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Who Is Worthy?

August 10, 2024 /

Matthew Botelho

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you. This is what I command you: Love one another.” – John 15:16-17.

I am so blessed to be back with you, my Sonsofthesea family! I truly have missed doing what our Lord has called me to do and connecting with all of you. God is very merciful and, like a good father, will chasten those He loves. We serve a God that will never leave you in a pit of doubt, loneliness, and depression. So, I need to be very transparent with you, brothers and sisters; I have been wrestling with the above in my heart these past few weeks away.

These very thorns in my flesh were slowly digging into my heart.

I felt that I was drowning in a sea of self-pity. Jealousy and strife were not only in my heart; they were taking root. These horrible works of the flesh were becoming manifest. Then, one day, as I was feeling sorry for myself, the Holy Spirit directed me to this Scripture, a checklist of my heart. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Galatia:

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds,  strife,  jealousy,  outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar,  I tell you about these things in advance-as I told you before- that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” –Galatians 6:19-21

My heart sank as I read this, and I felt sick to my stomach.

As a Christian, having just one of these sinful works of the flesh at work in you is terrible, but I could check off at least seven of these sins in my spirit. I fell on my face with tears, “Lord, how can I worship You when I am such a mess right now? How could You ever see anything in me? How am I worthy to be called you child?”

As I write this, the question returns: who is worthy?

What human is worthy to be in the presence of the Holy and Righteous Sovereign God?

After reading those verses in Galatians 6, I thank God that scales fell from my eyes, and I saw no way any Christian could, I could, boldly stand in God’s presence with all of that junk in our hearts. No man can receive the Kingdom of God in such sinful flesh. They must be born again. They need the Spirit of the living God. Jesus makes this clear in John 3:3, “I assure you; unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

My brothers and sisters, we all need Jesus!

Please hear me, friends: if you think the enemy won’t fire his fiery arrows at you or that the dark night of the soul that overtook me could never overtake you, then you are truly letting your guard down. I once said the very same thing: “My eyes are always on Jesus. That won’t happen to me.” I’d forgotten the Truth I so love. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” –Proverbs 16:18.

Friends, as long as we live in these earthly vessels, we are prime targets for Satan’s attacks.

In 1 Peter 5:8-9, the apostle Peter warns us of this: “Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary The devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him and be firm in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.”

Are we worthy to receive the forgiveness of God?

Humanly speaking, the answer is no if we look at it through the lens of the flesh or human ability.

We are not worthy to receive anything from a Holy and Pure God. Jesus alone is worthy! “The Lord is great and worthy of our praise; no one can understand how great he is.” –Psalm 145:3.

By nature, humans are selfish and self-centered.

We are always thinking about getting ahead or getting that next best thing, keeping up with the worldly standards of “success.” Such striving causes us to walk in fear and doubt, asking ourselves what the next day will bring before the day ever comes. Yet God still proves Himself to be a loving Father! “But God proves His love for using that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” –Romans 5:8.

God will never stop loving us, loving you, brothers and sisters. He cannot. God is Love. 1 John 4:16 reminds us of this. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” He wants a relationship even with His most stubborn creations, you and me. “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” –1 John 4:10.

In today’s verse, Jesus reminds us: “you did not choose Me, but I chose you.”

 Let that sink in for a moment. God chose you—in your imperfections, in your anxiety, in your mess.

But, Jesus also tells us to repent our sins and believe He is God’s Son.

We’re able to stand righteous before God only by Jesus’ finished work—His life, death, and resurrection.

It wasn’t Matthew Botelho who solved his mess. If anything, I was making things worse for myself and my family. Not to mention all those who stood beside me during this challenging time. Only the love of the Father set this servant free from all that bitterness and selfishness. And though I am not worthy of such forgiveness, Jesus said, “For God loved the world in this way; He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” –John 3:16.

I am an “everyone” who believes. I have been set free by the One who sets His children “free indeed!”

Brothers and sisters, If you are going through a trying season, please know you are not going through it alone. We at Sonsofthesea are praying for all of you. We all walk through the desert at some time or another, that dry place where our enemy can take us out if we’re not careful. But with Jesus beside you every step of the way, you will leave your valley., just as I did.

And friend, if you are reading this and you feel the pull of the Holy Spirit moving you closer to God, follow His leading. Do not harden your heart, but allow the Presence of God to saturate every part of you. Repent and believe that Jesus washed away your sins with His precious Blood. Ask Him into heart and life as Lord of all. Amen. “As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” –Hebrews 3:15.

The Promise Of Christmas

December 24, 2022 /
Maria Braga

Way back in (Genesis 3:15,) we learn the origin of God’s promise. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. At the fall of Adam and Eve, God announced the need for a Savior. Being Omniscient, God knew that a Deliverer was the only way to redeem humanity, a perfect Lamb, Jesus, His only begotten Son. For to us, a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. –Isaiah 9:6.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14.

Isaiah wrote of the promise of a coming King the Israelites would know of hundreds of years before that promise came to pass. For centuries, there was anticipation among the people of God. They were looking for the royal arrival of this great King, the Son of God. Everyone imagined and expected Him to be much like the kings they had known. A powerful and possessive ruler, not a lowly baby found in a manger. 

Everyone knew that some young Israelite virgin would deliver the world’s Savior. I can only imagine living during that time! The questions, the anticipation, and even the competition among these young girls wondering who is the chosen one! Who will deliver this King? Is it me? Mary was a young Jewish girl. Many scholars believe she was around fifteen years old. She was not formally educated but most likely well-instructed in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible.) Her parents, grandparents, and family who attended the Synagogue had likely taught her the Scriptures. They all almost certainly followed the religious laws of that day. Every Jewish girl knew about the prophecies. They knew the books of the law, the Pentateuch.

History tells us that Mary lived a simple life in a small home with no running water, toilets, heat, electricity, or any of the modern-day conveniences we have today. She lived an everyday life as all the other girls her age. 

God had already given His promise, the stage was set, and the time came for the significant historical event. The people of Israel awaited a triumphant king on a mighty horse. A king who possessed all the trappings of royalty. But God had a different plan. He chose to do it another way. And so, He sent the angel to deliver the message to Mary.

The angel Gabriel shows up and speaks to Mary, a young girl who had never known a man. The angel came to her and said; You are honored very much. You are a favored woman. The Lord is with you. *You are chosen from among many women. When she saw the angel, she was troubled by his words. She thought about what had been said. The angel said to her; Mary, do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. See, you are to become a mother and have a Son. You are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the place where His early Father David sat. 33 He will be King over the family of Jacob forever and His nation will have no end. Mary said to the angel, How will this happen? I have never had a man. The angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will cover you. The holy Child you give birth to will be called the Son of God. –Luke 1: 28-35.

Mary’s response is phenomenal! She didn’t run, and she didn’t pass out before this powerful being. She was filled with faith, a little troubled sure, but without fright. She stood tall before the angel and took in the message the angel had brought her from God. Her servant’s heart amazes me! How will this happen? I have never had a man. Could this pivotal moment have been the very second Mary conceived? As the angel spoke the Word, did the Word instantly become flesh inside her womb? Mary’s faith moved heaven and earth when she said: Let it be done unto me according to your will.Luke 1:38 Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be it unto me according to thy Word. And the angel departed from her.

Mary was blessed among women, chosen, and filled with faith.

Mary lived a life that was pleasing to God. She focused on God’s promise when the battle began to rage around her. Those days were not easy for a woman. Her culture did not accept this kind of situation. It was considered disgraceful. And a young unmarried girl or woman in this condition would be stoned to death. Mary knew all about the troubles that lay before her. She knew her culture well! So Mary decided to visit her older cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with John the Baptist! Upon her arrival at Elizabeth’s house, Mary greeted her cousin, and the baby leaped inside Elizabeth’s womb.

Perhaps, this was the first praise service!

Elizabeth blessed her cousin, saying, You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said He’d do. – Luke 1:45.

What an example for us to follow. As believers, we live assured that God will do what He promises. He never changes. When we face the impossible, like Mary, we might ask, “How can this happen?” But like Mary, we must believe, and trust that God is still fulfilling His promises. We must remember that what is impossible for man is possible for God. Mary was chosen to fulfill a promise given some 4000 years prior. We, too, must ready ourselves to have our faith stretched big enough to believe and trust the One who never fails to complete what He begins!

You and I are still chosen today to accomplish whatever God calls us to do.

Mary faced separate groups of people in her process. Some totally missed Jesus, like the innkeeper. Because of the census, business was booming. So he had no room for the King of kings to be born in his inn. Another was Herod, who represented King and government, and the others were the high priests of the day, meaning the religious sect. 

Mary also experienced the love, warmth, and care of other groups, like, the shepherds and the Maggi. There were also the animals, who kept them warm! Jesus, the Promised One, arrived unexpectedly because His ways are not like ours. From the beginning, God planned to save His creation, all humanity! The purpose of the coming of Jesus is to open the Way back into a right relationship with the Father. Everyone who receives Jesus as Lord and Savior become a child of God.

Becoming a new creation is called the miracle of salvation. 

The Promise of salvation born at Christmas is for every person living on the face of the earth. Mary clearly shows us how to have this kind of faith. She demonstrates servanthood. “Here I am. May it be done unto me according to your will.” 

This is a spiritual concept. The Holy Spirit comes into us upon receiving salvation, living within, and He begins to change us. We experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit and begin to understand spiritual things and grow and serve as Mary did. We must believe and trust what God says He will do!

If you have not asked Jesus to become your Lord and Savior, what better time than now, at Christmas? Please pray this simple prayer with a sincere heart, and you will be saved. “Father, in the name of Jesus, fill my heart. Change me and make me new. I repent of my sins; forgive me. Guide me in this new way of life and surround me with a spiritual family that will help me grow and advance in my new spiritual walk. In the name of Jesus, amen.

” If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. –Romans 10:9-10.

Set Apart for Sacred Use

March 19, 2022 /
MaryEllen Montville

“Remember that the Lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today” –1 Peter 4:20.

God has always had a plan—before He spoke night and day into being, God had a plan. And, if you are a child of God—or will be, you’ve been factored into His plan, designed to fit. Your puzzle piece fits precisely. How? God is ordered and intentional, patient, and methodical. We would each do well to re-member that the next time some “suddenly” touches our lives, when that seemingly random thing happens, changing everything—God has a plan. Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”

As it had been in the days of his Father, Abraham, so now with Isaac, another famine had touched Canaan. Genesis 26 opens by informing us that Isaac decided not to go to Egypt, unlike Abraham. Instead, he was headed to Gerar to see King Abimelech. Yet scripture doesn’t inform us whether or not Isaac sought the Lord before doing this; it simply states: “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.” Whether in answer to prayer—or not, God had a plan—and it was very good.

Yet God will allow His chosen vessels to be kissed by the fires of affliction—but its kisses will never overtake them. “So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!” –Daniel 3:26-27. Isaac’s faith was being tested—refined, as by fire. A famine had struck the land.

The Lord will allow famines to touch our lives, health, family, finances, marriages, and children. Our ministries, plans, and dreams, all that He might test us, our faith in Him, our obedience, our loyalty to Him. In Scripture, Abraham’s life attests to this Truth. King David and Job’s, as well. God refines His people as He alone sees fit. He allows us to be sifted as wheat—yet not without praying we endure such siftings. He sifts some with a Saul, others with boils and a less than supportive spouse.

While others will be asked to sacrifice children on the altar of obedience. “Still another said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family.” Then Jesus declared, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” –Luke 6:61-62.

When faced with famine or some lack, spiritual or physical, will we opt to run to Egypt? To that place, we know we’re sure to find plenty, or at least what we want/need right now? Or will we remain in Gerar, where He has commanded us to sojourn for a season—no matter the cost, regardless of our uncertainties, disappointments, or any feelings of alienation we may experience while there? Will we choose to live in the place of God’s choosing, living by faith? Walking our faith out—being doers of what we so readily profess.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” –Hebrews 12:1-2.

Will we choose faith over fear? Will we “come out and be separate,” choosing to live as the Royal Priests we are? “Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” –2 Corinthians 6:17; Isiah 52:11.

Isaac had to learn this lesson, so did Abraham, as did every brother and sister before us. And so must we. But how?

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, our brother Peter points us in the right direction. This very day, and every day the Lord allows us to breathe, we are to remember who we are in Christ Jesus—by calling to mind God’s faithfulness, long-suffering, patience, grace, mercy, His unfathomable love for us. By re-membering, God chose us while we were yet covered in the filth of our sins. We must be intentional in remembering the cost our precious Lord willingly paid to save us. I pray our desire for the things of this world loses sway over us, even now, as we freely, joyfully, submit ourselves to the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit, alive in us. “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” –2 Corinthians 6:1-2.

Now we could continue on in Genesis 26, witnessing the Lord blessing Isaac for his faithfulness—lavishing him with material favor, because that is Truth. It is precisely what the Lord did. Instead, I feel led to loop us back to something far greater than any material blessing. Of course, I’m talking about God’s saving grace. So, let’s head back to what our brother Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had to say in today’s Scripture verse. “Remember that the Lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today” –1 Peter 4:20.

Instead of speaking to you of the material blessings bestowed upon Isaac, which our God lavishly provides for His children, let me focus instead on that moment when God, in His infinite mercy, removed the scales from our eyes. Let’s choose to re-member that moment when God enabled us to see that we were once dead in our sin—slaves of the “iron-smelting furnace of Egypt.” Yet, because of Jesus, because of God’s infinite mercy and grace, because of His great love and Sovereign election, we now get to call Him Abba! Father! Sovereign Lord! Merciful Savior!

We get to worship this God who so loved Abraham and Isaac, so loves us, that He gave His Only Son, our Lord, to ransom us! “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God”–Hebrews 11:8-10, emphasis my own.

God has always had a plan—before He spoke night and day into being, God had a plan. And, if you are a child of God—or will be, you’ve been factored into His plan, designed to fit it. Your puzzle piece fits precisely. And this means you, too, friend. God is calling you to say yes to Him. Yes, to His plan and the purpose He has for your life. Today is the day, now is the acceptable time. “But my prayer to You, O LORD, is for a time of favor. In Your abundant loving devotion, O God, answer me with Your sure salvation” –Psalm 69:13.

This Is Me, And You. Abraham, too.

May 8, 2021 /
MaryEllen Montville

“Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised” –Hebrews 4:9-10.

I literally have no idea just how many times I have read these very verses over the years. Nevertheless, today, the Holy Spirit allowed me to see them anew—more profound somehow.

As a Christian, I know the Truth found in these few lines of Scripture, in this chapter, really. More, I believe them.

In them is found the very foundation of who I am and in whom I believe. The Rock-Solid Truth on which I hang the full weight of my hope. Yet as I read them today, it was as if the Holy Spirit allowed me somehow to see their Truth afresh. It was as if His Words took on a life of their own, like some scene unfolding before me, animated. For just the briefest of moments, He opened my heart to understand these verses more personally, and in an instant, I was visually transported back to a little church by the sea. That place where the Lord saw fit, one spring day in March, to first whisper, “Come, follow Me.” Years later, He would whisper this same command when He anointed me to birth this blog. And yet it didn’t start there—my relationship with God, I mean. I didn’t go searching for Him on that Spring day; He called me—had been wooing me. I know that now. All I knew then was I had this pressing, inexplicable need to go to that little church by the sea, so I went.

I now understand I was one of those lost sheep Jesus spoke of in Luke 15:4. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” And way back when so too was Father Abraham—He was a lost sheep as well. I also understand that Jesus had a plan for both of our lives; I know that now, I didn’t then. A plan that would only unfold after He’d pull from our bellies the very faith, He’d placed in them, in eternity past. Faith is the genesis of everything. Without it, we can’t do anything. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” –Hebrews 11:6.

I forget that sometimes as I read Scripture. I forget that Abraham, and Moses, David and Daniel, Martha, and Mary, Paul, and Peter, all of these had been given their own measure of faith—just as you and I have been.

Yet Scripture informs me that though I possess this faith, say nothing of the gifts and talents on lone to me; I cannot lay claim to them as if they were something I made happen. Something I did or found on my own, lest pride swells up in me, and I fall. As with everything else in my life, even the very measure of faith I possess is a precious gift given me from my Heavenly Father. “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” 1 Corinthians 12:9. Equally true is this: This measure of faith was given me because God had already accepted me as His own; He’d chosen me in Christ Jesus in eternity past.

Sitting in that little seaside church on that spring day, how could I have known that? For that matter, neither would Abraham have had any idea the day God showed up, of the call, nor the unfathomable blessing that would soon be made manifest in his life as he went about his everyday life in Ur. “And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them” –Romans 4:11.

See, that’s the thing the Holy Spirit illuminated afresh today. How profoundly personal our conversion is, and how suddenly it is that we are changed. Just how suddenly this literal life-changing gift is bestowed upon us. Abraham and I are both witness to this Truth. One moment we were dead in our sins, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, we were made new. And so too were that great cloud of witnesses that went on to glory before me. One second, we were all dead in our sins, and in the next, in fulfillment of the will and plan of God, all were washed clean; made a new creation in Christ Jesus, His now, eternally.

That’s where it all starts, in that nanosecond in time, determined in eternity past. Hear the Word of God: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations” –Jeremiah 29:11.

Did you catch what the Prophet Jeremiah said by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?

God chooses us before we ever come into being. And, not only had Jeremiah been chosen by God, given his measure of faith by Him, more, wrapped up in His being chosen, was Jeremiah’s calling. His purpose. So too is ours, our “one-of-a-kind calling,” our unique piece of the creation puzzle that God will anoint, using it to bring His eternal plan to fruition. “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” –Psalm 139:15-16.

The Apostle Paul found this foundational Truth of being chosen in Christ Jesus and gifted with faith of such import that it permeates almost all His writings. “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” Romans 12:3.

John Piper says it this way concerning Paul’s writings. Concerning this faith that we who believe are given: God has given all Christians varying measures of faith. This is the faith with which we receive and use our varying gifts. It is the ordinary daily faith by which we live and minister. Paul’s final remedy for spiritual pride is to say that not only are spiritual gifts a work of God’s free grace in our lives, but so also is the very faith with which we use those gifts. This means that every possible ground of boasting is taken away. How can we boast if even the qualification for receiving gifts is also a gift?

The Apostle Paul says it plainly: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” –Ephesians 2:8-9.

So perhaps this brief visual journey afforded me by the Holy Spirit today came as a reminder? Maybe He was reminding me how the faith I claim as my own came into being? Perhaps I need re-minding of that sometimes? There’s no perhaps about it; actually, shamefully, I do.

Why? I find it curious, wholly human perhaps, how I can hold something as sacred as my faith so dear, yet so dispassionately at times. As if taking it for granted somehow. At times we forget, in our flesh, that our faith must be stirred up. Watched over and cherished, as the treasure of great price that it is—guarded, with our very lives. I, for one, am thankful that the Holy Spirit reminds me of this Truth when I become lax.

Perhaps today, I needed to be re-minded to cling to this precious treasure I have been entrusted with. Re-minded to continuously exercise my faith on behalf of those who have yet to come into their measure of faith? Re-minded perhaps, that on a day I did not expect Him, the Spirit of the Living God came, suddenly, and blessed me with this precious, Life-giving gift of faith—just as He had for Father Abraham, just as He’ll do for you. And so, friend, if you’ve yet to call this faith your own, you can now. I believe the Holy Spirit has led you here for just that reason, to bless you with your measure of faith.

But first, you must ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior. Confess that you have sinned and that you need Him. Then stand still and watch the Lord fight for you—change you, increase with time, the measure of faith He’ll give you today. “Now not for his sake alone was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also—to whom righteousness will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead—who was betrayed and crucified because of our sins, and was raised [from the dead] because of our justification [our acquittal—absolving us of all sin before God]” –Romans 4:23-25.

The Living Stone and the Chosen People.

October 10, 2020 /
Stephanie Montilla



“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” –1 Peter 2:9.

The header to this passage is titled: “The Living Stone and a Chosen People” and something to single out, purely from fascination, is that the author of this epistle, Peter (Greek) or Cephas (Aramaic), was renamed by Jesus Christ—his name both meaning “stone” or “rock” (John 1:42). Right out the gate, Peter points to his intended audience, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout (1 Peter 1). For background and setting, under the governance of Emperor Nero, a great fire broke out in Rome destroying much of the city. The fire’s rage lasted approximately three days destroying homes, many of Rome’s religious elements, and ultimately devastating the Roman culture. Many died and those that survived the fire were left homeless, resentful, and hopeless. Emperor Nero’s scapegoat to blame for the fire were the Christians, who were already hated for their association with Jews, their growing influence, and their hostility towards the Roman culture. As Nero spread the word of this, with the pretext that Christians were the cause of the fire, vicious Christian persecution escalated, causing many to spread throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter 1). The apostle Peter penned this epistle to his intended audience, suffering Christians, to provide them with spiritual strengthening. Throughout Peter’s letter, he outlines several things.

To scattered, persecuted Christians, Peter exhorts steadfastness in the face of persecution and holy, virtuous conduct before unbelievers. He gives special importance to the body of believers in that they’ve been purified through acceptance of God’s truth and that they are God’s chosen or elect people, a comforting reminder to persecuted Christians. In this letter, Peter is reminding Christians that there is purpose in suffering for righteousness with the knowledge of their future victory and heavenly inheritance. Moreover, perseverance and unremoved joy, amid trials, is what God expects from His people and is the revealer of the genuineness of a believer’s faith. Christians have Jesus Christ as the model for how to respond when the world rejects and persecutes them. Peter’s counsel to the body of Christ then, remains applicable for Christians today and we ought to be refreshed by the revelation of what it means to be “God’s elect” as Peter penned in this opening letter.

It is a wonderful, astonishing revelation to be called God’s special possession, royal, chosen and consecrated for God’s unique purpose(s) – in that we “may declare the praises of our God who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light” –1 Peter 2:10. Peter calls out the distinguishing marks of God’s people that separate us from the world (1 Peter 2:9-12).

Believers are a Chosen People:

Peter calls believers a chosen people. In the King James Version, the term peculiar is used instead—a “peculiar people” and, in 1 Peter 2:9, the original Greek meaning for peculiar describes someone or something as being private property. It can also mean exclusivity, belonging solely to a particular person. Today, one can interpret Peter’s verse to mean that believers are odd, peculiar people, however, we should consider this verse as referring to believers as those belonging to God; we are His special possessions. In the Old Testament, Israel was mentioned and described as a nation chosen by God (see Exodus 19:5-6, Isaiah 43:20-21, Deuteronomy 4:20; 7:6; 14:2). I love that Peter uses Old Testament terminology to describe the people of Israel and then applies that same connection to all believers. Just as Israel is God’s chosen people, the church stands as God’s chosen people too, a new branch grafted in. We must consider that we are chosen not because we are elevated higher in comparison to others, rather we are considered chosen solely because of God’s unmerited favor: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” –Ephesians 1:4-6. God does not choose people based on their giftedness, talents, or intelligence even. That said, regardless of our giftings, what unites all those chosen by God is that awesome responsibility of adhering to His instructions, being a light in this world, holding steadfast to God’s promises, and modeling to this world the fruitfulness that comes from following God (Exodus 19:5-6). To be chosen by God is not only a privilege given us via His incredible grace, but it’s also a blessing to be used when partnered with His Holy Spirit to help convey His glory. It remains astonishing to me that God chooses to partner with us!

As believers, we are connected to the cornerstone, Christ—chosen by God to receive his salvation. When Peter wrote this, Christians were being persecuted. Peter reminds them that they are a chosen people. In today’s climate, persecution (hostility, ill-treatment, violence) towards Christians exists in various forms too, and so what Peter reminded the persecuted Christians in AD 60-67 should serve as both a refresher and reminder to all Christians today as well. Just as Jesus Christ was “rejected by humans but chosen by God” (1 Peter 2:4), you also have to bear in mind that when man rejects you, it’s God who’s chosen you! We are in this world, but not of this world. History has proven that suffering is not new to the Christian who chooses God’s kingdom over culture – but take heart! God has already overcome the world and your citizenship is in heaven! And another marker that distinguishes the people of God is that they are a royal priesthood—a holy nation.

Believers are a Royal Priesthood and a Holy Nation…

Peter calls believers a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Once again, Peter uses Old Testament terminology to describe Israel’s priests, applying it now to all believers. In the Old Testament, the priesthood had the sole privilege of offering the sacrifice and approaching God in the temple. The priests were the only ones that could enter the Holy of Holies (a special room where God’s sacred presence dwelled) but thanks be to God, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we no longer have that blockade—that veil that separated us from God, removed now in Jesus’s obedience to the Father. Instead, we can go boldly now before the Father. We have accessibility to His presence, and, as royal priests, we are united with Christ! Romans 8:17 states that “we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” – we are therefore set apart for Christ in this world. As a royal priesthood, we have been entrusted with the same authority as Christ gave his disciples (Matthew 28:18). As priests, we can intercede in prayer on behalf of others and we fight spiritually, armored, to trample against the strongholds of the enemy (Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 6). Also, Peter refers to us Christians as a holy nation, “holy” meaning set apart – as God’s special possessions! “…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” –1 Peter 2:9.

Friends, whatever difficulties you may face in carrying out your faith in Jesus Christ, hold fast to Peter’s encouragement that we are a chosen people, we are God’s special possession and are called royalty. And while the world may reject us, God has elected us to play a vital role on earth for His kingdom and to declare His praises! You may ask yourself, “why was I chosen?” God chose you because of His great love for you because He desires to have a relationship with you, and, He chooses to reveal to you God’s unique purpose(s) designed specifically for you. While we co-exist with others that may not have a relationship with the Lord, we must remind ourselves that we are called to be set apart in that we’ve died to ourselves and have chosen Kingdom over culture, even if persecution, mockery, political outlaw or humiliation awaits us. God’s love is profound in part, in that it allows us, His creation, to either obey His commandments or to follow our fleshly desires and human reasoning. I love that God gives us this choice more, I hope and pray that you’ll use it to choose Him—your affirmative response then, your yes to Jesus, ensuring you too will be a part of His royal priesthood, the chosen that will share in the first resurrection and reign with Christ in God’s holy kingdom (Revelation 17:14, 20:4-6).

Priests of God…

August 29, 2020 /
“But you are His chosen people, the King’s priests. You are a holy nation, people who belong to God. He chose you to tell about the wonderful things he has done. He brought you out of the darkness of sin into His wonderful light –1 Peter 2:9

In our justification, God has declared us righteous in Christ through His blood. In our sanctification, God is working to make us righteous in what we do, say, think, and feel. As the Lord’s holy priesthood, we can be sure that His work to sanctify us is not in vain and that even though we might get discouraged at times, He will most certainly transform us into the holy priests He has designed us to be. –R.C. Sproul.

I hope you catch what Peter is saying to you here because it is deeply personal? Please, don’t just gloss over it. This is a love note addressed to you, written by the Holy Spirit. He has hand-picked you to receive it so that you’ll have no room to doubt who you are in Christ Jesus! You have been chosen friend, by the all-knowing, all-seeing Creator of the universe Himself! And His choosing you for Himself is neither random nor recent. Watch, I’ll prove it to you: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you a prophet to the nations” –Jeremiah 1:5. Did you catch that before part? It means that you have always been in Christ Jesus—just as He has always been One with the Father. I know, I know, who can fully understand such a mystery? Our finite minds can scarcely take it all in. Yet it’s true whether we can fully take it in, or not. Look to 1 John 5:20 for confirmation. God may not have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations, but He most certainly formed you in your mother’s womb and set you apart for His immense pleasure and use. As a child of God, election and purpose are a double portion blessing. You came into this world with their seeds planted deeply in your belly. And at the appointed time, God calls them forth. You have been chosen in Him, in part, for good works. Peter is revealing Truth here that will, should you grab hold of it, revolutionize your relationship with Jesus. Shifting you from being saved by grace alone, to being forever set afire for Christ!

Only then will you fully catch that you have been “brought out of darkness that you might proclaim—shout from the rooftop—the excellencies of Him who has called you out of that darkness, out of your sin, and into His marvelous Light.” Friend, God has chosen you to be a beacon of light in this dark world. Go forth and shine!

And by using the title royal priesthood, Peter is reminding you that as a child of God, you share in a sacred privilege that once was reserved solely for His firstborn, the nation of Israel. Those God has chosen to set aside as His special possession. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy ” –1 Peter 2:10. Having been grafted into this treasured branch then, you receive both the blessings and the benefits that flow through it. “For you [are] a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” –Deuteronomy 7:6. Yet, unlike the priests of old, you are no longer required to bring an animal sacrifice to God to be offered up in reparation for your sins. Because God so loved you, He sacrificed His only Son, Jesus, once for all, to atone for the sins of the entire world. Instead then, as royal priests, we offer ourselves, our lives, wills, our plans, hopes, and dreams as loving sacrifices unto our God. All the while imparting His grace to others and drawing nearer to Him ourselves. “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” –Hebrews 10:10–14. Peter is letting you know that because of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, you are a royal priest who needs none but Him to stand between you and your Father as mediator. “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” –Romans 8:34.

The world needs us to take our mandate seriously and be a true priest of God so that we might rightly minister the things of His kingdom to all those He’s calling unto Himself, into His kingdom. –Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider.

Peter is also letting you know that you are a holy nation. “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners” –1 Peter 1:15-17. He is reminding you that you are not of this world. You’ve been called out of it, to live separate from all that it offers, that you might share in the eternal glory of the next—serving God nevertheless, while you’re still here. You are a citizen of a holy nation, robed in Christ’s Righteousness, washed clean in His shed Blood. Called to live a life that is pleasing to God. After all, being holy means: to be set apart, unique. “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” –Isaiah 61:10.

You are not like those who belong to this world—this nation. They have no desire to be set apart for God, be used by Him. They’ve chosen instead, to serve themselves. To have at best, a form of godliness. Making their own rules, living however they so choose. But not you friend. You have been hand-picked by God. Plucked from the dark influences of this world. Your standard then must be higher, purer, aimed exclusively at pleasing God alone. Everything you do lovingly brought before the One who searches and knows the motives of each man’s heart. Trusting that He is fashioning you daily to look more and more like His Son—like where you’re headed, not where you’ve been. All that you might spread the seeds of the Gospel wherever God plants you—be it in your home, your workplace, the grocery store, or the privileged platform of your ministry. You must—each of us must, do all that we can as people set apart for His use to bring glory to His name.

How unfathomable the honor to be used by God? A vessel that allows His Truth and Love and Light to so shine through our cracked and flawed humanness, that all matter of men are drawn to what it is we possess wanting to possess it for themselves. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body” –2 Corinthians 4:7-11.

Dear friend, know that your being here is no accident. God loves you with a mind-blowing, unplumbed love—He has purposefully led you here. He wants you to know how deeply you are cherished, even if you find that hard to believe. He will show you if you’ll just invite Jesus in.

No-thing. Romans 8:38-39.

April 14, 2019 /

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul is assuring us that contrary to how we may be feeling—whatever we may be experiencing at any given moment, God loves us. More, there is absolutely nothing that will ever change that…

No amount of self-doubt, no failure or deep short-coming, not even our sin can separate us, cause His love to fail us; if we are His.  He knows that in a moment of doubt the strongest of us can be reduced to feelings of insecurity, of weakness. On this journey of death to self one may feel as though God has abandoned them, turned His face away from them. The reassuring warmth of His nearness suddenly cooled in that moment He asks us to lay a thing down. To choose His way over our own. To trust Him when we think we know better—can do better than He can. To give up what we want in exchange for what He has for us. Some part of ourselves, some habit or choice, some possession that does not reflect who He is to the world around us. Instead, it reeks of the flesh—of self-indulgence, greed, entitlement, or lust. It reeks of us.  At one moment or another in our lives, on our walk, we will each be guilty of this…

And, yet, even in this—even in our deep flawed-ness, in the midst of our most sinful, shameful, selfishness, even here—He does not withdraw His love from His children. He does not remove His loving-kindness from us. Verse 3 of Romans Chapter 8 helps, in part, to explain why. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” In this one great sacrificial choice, God proved His great love for us by sending Jesus to the Cross in our place. If His love for us is so great that He would not withhold His only Son from us, and it is, is it any wonder than that He would not allow any-thing to ever separate us from Himself? Those He’s chosen in Himself before the foundation of the world? “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father”—Romans 8:15.

Not even death with its apparent finite-ness can separate us from God…

We see the Truth of this early one Sunday morning. Friday has passed. Jesus has borne the shame and torture of the Cross. His Body, broken and bloodied now lays in its borrowed tomb. The night will pass. The following day with its night too. God uses the passing of time to teach us so many lessons; one of those being things are not always as they appear. Sunday morning comes, and what the world though had happened, what evil had intended to happen, did not prevail. People though they had put an end to Jesus. Instead, God used their sin-fullness for His glory, and our good. To bless us and save us. To give us the greatest of Gifts. The only One whose Blood alone is worthy to atone for our sins…

So then, if Gods giving us His most precious possession—His only Son to die in our place that we might be restored to right relationship with Him, how can we allow ourselves to buy into the lie that any-thing could ever separate us from the One who has chosen us in Himself?  How can we allow any-thing, ourselves include,  to condemn us? More, believe that God will not provide for us? He has, after all, already given us His absolute best, all we will ever need, in Jesus! “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” Romans 8:31-33.

Why then do we struggle still? Why are we so reluctant to believe Him? To simply hand Him whatever it is He may be asking us to give or give up?

Sunday morning sealed every Word God has ever spoken. Paul is assuring us that, contrary to how we may be feeling—whatever we may be experiencing at any given moment, God loves us. More, there is absolutely nothing that will ever change that. So beloved, if you are struggling with doubt today, wrestling with His will for your life, troubled about handing over to Him that thing He may be asking you to let go of—fear not! He alone is faithful to exchange your weakness for His strength. And, once armed with that strength He will re-minded you that He’ll not allow anything, no-thing “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Take heart friends, soon and very soon Sunday morning will dawn in your hearts and the stone of doubt, fear, rebellion, hesitation, will be rolled away eternally!  Then, all that we thought we knew of ourselves, our faith, about our God, will be rightly revealed to us by the Truth of His Presence among us. Soon and very soon my friend!

But in the meantime remember this: Just as Jesus struggled with accepting the Fathers will, however briefly, in the garden, you too will struggle. Nonetheless, once you have struggled a little while, you too must come to the place where you say with an obedient heart—seeking His will above your own, His glory above all else; “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” –Luke 22:42.

Take heart my brother, the battle is not yours it’s the Lord. Stand firm, even so, do all that must, are called to do, in Him and then stand back and watch your Daddy do what only He can! Watch, as He brings His will about in your heart and life…

Dear friend, don’t miss yet another opportunity to allow this Jesus to draw in your heart. As we prepare ourselves for Easter morning, for His dawning in our lives afresh, won’t you ask Him to come into yours, too? He’s been waiting for three days for you to ask…

 

 

Settle the Matter! Ephesians 1:4-5.

April 7, 2019 /

“For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love. He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will…”

Today, I’m speaking to the one who wrestles with doubting their salvation—then uses the guilt that wrestling produces as a reason to flog yourself. The Truth is you really do know Him in that deepest part of yourself—you know you are truly His. That He came to you and chose you. So why all this questioning? Why the doubts and the fears that follow after them?

The answer beloved is that your focus is out of focus. Your looking to yourself and not to Christ for the Truth of who you are. Is it any wonder then that you’re struggling? “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20. As we begin to fully take in just what it is that God has done for us, in Christ Jesus, the weight of that revelation will send us to our knees! We’ll then begin to know true humility on a first named basis. Not only did God specifically choose Christ to fulfill His redemptive plan—He equally chose you as a part of it as well!

First Christ, then you in Him. Humbling, isn’t it? The thought of you and Christ found in the same sentence…

The thought that you are so loved by God. Predestined to be His now, and for all eternity. He doesn’t want you to miss one second of time spent in His presence! The Sovereign God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, and all that fill them, has chosen you! And all of this before one single blade of grass had ever broken free of the soil. More specifically—before there ever was soil; or stars, snails, clouds, rain, sun, deer, or Adam. Long before it all—God had chosen you for Himself—in His Son. You were already His as they stood—the Trinity, over the dark void. You are saved in Christ Jesus because God chose you to be! Yet, though chosen, you are nevertheless responsible to guard this precious salvation as one guards his home and his most prized possessions from robbers, with greatest vigilance and care…

Our salvation is from God alone; we cannot boast in our being able to bring it about, somehow offering it to ourselves. Willing it, by hook or by crook, into existence; as a child wills their imaginary friend to come and help fill their empty hours with play. Yet, we must care for it, guarding it. Our being chosen in Christ and our responsibility in His choosing of us that is. These are inseparable.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” –1 Corinthians 1:27-30.

You, my struggling brother, my sister, wresting still with the surety of your salvation, are those foolish, weak, lowly, and despised “things” God chose when, looking at us, no one would ever have believed we’d one day belong to Him. We the broken and filthy, the lowly and guilty, all those who know that we know, had it not been for His election of us; for that merciful reaching-out of His most precious hand across time and eternity—at precisely the right time, salvation would not be ours. Certainly we said yes. But which came first, His calling us, or our answering Him? As for me, I lean into His calling of us. I was too broken—too incapable, to sin-stained to even think about my name and Christ’s in the same sentence. Of His wanting me—never mind choosing me; of His having a plan for my life or of being useful or used by God.

If redemption were our choice (if we could choose to be saved, to somehow ask Jesus to come into our lives, truly—minus His first tugging on our hearts, offering Him the place of honor at the table of our lives, surely) our salvation would have passed us by—busy as we were wallowing in our sins, chasing after them; as blindly and as fully as our prodigal brother did. That goes for you too—son or daughter of the pastor. Raised in the church yet full of resentment and doubt and rebellion—longing to be free from it all. To live your own life. Or you, the one who strived to do it all right. You who genuinely wanted Christ. Who believed what the priest said—what your parents said—you, whose heart never chose to wander off chasing after what others did—or wanted to do. Nonetheless, sin separated you too from ever having a right relationship with God.

And now though, now that it is yours, you must do all that you can, by the grace of God, to safe-guard your heart and mind against everything that will try to steal that Truth out from under you. Leaving you foundation-less. A builder who cannot build. The Truth is this. If you, any of you, have truly been chosen in Christ, by God, then you are saved. Period. How do I know this for certain? Because God Himself said it. And, as He also said, “God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” –Numbers 23:19.

If you have faith in Jesus Christ beloved it is solely because it was given you by God, our Father. It is a free gift. As is your salvation and the Holy Spirit who indwells you…

We all get momentarily lost, my brother and sisters, when our focus shifts between Christ’s finished work and our ever-changing situations, circumstances, and trials. More specifically, on to how we feel about the Truth of our salvation. How  we view its certainty, its guarantee. But we must fight through those false and shifting feelings using the armor Christ has provided us. As John says: “I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God. I write so that you will know that you have eternal life now” –1 John 5:13. What John is saying, in other words, is that our sure fidelity to Christ does not guarantee that we will always have so firm a confidence in Christ. John Piper says it this way: “Faith can be real when the feelings of assurance are weak.” Our flesh is weak and will always fails us. Hence, why we must, we must, always trust God. Trust only what He says about us. After all, it is His finished work in Christ Jesus that will forever have the final Word. Now, with that in mind beloved, let us settle this matter of our being saved in Christ—chosen by God—once and for all. God is as faithful to bring the whole Truth of this revelation about, this certainty you possess, as surely as He was true in His choosing of you. Therefore, concerning being settled on this blessed assurance which we possess—have been entrusted with, let no man, no circumstance, trial or test, no battle or temptation, neither any competing voice of the enemy of our soul, nor your own words, negate Gods Truth “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one–for God himself has given us right standing with himself” –Romans 8:33.

My Brothers and sisters remember that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I pray your strength today. May God do a quick work of re-minding you of His Truth.

Dear friend, if you’re here today for the first time, or if you’ve returned, feeling somehow drawn back, I pray this Word has spoken to your heart. Know that it is this same God who you’ve just read about that is calling you to Himself. Won’t you please invite Him into your life as both Lord and Savior now?

If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world –John 15:16.

 

The Promise… Deuteronomy 4:30-31.

February 3, 2019 /

 “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.”

This world  surrounds us with evidence that God is who He says He is. Its inescapable. God is Creator of heaven and earth. Of the sky and sea and everything in, and on, and under them. Without a voice of its own the very wind sings His praises! And, each leaf adds its amen in its rustling. “…Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” –Psalm 19:2-4.

At the base of a mountain called Sinai,  shrouded now in dark clouds, fire, shooting skyward from its peak, God has allowed the Israelite’s to hear Him speak—to know the sound of His voice! How fortunate for these chosen few—this nation who has stolen the very heart of God to have heard Him for themselves! This people, so deeply loved by Him; loved as one loves an only child.  “The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said” –Exodus 19:9. They had endured such privation at the hands of a merciless Pharaoh. Evil is relentless by its very nature. Its only joy is found in torment. Its driving force, its sole hope, to exact death and destruction. And yet through Moses, God reminds His people who He alone delivered them from: “the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make them His very own people and His special possession…” –Deuteronomy 4:20.

And, as God did for each one standing at the base of Sinai, He does for us too. Our Lover pursues us. Hems us in. Still. Because of this joyful Truth it’s here where I say Hallelujah! I too have been delivered from Egypt’s chains. So then, it’s here I join my whispered “thank you Lord” to the deep night. Weaving my gossamer thread into the brilliant tapestry of thank you’s. I join it to the millions who have gone before me—and, with those whispering their thank you, now, still.  We each, trembling, yet certain the Lord catches our offerings with His own hands; pressing them to His heart. Cherished. Its my love song, a heart posturing itself in adoration—in recognition that He first loved me, chose me.  A heart that admits that He alone has opened this one heart to be able to hear His voice calling in the night.

As it was in their wilderness, so it was in my own; yours too I’d imagine. Sin isolates us. Yet, because of His great love for us, we, like the Israelite’s before us, mustn’t take this love we’ve been afforded for granted. We must never forget  He is a jealous lover who will not tolerate our “flirting” with another. After-all, how would you, a mere man, react to your beloved playing the harlot with another? Making room in her heart for someone other than yourself, the one she has vowed to remain faithful to—’til death part you? And yet they did. We do too. Take His great love for us for granted that is. Though forewarned of the consequences of their actions, they allowed their ardor for the One who loved them like no other to wax cold. And, in their luke-warm-ness, they soon found themselves following after the culture of the peoples around them. Cultures filled with foreign gods and moral compromise. A tainted world comprised of second-bests. They had forgotten they were called to come out from them and be separate. They had for gotten they were the chosen of the Lord. They were not created—never intended, to live with second best. After all, they were His beloved. But they forgot that. They allowed themselves to relapse into the “mentality of captivity.” And so do we. At least I have, momentarily…

Let me ask you Christian; after having been freed, have you ever felt the chains of captivity threatening to bind you once again? Felt it’s fetters searching you out? Wanting to bind, once again, what God had freed you from? Moses, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, was allowed to see the future fate of those gathered before him. Those God had instructed him to pronounce liberty over. Yet the Israelite’s freedom was not the result of Moses showing up on the scene, nor of Pharaoh’ agreeing to release them.  Rather, the Israelite’s would gain their freedom because God, through His election of them, and, in His infinite wisdom and great mercy towards, saw fit that they would be His chosen people. “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” –1 Peter 2:9-10. And, though Peter was speaking to us here, the gentile nations, still, all of us, all those “chosen” in Christ, whether Jew or the grafted in gentile, would never have tasted His Truth, known His freedom, had we not first been chosen by Him…

Fidelity and integrity are non-negotiable; they are the very ink with which the covenant between God and man has been written. Sealed by Loves promise, His bond irrevocable!

And still we fall short. Still we rebel. Much like Lots wife we each stop and look back toward the Egypt God has delivered us from. And, though we aren’t instantly turned to a pillar of salt—we do not escape the consequences of our rebellious actions. God is just. We tend to forget that fact. As His children, we sometimes close our eyes to this Truth as it applies to our own lives. Consequences and discipline are for others, we becry, God’s grace covers me! And that’s true.  It does. He is merciful beyond measure. Yet, it is equally true that God disciplines His children; listen: And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father…?” –Hebrews 12:5-7.

Moses foresaw the Israelite’s’ wondering around in a wilderness for 40 years. Many died there. Never to see, touch, nor taste, the fruit of this beautiful promised land God swore to give them. Their dreams dying a barren death. They’d bore no fruit. They had chosen to come away from the True vine, lusting instead after the gods of Asherah poles and the Baals. This jealous Lover of our souls will not be mocked! “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” –Deuteronomy 4:23-24. And, yet, inconceivably, even though God knew His own would reject Him, turn away from Him and towards the gods of money and greed, of pride; even though we’d blindly run after the god of “more”, nonetheless, He loves us still. Died for us. Gave His only begotten Son for us, still. He’s here now. Available to all who will, today. Even when we are Gomers, He remains our Hosea. In their shame and rebellion—and in ours, Moses comforts us each with the words he spoke to those who followed, and follow still, the Pillar of Cloud by day and of Fire by night: “When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath” –Deuteronomy 4:30-31.

My beloved brothers and sisters, consider these words shared by our older brother, Peter, concerning our living in a pagan society, and, as you do, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes that you might reflect on the condition of your life: “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” 1 Peter 2: 11-12. Beloved, as iron sharpens iron, allow me to urge you to seek the Lord today. Asking Him to revel all un-confessed sin before Him. And then, repent, quickly; remembering His mercy and His promise to forgive. And please, tuck His Words of assurance to Joshua into your heart. In today’s world, we need  to hold more tightly than ever to His promise! “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” Deuteronomy 31:6.

Dear friend, if you’re visiting us for the first time, welcome! Know that Jesus has called you here today to confirm what He has been pointing you towards—Himself. He loves you with a love that we’ll never fully be able to take in this side of heaven! Won’t you accept His invitation to share Himself, His time, His love with you today? “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” –Revelation 3:20

“After-Glow.” Matthew 1:23

December 30, 2018 /

 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel”—which, when translated, means, “God with us.”

So much had to be sacrificed  in order that one flawless night, one single, holy night, that life-changing night, might come to pass. And, too, that one night happened so that you and I might be afforded the opportunity to follow the Light that had guided three wise men and some lowly shepherds to a child born in the lowliest of settings, so awfully long ago…

The birth has occurred. Jesus is among us! The sweat from birthing a child dried now on Mary’s body. Her flush waning. The sheep are back out in the fields with their respective shepherd’s. Jesus is wrapped up securely. He sleeps peacefully tucked up against Mary’s warm side. Josephs’ face is still beaming. Look there! Yet His star guides us still, this day! Just over that next hill the wise men linger on their way back east. The memory of His star that had guided them to that Holy place, lasting. Burning brightly in their hearts, still. Its light as inescapable now as it was the moment it first summoned them on their journey. Never again will this world be the same. They are not the same now as they were that pivotal day each decided to mount up on their camels in pursuit of this newborn King.

Immanuel is here now—and nothing, not one thing ever, will be the same. Loves brilliant Light has pierced every darkened corner of this world—theirs too! Inescapable…

As a result of that first Christmas some 2000 years ago, neither these three kings—nor any man, anywhere, will ever again be able to say that they did not know about the glory of God having been birthed in a manger! If somehow, they  had been blinded to the physicality of His Truth seen in creation; there could still be pardon. Now, with the knowledge of His birth, all excuses have been removed. And so it is still in these final hours. All excuses are removed. All men have but two choices set before them. Those same two choices that have been set before each of us. Will you, like wise men before you, leave everything behind and follow in pursuit of the King? Or, will you enter this new year once again closing your eyes, hearts, minds, every unction bubbling up within you, off from the guiding Light of His glorious presence?Choosing instead to remain in darkness…

Love was born with one purpose in mind—sacrificial obedience. And, out of that obedience to God this new babe would one day lay down on His Cross—willingly. Stretching Himself wide, He’d make certain there is room for you and me inside the inn of His body. The divine exchange taking place. Him taking in your death—your filthy sins, that you might instead have His eternal life having been washed as pure as He is by the shedding of His innocent Blood. That is what this and every other Christmas is all about. That is the gift God has offered you—year, after year, after year. Him loving you so much that He’d send His only Son—to you. A free gift. As I said a moment ago, it’s most definitely personal. Will you receive Gods’ gift or, will stuff it in some forgotten corner of your life until this time next year?

What will you do with the Gift that cost both Father and Son so very much? Mary and Joseph too? Just think of it all! If it were not enough—as unimaginable as that is, that the Sovereign God of the universe handed over His pure, perfect, beloved Son to us—filthy, fallen, sinful man—He did so knowing that we were going to kill Him!

More, God sent Him to us specifically that we would kill Him! He was Gods spotless atoning sacrifice. Intentional! Gods most precious gift to the entire world. And, Jesus, when asked to leave heaven and die for us said: “Yes, sure, I’ll go. I know I’m the only One who’s able to help them make their way back to You. Father” More still, if the Prince of heaven coming to earth were not a great enough sacrifice, an incomprehensible gift given us; think then of simple everyday people, like Mary and Joseph, ordinary people willing to offer so much of themselves for you. When’s the last time a complete stranger sacrificed anything for you?

Mary, a woman like any other woman, endured great shame and rejection for you and me so that Gods Son might be born of her virgin flesh. That He might understand, from a human perspective, everything you and I think, desire, and experience. Feeling every temptation; yet He’d never sin. Mary, this stranger to us, endured this and so much more, for you. Only God can place the grace needed for this level of sacrifice inside of anyone’s heart. And then there’s Joseph. Joseph who was ostracized—thought to be a fool by many for going through with a marriage to a girl who obviously cared so little for him she had allowed herself to be sullied by another man! Joseph who left a family, a home and a business, a plan for a life he’d never know…

My friend, now that you’ve once again heard about this Jesus, now that you’ve been re-minded that He was born, and that He died just for you; what will you do with this knowledge? Will you, like the wise the wise men of old, follow after this same guide they were afforded—Jesus’ undeniable, inextinguishable Light? Will you, like those who’ve gone before you, use whatever ray of hope that’s been shined into your current darkness to mount up in pursuit of this King of Kings? Or, will you choose to close the door of your heart for one more year? Again. Will you, as some did that holy night, hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door? Refusing to acknowledge even now the still visible after-glow of a Love so divine, so cherished above all things that men, wise men, common men, both learned and unlearned men, still, to this very day. leave all behind to follow Him . So much has been sacrificed for you. So much has been freely given that you might know—might be willing to experience, such a love.

Friend, it’s never too late, So long as there is breath there’s hope…

With this in mind, I’ll close asking you just one question. Yet before I do, in anticipation of those who might say, “I don’t believe in that Bible stuff. I don’t believe in your Jesus. Nice story, but I’ve read  many a nice story. I just don’t buy it!” I will add this precursor. Please, know, some things are real whether you believe in them or not. Now, with that having been proved, my question on the eve of this New Year is: What will you do with the greatest gift ever presented you? Yes you. It is personal. I know, I know, He came for the entire world. And that’s Truth. Yet, it’s equally True that He came explicitly for you. Christ chose to leave God and the glory of heaven. He chose to wrap Himself up in flesh and be birthed by Mary among barnyard animals, reeking Shepherd, and dank hay. There was not one accidental event leading up to Jesus’ birth—nor has there been one since. So, if you’ve been thinking Jesus came for everyone but you—you’re mistaken! The world may have told you that lie—many of us have been lied to by broken people who’ve been lied to themselves—but He sent me here today, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring you good news!

Jesus came specifically for you! That is the Truth of why He came at all…

Wise men, in adoration and hope, look up to heaven still in their silent nightly prayers. And, their reward is that of the Light of the world reaching down from heaven touching their birthing places here on earth—the Inns of their hearts. His Body once broken on our behalf mended by our re-joining with it…

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” John 8:12.

Friend, that star that shone brightly might seem but a dim reminder of some tall-tale told long ago of a babe born to us that few acknowledge today. I pray if you have been one of these—may His star be magnified in your New Year sky! Leading you to the One that was born to save you! Won’t you choose to follow Him in this New Year friend?

Simply ask Him into your heart as both Lord and Savior. He is faithful to come. He’s already proven that once…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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