BrothersOfTheBook.com

God Is Faithful

Psalm 85-89

Brothers, I have to admit my mind continues to return to the question of whether or not the Jewish people are still God’s “Chosen People”.  On the one hand, we cannot deny that followers of Christ are indeed God’s chosen people.  On the other hand, God has made some very firm promises to the Jewish people that don’t seem to be withdrawn in scripture.  Don’t get me wrong; salvation can only be found through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

My point is that God has always kept a remnant of the Jewish people faithful to him.  In fact, the first Christians were Jewish and there are many Messianic Jews today.  I believe that it is incumbent on Christians to continue to witness to the world and the Jewish people in particular.  Let us never forget that we were blessed through them.  As the end times approach I believe we will see more and more Jews turn to Christ.

The 89^th Psalm makes clear the statement of God’s commitment to the descendants of David.  Again we know that in one sense this is a promise to those that will accept Christ; in another sense it seems be a pretty firm commitment to the actual, physical descendants of David.  Take a look at this:

Psalm 89:20-37

“I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,
if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

Now this Psalm does go on to say that God has been punishing Israel and, of course, this is true, but what is the purpose of punishment?  The purpose of punishment is to return the wayward to righteousness.  God punishes to bring His children back to right relationship with Him; and so it has been, and continues to be, with Israel.  There is no salvation without Christ but don’t doubt God’s call on His “Chosen People”.  You and I are saved because He called us, we heard, and responded.  If He didn’t give up on you and me, why would He give up on them?  It ain’t over ‘till Christ comes again.  There is no telling how many Jews will come to know Christ before then.

The Psalm above says that God will not lie to David or alter a word that went forth from His lips, and that his “offspring” shall endure forever.  Yes this does refer to the throne of Christ but I don’t think God plays cute with people when He makes covenants.  I don’t think He is like some cosmic Bill Clinton parsing the meaning of the word “is”.  God keeps His promises.  He is faithful.  He has done it and He will do it.  On that you can depend!

Let me know where I am wrong on this brothers.  I am always willing to admit I am wrong if one can show me my error.  I don’t have it all figured out and I depend on my brothers and sisters in Christ to mentor me so share your thoughts.

Have a faithful day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Put On The Armor Of God

Psalm 79-84

Just prior to sitting down to write today’s post I had been doing a little on-line news reading.  I saw a story about Israel allegedly positioning weapons in Saudi Arabia in preparation for an attack on Iran.  The article had links to other stories and so I followed some of them to get more detail.  I finally came to a story on Yahoo! News entitled, “Iran cancels plan to send ship to Gaza”.  The article itself can be viewed here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100626/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_blockade_2

I rarely read comments on an article as they are rarely contributed by anyone with a lick of sense or common decency.  There is a lot of hatred out there brothers.  Still, for some reason I scrolled down far enough to see this hate filled diatribe against Christians and Jews.  It was breath taking in its hatred and ignorance.  I must admit, as I read, I started to become angry, but as it went on my heart turned to sorrow.  This is a truly lost person; they are doomed.  I’ve provided the comment in its entirety below but I must warn you, it is ugly and not a little bit disturbing.

Dana Bloch

Cannibalism is the Cult of Christianity
What kind of people would devour the already tortured corpse of their murdered god and drink his rancid blood? The Christians are the mentally deranged animals who regularly perform this pagan ritual and those deluded but-wipes of the Jew’s have the audacity to call this satanic ritual a “religion”, superior to Islam. Christian’s clinically insane behavior does not end with them devouring their “dead Jew” god’s corpse. They delude themselves into believing that Jesus lives through them by eating him; but they have failed to realize or incapable of understanding they defecate him out; thereby reducing him to human waste. Christians incredulously believe that a mere man who lacked the power to save his own but from a mob of murderous Jew’s, will save them from the certainty of the Hell-fire. Christian’s delusions are far reaching, as they believe they won’t have to pay for their sins because “Jesus died for the sins of mankind”. This too is one of many lies the Jew’s tell their Christian slaves. Master and slave know @#$% well that Jesus didn’t simply lie down, fold his arms and announce “I am dying for the sins of mankind”. Jesus was chased down and overrun like a mad dog and brutally murdered on a cross by a perpetual mob of rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth, greedy, murderous Jew’s; a mob very similar to the mobs that have overrun Palestine and the US Congress.

The madness within the cannibalistic cult of Christianity has no bounds; as those criminally insane cannibals worship and revere the murder weapon that killed their Jew god. The cross is nothing more than an object from a crime scene, yet the Jew’s diabolically devoted Christian slaves have taken the murder weapon used to kill their god as their symbol of faith and they affix it atop their churches, they dangle miniature weapons (cross) from their necks and ears. One wonders what their symbol would be if the Jew’s had murdered Jesus with an AK47. Christianity is mired in cannibalism, bloodshed and violence.

Stupidity has no bounds within the cannibalistic cult of Christianity, as Christians really believe that a murdered Jew is the immortal God who created all things. Christians are incapable of understanding or they refuse to acknowledge the following two Commandments invalidate Christianity; yet the low-level devils continue to perform vile and inhumane acts of cannibalism on a dead Jew’s corpse and call it “religion”.

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.’

The Christian cannibals thirst for violence and blood is never ending; as Muslims hope for Paradise after death and the blood-thirsty Christians hope to take a blood bath in their resurrected god’s blood to wash their sins away. However, the delusional cretins have not thought this out thoroughly; as they will have to kill Jesus all over again to shed his blood, to take their diabolical blood baths in. The most vile and evil act the Christian cannibals perform in their pagan rituals is the invocation of Satan in his purest form: “a smokeless flame of fire. Christians invoke Satan every time they light a candle on the altar. The only purpose of a candle is to create “a smokeless flame of fire”; Muslims and Jew’s both know that Satan was created from a “smokeless flame of fire”. Christians wait for Jesus’ return, but they never ask themselves who will raise Jesus from the dead? It will be Allah; the God of the Muslims will raise Jesus from the dead; as it was Allah Who created Jesus without a father.

I advise you blood-thirsty, corpse-eating, Christian cannibals who will murder Jesus after his Resurrection for the sole purpose of bleeding him out to bath in his blood; to reconsider your blasphemous and diabolical worship of a dea”

That is where the comment ends.  It seems they went past the allowed word count.  It will be difficult for you to find this specific comment as people continue to comment on this article and the post keeps getting pushed further back.  If you really want to follow up on this you can go to the commenter’s page and from there you can click on any comment with the title “Cannibalism in the Cult of Christianity”, but please brothers, don’t cast pearls before swine; don’t get drawn into the mindless shouting match that these comment threads tend to be.   The URL is:

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QL5HP47ESHET4FEJKJNFVNBC2A

Right after reading this comment I prayed and began reading today’s Psalms.  The very first thing I read was this:

Psalm 79:1-4

“O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.”

J. Vernon McGee has this to say about this Psalm:

“This psalm is a prayer—not for you and me to pray, but for God’s people, the nation Israel, in the Great Tribulation, which is the terrible day of trouble that is coming to them.”

Brothers, we know that those that accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior are the spiritual inheritors of God’s promise to Abraham.  I know that there are some that believe that the Jewish people are no longer God’s “Chosen People” and that all previous promises given to them now belong exclusively to Christians.  I’m not enough of a theologian to argue this issue adequately, yet I see no where in the Bible a statement that this is the case.  I do see promises that can be for no other people group than the Jewish people such as “I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.”  Further, there are many messianic Jews in the world and that number is growing all the time.  Bible prophecy seems to indicate that many of the Jewish people will come to accept Christ in the last days.  Jesus came to the Jewish people because they are God’s chosen people.  The Apostles, who we adore, were all Jews as was Jesus.

I am not in the least comfortable with the idea that the Jewish people no longer have hope.  It suggests that God’s promises are dependent upon the actions of men.  Promises based on the actions of men are not very reliable promises seeing as men are so incapable of upholding their end of any bargain.  Regardless, Jesus told us that those that believe in Him would be persecuted.  I believe that what you read above by that deranged commentator will become the norm, not the exception.  I do not know when the end of the world will come.  I know that it will come.  I know that those who are in Christ will be persecuted.  My question for you is: “Are you ready?”

Brothers, we need to put on the armor of God; we need to take up the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word.  Reading, learning, memorizing God’s Word is part of putting on the armor of God.  Please be faithful in your reading.  Please prepare your spouse and your children.  The end will come as a thief in the night and you need to be prepared.  Do not shirk your duties to lead your family.  This is a sacred responsibility that only you can shoulder.

May God’s Word strengthen you and give you peace!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Enough

Psalms 75-78

When God lead Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land there was an interval of over 40 years between being set free and arrival at their destination.  I have always viewed this story as an allegory for the journey of all believers.  Please don’t get me wrong.  That is not all the story of the Exodus is about.  It is not just an allegory.  It is much more; history at the least.  Still one can see in that story the walk of all believers.  We are saved by the blood of the lamb which covers the entrance to our hearts.  Having received that salvation we are to follow our Lord to the Promised Land.  How do we behave on that journey?

Again, the Israelites illustrate how many of us behave on this journey.  In Psalm 78 we hear a sort of retelling of this journey.  Do you remember how they grumbled against God while they wandered in the desert?

Psalm 78:17-20

“ Yet they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying,

“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

He struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?”

God sustained the Israelites as they struggled toward the Promised Land.  He went with them, guided them, protected them, and provided for them.  Evidently, that wasn’t enough.  Think about it.  God fought their battles for them.  He physically stayed with them and guided them.  He provided bread, manna, from heaven and meat, quail, from the sky; He made water pour forth from rocks and it wasn’t enough.  They still grumbled against God.

How do you and I view God?  Has He not saved your eternal soul?  Is He not with you residing within your heart?  Do you not eat and do you not drink?  He went and died on the cross in your place; is it not enough?  “Oh, God give me this.  God, please give me that.”  “Why does God allow this to happen or that to happen?”  Come on; admit it; every once in awhile you grumble.  That is certainly human.  Human or not, however, it is wrong.  I’ve shared this analogy before.  My daughter is a very blessed child.  She has shelves of books, a house full of toys, drawing materials, DVDs, computer games, a couple Nintendos, and a million stuffed animals.  Yet every once in a while she comes and tells me she is board.  She will beg for more and give me a very hard time when I say no.

What she has is taken for granted and the blessings she has are never enough.  Do you know what makes her grateful?  When I let her have it; when things are taken away from her she suddenly realizes how good she’s had it.  I’m afraid that is often the case for you and me where God’s blessings are concerned.

Psalms 78:32-34

“ In spite of all this, they still sinned;

despite his wonders, they did not believe.

So he made their days vanish like a breath,

and their years in terror.

When he killed them, they sought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.”

It was when God’s discipline fell upon them that they stopped their grumbling, repented, and earnestly sought God.  Why does it take discipline to cause us to wake up and act right?  Why can’t we appreciate God’s blessings and be content in His peace?  Why must we continually demand more and more?  Brothers, let us realize our need to praise God for His wonderful blessings and to delight in His provision.  Not only is what He provides enough, He is enough.  Let’s start acting like it!

Have a contended day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Eye On The Prize

Psalms 71-74

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday and so I was at the store trying to pick out an appropriate birthday card.  Yes, I was cutting it down to the wire.  I won’t go into all of the reasons for that disgraceful situation.  I am not, nor will I be, the last husband to wait until the last minute on such things.  My point isn’t my trouble with procrastination but the difficulty in finding a decent card.  Now I don’t mean the cards were “indecent”; they were perfectly respectable as far as language and subject matter were concerned.  My struggle was with the object of the cards.  Here are cards for men to wish their wives a happy birthday and they all seemed to be focused on the husband.

The cards would go on about how lucky the husband was to have such a wife and they would talk about how the husband didn’t tell the wife how much he loved her or voiced appreciation for all the things they did for the husband and the family.  All fine as sentiment goes but I was reading a lot of “me, myself, and I”.  The cards seemed to focus on what the person being praised could do for the one doing the praising.  Is the value of my spouse only equal to the sum of what she does for me?

Of course I appreciate all that my wife does for me, and I would be lost without her, but she has such great worth beyond all of that.  She is beautiful, intelligent, funny, caring, compassionate, supportive, talented, and so much more!  She loves God and is a child of the King!  She is fabulous far beyond what she does for me and I would know that if I didn’t stay focused on “me, myself, and I”.

As husbands we need to widen our vision beyond ourselves and what our wives can do for us.  We need to take a step back and look at this wonderful blessing from God.  Our wives are our partners; flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone.  God has ordained that we be good and faithful stewards of the wives placed in our care.  We must put ourselves second and our spouses first.  We should cherish our spouses not for what they do for us but because of who they are; a wonderful gift from God!

Beyond that relationship, how do you view God?  Is it the same story there?  Do you love God only for the things He does for you?  Does this mean that if you feel like He isn’t doing enough for you, or that He failed to do what you wanted, that He is no longer worthy of your love and praise?  I hope not.  As I read the Psalms today I was moved by the verses of praise that focused not on what God could do, and does, for me, but on His worth beyond my own self interests.

The moment I stop thinking about myself and start marveling about my wonderful wife and my awesome Lord and Savior is the moment I am full of joy.  I recommend you join me in that exercise.  You will be glad you did.

I’d like to close with another quote from J. Vernon McGee.   I find his commentary illuminating.

McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

“As I said in the beginning, we are dividing the Book of Psalms according to the Pentateuch. The first forty-one psalms we call the Genesis section. Psalms 42–72 are known as the Exodus section. Now we come to Psalm 73 which brings us to the beginning of the Leviticus section. It corresponds to the Book of Leviticus because in this section—even in Psalm 73—the sanctuary is prominent. You see, the Book of Leviticus is the book of worship for the tabernacle and later for the temple. It is one of the greatest books in the Bible. Now as we come to this Leviticus section of the Book of Psalms, we find the emphasis upon the sanctuary and, in particular, on two aspects of the house of God. The Book of Leviticus emphasizes two things: that God is holy and that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins—the key words are holiness and sacrifice. These two words will also figure largely in this Leviticus section of the Book of Psalms.”

Have a fantastic day guys and keep your eyes on the prize; Jesus!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Let Your Light Shine Before Men

Psalms 68-70

The mini-series “The Stand” by Stephen King has been on the SciFi channel lately.  I enjoyed reading the book on which that mini-series is based shortly after college many years ago, and read it once again just a year or two ago.  I have always found the story fascinating because it is an imagining of the end of the age; something with which I have always been fascinated.  It is a story about the end of civilization, with the few remaining humans dividing up between the good and the bad.  A confrontation is inevitable and the title, “The Stand”, refers to the need of the good people to take their stand against the bad.

As always, we can’t get solid theology from pop culture, but in some ways Stephen King got it right.  There is an end coming, and good will defeat evil, and of course, you and I must take our stand against evil.  Stephen got another aspect of this right as well.  The “good” people did not take up arms against the bad.  They depended on God and stood against evil with nothing more than righteousness and obedience.  In the end it was the hand of God that destroyed the evil.

Reading the 69^th Psalm I was reminded of all that.  Verse 6 prayerfully asks that those that hope in God not be put to shame through the Psalmist.  He asks that those that seek God not be brought to dishonor through him.

Psalm 69:6

“Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.”

Surrounding that verse are other verse that cry for salvation from those that would do the Psalmist harm.  The Psalm goes on to say “and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”  Jesus told us the world would hate us because it hated Him.  We will face trouble from the lost.  They will accuse us of all kinds of outrageous acts.  We cannot overcome all the falsehoods that will be cast our way.  Still, our prayer, like David’s should be that our acts will not bring shame and dishonor on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

I hope I’m making the distinction clear.  It is one thing for us to be accused of, and condemned for, things we have not done, or are not wrong.  It is another thing for us to be rightly accused.  We must do what is right.  We cannot, and should not, fight God’s battles with Satan’s weapons.  We must govern our words and our deeds so as to reflect rightly the light of Christ.  God will win the battle.  Let us do our part.

I want to close with some comments by J. Vernon McGee about the 69^th Psalm as I found them interesting.

McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

“This is a great messianic psalm. It is another psalm of David, and it is unique because it deals with the silent years in the life of the Lord Jesus. It is also called a shoshannim, or lily, psalm because He is the Lily of the Valley as well as the Rose of Sharon, and He is altogether lovely. Next to Psalm 22 it is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. Psalm 22 deals with the death of Christ; Psalm 69 deals with the life of Christ. I was drawn to this psalm when I was a student in college, and from that day to this it has been a favorite of mine. Psalm 22 is number one on the Hit Parade of the New Testament as far as quotes go, and Psalm 69 is second on the Hit Parade. It is quoted in the Gospel of John, in Romans, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts. Very candidly, I think there are many references to it which are not actual quotations. It is classified as an imprecatory psalm because verses 22–28 are what is known as an imprecatory prayer. Yet from that section the New Testament writers often quoted.

This psalm tells us about the silent years of Christ’s childhood and young manhood, of which the Gospels tell us practically nothing. Dr. Luke tells us about an incident in the life of our Lord when He was twelve years old, and then we learn nothing else about Him until He is about thirty years old. What about that period of time? This psalm fills in some of the details. We see some of Christ’s dark days in Nazareth and His dark hours on the cross. His imprecatory prayer is actually a cry for justice. This is the psalm of His humiliation and rejection.”

That’s it guys.  Let your life reflect the light of Christ that you will not bring shame or dishonor upon your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Let your light shine before men!

Have a brilliant day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Turn Off The Noise

Psalms 61-67

I love gadgets; I always have.  I guess I live in the right time for gadgets don’t I?  I walk around with two cell phones, each of which receives e-mails; one of them receives e-mails from about 7 different addresses.  I have a Bluetooth headset for each phone; in fact one of them is a stereo headset for listening to music I have loaded up on my iPhone.  I work from home and I have two laptops going at all times.  I have a cordless headset for my office line, along with a cordless handset.  All of our phones in the house are cordless.  We have 5 TVs in a household of three people and have three cars even though only two of us are of age to drive.  (We are trying to sell that third car and it can’t really be driven safely but still.)

The best gift I ever got my wife was one of those single serving coffee makers where you put a little sealed package in the thing and it pops out the perfect cup of coffee quicker than I can fill a cup at the refrigerator’s filtered water dispenser.  I have basic cable but I don’t get channel 5 very well so I got a little digital TV tuner for 3 of the 5 TVs so I can pull in the nice digital signal of the Titans games with crystal clarity.   I have a hand held electronic organizer lying around here somewhere.  We have a portable DVD player we can take in the car with us on long trips away from our other two DVD players in the house.  I have an old but still powerful stereo system to which I have the Bonus Room TV hooked up.  I could go on and on but I’m getting tired of the game.

You know what all of that stuff is?  Distraction.  I was talking with a brother in Christ Wednesday night about the fact that kids today talk through texting.  The telephone is so “last century”.  Texting is the thing.  We went on to talk about how things were when we were kids; you were really upscale if your house had a microwave or a VCR.  It’s funny; I’m all “gadgeted” out and I’m complaining about the kids these days.  Go figure.

I didn’t give much thought to all of my gadgets or the distractions they provide until I read today’s Bible verses.  They are so powerful in their praise.  I become almost breathless as I contemplate the truth of these praises.  I wonder; why does God’s greatness only seem to strike me when I take a moment to read His Word?  Listen to this:

Psalm 61:1-8

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.”

Does your soul thirst for God?  Do you remember Him on your bed and meditate on Him in the watches of the night?  Do you know what image came to me as I read that?  I pictured David lying out in the fields with his sheep; he was a shepherd as a youth.  Laying there with no TV or books or DVDs or CDs or Nintendos or cell phones; what did he have to occupy his mind?  He had God.  What do you and I have to occupy our minds? TV, books, DVDs, CDs, Nintendos, and cell phones.

I drop into bed at night, exhausted from all the noise, in a pitch dark room, and drop off to sleep, only to get up and start rushing first thing in the morning.  David fell asleep under the stars with no sound of traffic or electronic clatter in the background.  He could feel the grass beneath him and see the stars above him and God was self-evident in His majesty.  Laying there, enveloped in the awesome reality of His power, how could David not meditate on God?

I don’t think I do enough of that, and I wonder if you do as well.  The wonders of this age are significant but they are nothing compared to a solid, moment by moment relationship with the Father God.  They are nothing compared to meditating on Him.  I think we miss a lot of what God has for us simply because we are too busy with stuff and things.  All that glitters is not gold and this is never more true than when we compare the wonders of this world with the wonders of God.

I know I’m “preaching to the choir” here but guys, we need to start turning off the noise and distractions.  We have got to make time for ourselves.  Surprised you there didn’t I?  You probably thought I would have said we needed to make time for God.  I almost did but that would have been incorrect.  God doesn’t need time with us; we need time with Him.  It starts with this time we take every day to read the Bible, but it needs to be more than that.  We need to spend time with Him in Prayer.  We need to meditate on His Word, and on His character, and upon His ways.  We need to lie down at night and meditate on Him in the watches of the night.  To do this we are going to have to turn off the noise.

Have a meditative day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!