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Will You Obey?

Genesis 12-13

Well, Job is finished and we are back to Genesis.  It is believed that Job was a contemporary of the Patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This is why we took a break from Genesis to read Job.  Now we are back to the story of Abraham, or Abram as he was known when God first called him to obedience.  Here now begins the story of redemption.  Don’t get me wrong, God began his plan of redemption before the foundation of the earth.  The plan got rolling when Adam and Eve took a bite of that forbidden fruit and God shed blood to clothe them and put them out of the Garden.  But here with Abram God started the blood and spiritual line that would lead to the birth of Christ.

I have always been amazed at the faith and obedience of Abram.  Case in point:

Job 12:1-3

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Do you notice that we have heard nothing of Abram’s character?  Job seemed to be a pretty good dude; even God said so.  Why didn’t God choose to bless the world through Job?  We know nothing of Abram.  There is nothing to commend him as far as we are told.  What we are told is that God chose him and told him to get up and go.  God did not tell him where to go as of yet, just that he should go where He would take him.  To Abram’s credit, he obeyed.  That is all it took to be blessed; obedience.

It sounds so simple doesn’t it?  Just obey.  Of course, you and I know that obedience isn’t all that easy.  What would you do if God said to you “Go from your home and family, leave the life you know behind you, and go to a place I will show you once you are on your way?”  Would you go?  Most of us won’t make a move unless we have a pretty good idea where we are going and what will happen when we get there.  We want to be in charge.  We want to agree or disagree with the direction of our life.  The problem is that retaining the right to determine the direction of our life means we are the lord of our life.

We love to say that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  We’re real big on that Savior part but what about the Lord part?  I think we allow Jesus to be Lord of our life as long as He is directing us the way we want to go.  What about when He tells you to do something you don’t want to do?  What about when He says “take up your cross”?  Brothers, God chose you from the foundations of the earth to be His child.  There will be times that He says to you “Go to a place I will show you”.  It is my prayer for you that you will obey and reap the blessings that follow.

Have a blessed day guys!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Babylon: The picture shows the sacred area of the city Babylon in the late 7th and early 6th century BCE as it was rebuilt by Nabopolassar and especially by his son Nebuchadnezzar. The Euphrates River on which the most important commodities of Mesopotamia were transported is seen in the forefront. The ziggurat of the city, the so-called Tower of Babel, is on the left. To its right is the Temple of Marduk, one of the forty-three larger temples of the city. In the background one can see residential areas. (Courtesy of 1000 Bible Images. 2009. Stuttgart, Germany: German Bible Society.)

You Can’t Work Your Way To God

Genesis 10-11

I made a mistake in yesterday’s post.  I had said that God had called Abram from Haran – in Iraq.  That was incorrect.  My memory failed me.  God’s call on Abram was from Haran but Haran was in what is today Syria.  It is pretty close to the Iraqi border but I confused its location because I was thinking of Abram’s origin of birth which was Ur.  Ur is in Iraq.  I have since made the necessary correction in the post.

Today we read of the tower of Babel.  Babel is just one more example of man’s arrogant attitude toward God.  Here man wanted to build his way to heaven.  Isn’t that just like us guys?  We want to get to heaven so let’s get ourselves up there; let’s build a tower to take us there.  I think many of us today still take a similar approach to God.  Even when we accept Christ we can attempt to do so in our own power.

I’m afraid as a teenager I used a certain line of reasoning in order to help a fellow teen struggling with the issue of accepting Christ.  I was horribly wrong in my reasoning and I hope it didn’t cause long-term negative consequences for that young man.  The reasoning went something like this: “If Jesus is the only way to be saved and you accept Him then you are saved but if He can’t save you then at least you’ve lived a better life.”  Okay, I can’t really remember the exact words, but the idea was “what do you have to lose”.  I have to admit, the memory of that conversation is causing me some discomfort.

I was basically telling that guy that accepting Jesus was some kind of insurance policy that you hope you never need put you’re glad you have if the worst happens.  You can’t accept Christ that way.  That kind of thing is putting you in the driver seat.  It is the “prospect” that “buys” Christ.  You can’t buy and sell Christ.  Who will accept Christ is already determined.  Accepting Him isn’t an option you can take or leave.  If you accept Him it is you who are selling yourself to Him.  You are surrendering every right and prerogative you previously attempted to retain for yourself to Him.  He is your Lord and your life from that point on is about Christ not about you.

When we take on Christ as a sort of cosmic insurance policy we are not accepting Christ at all.  We are attempting to build a tower into Heaven.  We are attempting to work or earn our way into the presence of God.  It isn’t going to happen that way my friends.  There is a judgment coming for all of us.  We will stand before the creator of the Universe and we will stand there accused of all our unrighteousness.  Our only hope is to reject the false notion of our own divinity, acknowledge God’s divinity, and accept the pardon only Christ can give.  We often say that salvation is free but I don’t think that is completely accurate.  Salvation does cost us something and it is something we hold quite dear; ourselves.

Surrendering ourselves to the Lordship of Christ means that life isn’t about us but about God.  Can you live that way?  Can you live with Christ as the center of your universe instead of yourself?  That’s what it means to be His follower.  Whatever you decide I hope you are not of the mistaken notion that you can have Christ “just in case” and go about your life as you did before.  It doesn’t work that way.  You cannot work or earn your way into Heaven.  Christ isn’t an insurance policy.  He is your master or He is not.  When you gain Christ you lose everything else.  Your life can never again be the same.

May God bless you!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Here Am I!  Send Me!

Isaiah 6-9

There is so much on which I would like to comment today but there just isn’t time.  I again found my heart soaring as I read passages about God’s Holiness, about Isaiah’s faithfulness, and about our coming Savior and King.  For example:

Isaiah 6:8

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

That one simple verse, composed of three simple sentences, is devastating to me.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are asking “who will go for us?”  Isaiah said “Here am I! Send me.”  You do know that God asks that question every day don’t you?  Do you know He is looking right at you and me when He asks it? Did you notice that Isaiah did not ask “to do what?”  He didn’t ask if he could do it after he finished something else.  He didn’t barter about the particulars.  He simply said “Here am I!  Send me.”

Isaiah reminds me of Abram when God told him to rise and go to a place He would show him.  In other words “get up and get going; I’ll show you where you are going after you show me your faithfulness”.  Ah, the words “trust and obey” come crashing into my brain.  That is at the heart of faith.  This is not to suggest that the brain is turned off, but at the end of the day, when things just don’t make sense, when we don’t have all the answers we would like, we must simply trust and obey.

Isaiah 7:14

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Here it is!  People get ready!  Jesus is coming!  Soon we’ll be going home!!!  Here, 700 years before it came to pass Isaiah tells us that God is coming to earth in human form.  Immanuel means “God with us.”  He was that then and He is still that today.  Christ resides within me.  He is still Immanuel.

Why do we need Him?  Because we walk in the darkness of our own sin.

Isaiah 9:2

“The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.”

I remember flipping channels the other day and I paused for a moment on one of the Harry Potter movies that have been playing a lot lately.  It was a scene where Harry and another fellow lay on the ground in a wood next to a small pond.  Dark, ghost like, shadows swirled overhead, coming closer and closer.  As they passed over the bodies they seem to suck the life from both individuals.  Just when it seemed like all was lost, a pinpoint of light from the other side of the pond burst forth.  It was an intense, brilliant light that quickly blossomed to the point of blotting out the screen.  The dark shadowy creatures were shattered in an instant.  Nothing could withstand the light.  That’s like us isn’t it?  Weren’t we being sucked dry of life by our sins?  Were not our sins draining us of life?  It was the light of Christ that broke through the darkness that surrounded us, obliterated our sins, and saved us from death; restoring our souls.

Isaiah 9:6-7

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Praise God!  Praise God!! Praise God!!!  May glory, and power, and honor, and praise be forever His!!!  He saved you.  He cleansed you and now He is asking whom shall I send?  I hope he hears you say “Here am I!  Send me!”

May you have an obedient day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Here, in Genesis 46-48, Israel and family, all 70 of them, are going into Egypt.  The land God promised them, Canaan, is not ready for them yet.  Remember that God told Abraham, Abram at the time, that his descendents would go into a land not their own and be servants there, but that God would bring them out of with “great possessions” and back to Canaan, the promised land, in the fourth generation “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete”, Genesis 15:13-16.

Many people view the Bible as a disjointed compilation of short stories, poems, histories, and songs.  Forgive me but I couldn’t disagree more.  The Bible is a story God wants you to hear.  I had an interesting conversation with an atheist once who found my confidence in the Bible as God’s message to all man-kind ridiculous.  She asked, what I’m sure she thought a profound question, “if the Bible is a form of communication from God why has nothing been added to the Bible in over 2,000 years?”  I can still see her smug face beaming with triumph.

My friends, I’m afraid that is actually a foolish question.  Let me ask you this; why has Tom Clancy not added anything to “The Hunt for Red October”?  The answer is obvious; because the story has been told.  The Bible is the story of how mankind has estranged itself from God and how God has provided a way for all of us to be reconciled to Him.  From the moment of the fall, the Bible shows us that man cannot save himself and points us to Jesus Christ through whom we can be saved.  Every single book and chapter is pointing the reader to Jesus Christ.

In Genesis we see the everyday world God intended, Eden, but man makes a tragic mistake, turning the world upside down, and the story is off and running.  The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the climax of the story and the return of Christ in Revelations is the end of the story.  What more is there left to say?  If God continued to provide additions to this story every few years, who could ever hope to read it?  We think the Bible is big now; who could hope to have one in their home if God constantly added to it?  As I said, that atheist asked a foolish question.

In today’s reading I see an example of our life as Christians.  When asked by Pharaoh, in Genesis 47:9, how old he is Jacob responds “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years.”  I want us to look at the word sojourning.  This word implies that Jacob and his fathers had no permanent abode.  Think about it, these folks have been nomadic shepherds living in tents and wandering the country side.  They have no country to call their own.

God has promised them Canaan as their future home but there are several nations currently living there.  God has already told us that those inhabitants are to be judged one day but that time has not yet come.  So, for now, Israel has no home; they are strangers in a strange land.  God tells Abraham and then Jacob that their descendants are to go into Egypt and that it will be a difficult time for them as they will be slaves.  In Genesis 46:4 God tells Jacob that He will “go down with you into Egypt, and I will also bring you out again”.

Isn’t that how it is for you and me?  We have been adopted into God’s family and we have been promised a home in New Jerusalem.  The inhabitants of this world will be judged, but their time has not yet come.  In the mean time we are sojourners; we are strangers in a strange land.  God has come with us as the Holy Spirit and He will bring us up with him at the end of days.

When “Israel” goes into Egypt they are given the best of the land; but the best of Egypt eventually turns into slavery. Many of us today desire the best of this world but I’m afraid the best of this world only leads to enslavement.  Jesus did promise an abundant life, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  Of course Jesus is speaking about the things of the Spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).  That sounds like a pretty abundant life to me!

Jesus didn’t promise us an easy time here in this world; in fact He told us times would be tough if we followed Him.  He did promise us that we are free.  When we pursue the blessings of this world they enslave us.  When we pursue the blessings of God we are set free.  The days of our sojourning are not yet up but one day we will live with Him in freedom; freedom from sin, from hurt, from longing.

Know this my friends, no matter what your situation, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He has set you free.  You have love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Do not pursue the riches of this world for they are but trinkets.  Let go of those and grab hold of Christ for “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Have a blessed day men!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

What will your crown look like?

You know, as I sat down to read today’s passage, Genesis 17-20, I was struck again about how much God has crammed into every page of the Bible.  I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover before and it seems every time I read a passage God shows me something new.  The past few days I’ve been calling us out, pointing out where we tend to fail and cajoling us to be the men God created us to be, but I think in the process of trying to improve we sometimes forget who we are.

Yes we have a lot of work to do and it won’t be done until Christ returns but remember that we are children of the King!  We are children of the living God!  We are brothers in Christ!  When God, the proud Papa flips out his wallet and shows off his kids there is a picture of you! Do you realize that when you accepted Christ the angels were rejoicing?  They had a party!  And the great thing is, it doesn’t depend on your ability to be good enough!

In today’s reading we see Abram, without question, follow God’s order and circumcise himself and all his men folk, recognize the Lord as He approaches from a distance and show compassion for the lost of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I mean Abram is walking strong!  Can you imagine that conversation on circumcision if it were you or me?  “I’m sorry Lord, you want me to cut off what???!!!  I’m going to have to pray a little on that on that one!”

Of course, yesterday, he was going along with Sarai’s sinful half-baked plan to have children by sleeping with her servant and today he is walking strong; standing on the mountain top, as it were, talking with God.  Tomorrow, we’ll see that he stumbled back down to the gutter.

You and I have those ups and downs don’t we.  One day we are in the gutter, our eyes lingering a bit too long on a pretty girl walking by; our thoughts less than angelic.  The next we are on the mountain top every thought and desire to praise God.  Our task is to continually work to eliminate those gutter days and maximize those mountain days.  One day we will be like Jesus.  One day, we will hear our Heavenly Father say “Well done good and faithful servant!”  What a day it will be!

If you’ve already accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior then that day is a fore-gone conclusion.  If you haven’t, open your heart to what God is saying to you.  He wants you to join the family.  If you don’t have anyone to speak to about this, drop me an e-mail at bill@brothersofthebook.com and I’d be glad to point you in the right direction.

May God’s blessings continue to rain down upon you!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Yet another day of Bible reading, Genesis 13-16, where so much is going on that I hate to be restricted to one topic.  Let me make this clear.  I am restricted to one topic for the sake of your time and allowing others to comment on any topic they wish from the days reading.  Just because I’m going to talk about the Abram, Sarai, Hagar, Ishmael deal doesn’t mean you can’t throw out a comment on Lot’s choice of settlement, or Abram’s subsequent rescue of Lot and the meeting of Melchizedek, or God’s promise of the land of Canaan to Abram’s descendants.

To make your comments just click on the orange “Comments” link in the upper right-hand corner of this post.  If no one has yet made a comment the link may read “no comments”.  Come on now guys – I know you have a lot to say so let’s hear from you!

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

So, let’s talk about being the man of the house, Godly manhood, and sex.  I thought that last bit would get your attention!  In Genesis 13:16 God promises Abram that his descendants will be as the dust of the earth.  That’s a lot of descendants by the way.  By Genesis 16:2, seeing as she still is childless, Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands.  “God has kept me from having children so I’ll just have children through another woman!”

How often do we feel as though God has promised us something but since it’s taking a while to be fulfilled we assume we must be meant to take matters into our own hand.  Now don’t get me wrong I’m not the type that believes we should sit around waiting for God to do all the work.  That’s not the way the Big Guy operates.  He does indeed expect us to take action.  The issue here is that Sarai’s choice of action is clearly against God’s intentions.  God will not fulfill a promise by having people violate His law.  Granted they didn’t have the Mosaic Law but they knew God’s intention for monogamous marriage as was illustrated when Pharaoh had unknowingly taken a married Sarai to be his wife.  Even Pharaoh knew it was wrong to violate the marriage relationship and that God was incensed.

So, in Genesis 16:2 Sarai says to Abram “Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her”.  She actually says “Please” go have sex with this other woman!!!  In response, does Abram say “Now dear, I know you are anxious to have children and God has indeed promised many descendants but this is just something we are not going to do because God wouldn’t fulfill His promise by having us breaking His code of conduct”?  Does He stand up as the spiritual head of the house and say no?  No he does not, and I wonder what each of us would say if our wives encouraged us to do the same.  “Well honey, if you say so.”

This is a recurring problem throughout the history of manhood; manly passivity; a lack of spiritual leadership.  The serpent offered the fruit from the forbidden tree but did Adam say “No dear, we are not going to do this”?  Nope.  He didn’t speak up to stop the snake in his tracks and when his wife told him to eat the fruit he did.  Did God say “Okay, you’re off the hook since your wife told you to do it”?  Nope.

I’m a big believer in trying to keep peace in the house but that can never be an excuse for behaving in a sinful way.  And by the way, does Abram not see the train wreck that is coming by having a second wife?  He doesn’t think there will be a problem between Sarai and Hagar?  You know why he doesn’t think there will be a problem?  Because he isn’t thinking with his head.

You know what I’m talking about.  We can allow our desires for sexual adventure to shut down our brain and compel us into behavior that is corrupt and depraved.  And I can hear the excuses now.  “But honey, you told me to do it!”  “I was just following your orders!”  “I just wanted to keep peace in the house!”  Let’s get real guys.  What would we do in that situation?  Do you think any of those excuses would wash after the fact?  It didn’t for Abram.

Guys, to be a godly husband and father, to be a godly man, we must, as Christ told us, deny ourselves and follow Him.  Our decisions can’t be about what we want, but about what God would have us do.  The over commercialized WWJD, what would Jesus do, has never been more pertinent than when faced with making the right decision.  Abram thought with something other than his brain.  He did not follow God’s obvious will.  As a result, great turmoil and trouble was introduced, not only into his life, but the life of his family and the life of his descendants to this day.

Your actions have consequences.  Say no to pornography. Say no to lusting after women not your wife.  You cannot just pursue your own personal desires.  God has made you His steward of your marriage and your children.  I say “your marriage and your children” but they are not yours.  They are His and you have been given the job of putting yourself second and the care and feeding of them first.  You are not your own.  You were bought at a price.  Stop acting like you’re the boss.  You aren’t.  Start acting like the saved, blessed servant you are.

May God continue to bless you.

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!