for me.  In Exodus and Deuteromony’s Sabbath commands I see that worship forms part of the continuum of a life of obedience.  Sabbath worship is a special illustration of our heart of obedience and its love response.  This response that God asks of us really can be seen as a guide for sin-blinded humans to know how we should relate to what he is like and what he really wants - respectful, focused time together! Not so unreasonable...


This life of obedience can be also understood as the ongoing experience of sanctification.  Sanctification then becomes the framework for the heart of my Christian experience, my daily experiences with God.  Paul clearly points to this journey of obedience in 2 Corinthians 5 in: the movement from “flesh” to “spirit.”

The passage.  Paul’s 2 Corinthinans discourse describes the view of the Christian who has learned to live spiritually.  Verse 16-17 shows the outcome: Christians who no longer relate to each other “after the flesh” or an outward human point of view.  “Yea, even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” 

The Context.  This creature is new - transformed.  How? In our steadfast looking to Jesus Our Savior, we experience the spritualization or sanctification process only experienced through focusing on Him, that can move us from living enslaved to “fleshly” concerns to being daily focused on looking for pathways to heaven in all experiences.  

As Paul illustrates, whether the Christian actively ministers or sleeps in death, the aim has been to serve God faithfully (6-9).  And he further emphasizes, “whether we be beside ourselves (crazy) it is to God: or whether we be sober  it is for your cause,” which continues to give service to God (13).  

The outward concerns, even of preserving their human life, become less important than serving God faithfully.  This Christian has plunged deep into the experience of sanctification and moving from fleshly to spiritual living: even death becomes but a threshold to an ultimate resurrection and being with God. 

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

Hearts of worship: Moses, Aaron & Joshua

Approaching my Scripture study this week in the principle of personal prayer and openness to the spirit's promptings about lifeapplication, I found myself pursuing insights about the personal encounters with God in the lives of Moses, Aaron and Joshua and how they fed their hearts in lives of worship toward God.

The following verses opened up my studies. 

 "Show me now thy way, that I may know thee" (Ex 33:13 KJV)

As we see the Lord confirming the intimacy between Himself and Moses, the tenderness of the moment strikes me.

Moses' shares his need for God's reassurance and the Lord is hearing him and responding.  The humility and obedience displayed in this conversation opens a window to something beautiful.

THY WAY.  Moses is focused on getting into the heart of God's will.  He desires to be exposed to God's nature in a focused and concrete way - to be shown what it is.

KNOW THEE.  It is the same term we see used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to the marital relation and this points to the depth of the desire in Moses' heart.  We see here a pursuit of God that is active and which pulls from Moses' deepest being!

The record goes on to show the Lord reassuring Him that His presence is there and that he will give Moses rest - a concept reflecting God's total protection of us and management of all problems in our life experience with him.  And the passage continues to the high point of God's revelation of his "goodness" or "glory" to Moses, including a partial revelation, the "back parts" of his person.  Moses worshipped God throughout a life marked by the intimacy of their connection.

"Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto hm, What saith my lord unto his servant?" (Josh 5:14)

FELL ON HIS FACE.  Joshua's life witness fills me with hope and excitement because he is so bold and sure.  This is a typical moment of total selflessness.  It comes after he has obeyed the Lord and been magnified in the sight of Israel when the Lord parted Jordan to allow 40,000+ of them to pass over the river into Jericho and the rest of the region.  It is a picture of Joshua's heart toward God: total receptiveness.  He is a pliable and beautiful vessel for the awesome power of God.  We remember the young Joshua being present with Moses back when the Lord removed the tabernacle from the Israelite camp and descended there to speak again with Moses after the golden calf incident.  When Moses came forth to update the people as to how they would move forward, Scripture notes that Joshua remained in the tabernacle where God's presence was.  Joshua was sold out for God and was able to live out God's powerful works in his life of obedience worship - in the wake of the Moses' greatness! - because of his heart of ready sacrifice.   

Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well." (Ex 4:14

And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. (4:27)

And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priests's office" (28:1)

God knew this man, therefore his heart.  The golden calf incident was a sad moment in his faith journey, as was the unbelief displayed at the waters of Meribah (Nu 20:12), but God continued to bless his priestly ministry and convert his heart and save him to the end (Nu 7:8; 20:28).  His was a worship of continued service throughout his life witness.

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

The Bride and the Wedding Garment

These are solemn scenes in this week’s study! Yet where do they lead? 

- to the beauty of the transformed city of God (of Rev. 22). 

That pure and holy city, lighted up 

by the glory of God and the Lamb, figures as

 the greatest reality in this narrative.  That city is new Jerusalem, 

our final place of refuge and joy - as sealed believers!

The scripture focus in Romans, chapter eight’s message that sinful humans can be a part of this glory, links us into this awesome story into which we can place ourselves in our mind's eye. We can be citizens of this glorious and incomprehensible city.

This scripture focus - just like the entire message of Scripture - is our food and drink.  Focusing on the reality and truth and power of this word from Romans teaches us the key to our daily walk of faith - this key comes in walking after the Spirit.  

(Not a denial of our physical wants and needs, but an understanding and disciplining of them in their place!  We are given power to rise through and above, and receive a transformation, of the sin-tendencies of our “flesh,” or our sin natures, and take on God and Christ’s spiritual nature.)

Let us rejoice in these teachings about faith from Matthew 21. We can focus on them as we look to our destination in the holy city:

• all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (Mt 21:22 KJV)
• if ye have faith...ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done (21)
• our works will have authority from God (24)
• we choose obedience, to do what God asks, rendering him just service (31, 41)

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

Looking beyond the mantle: our life in the spirit

As we see the prophet Elisha take up Elijah his master's mantle, that fell from him as he was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven, and smite the waters of the Jordan, the symbolic power of the mantle stands out.  Just as earlier in Elijah’s experience, when he takes his own mantle and divides the waters, and before that, wraps his face in his mantle to stand on the mountain of Horeb to hear the word of the Lord.

In the mantle, the power of our Lord God is seen,  and his mastery over nature in the sea, the wind – over gravity.  Not only God’s power, too, but our human response to this power – a holy fear and awe, in which we cover or hide our faces and like Moses in front of the burning bush or Joshua in the presence of the Lord of hosts, uncover our feet  and recognize holy ground.

This mantle pushes us to look beyond a cloak to the depths of love and faith built up in a life.  These dramatic moments highlighted in the Bible record invite us to dive to those depths in our own experience - as we begin our journey to finding them, or continue in ever-deeper and broadening experiences of faith.

• “Elijah found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him...Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah.”   “He took a yoke of oxen, and slew them...and gave unto the people....  Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him (I Ki 19:19-21).”   “Elisha said I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me (II Ki 2:9).”  “He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? and...the waters, they parted hither and thither; and Elisha went over (II Ki 2:14).”

Beyond Elisha’s wielding of his master’s cloak we see his hunger to serve God, and his counting the costs, and his total devotion.  We understand the daily discipline in which he nurtured a faith that would fit him to be God’s messenger in Israel’s dark days of apostasy.

• And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood” (I Ki 19:13).

Through the drama of Elijah’s cave experience, we look beyond the wind, earthquake and fire to his Word.  We hear the voice that has grown as intimate as our own heartbeat, and the glory and awe of the relationship comes over us.  In echoes that go back to Moses, we raise our mantles and cover our faces before his majesty, at his Lordship in us and over our being, overwhelmed in the face of God’s self-revelation.

This is the God behind the mantle, who calls us, saying...the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.  I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience 
His Guiding You Into His Will*

Connect and share insights

Connect and share insights on conversion - and 

the reality of a holy presence working in your mind...

Interpreting the coat of many colors

From Jacob's call to experience and wrestle with God...to his son Joseph's call to go deeper and deeper daily in a personal knowledge of God that would sustain him anywhere, we see Scripture's unified lesson that:

God calls each of us.

As we grow in faith and continue to re-read Joseph's story, it becomes much more than this one story featuring a colorful coat.

It becomes for me a personal call to discipleship in its most bare essence.  It becomes a personal call to see who God is with my own eyes of faith, to experience it, to see its consistency, and to see in it Jesus' walk, and every Christian's walk.

Our study, rightly done, will continue to drive us further into understanding how God works, His will - and our alignment to it.  

Scripture presents us with very special content designed to deeply engage our hearts.  Its unified thread of meaning becomes more and more visible as we embrace the approach that (i) looks for unity among its messages, and (ii) responds to its self-revealing Divine authority, which calls us - as God, Christ, and Savior - in a personal journey of faith.

The call is specifically tailored to us and its impact is searching, compelling, and continuing. 

Will we answer? When will we answer? And how? 

Our need to answer is this soul-changing part of the right approach to Bible study and interpretation.  At some point, Bible study requires a response.  As its content becomes clearer and clearer, we must respond definitively to its basic presuppositions:
(1) THE REALITY OF THE SELF-REVEALING DIVINITY - GOD,
(2) THE MORAL CALL TO BELIEF,
(3) THE CRISIS OF SIN, and
(4) A CALL TO PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION.

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

Garments of Grace and experiences with the Divine

A focus on the truths in Scripture - the actual words and Spirit-breathed meanings - guides us into a unique experience with the supernatural!

Let's consider the reality of the Scriptures: they speak of themselves as being from Divine origin.  They entered into human relationship and time - not through man's initiative but because of God's! 
---> Scriptures claim Divine origin and Self-Authority
As such, their messages speak through appointed people with one unified voice of Divine inspiration - a thread carries throughout the corpus to reveal the work of God in the human experience, an ultimate work that carries its right and reason within its own claim of Godhead.
---> Scriptures claim Divine unity and Self-Authority

Therefore, believers must diligently and devotedly seek the mind of God in its truths.  Digging deep into the Word leads us into deeper understanding of its truths, and opens our hearts (minds) to a direct and unfiltered personal encounter with the Spirit of the Divine. 
---> Scriptures have the capacity to provide humble students - believers and seekers - with personalized inspiration and guidance for a converted life of faith.

SMALL GROUP STUDY FELLOWSHIP -
The Next Three Weeks

As we look at God's will for our lives through Bible study strategies, my prayer is for us to (1) see our highest model in Jesus, (2) understand and apply his approach to study and interpretation, and (3) build and develop our personal strategies for study and encountering the mind of God in our study.

Let's start this weekend by looking at the profound truths about our human condition given in the story of the Fall of Man.

And God saith, `Let Us make man in Our image, 

according to Our likeness, and let them rule over fish of the sea, and 

over fowl of the heavens, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and 

over every creeping thing that is creeping on the earth.' (YLT Gen 1:26) 

PREVIEW OF SCRIPTURE TRUTHS:

• God reveals His heart through this truth about his creative act - He wanted us to be like Him, he intended us for relationship and responsibility

•  Later, as we read the account of the Tree of Good and Evil, we see that Scripture also reveals a reality about freedom, and the importance of willingly existing in His realm of obedience order and love by including choice in the human condition.

• Finally, we see the heartbreaking choice made by our original parents, and the touching scene of God clothing them in skins - that God's heart was set (from the foundation of the world) and prepared to care for and restore fallen humanity.

What is the purpose and effect of Scripture's truths for the believer - for you?  

How can Scripture guide you into His will?

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

Learning to study the Bible effectively is critical!

How do Scriptures lead us into a deeper experience with God?
How does Spirit-guided study reveal what God has for us in our personal circumstances?


- - >  the deeper experience comes from BETTER UNDERSTANDING 

by using basic reading, comprehension and analysis effectively

by becoming familiar with expert methods that work for you


- - > spirit-guided study is DIRECT and UNFILTERED 

because we are able to penetrate into layers of meaning below the surface ones

because we are resonating to meanings the Spirit is guiding us to based on where we are in our present circumstances

Here are four points about effective study:

ONE:  Effective study happens with the right attitude:  as we recognize that it is a personal interaction with God's Truth

-- as we allow His Spirit to lead us into the Truth


TWO:  effective study gets us to a key point , principle, or "reality about God"

THREE:   we know the point is significant, meaningful, life-changing, by studying/ analyzing the Scripture itself
-- we learn to see the surrounding texts, passages, chapters -- structure and context explains itself
-- we learn to see related reference texts in other areas of the Bible --  the entire message is unified

-- we learn to accept Scripture as a collection of historical events, that yet provide universal meaning across time -- meanings are stable and unchanging.

FOUR:  effective study results in insight 

- -> we can then see the personal relevance of what we study for our specific circumstances 

- -> we become diligent and careful and fulfill its design to build our experience with God and strengthen a life of faithful service to Him.

I saw from this new quarter's first study of how God covers us, how Paul and David's experience with God - and their personal styles - each contributed uniquely to the truth that God covers our sin with his righteousness:

Paul in his Romans discourse borrows from David's language to highlight THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE of the forgiven believer.

Paul's immediate concern in his chapter 4 discussion, however, is the BROAD AVAILABILITY TO ALL PEOPLE of a relationship with God - if the person will live a life of faith, belief in Jesus.

I saw how powerful was their testimony for God in their lives - the heart-rending vulnerability and depth of David's relationship with God and Paul's unwavering commitment and passion to share the gospel of a Lord who saved Him.

The lesson's point that we are covered by Jesus' righteousness comes alive in these testimonies from two friends of God.  My study so far applies the exciting principles of effective study that are being shared here 

--> looks at the key passages in their context to gain full understanding of what David and Paul are saying 

--> links Paul's discourse to David's to reinforce the unity of the message about the impact of Jesus' righteousness in our lives, and 

--> seals understanding of the eternal message about the role of Jesus's righteousness to save sinners.

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

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Beyond partnership: the abiding believer

When will we fully accept the meaning of our “dependence on God”? 

When will we learn what it means:

        I am the true vine…

Abide in me (and I in you)

        As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me…

       I am the vine, ye are the branches…without me ye can do nothing 

       (Jn 15: 1-5).

Just As he held out to his disciples this offer of a dynamic, constant connection, Christ still holds it out to us, a bond that promises incredible things for our work, skills, talents, and vocation for God’s cause.

 This abiding fruitfulness is more than and different from the typical “partnership” relationship our study guide raises.

• The abiding believer is in a completely dependent position
• The abiding believer brings to the table no assets but capacity for obedience and service 
• The abiding believer’s risk is total

My prayer is for us to deeply accept this word, and begin to abide...

*May God's Spirit Be With You As You Study – And 

Experience His Guiding You Into His Will*

 RSVP to participate with Small Group Study Fellowship in our new "Study Sessions" Starting 16APR 9:45AM and 2:30PM.

Nature and our emotions: staying focused

Join Us For the upcoming: "God's will for me: How to Study the Bible"

While I appreciate this study's key point ("Nature as a source of health") – the role of nature’s beauty as a comfort and aid to knowing God – my study pushed me to a deeper realization.  I saw that nature’s value was and still can be to draw us deeper into relationship with God.  The Genesis account, along with other instances in Jesus’ earthly life show nature as a beautiful stage or frame to display God’s character, to delight and woo us, and draw us into harmony with his will.

NATURE AND OUR EMOTIONS.  I’ve always been deeply spiritually responsive and open to the natural world and even now, I’m seeing in my mind’s eye the wild vastness of snowcapped peaks, swallowing that solitary, far-off skiier or climber and cliff descents lost in mist, thundering waterfalls… and at the same time the beaded water droplets reflecting the sun’s early light, clinging to a spider’s web, or the languid stillness of the stream beside my canoe…

STAYING FOCUSED.  God is calling to us through it – through the wildness, the vastness - and also the tiny, fragile scenes of beauty; they are saying to us, “how great thou art,” and “what is man that thou art mindful of him?”   I wanted to share my conviction with you, that in our present sinful state, the key is to go beyond nature's stunning scenes as backdrops for our vacations – and find His wooing, drawing message to you.

In one significant interaction Jesus characterized the vastness of far-flung nature as a setting of insecurity, in contrast even to a cozy animal's den – but at the same time, pointing out its value for drawing God’s children into a relationship of dependence and trust.

a certain scribe having come, said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow thee wherever thou mayest go;' and Jesus saith unto him, 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven places of rest, but the Son of Man hath not where he may lay the head.' (Mt 8:20, YLT)

Jesus’ connection to God sustained a lifestyle some might see as homelessness in its rugged, outdoor habits.  Yet, if Christ lived this way, how much more important for us to look beyond this world’s beauties to God’s sustaining power! 

The gospel record of Jesus’ prayer life in Nature also shows its key role in creating spiritual space (Mk 1:35; 6:46-8).  It drew Christ into its solitudes free of distraction and the needs of the multitude...yet again, we see it’s placement as primarily a backdrop for seeking for the truer, more awesome Beauty, the face of God.

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Join Us For the upcoming: "God's will for me: How to Study the Bible"