"Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” (Ruth 2:8-9)

After Ruth made her holy resolve to be with her mother-in-law Naomi, they returned together to where Jesus would one day enter our world in this very place of Bethlehem Ephrathah to be the Savior and Redeemer of all who would put their trust in Him.

It is amazing to consider how this unfolding development in the chain leading up to the gospel of Christ would include this man, Boaz, who came from Rahab, the Gentile harlot from Jericho (Josh 2), who in God's providence would have this Gentile woman Ruth show up in his field.

Later the prophet Micah would prophesy and bring this all together saying,

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

Ruth knew she was a stranger to this land, the people, and their religious ways. She was familiar with the heritage of faith of her family but she was only accustomed to life as a Moabite woman. Her choice to come back with Naomi was a turning point in her life and another progression in the redemptive plan of God as revealed throughout Scripture.

Ruth was now ready to press on to all that would lie ahead and to put her past behind her. As God would have it, she ended up on the field of Boaz, who just so happened to be a close relative of her father-in-law. Her selfless act put her in position for future blessing as she took the initiative to go to work in a nearby field with a willing heart and willing hands.

Diligence is always an important quality that every child of God needs to have. Scripture always speaks against laziness and gives many principles about the right way and the right motive toward work. Paul tells the believers that, "Whatever you do, do it heartily unto the Lord, and not unto men" (Col. 3:23).

While Ruth worked hard all day, Boaz took notice of her and desired to show generosity to her. This is a great example of how diligence loves to meet generosity. The Apostle Paul put it this way: "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need" (Eph. 4:28).

Any onlooker would have seen the favor that was being shown to Ruth but there was one problem should have been considered...

Why should Ruth be allowed to enter God's assembly? After all, she was a Moabite, right?

There was a LAW given by Moses that says, “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you" (Deut. 23;3-4).

So why should Ruth be so welcomed by Boaz and be received among God's people?

The answer comes down to the fact that Ruth had already renounced her identity as. a Moabite and therefore became a NEW CREATION when she converted and said, "...Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God" (Ruth 1:16). This was an early spring of God's grace.

Ephesians 2:11-13 declares, "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh...that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. BUT NOW in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

So Ruth is no longer a Moabite…but a GRAFTED IN GENTILE who believes. She represents all of us Gentiles who are graciously received by our Lord through faith in the Messiah.

This is a picture of the way the Lord comes to us, sees us, and shows us His mercy…
"that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Why are we allowed into God's family?

Because GRACE is greater than the LAW! As sure as Boaz received Ruth, our Lord has received each of us into His body by Christ who has redeemed us of our sins for Himself!

"Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." (Rom. 7:4-6).

Boaz serves as a beautiful A TYPE OF CHRIST:

• He comes with blessing to give to all (2:4).
• He sees people and is willing to serve (2:5).
• He receives people with a gracious spirit (2:8-9)
• He protects those entrusted to him (2:9).
• He provides for their personal needs (2:14)
• He satisfies the thirsty and hungry soul (2:14)

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God (Rom. 15:5-7).

FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION...
1. Take some time to consider where you were and where you would be if Christ did not graciously come and redeem you and receive you.

2. Are you willing to take the initiative and work hard as Ruth did when going to the field?

3. Do you extend the same grace and generosity to others that Boaz showed to Ruth and that Christ has personally shown to you?

"Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her...But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God...” - Ruth 1:14, 16

Tragedy and trouble hits everyone in all places at various times and each one comes with a potential turning point to consider of where we will turn as we wait for God to act on our behalf and to turn our tragedies into triumph and our sorrows into joy.

Far too often, our first impulse in the flesh is to seek to escape from our trouble as soon as it comes and to choose the path of least resistance. When Naomi and her two daughters-in-law each lost their husbands to death, both Orpah and Ruth were at a crossroads as to what they would do next and where they would go from there.

Naomi urged them to start over and move on with their lives back in Moab. On the surface, that made sense and seemed like the only way for them to have hope for a new future.

We learn in the book of Ruth that God had a journey of redemption prepared for this family coming from Bethlehem in Judah.  We learn in the book of James to "let patience have its perfect work" that the believer may "be perfect, complete, and lacking nothing" (James 1:4).

All of these historical narratives in the Scriptures serve "as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). It is amazing how a holy resolve by one willing person can be used by God to solve something even greater for all.

Similarly, when we choose to embrace and endure our hardships, instead of escaping them, we are choosing to trust God and allow Him to further define us and refine us. Sometimes, we have to step into the unknown, even after things are stripped and taken from us, knowing that God always goes before us and makes a way of redemption.

The book of Ruth opens up with a famine in the land in the days of the Judges when there was no king in Israel and there was a spiritual famine in the hearts of the people. There are four occasions in the book of Judges where the spiritual climate is characterized by the fact that "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (17:6, 18:11, 19:1, 21:25). This is the real issue for so many people today who never move forward in their walk with God and His purpose for them.

Is this true of any of us? Are we willing to let go of our own control and surrender our rights to the God who created us and knows what is best for us?

This family from Bethlehem, when means "House of Bread", in Judah, which means "Praise" was chosen by God to foreshadow the Son of God who would enter the world in that very same location. At first, it would seem like this is just one insignificant family among so many...But this small family and short story fits into the much bigger story of the whole Bible and the redemptive plan of God that would impact the whole world.

Micah the prophet predicted this when he said, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

Just as the LORD would visit the land of Israel in this time of famine, so God would send His Son at the appointed time to bring the ultimate answer to the hunger and thirst in all the souls of men. Jesus is the AUTHOR of salvation for all people and the "substance of things hoped for."

Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51)

After Jesus said this, many starting falling away and, much like Orpah, started going after the things of the world. Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to go away as well but Peter, like Ruth, said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69).

In a similar way, the two daughters of law of Naomi had to decide which way they were to go.

Orpah escaped to do what was easier and what was right in her own eyes.

Ruth clung to Naomi and showed a holy resolve to place her future in the hands of God.

How about you? Are you willing to fully surrender your plans and dreams into the hands of the One who created you and redeemed you? What does that surrender look like at this time?

Ruth encountered something that pulled at her heart. She was ready to place her broken heart and damaged life into God’s loving hands as she entrusted everything about her life to God.

THREE KEY POINTS to consider from this opening chapter:

• RUTH invoked the Covenant Name of God - YAHWEH! (v.17)
• RUTH rejected the idolatrous gods of her people, unlike Oprah. (v.15)
• RUTH accepted she may never get married again but surrendered to the God of Israel.

Ruth's willingness to start this journey of redemption ended up helping Naomi to see that God was not done with her life or family. Her bitter soul would soon be made sweet.

Just like when the children of Israel saw the bitter water turn sweet when "the tree" was thrown into the waters and the people were healed of their thirst, another picture of redemption would soon unfold for the nation of Israel through a simple gentile woman who gave God her YES!

The tree was an early type of the cross for Israel and Ruth determination and redirection would lead to a new life that would ultimately lead to a marriage of redemption that would produce a son...and then a grandson, and then a great grandson named David...who would become a godly king in Israel and a part of the Messianic line leading to the King of all kings - JESUS CHRIST, who also was born in Bethlehem, Judah.

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

Consider today...How is God leading you to make a holy resolve based on the circumstances of your life and the truth that God solves all of our troubles with His faithful guiding hand?

"And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

There are certain times in your life when you come to a place where the circumstances are uncertain and the opposition around you is fierce and the resources seem too small and you just don't know where you are going to end up. When this happens, God has you in just the right place to show you His sufficient grace that He might lead you into the ordained wells or space that He has ordained for you.

The Lord always leads His people on the paths of righteousness for His Name sake. He knows when you need green pastures, still waters, or even when you must be led to the valley of the shadow of death. The Lord always knows how to make room for us!

Even when God first made man, He took him and placed him in the garden that He planted for them. God knows just where we need to be to accomplish the purpose that He has determined for us.

The greater question is whether we will make room for God to show us what He wants intends to do for us. We sometimes miss the things that God is presently doing because we are leaning on our own limited understanding or focused on the limited resources due to the temporary famine in the land or the lack in our circumstances.

Therefore, we need a shift of focus before we take a step of faith so that we may SEE OUR LORD before we see our lack.

In this portion of Scripture in Genesis, Isaac is in a place of great prosperity. He is dwelling in the land and is enjoying the reaping of what he had sown. But the people of the land, the Philistines, were envious of him and they stopped up all the wells which Isaac's father Abraham had dug up with his servants.

Are there people or situations that seem to be stopping up your wells?

God is ready to release you and the living water that is inside of you to bring greater blessing and restoration to you and through as you learn to dig up the wells.

Isa. 61:4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.

The world is always trying to fill up the former wells of blessing that God has provided with their own agendas and schemes. It is in these times where we need to turn to the Lord and let God have His way in us...since He can always make a way for us.

We are to be diligent but to let God decide. Our trust must lead to rest and release.

Isaac continued the heritage of faith that was handed down to him but he had lapses of faith when he lied about his wife as Abraham did. But he also represents a unique type of Christ, as he willfully laid down his life on the altar in Gen. 22 and then later sees his bride presented to him. We too must learn to wait on the Lord to make room for Him.

Psalm 37:34 says, "Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it."

Isaac moves on into the valley of Gerar and digs a well where there is running water but there was contention and argument with the herdsmen of the land. So he wisely moves on and waits on God's faithful provision where there is BOTH water and peace.

There are certainly times where we need to stand our ground and fight but God calls us to peace. We all need to have such faith in God where we let Him write our story and bring us into the place that He has prepared for us with His peace ruling in our hearts.

Choose to let God choose,
And obey all God has to say,
And God will make room
for you to bloom whether
you go or whether you stay!

In the end, God will always make a way and make room for us as we learn to trust in the Lord will all of our hearts and acknowledge Him in all of our ways as He directs our steps and our paths.

Proverbs 16:1-3 “The preparations of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

Three Acts of the Will that belong to us:

1. DEVOTION to God — “He built an altar”
2. DEPENDENCE on God — “called on the Lord” 
3. DWELLING with God — “Pitched his tent”

…To dig up MORE wells to release MORE Living Springs!


For Further Reflection:

1. Are you able to distinguish times when you must stay and fight or just move on and wait for the Lord's answer and provision? How do you know?

2. What are examples in your life where God made room for you?

3. How are you learning to make room for God in this season of your life?

In Matthew 25:31-46, we come to a weighty and sobering passage that is a fitting follow-up to what we’ve been considering on the second part of the Great Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus gives us a news report of future history - of a day that is coming, marked on God’s calendar, and that will be unlike any other. He tells of the day of His return, when He comes again in His glory with all the holy angels with Him, and takes His seat on His glorious throne on earth. What will be His first order of business? He calls the nations of the world before Him to be judged, to establish right from the outset who gets to come into His kingdom, and who does not. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. We must face the fact that one way or another, we will all stand before King Jesus one day. And it will be shown which team we were on. Truly there’s nothing more serious in life, than knowing you’re on the right side of the line!

As Jesus pronounces His judgment, what’s really amazing here is what He vocalizes as the basis for His verdict…

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ (Matt. 25:34-36)

Those to His right ask Him: “When did we see you like that and do that to you?”

And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matt. 25:40)

But then to those on His left….

Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did NOT do it to one of the least of these, you did NOT do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:45-46)

Notice, He points to their actions - what they DID (or, for those on His left, what they DID NOT do.) Now, is Jesus saying we’re saved by our works? Certainly not! The Bible is most clear that salvation is by God’s grace alone, received not by works but through faith in Jesus alone. But real faith alive and active. It’s faith in action! But take note especially of the types of actions listed. He doesn’t point to “religious” actions we might expect such as Bible-reading, prayer, church attendance, and ordinances, but rather to tangible, loving acts of service! On this Day of Judgment, what will ultimately matter is: How well did you love? And not just say you love, but demonstrate real, selfless, humble, servant-hearted, Christ-dependent, Christ-exalting, Spirit-produced love that reaches out in practical acts of mercy and compassion to meet tangible needs of others, especially fellow believers. That is the evidence of real faith, for that is what real faith produces!

Four points jump out of this passage that we must take to heart: 
KEY POINT 1: Real Love is not just said - it’s shown.
KEY POINT 2: How we love our fellow Christians equates to how we love Jesus Himself.
KEY POINT 3. Demonstrating love is not optional; it’s indispensable!
KEY POINT 4: When we walk in love now, we experience a foretaste of the perfect, eternal love of heaven!

I was recently reading about the tsunami of 2004. One place that was especially hard hit was Sri Lanka. In the Kalutara region, made up mostly of Muslims and Buddhists, 4,000 houses were washed away, leaving 14,000 people homeless. Not far from there was a Christian school called St. John’s. The principal, A.D. Karunarathna, knew his school stood on high, dry ground, so he immediately issued an order to his staff: “Open the gates. Open all the doors. Let everyone in.” In the first 10 days after the tsunami, more than 2,200 refugees came into the school. The staff turned their classrooms into dorm rooms, and their banisters and desks into drying stations for clothes. They set up outhouses as well as a medical treatment center. They fed people, cared for them, and tended to their needs in numerous ways. How do you think the Muslims and Buddhists of Kalutura felt about them and about Christianity after that? I wonder how many became Christians.

Presently, God has our fellowship planted in the borough of Freehold, in Monmouth County, NJ. This is our Kalutara. How are we doing at loving the people of our community? Are we loving them in such a way that they take notice and are compelled to ask where that love comes from? Surely, it need not require a tsunami to happen first.

In light of this, may we take time to seriously and prayerfully consider the following questions:

1. What practical needs can you imagine are had by people all throughout this local community?

2. What simple acts of Christlike service might you be able to perform in response to any one of them?

3. What might it look like if every one of us became more committed to loving and caring for the needs of “the least of these” here in our community? 

Just imagine how the Lord might transform this whole borough, and then well beyond it, in the name of Jesus, if we would all answer God’s call and give Him our unreserved, unconditional “yes”. If we’ve not been doing so already, may we start loving like our eternity depends upon it. Because, in a sense, it does.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

After we consider all that is involved in the Great Commandment of loving God supremely and loving people sacrificially, we must finally conclude with the NEW Commandment of our Lord to take it to the higher level of HIMSELF. Jesus calls His disciples to love "as I have loved you".

So consider all the ways that Jesus demonstrated His own love toward us and especially reflect on how the message of the cross has become the power of God unto salvation.

This means that we need Him to work in us in order for us to work for Him. It is His love that has been graciously given to us that we might love others the way He loved us. Jesus loved the world but He especially loved His followers like they were His own body knowing that they would carry on and carry out His love to the world after He would depart.

Just think about the well known verse, John 3:16, and consider how it says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...." Now consider that if Christ lives in us and loves through us, then we should be able to add this reality to that statement, "For the Church so further loved the world that they manifested His Son."

Jesus prayed into this reality when He said, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20-21). May we understand that when the world sees our love for one another and the unity we share as brethren that it gives testimony that the Father truly sent the Son for this purpose.

This is so important that any partiality or favoritism on our part in regard to loving all the brethren actually tarnishes this testimony of Christ to the world and gives cause for people to stumble. This is why James says, "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors" (James 2:8-9).

Now when you consider loving the brethren, you may only think of those who are believers right now but there are so many people who may become believers through the love we have for one another and the example that we set forth. The reality is that we do not know if the person you meet and dialogue with today is going to become a believer or not tomorrow.

So everyone is potential brethren.

Therefore, we need to learn how to properly engage our world with a deeper compassion and understanding. We need more respecting others and less inspecting others...more healthy dialogue and less heated debate...leading to more evangelization instead of polarization.

Remember, a stranger today might be a brother or sister tomorrow!

So let us start with our love for the rest of the body of Christ as Paul exhorts us in Galatians saying, ”For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).

So how can we love our brethren?

LOVING THE BRETHREN REQUIRES:

• Having HUMILITY of Heart and Mind (Phil. 2:3-5).
• Obeying in PURITY of the Soul (1 Peter 1:22).
• Speaking with HONESTY in the Truth (1 John 1:7, Eph. 4:15).
• Keeping the UNITY of the Spirit (Eph. 4:1-3).
• Receiving the ENTIRETY of the Body  (Rom. 15:7).
• Edifying for MATURITY of the Faith (Eph. 4:11-16).
• Seeking the OPPORTUNITY for Good (Gal. 6:10).

As we learn to let Christ's love work in and through us, we can increase His love more and more by allowing ourselves to decrease more and more. This does not mean that we condone sin, celebrate sin, or enable others to continue in sin. Love never rejoices in sin but only in the truth.

When we love like Christ, we become part of the solution rather than adding to the problem.

Therefore, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord" (Rom. 12:9-11).

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. His love never fails.

For further reflection or discussion:

1. Understand why Jesus called the Great Commandment "the New Commandment." What changed from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant?

2. How is God calling you to love deeper and further than you have been doing at this time?

3. How does loving the brethren like Christ influence this world and lead others to receive and believe Christ for themselves?

Love Your Neighbor

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:16-17)

As we move from the Great Commandment of loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to "loving your neighbor as yourself", we learn that the second commandment is the natural overflow of the first. The same love that represents the very nature of God is also the same love that flows out toward all those who He created in His image and likeness.

The Bible teaches these two foundational realities that we should always remember:

First, God is love. (1 John 4:8,16)
Second, God shows no partiality. (Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11)

This means that God already loves us before we love Him and He seeks the well being of each of us without having favorites among His children. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17).

We need to see with His eyes that every soul is precious in His sight...for we do not know who will become His children and we who are His children are to love with His love.

When a religious lawyer came to Jesus, who was supposed to be an expert in the Law, he asked Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded by asking him what he ultimately understood about the Law. The man shared rightly from the Law of Moses and Jesus affirmed this but Jesus knew his heart was not in alignment with his answer. So attempting to justify himself, he went on to ask Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In response, Jesus tells the amazing and unforgettable story of the Good Samaritan...

Jesus told him about a man fell among thieves on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (also known as "The Bloody Road") and was stripped of his clothing, was wounded, and left half dead. He was completely hopeless and needed to be rescued. Jesus tells of two religious men who noticed him but walked right past him on the other side. Then he tells of a certain Samaritan who walked by and sees the wounded man and went to him and cared for him to the fullest extent.

Interestingly, the Samaritans were known to be a half breed among the Jews and were therefore rejected by the Jewish community as a whole, which include the religious Jews.

In this story, Jesus brilliantly answered both of the questions that this lawyer asked.

Jesus revealed three types of people in this account of the Good Samaritan:

The REJECTED: The one who knows he is dead.
The RELIGIOUS: The ones who think they are alive.
The RIGHTEOUS: The One who gives life to the dead.

Many read and hear this story without first identifying with the wounded person on the side of the road. We must first see how we are the one that needs to be rescued and how the Good Samaritan is a type of Jesus.

Once we recognize that Jesus came to our personal rescue that He might save us when we were dead in our sins and trespasses, we can then respond to the Good Samaritan and do as he did. So first, we must see the manifestation of God's love toward us...and then, we can see our imitation of God's love through us toward others.

It is only when we personally receive God's love that we can practically reflect God's love to others.

This is why the Apostle John stresses that we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and that we cannot truly love God while showing any kind of hatred toward another brother.

It is amazing when we consider how the Good Samaritan cared for the man and how close it beautifully matches and parallels how our Lord came to us and loved us and rescued us.

Here is the Picture of Christ’s Love...where Jesus act as our Good Samaritan:

v. 33 - Jesus journeyed from heaven and came to us.
Jesus saw us and had compassion on us.

v.34 - Jesus healed us and took care of us.
Jesus poured the oil of the Spirit over us.
Jesus set us on a rock and brought us into His fold.

v.35 - Jesus graciously paid the debt for us.
Jesus departed with a promise to come back again!

Once we know how much we are forgiven and given a second chance at life, we will receive God's Spirit and we will naturally have a God-given love to care for the neighbors around us.

We are to live a life of love where Christ uses us to reach the wounded sinners of the world from our neighborhoods to every sphere of influence where we encounter another neighbor.

Here are Three Ways to Love:

• SEE people through God’s eyes
• SERVE people with Christ’s heart
• SHOW people the Spirit’s power

Freely we receive, freely we give.

As Paul writes to the Philippians, "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:1-5).

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14)

Consider how to put into practice the command to love your neighbor:
1. Do you regularly preach the gospel to yourself and remind myself of your need for Jesus?
2. How are you allowing God's love to overflow out of your life in your daily rhythms?

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh 1:9)

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10)

Be strong dear saint! Don't back down! Don't give up now! Don't be afraid or dismayed but keep going forward with the Lord...trusting in Him and His faithfulness alone!

We need to be strong...but not in ourselves or from our own supply and our own resources. When it comes to the eternal things and treasures, remember that Jesus said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

If strength means the ability to do something that usually requires our effort and energy, then we need to first embrace our weakness in order to be spiritually strong. For the human spirit fails unless the Holy Spirit fills.

The psalmist Asaph put it this way, "My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26).

The Apostle Paul received an abundance of revelations but a thorn in the flesh was given to him that he might stay humble and dependent on the Lord. When he asked three times to have this thorn in his flesh removed, the Lord answered Him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9).

We are lost and limited without the Lord giving us the strength to help us and enable us in our time of need. He will give us the strength to heal us as he did the lame man at the gate Beautiful who was asking alms at the temple or He will give us the strength to endure the hardship and the suffering. Either way strength will always be given when we come to the Lord and call upon His Name. "For with God nothing will be impossible" (Luke 1:37).

Joshua was being called upon to lead the children of Israel over to the Promise Land. He had seen the mighty works of God from Egypt to the wilderness and had even witnessed Moses receiving the Law of God up on the mountain. Now he was to mediate on the Words of the Law day and night that he might trust God into the place "where his footsteps were not yet known."

The Lord's word to Joshua was to "be strong" and he repeated it three times to him (Josh. 1:6-7,9). The Lord added that His presence would be with him so that the true source of Joshua's strength was always readily available to him at all times and in all places - "for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh 1:9).

The same is true for you dear saint. No matter what you are facing today...GOD IS WITH YOU!

Don't just pray for God to give you strength, PRAY FOR GOD TO BE YOUR STRENGTH!

Pray as David did in Psalm 18, “I will love You, O LORD, MY strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortressand my deliverer;
My God, MY strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, MY stronghold.”

The Apostle Paul prayed for them to find their strength in the Lord and not in themselves, asking God, "that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. 3:16-17).

The Apostle Paul tried to do many things in his own strength but now he understood that it was Christ living in Him and Christ being strong through Him. Paul would write to the Philippians that "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). He learned how to be content in any situation with the power and presence of God fueling his faith even when the circumstances around him were hard or undesirable or unfavorable. It was in this context that he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

There is no doubt that the Lord loves YOU and HE has all the strength you need to get you through and to help you arrive to the place where He is leading you. His grace is sufficient for YOU!

Do you love Him enough to trust Him? What do you do when the going gets rough and hard?

David says, "I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only" (Ps. 71:16). Asaph adds, "We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done" (Ps. 78:4).

Where are you getting your strength from today? Is it diminishing or flourishing?

Proverbs 24:10 says, "If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small."

If your strength is failing or you recognize that it is small at this time, then GO to the Lord and WAIT UPON HIM. Isaiah gives us this familiar word in Isaiah 40:29-31:

"He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."

Paul would also tell his spiritual son Timothy, "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:1). Be strong in the FACT that you need the Lord to ACT on your behalf.

To all of you who may be weary and worn and carrying the weights of this world...
Strength is not achieved. It is RECEIVED! This is strong grace dear saint!

Let us not be like Peter who failed to pray and be ready for his time of testing in the day of adversity and who took out the wrong sword in the garden when they took Jesus away.

Let us be aware that our enemy may be roaming but our CHRIST IS ALWAYS REIGNING!

In order to be strong in the evil day of SPIRITUAL WARFARE, let us:
1. Stay Watchful & Prayerful
2. Know that Your Flesh is Weak
3. Put On the Full Armor of God
4. Speak His Word (Take Up your Sword of the Spirit)
5. Stand in the Ground HE has already WON for you!

For If God is for us, who can be against us! As Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong."

BE STRONG in…
1. The Grace that is in Christ Jesus!
2. The Lord and the power of His might!
3. The Faith when being tested!
4. The Victory Christ has already won!

...Can I get an AMEN!?

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Beloved child of God, what do you do when life throws an unexpected trouble, trial, or hardship your way? Do you immediately panic or do you pray? Do you go to worrying on God or go to waiting on God? Do you listen and wait first...or quickly speak and complain and rush to solve it?

First of all, God does not ask you to figure things out...but to FOLLOW HIM OUT! This requires us to be looking toward, listening to, and longing for Him. But...hasn't God always been faithful to lead and to guide and to provide? Can we not sing, "All my life You have been faithful! All my life, you have been so so good! With every breath that I am able..." let us sing of the goodness of God and trust the Lord at all times...as we seek to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

There are times where God tests us to bring out the best in us. He allows a change or transition to take place in our lives so that we get to see what is inside our hearts and to learn what God has been preparing for us. As Deuteronomy 8:2 says, "And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not."

A closed door is just an opportunity for a new open door. A temporal transition allows for a spiritual transformation that we might return to simplicity in heart and singularity of vision to remember all that God has taught us and accomplished for us under His sovereign hand.

When we come to a change, we must remember the charge that God has already given to us. In other words, when we do not know something, we must fall back on what we do know.

We are spiritual pilgrims passing through this life and going through various seasons for God-ordained reasons and we must learn to let God write our story and lead us to new pastures. The walk of faith is a pilgrimage from one place of blessing to another. For..."Your statutes have been my songs In the house of my pilgrimage" (Ps. 119:54).

Whether it was Abraham being asked to leave his former life with his family in his homeland to a place that he did not yet know or Philip being asked where he was going to buy enough bread to feed the multitudes, we need to TRUST GOD into the unknown to expect Him to do what He already knows He will do. This may be hard for us but this is precisely what brings forth the good works that only He can do in and through our lives.

Think about it...the only difference between a hard place and a good place is the time it takes for God to work it all together. 

This is what we learn in Psalm 84 when the psalmist pursues the living God and places all of our trust in Him as they pass through the place of weeping and come out on the other side with springs of joy as they witness what God does and will do for His people. It is interesting that the psalmist sings on the instrument of Gath, where the giants of old were slain...and where the obstacles were replaced by the miracles.

"Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca ("weeping" - balsam trees), They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools." (Psalm 84:5-6).

The Lord already knows. The Lord already sees the ends from the beginnings. Our pilgrimage is a journey of faith that allows us and enables us to see what He already sees and knows that we might be those who go from strength to strength and from glory to glory.

Psalm 65:4-5 says, "Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You,
That he may dwell in Your courts (where even the birds are taken care of). We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple. By awesome deeds in righteousness YOU WILL ANSWER US, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas"

What confidence we ought to have in the providence of God...who leads and guides His people even when we may come to a crossroads where we must cross the waters of our Red Sea and our River Jordan. These are special seasons in our lives that sanctify us, deepen us, and mature us so that we can enter the next season He has prepared and purposed for us.

Psalm 77 reminds us that we must cry out to God in the day of trouble but we must also trust Him to make a way when there doesn't seem to be a way:

"Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
"Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, And Your footsteps were not known. 
You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron." (Ps. 77:13-14, 19-20)

When God is showing us His way, all that is left for us to do is to TRUST and OBEY.

So let us...
PURSUE the living God!
PRAISE Him for His past faithfulness!
PREPARE for the good plans to come!

For when all is said and done, we will BE LED and we will HAVE WON!

"O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!" (Psalm 84:12)

For Further Reflection:
1. What are you facing personally or collectively that requires you to fully trust the Lord?

2. When a change or transition seems inevitable, what are ways that you can simplify your life and take each step of faith with a new pursuit, praise, and preparation?

3. If God were to give you what you wanted, what would you do with it that would bring Him glory?

Remember, that is how we all can still fall short of God's glory by preferring other images like glorifying man, glorifying self, or creation over the Creator.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man... Romans 1:23

So lets all have A Mind set on God and seek the Wisdom from Above over a man-centered mindset that seeks man's approval and lives under the influence of Satan's demonic wisdom.
So use the list below as a Mirror Check to which one you are:

WISDOM FROM ABOVE

1. Pure and Peaceable
2. Gentle and Willing to Yield
3. Full of Mercy and Good Fruits
4. Without Partiality and Without Hypocrisy

DEMONIC WISDOM

1. Self-Seeking and Bitter Envy
2. Earthly (Worldly) and Sensual

James 3:13-18
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.  This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and EVERY EVIL THING ARE THERE. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

 Here is another MIRROR CHECK: IN APPLICATION 

5 ways to Discern God's will in your decision making: (can this choice be made to)

1. The Glory of God
2. The Word Of God (aligning with) 
3. The People of God (asking for counsel from) 
4. Practical Provision of God (has the Lord provided monetarily) 
5. The Peace Of God (through prayer and 1-4 have found God's Peace in the decision).

A Mind Set on God finds their Holiness and Happiness in seeking God First.

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her
Proverbs 3:13-18
and she, meaning wisdom comes from Him!

JESUS CHRIST THE WISDOM AND POWER OF GOD

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God...not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." (Romans 12:2-3)

When we consider loving God with all of our minds, we need to realize that our thought life is naturally corrupted by our sinful nature and the worldly influences that are all around us. This is why we must be intentional to daily come before the Lord and to offer up our lives as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. Our minds must be transformed so that we operate with the mind of Christ.

Our God knows our every thought and He is intimately acquainted with all of our ways. David wrote in Psalm 139 how the Lord is fully aware of everything about us, saying,
"O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways." (Ps. 139:1-3)

Our foolish minds have been darkened by sin and by the god of this age that blinds us and binds us. The psalmist writes, "The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile" (Ps. 94:11).

Therefore, we must repent to renew our minds. To repent is to change our way of thinking and our manner of living. This is why the New Covenant is introduced with the call and command from both John the Baptist and Jesus to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

A persons thoughts determine whether a person can actually know what is real and true and will help determine the peace on the inside even when there is war on the outside.

KEY POINT: Whatever is on your mind is what you are giving priority to. If we don’t win the battle of the mind, we will allow reenactments of old battles to destroy us when those battles have actually ended. Thus, we must learn to forget those things that are behind and press forward to what lies ahead.

YOUR MIND IS A DAILY BATTLEGROUND...and the battle for your life is always won or lost by how you maneuver your thoughts not your troops. When Paul teaches the believers how to fight the spiritual battles of our time, he tells us that the battle is really fought in the area of the mind:

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled" (2 Cor. 10:4-6).

Jesus shows us how to do this when He was preparing for the great agony and anguish of the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane, He shows us how to be honest and transparent about His struggle but He also openly admits His need to the Father in prayer and freely releases the burden to His Father in heaven as He submits to His will. During this time, He invited His closest friends to bear His burden with him in prayer but they were too tired to provide the support that He was seeking for and thus they did not prepare for the temptation that was about to come.

So...we must go back to the question: What does God think about the way you have been thinking? Are you surrendering your worries, cares, and concerns to the Father in prayer?

Isaiah the prophets reminds us, "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You" (Isa. 26:3).

It has been said, "Out of sight, out of mind." So where you are placing your trust and your focus? We don't need to understand everything, but we are to trust the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. Let us look to God and acknowledge Him in all of our ways.

IF YOU ARE NOT INTO GOD…THEN YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!

Our perspective in life changes everything. It was once poetically written, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

Our objective in life requires us to set our minds in the right place and on the right person.

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom 8:5-7).

We need to keep learning the ways of the Lord through the study of Scripture and not leaning on our own perspective or understanding. God has given us all that we need to keep growing even as we are going through hardships and trials. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7).

Questions for further Reflection:

1. What do you find has been occupying your mind lately? How can you release that to the Lord and get His perspective on the matter?

2. What do you learn about the mind of Christ when you study His life and teachings?

3. What can you do differently to win the battle of the mind?

4. What role does Genesis 3 and 2 Corinthians 10 teach us about the warfare that we are up against when lies and arguments against God come our way?

All Your Soul

"So he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’(Luke 12:17-20)

Do you know that you are more than a name...a number...or a body? You are more than what you possess and you are more than what you often perceive your life to be. You are a living soul created in the image and likeness of God. You are known by the living God and you are His beloved child forever if you have put your full trust in Him.

This parable speaks of a man who is still stuck on himself. He cannot seem to be satisfied until his own will and plans are accomplished. He wants Jesus to give him his will and his own soul reveals a covetous longing for more land and bigger and greater barns to store all of his crops and goods. It sounds like many people today who are always needing to fill their lives with more stuff to make them happy.

But true happiness and fulfillment is not found in what a person possesses but in knowing who you are and whose you are...in becoming fully God's possession. The man speaking to Jesus needed to understand his God-given identity and how to be rich toward God...but sadly he was too focused on being rich in himself.

Jesus calls us to go to Him to receive our rich fulfillment and satisfaction. He says to the lukewarm church of Laodicea:

"Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see" (Rev. 3:17-18).

One day, we will all be before our Maker and your soul will be required of you. So when Jesus tells us that we are to love our God with all of our souls, we need to have a good understanding that our souls are not good if left to ourselves. We need the exchange our life for His...and allow the Holy Spirit to give life to our spirit to govern our souls.

Therefore, in order to love God with all of our soul, we need to come to the place of full surrender.

The Bible teaches that our souls are our personal self life and our immaterial conscious existence made up of: the mind, will, and emotions.

Jesus taught that we must lay down our self life for the sake of others and to find the life that we can only have in Christ.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life (soul) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (soul) for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul (soul or self life)? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:24-26)

Your true soul is revealed not in the eyes of the world...but in the eyes of God. In order to be right before God, we need to first know that we are not right before God. We are broken people who have selfishly rebelled against God at various points in our lives. We are all sinners who need a Savior. He is the only One who can make us whole and take back what the enemy stole.

So how about you? How is your soul doing at this time? Are you more focused on the external appearance of your life and your own personal comforts and conveniences or in giving God full reigns and control of your life?

Far too many people are more concerned about their body than their souls. They get physicals without assessing the health of the inner life of the soul. What they really need is a 'soulical,' where they examine what is making their souls unhealthy and un-surrendered.

Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

Our present and eternal rest comes when we learn to find our rest in God alone!
Jesus invites us to come to Him and to find rest for our souls.

David writes, "To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul...Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You." (Psalm 25:1,20)

The Lord knows how to lead you through the hardest places of your life and to take you into the gentle streams of still waters, where He can restore your soul.

Take some time this week to do some personal soul assessment and to give God the reigns of your life and to allow Him to do what only He can do. Remember His past faithfulness and how He laid down His life for you to ensure that you would forever be with Him and that you would be blessed in His presence where there is fullness of joy.

"When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance." (Psalm 42:4-5)

His Spirit brings life your spirit and makes you whole so that you can eventually be fully sanctified in HIm. The Apostle Paul adds, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thes. 5:23).

All Your Heart
"And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart..." (Mark 12:30)

The Lord loves us with a perfect and complete love. Does it not still amaze you when you consider His heart of love toward us? He does not love us with partiality nor does He do anything in part or in halvds. The work of original creation was finished with God's stamp of approval that everything was called "good" and the work of the cross was sufficient with Christ's triumphant words, "It is finished!". This work of the new creation calls us "good!"

Our love is meant to be a response to His love. When Jesus summarizes all of the Law, He calls us to love God with all that we have, starting with our heart. The heart is more than the muscle that pumps blood throughout our whole body, it represents the spiritual center of our being. We are called to love God with all of our heart...in response to Christ's blood pumped into our body.

So what is the heart (as explained in the Bible)?

The heart can be summarized as the inner core of our being, our spiritual state before God,
and the command center of all our desire, direction, and affection. The heart follows what it values the most. Jesus put it this way, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21).

But how can we love God with all of our heart?

There are so many things that we have to deal with on the outside but it is really what goes on the inside of our heart that determines where we are at. As Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life."

Ever since the Fall of man, our hearts gravitate toward selfishness and can easily deceive us and lead us astray. The Law of God reveals how we fall short of God's holy and perfect standards. But Jesus came to release our debt, give us a new heart, and to recreate us into a new creation.

The prophet Ezekiel said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezek. 36:26-27). This happens when we put our faith and trust solely in Jesus for our salvation.

Our hearts in their natural state are prone to wander and to set up replacements for God called idols. The Lord has had to address His people over this issue time and time again. Ezekiel once exposed the sinfulness of men's hearts who "set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity" (Ezek. 14: 2).

We need to recognize whenever our hearts are moving in the wrong direction. But God is always looking at and recognizing the condition of our hearts. For while man looks on the outside, God is always looking at the heart. In fact, "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him" (2 Chron. 16:9).

A loyal heart is a heart that is truly bent on pleasing God and being united with Him. The Apostle Paul reminds us that whatever we do, we should "do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (Col. 3:23).

Sometimes our hearts are able to be fully engaged but with the wrong thing. In fact, the description of entire kingdoms were based on the kings and whether their hearts were loyal to God or something else. With all the idolatrous distractions and attractions of the world, there were very few kings who kept a loyal heart toward God. But one king that had a heart that was noted for having a heart for God was David. God saw this kind of heart in David, even when he was a shepherd boy taking care of his father's flock. God saw someone who could shepherd his people and called him "a man after His own heart."

A man after God's own heart will have these three qualities:
The PURSUIT of our life
The PURITY of our vision
The PURPOSE of our intentions

Each of these areas reveal a heart that is bent on pleasing God and bringing glory to Him!

May we choose each day to commit everything to God and to treasure Him above all else.
Even David did not always guard his heart but allowed his heart to forget the beauty of the Lord. He prayed for God to create in him a clean heart and to renew a steadfast spirit in him (Psalm 51).

Let us get back to these beautiful words that David once said:
"I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope." (Psalm 16:8-9)

Discussion Questions:
1. What are the areas and placeds where you have noticed that your heart is prone to wander?
2. What have you found to be the most important to keep your heart purely devoted to God?
3. What new steps can you take to treasure the Lord over and above any other thing?

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-30).

Jesus was put on the spot and His answer was 'spot on.' After all, it was not hard for Jesus to summarize the Law perfectly since He is the One who came to fulfill the Law by living a perfect life of submission to the Father and, due to His perfect union with the Father, gave the Law to Moses in the first place.

Jesus summed up all the Law with the call to live attentively and obediently by HEARING (pronounced "shammah" in Hebrew) God's command that He is the one true God and that we are to LOVE GOD with all that we are and to LOVE OTHERS no matter who they are. To put it simply, we are to love God fully and love all people in fullness.

Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. When these two teachings are combined, they not only reveal God's law at the highest level but they are the summary of two tablets of God's Ten Commandments. The first tablet dealing with having supreme love toward God and the second tablet having sacrificial love toward all people.

When God gives a commandment, it is a "command" we are "meant" to keep.

God's commandments keep us in alignment with God's will and allows us to give God glory and to benefit ourselves and others. God's commands are the pathway of life, order, and blessing.

In fact, it is important for us to remember this key principle:
"God only says, "NO," to protect and preserve what He first said "YES" to.

CONSIDER THIS: Every command of God that prohibits us from doing something, when taken in reverse, shows us God's greater plan to prosper us and not to harm us. God is not desiring to take away our pleasure but to give us what can be pleasurable and beneficial in the long run. For example, God tells us not to lie because He desires all of our relationships to be based on truth and honesty. God tells us not to murder because He is the Giver and Sustainer of all life from the womb to the tomb. God desires to save us from the various consequences of sexual sin and immorality so He first designed the marriage covenant where there can be holy commitment and a shared union of intimacy that will provide a loving home with two parents who are not only committed to each other but who will reflect Christ and His love toward and from His Church.

Heaven is a controlled, yet liberated, environment of absolutely pure, unadulterated, unfiltered, uninterrupted, ongoing love from God to all of His creation...without hesitation, reservation, or alteration. We are to pray for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).

God's commands are a blessing when kept because they only produce blessings and benefits for those who love and learn God's ways. "His yoke is easy and His burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). This is why the Apostle John said, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3)

This means that before we have a 'TO DO' List we need to have a 'TO BE' life. We need to learn to BE before we DO. After all, we were created as human beings before we are to be human doers.

Let us learn to have the right heart and the right spirit so that we can truly do all things in love.

Here is what BEING before DOING looks like:

• Behold God for who He is...
• Be with Him relationally
• Be beneath His authority
• Be believing in His sufficiency
• Be becoming like Him as you love Him

As Paul wrote, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (Eph. 5:1-2).

We are going to have to deal with a lot of hardship and selfishness in our world. However, when just one person is willing to love God with all that they have and to love each and every person with the love that God gives to us, this world can literally be a better place.

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Rom. 5:5).

Love is the fruit of the Spirit GIVEN TO US by God. Since God is love and mankind is not, we need God's Spirit to be actively working within us to truly help us to love unconditionally, sacrificially, and completely. This is what makes all the difference in our lives and makes a difference in someone else's life...which ends up being the addition that multiplies disciples and brings glory and honor to God.

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well (James 2:8). Jesus Himself fulfilled this at the highest level possible both teaching and demonstrating that, ”Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). Praise God for His unfailing, unending love!! His love never fails.

Let us learn to love and live like Jesus so that others will learn to love and live like Jesus as well.

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.’" (Luke 14:27-30)

When we truly stop and consider what Jesus went through for us and the full extent of His love, we cannot carry on with life as we once knew it to be. The cost of discipleship ought to lead to a response that reflects that we understand to some degree what it cost Jesus to give us the gift of salvation that was accomplished by His gracious work when He shed His blood on our behalf.

We all know those amazing words, "For God so loved the world," but we must never take for granted how easily this can become so familiar to us that we it loses its full impact in our lives.

We should stop and meditate on each part of this glorious truth and ask these questions:
…Who is GOD?
…What is exactly is LOVE?
…What is meant by the WORLD?

The same God who created us and stretched out the heavens and formed man and breathed life into our existence was willing to enter into the world He created in order to demonstrate His own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). This sacrificial love was actively expressed by a surrendered will and a life of full obedience that culminated in the greatest suffering that any man has ever had to endure...and it was all for undeserving sinners like you and me.

Jesus knew what kind of suffering and sorrow awaited Him...yet He still pressed on and went forward -- denying His will, taking up His cross, and following His Father's will and instruction.

Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death...even the death of the cross.

The Lord Jesus clearly said: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…(John 3:16)...And yet the Apostle John taught us: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

How do these two teachings work together? Is this a contradiction? ...Should we not love what God loves? How can God so love the world and yet teach us NOT to love the world? 

The answer lies in understanding the difference between our love and God's love and what is actually meant by the world. Language requires context and sometimes there are different ways of using the same word. When reading the Bible and learning the Lord's ways, we must practice TWO KEY PRINCIPLES:
1. Live between the TENSIONS.
2. Learn the author’s INTENTIONS.

When the Bible speaks of God's love for the world, we are speaking of His love for the souls of mankind from every tribe, tongue, and nation. When John addresses the world, he is not referring to souls but rather to the sins and systems that make up this world. We are not to love the sinful passions and selfish priorities of the world. For the ways of the world is contrary to the true love that is of God and from God and that leads us to truly loving other people.

True love is the fruit of His Spirit (Gal. 5:22), whereas the love of the world comes from the lust of our flesh since this fallen world is "under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19).

It is only when we read the Bible in its context and pay close attention to the details and let Scripture interpret that we will properly understand some of the harder teachings of Scripture.

For example, Matthew 10:34-37 says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to “set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother MORE THAN ME is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter MORE THAN ME is not worthy of Me."

In other words, our love for God must far exceed our love for anything else...or those things will become idols in our lives.

When we live with the right divine order and love God the way He deserves to be loved, we can love with His love that is poured into our hearts from God and love even our enemies because we love God over and above our closest family and friends. This is how love and hate can both oppose each other and also order our relationships vertically and horizontally.

The contrast between the Lord's love for people verses the world's lust for itself is clearly seen when the people of generations ago united together to build the Tower of Babel just to make a name for themselves. They confronted God and He answered them with division and confusion.

Today, we find our true faith and unity when we call upon the Name of the Lord. For "the Name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and they are safe" (Prov. 18:10). When we are living for the Lord, the world may hate us and persecute us and oppose us in some way.

Counting the Cost means that we abandon self and treasure Christ over and above all else.

COUNTING THE COST

• To understand the terms of discipleship
• To recognize the high call of God
• To consider the commitment required
• To make any sacrifice that is necessary
• To lay down one’s life to the very end

This is what Paul the Apostle learned when he met the risen Lord and later said, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:7-8).

How about you? Have you truly counted the cost and learned what it truly means to follow Christ? Now is the time to give Christ your all and to make Him your all in all! He is worthy of the surrender of self, the departure of sin, and the obedience of your will. He is worthy of it ALL!

We will only learn to count the cost...when we first recount the cross!

Discussion Questions for Home Groups:

1. How has recounting the cross helped you to count the cost in following Jesus?

2. How has God been teaching you to love the people of this world without getting caught up in loving the passions and priorities of this world system? Share your thoughts and reflections.

3. What are ways that God has called you to count the cost at various points throughout your Christian life? What lessons has God taught you when you have or have not put Christ above all other things?

4. What are any final thoughts or insights you have learned throughout this series and how will you become more engaged in the Great Commission?

“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase…" (1 Cor. 3:5-7)

This passage reveals that spiritual growth happens over time in an intentional process just like the way someone must first plant a seed into the ground and then water it so it can be nurtured before it produces mature growth with its fruit. We also call this process a discipleship pathway.

DISCIPLESHIP: The process of learning and practicing the way of Jesus with others by the Holy Spirit.

Now a pathway is a sequence of steps that leads toward a goal. This requires intentional practice and discipline but the goal is more than planting and watering but the Person of Jesus Himself.

One of the most important realities in discipleship is maintaining our close proximity to Jesus.  
Before we are called to do anything for the Lord, we are first called to BE WITH HIM (Mark 3:14). We must understand that He is the starting point and the ending point, and the main point of all that discipleship entails in our process toward maturity. We continually COME TO HIM to BECOME MORE LIKE HIM...so proximity is key to our practice for true spiritual prosperity.

David says, "You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)

Jesus is always the definition, delight, and destination of the pathway. Since the goal is Christ Himself, we need to stay on the path of life that leads us to Him to be like Him. This is often the path of most resistance and it requires a denial of self to walk on this path. The path of life is often the hard path but the right path and it doesn't take much to get us off the beaten path.

Therefore, we need to immerse ourselves in the Word of God to rightly navigate the pathway, since it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Ps. 119:105). The Holy Spirit is our Helper to guide us through His Word in order to teach us and conform us to Christ. We must learn to be guided by His Spirit as we daily trust and obey what He is revealing and showing to us.

This means that to make disciples, we must first BE DISCIPLES who are spiritual in all we do.

A spiritual person is first born again and then has these four ongoing realities:

• RECEIVES the Word of God readily (James 1:21)
• RENEWS their mind to what is above (Romans 12:2)
• REFLECTS the love of God in their actions (Eph. 5:1)
• RESTORES others to what is good and true (Gal. 6:1)

As God exchanges our sin for His righteousness, He changes us and matures us so we can intentionally help others to grow and mature as well. We are all called to be a part of THE PROCESS whereby God saves and sanctifies and satisfies people in Christ.

Planting - The beginning of the process whereby a believer gives and sows the pure seed which is the Word of God in a way that it can be received in a right heart.

Watering - Following up with caring and nurturing the heart that receives the seed and giving more teaching, encouragement, and truth as needed.

God’s Increase - The change and transformation that God does in the heart for growth and fruit.

Therefore, we need to consider if there is anything getting in the way to clear the pathway of any weights or sins that so easily entangles us as we run with endurance and look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2).

James puts it this way, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

We need to tend and keep our hearts just like Adam was called to do in the GARDEN OF EDEN…and make sure that no other authority comes in to establish itself in our lives.

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life."

Throughout the pathway of discipleship, we need to aim to BRING PEOPLE CLOSER TO JESUS!

In Conversation, show a sincere interest in the person you are speaking with.
In Opposition, let there be a desire to win the soul more than the argument.

Let us learn the following discipleship principle that Paul gave to Timothy, and learn it well...

"But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:23-26).

As those who have become walking, mobile temples of the Holy Spirit wherever we go, let us: Follow Jesus closely...Take Others with us...And let the Holy Spirit help us in bringing others into closer proximity to Jesus.

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place...And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance...For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:1,4,39).

Even Jesus began His ministry with POWER. He showed up at the Jordan River and during His baptism, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. Since the Church is called to follow in the footsteps of the Lord, the earliest followers of Jesus were told to WAIT in Jerusalem so that they too could receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them to be WITNESSES to Jesus from there to the end of the world.

They did not achieve this, they received this. This was true back then...and it is still true today!

Jesus told His disciples that this would be the new reality in the New Covenant, "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

We learn that 120 disciples were assembled together in one accord in an upper room in Jerusalem for 10 days until the day of Pentecost had fully come. This was one of three feasts that Jewish males were required to attend. But this time, this Festival of Firstfruits, or Shavuot "Weeks" as it was called by the Jews, would be fulfilled as the Holy Spirit was poured out over the disciples and a great harvest of souls would be presented to God.

In contrast to the time when the Law was given where 3,000 men died (Ex. 32), this time there were 3,000 souls who were saved from their sins (Acts 2).

The Apostle Paul would later comment on this contrast when he wrote to the Corinthians, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:5-6).

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit joins our human spirit and we are united with the Lord.

Jesus taught that salvation was like the wind blowing. He said, "Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

But notice that at Pentecost, there was the sound of a rushing and mighty wind. This shows the escalation of the Spirit of Christ coming upon the believers.

In Regeneration, there is the Gift of LIFE…to be His children.
In Pentecost, there is the Gift of POWER…to be His witness.

The Lord never expected us to continue His ministry in our own strength. Jesus said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). So Jesus knew that we needed His power, not our own. This is why God spoke to Zerubbabel concerning His grace given to His people, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ (Zech. 4:6).

When the Holy Spirit came upon the Church, the disciples received divided tongues that allowed them to speak a different language than they normally spoke. This served as a sign to all the unbelieving Jews who were from the various nations and heard the disciples speaking in their own language or dialect.

When you contrast this with those who were of living according to the world, even back in the days that the Tower of Babel was built, we see that they were filled with the spirit of selfish ambition. In those days, they all spoke the same language and they were all united to build the tower to make a name for themselves. So God came down and brought judgment to them saying, "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech...Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” (Gen. 11:7-9).

The Tower of Babel was a unity of selfish pride and the result was the languages being confused and the people dividing under judgment.

But the day of Pentecost was a unity of selfless prayer and the RESULT was the languages being understood and the people united together under Jesus.

Pentecost reveals Three Realities:
The BIRTH of the Church for Mission
The BAPTISM of the Spirit for Power
The BOLDNESS of the Believer for Witness

Are you living according to Babel or Pentecost at this time in your life?

Now is the time to experience your own personal Pentecost.

How can you attain and maintain this power?

Let us be:
...YIELDING to God’s Will
...ASKING for His Power
...RECEIVING by Faith
...OBEYING all that He Says

This promise of the Holy Spirit is not limited to the Apostles or to the first generation of Christians...but it is for all that are open to receive freely from the Lord. "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Discussion Questions for home groups:

1. We heard about the importance of seeking that which is lost. What jumped out to you on the teaching of the lost sheep on the outside, the lost coin on the inside, and the two sons that were both prodigals in their own right?

2. What new insights did the Lord reveal to you about Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

3. What are your personal reflections on the challenges you face in waiting on the Lord? How can you better position yourself to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit?

4. Which of these four practices do you feel you need to emphasize the most:
YIELDING to God’s Will...ASKING for His Power...RECEIVING by Faith...OBEYING all that He Says

“And he [the father] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’ ” (Luke 15:31-32).

If there is one thing that we know that always deeply moves the heart of God, it is when He sees someone who is lost. The gospel writers point out that Jesus was often moved with a deep, heartfelt compassion whenever His loving eye made contact with weary and scattered sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). But O how He greatly rejoices whenever a lost soul turns back toward Him. In fact, all of Heaven erupts in celebratory praise with the Lord over just one sinner who repents!

In His own words, Jesus said that He came "to seek and save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10). It is God's personal business to find whatever is lost that belongs to Him.

Jesus is in the 'Lost and Found' business. How did Jesus do this on earth?

Even though Jesus Himself had no where to lay His head, He showed great hospitality by openly receiving sinners and eating with them whenever He saw an opportunity to build a bridge to a hurting and broken heart. He would often go to great lengths to show His love and gladly ate with sinners, even in their own homes.

When the religious leaders of the day say Jesus meeting with them, they were repulsed and made accusations against Him. Jesus responded by telling them three consecutive parables about God's heart for the lost.

Three PARABLES concerning the LOST:

• The LOST SHEEP being Rescued.
• The LOST COIN being Recovered.
• The LOST SON being Received.

In each of these parables, we learn some important insights that we can practically implement to partner with the Lord in seeking the lost.

• Jesus sends us OUTSIDE to rescue the lost sheep who has left the fold.
• Jesus also sends us INSIDE the house to recover the lost coin that represents God's investment in His people and the investment in what the future holds for the bride.
• Jesus wants us to ALWAYS BE READY for the lost until they are found.

In the end, Jesus takes the two parables and shows us how each of these culminate in the last story, which is represented by the two lost sons who are both prodigals in their own right because neither are in close proximity to the Father who desires to lavish love on them.

So how do we learn from these parables?

First, we need to ask God to work in us a heart of compassion where we are moved in our hearts in a way that moves our feet to do something about the lost. This will always cost us something.

Then, we need to intentionally seek those individual lost sheep.
We need to discern those on the inside who have left their first love
We need to prayerfully wait and fervently pray for those to return home.

The Shepherd does the redemptive work 'outside' to rescue the lost sheep.
The Spirit does the revelatory work 'inside' the house to recover what was His.
The Father receives the son who simply receives and believes and comes home.

Therefore, we need to be...
Looking out for… the INDIVIDUAL
Looking after…the INVESTMENT
Looking up…the INTERCESSION

The last son is actually the one who Jesus is directing these parables toward since their hearts are exposed since they are unable to rejoice with him in the lost being found. The older son is trusting in his own righteousness while he points out the unrighteousness of his brother. But the Father pursues both sons who have lost their way.

When all is said and done and that which is lost is found…
We see a Rescue…a Recovery…a Reception that all leads to REJOICING!

Jesus concludes saying: “It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

In heaven, there is NO lost and found, only lost souls brought in to God's loving arms!

"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

We are engaged in the most important mission ever assigned to mankind...and so much of the church is still on the sidelines. We are missing out on the action because we are too busy with others things. Some of us think that we are on the team but not in the lineup.

The battle cry has gone out! It is time to dig ourselves out of the dugout...and get back to the mindset of: "Put me in coach, I am ready to play...today!"

The Lord has prepared our "every good work" every day of every season throughout the year! Just think beloved child of God...we have the greatest assignment to share the greatest message about the greatest love from the greatest person who performed the greatest feat ever performed when Jesus died for us and rose again...and yet we far too often keep it to ourselves.

So Paul says, "Be ready in season and out of season!"

Around the holidays, we often hear the expression "tis the season,' but in reality, there is never a season where the good news should not be shared. The time was, is, and always will be NOW!

Therefore, we must WAKE UP...GET UP...and BE FILLED UP with Christ's Word and His Spirit. We must seize our daily opportunities, understanding that many of our best opportunities will not be previously scheduled on our calendars but are God's divine appointments waiting for us.

Let us daily receive freely from our Lord so that we can give freely of what we have received. Let us pray for open doors and open hearts be ready with open mouths to share Christ with others. Let us not leave our houses without our feet being fully ready and prepared with the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15). This means whether things are planned or unplanned, we should be optimistically opportunistic to share the good news of Christ and what He has done for us!

For we have the living Christ living within us and the opportunities are all around us. If we don't take the ground Christ won, then we will hand over the ground to the enemy of our souls who is tirelessly working against us trying to take what does not belong to him. The problem is people are not being told of the scoreboard and the enemy is deceiving people to play on his team. Far too many have not been properly introduced to Jesus or they need to be reintroduced to Him!

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Gal. 6:10). Let us get our gear on and get in the game and get on mission!

When we commit to spending time daily with Jesus through His Word and prayer and seeking to be filled with His Spirit, it will become more and more natural and free flowing to share what we are experiencing with God and we will freely invite other to taste and see that the Lord is good!

Tis the season dear saints to know Him and make Him known!

Discussion Questions for Home Groups:

1. Are you gospel ready and looking for inroads to the hearts and minds of others? If not, why not? What is honestly getting in the way of you sharing Jesus with others?

2. How can you better prepare from one day to the next to be ready at all times to share with others about the truth of Christ that is able to set them free?

3. Share some of your personal observations and testimonies on how ready you feel others are to hear and receive the truth.

4. Share about one of the last good conversations you had with someone concerning Jesus? How did that make you feel when you were sharing Christ?

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.  (1 Thessalonians 2:7-13)

As we look at the The Great Commission, and consider afresh what King Jesus has called and commanded us, as His followers, to give ourselves to until He returns, we might recognize that it is quite possible for us in the church to give so much time, energy, and attention to so many things, and yet overlook the main things, and even neglect what the crucified, risen, victorious Christ has specifically commanded us to be about. He has called us to “Go and make disciples.”

Have you been playing in the game, or watching and cheering on others from the sidelines? However, an important principle to recognize is that, before we can rightly get off the bench and get in the game, we first need to be familiar with Christ’s Discipleship Playbook, that we would disciple in His way and with His heart. In 1 Thessalonians 2, as we look at how Paul and his companions discipled the Thessalonian believers, several key, and quite counter-cultural, principles about discipleship jump off the page, that we do well to examine ourselves and our discipling in light of.

Christ-like Discipleship is: 

1. …not to be pursued with selfish, worldly agendas, but with pure, God-centered motives (v.3-6)
2. …not clinical, nor merely educational, but relational and sacrificial, characterized by familial love (v.7-9)
3. …not merely intellectual, but incarnational, modeling Christ-like behavior (v.10)
4. …not general or impractical, but individual and instructional, with personal concern (v.11)
5. …not aimless and accidental, but directional and intentional (v.12)
6. …not merely informational, but transformational, by the power of God’s Word (v.13)

As you consider Paul’s example, and even more so the example of our Lord Jesus, the master disciple-maker, ask yourself: How invested are you in making disciples? 
Even more so, how invested are you in the lives of those you disciple?
Yes it requires more from you, and it can at times be quite messy and difficult, but the results are far worth the cost! 

Paul wrote: 
My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you (Galatians 4:19)

 [Christ] we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. (Colossians 1:28-29)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10)

We can hear in Paul’s words that when it came to the cause of discipleship, he gave maximum effort. He was gladly spent for the souls of those he invested in (2 Cor. 12:15). But notice, he repeatedly credits this all to the grace of God at work in him!

Grace is opposed to earning, but it is not opposed to effort. In fact, God’s grace actually motivates, empowers, and enables us to give maximum effort, all for His glory!

So, the next time you think yourself inadequate for this calling, be encouraged. None of us is adequate for this! But Christ is our sufficiency, and by His grace, He can and wants to use us for such a task as this! So, won’t you let His grace have its way in your life, and give your best effort to this great mission?

Battling in His Authority

“But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’” (Acts 26:16-18)

We are engaged in a battle…a battle for the souls of people. A battle on who will command our lives and who we will choose to submit to. It is a power struggle that must be resolved through faith.

When Paul heard these words, he changed sides on the battlefield. He was previously acting in the authority of the leaders of his Jewish faith but he was about to come face to face with the risen Messiah who has been given “All authority on heaven and earth.”

On the one hand, the battle has already been won. Jesus claimed the victory when He acted as the perfect representative to the human race by living a sinless life and defeating sin, death, and the devil. Where Adam and all human afterward failed, Jesus succeeded.

On the other hand, there is a battle on whether we will RECEIVE or REJECT the full outcome of Christ’s victory by believing in who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for us through His death and resurrection.

For all of who have believed and received Christ, we are more than conquerors who loved us and gave Himself for us. We are also His ambassadors to help people in the very areas where the battle lines are drawn. This is why Paul would later encourage the brethren to "fight the good fight of faith."

Many people think they have more control than they really do. People act like they have the power to change the course of the world but they cannot even change themselves. Pilate thought that he had the power to crucify or release Jesus, but Jesus settled this power struggle very quickly saying, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11).

One thing is for sure when it comes to power, we have only as much as God chooses to give to us and we never have more power than Jesus. God has given us His Son and the grace to respond to His power and until we do so we are under the power of the enemy of our souls whether we realize it or not.

The Apostle John reminds the believers that, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:18).

The Apostle Paul thought that his religious zeal and devotion to the Law was his obedient service to God…but he found himself on the wrong side of a war that left him persecuting Christ and His bride. He was in need of repentance and faith toward this same Jesus that he had previously rejected. But when he saw and heard the resurrected Christ, his surrender was his victory.

The same is true for all of us today. We must daily surrender to win the battle of faith.

The very one who persecuted and opposed Christians became the one the greatest proponents of and sufferers for Christ who planted more churches and reached more souls than anyone else in his entire generation.

When Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, He rerouted Paul’s purpose and revealed what the battle of souls is all about. When Paul gave his testimony, he revealed what we are battling for.

Here are the three KEY TRUTHS that was covered in his testimony and our battle:
1. The faith to have our eyes opened so that we can see and believe spiritual truth.
2. The freedom to be delivered from the power of Satan to God’s power.
3. The forgiveness of sins and an inheritance with God’s saved and sanctified people.

This is what we need to be praying into when we engage in the Lord's battle: the faith, freedom, and forgiveness of others through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul encouraged the believers in his prayers and letters declaring, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins”

When we lose our rights to ourselves and come under the full power of Christ, we become whole people once again. Our whole spirit, soul, and body can be sanctified until we come to see the radiant face of our Lord Jesus.

Sin destroys relationships. When we make room for sin, the devil gains ground in our lives and he seeks to rob of the blessing in our vertical relationship with God and in our relationships with others. Therefore, when we put on the full armor of God and are "battle ready", we are able to help others have restored relationship with God and others as we carry out the ministry of reconciliation.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Col. 1:19-20)

KEY QUESTIONS for reflection and discussion:

1. How are presently aware of the battle that is taking place for souls around you?

2. What hardships have you recently endured as a soldier of Jesus Christ and how have you learned to overcome the enemy? (See Revelation 12:11).

3. Share about how you personally seen the connection with sin and how it damages relationships, whether in your own life or in the lives of others.

Journeying Toward Jesus

“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5-7)

We all have a ministry but do we truly understand that ministry needs to be all in?

When it comes to the mission of our Lord, we all need to communicate the right message in the right way with the right heart. This means that the message we speak to others must be accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit in the full conviction and confidence of the One who gave us this message in the first place.

There are far too many people who have still not heard the true gospel and many of these people are operating with the wrong idea of what the truth actually is. They need to know the love of God that is behind the Word of God and why the cross of Christ matters to their lives. This is why Paul knew that his manner of living truly mattered so that his manner of speaking was in alignment with his own faith. The MESSAGE and the MINISTER need to be in agreement so that authenticity, not necessarily perfection, is able to be seen.

If our lives match our message, then people can become “followers of us and of the Lord”. Wait a minute…you say…”we will never be able to live as perfectly as the Lord!” This is true. There is only one Jesus. But if Christ lives in us, there will be a certain sincerity of love that will lead others to hear the message and see the ongoing transformation that comes from this message if they were to receive it as well.

In other words, people must see that we fully believe the message before they will receive our message.

This all begins with knowing firsthand that we are loved and accepted and welcomed by Jesus who invites us to be with Him that we might become like Him and partner with His mission.

In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, we see the following wholistic approach of journeying with people that they might journey with Jesus:

• There is first the PROCLAMATION of the Gospel.
• Then there is the DEMONSTRATION of the power of the Gospel.
• Then, there is the IMITATION of Christ who laid down His life for us.
• Finally, there is the MULTIPLICATION of those who receive the Gospel to do the same.

When God’s heart of love and compassion is truly working in us, our gospel ministry will become more than just dropping a bomb-like-message to someone else. Instead, we will go the extra mile and remember that relationships require a sacrificial kind of love...which is contagious and expansive.

Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." (John 12:24)

Our purity in heart brings about about a potency in life toward the productivity and progression of the gospel ministry we seek to advance.

When sharing the gospel with someone from a completely different culture and religion, we must be prepared to replace what they are going to need to give up for the cause of Christ.

• What does this kind of relational and Christ-like incarnational ministry look like?
• This might look like inviting unknown people into our hearts…through love and prayer.
• And then inviting these same people into our homes…with hospitality and care.
• Then, we may invite them in our small groups…with gracious intentionality to spare.

After this kind of personal relational embrace, they may feel led to take the sacrificial step of believing in Christ and becoming a part of the body of Christ...where they too can share.

"For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything." (1 Thes. 1:8)

Personal Reflection: What is "sounding forth" from your life when others are around you?

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20)

The resurrection of Jesus is surely the greatest feat ever accomplished by any man at any time in our world. He told His disciples ahead of time that He must suffer and die and be crucified but that He would also be raised from the dead. He said it. He did it! We benefit from it!

For the next 40 days, Jesus would appear and disappear as He would show Himself alive "by many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3). This began a transition of Jesus doing the final preparations with His disciples before ascending into heaven and showing them that they would need to follow in His steps by obeying all His teachings and trusting and depending upon the Holy Spirit from this time forward. They once followed Jesus in the flesh by going wherever He walked. Now they would follow Jesus by the Spirit dwelling inside of them.

The Apostle Paul said, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). And the Elder ApostleJohn put it this way, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." (1 John 2:6).

Jesus knew that the disciples needed to behold Him as One who conquered death in bodily resurrection but He also knew how each of them needed some more personal ministry. Jesus always knows what each of His disciples personally need. He knew it then. He knows it now and He is ready to work in each of our lives from one day to the next.

Jesus fulfilled all that the Father had given Him to do but He had some unsettled business with some of His disciples to get them ready before giving them their final commission.

To Mary... Jesus REDIRECTS her and us to be on Mission.
He tells her to tell others what she knows of Him and to not cling to the old way of doing things.
John 20:17 - “Don’t cling to me…but go to My brethren…"

To Thomas... Jesus REVIVES him and us to be Believing.
He re-builds up his faith by addressing his doubts and to believe even when we don't see.
John 20:27  - “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but BELIEVING.”

To Peter... Jesus RESTORES him and us to live a life of Serving Others.
He forgives him after his personal denial and reminds him He lives in others.
John 21:15-17 - “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?
“...FEED My lambs..TEND My sheep...FEED My sheep.”

The reality of it all is that no one who thought they were qualified would be qualified...BUT those who knew that were not qualified were the ones qualified. Jesus desired His followers to put no confidence in the flesh but to be fully dependent on Him as they would continue His ministry in the supply and power of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle John said, "But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him." (1 John 2:27)

In order to make disciples everywhere, they had to be disciples first. They were to be just like their teacher and learn to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him and [His teachings]. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (Luke 9:23-24)

They were to fulfill what was given to the first man and woman who were commanded to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). However, this time it was to "be fruitful", bearing the fruit of the Spirit and to "multiply....disciples". When there is an inner spring of life, we can produce godly offspring in the world...until we see ALL OF JESUS FOR ALL THE WORLD!"

Finally brethren, remember the three "ALLs" in the Great Commission:

• ALL Authority
• ALL Nations
• ALL Teachings

When these three are put together in one, we will see the purpose of the mission:
God desires to expand His Kingdom reign...in every tribe, people, tongue, and nation...until Christ is seen in full exaltation!

This is our Mission Possible! And if we let the self life destruct, then our message never will. Let's get to it church!

For...“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37).

"I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:1-3,5)

After reflecting on the final week of Jesus' ministry, may we remember that we are all broken people living in a broken down and fallen world. The Lord came to us to reveal Himself and to heal, save, redeem, and restore our lives. He lifts up our heads and our hearts and brings us up out of the horrible pits we are in that He might set our feet upon a rock and give us a new and living hope.

We need to learn to "keep it real"...in both the natural and in the supernatural. In other words, let's not just consider where we are at on any given moment but also where God is at in it all. For the way we are feeling in any given situation is only one part of the whole truth. We must also factor in the eternal with the temporal and consider what God sees, what He says, and what He has already accomplished to get the full reality. So let's keep it completely real!

Christ is forever risen...and He is now 'livin' in you and me!

Let's go back to the empty tomb consider the overflowing heart of Mary Magdalene when the risen Christ lifted her up from her broken down state in this following spoken word poem...

My Heart is Overflowing
By Joey Rozek

It’s Sunday, and the one day that I never thought would go this way…running to tell the others that His body had been taken away. All I could say without a moment’s delay was that I couldn’t grasp why they would not allow the body to stay…to remain in the tomb.

Was there not enough room? …For just a little decency when recently they beat Him so brutally with their inhumane cruelty even releasing a prisoner so guilty, allowing the filthy to triumph over the innocent. But still He, silently, did not react violently but relying on the Almighty only did rightly, gripping the cross ever so tightly …And on the way He politely told those who took their sin too lightly not to weep for Him but for their children daily and nightly.

With distracted thoughts and a heart disappointed, I walked and I wept until two angels appeared and pointed. They said the Anointed Messiah was no longer here but had risen…And, I uhhh, didn’t know what to think as my bones felt disjointed.

But then came a voice calling to me from the garden and before my heart could continue to harden, I felt my desperation and begging him pardon, “Sir, if you have carried Him away tell me where you have laid Him” …For the buried should remain without someone needing to invade Him.

But He looked at me with love in His eyes while I tried to evade him until my body

shivered and I then realized that He knew me…He knew my name.

But wait! How could this be! The Man standing before me had clearly died on that tree…that terrible cross amidst all the mockery where Christ spilled His blood and willingly paid the debt for me. My shame was now all I could see but it became replaced by the sight of His face, and now His saving grace was setting me free.

I came to this tomb feeling overwhelmed and rejected, but now with this new evidence I collected, I objected to what I formerly suspected. This is truly my Rabboni! – the only One who ever detected that my heart was so infected that I thought I would never be selected – But He chose me and clothed me, and with His mercy protected…and now He is here again….as my Savior resurrected!

Without hesitation and with renewed anticipation, I faced Him and embraced Him as His joy replaced my trepidation. My Redeemer lives! He is no longer dead!

Hallelujah! I clung to my Rabboni and held Him until He said, “My child, it is I. I will never leave you nor forsake you, you must tell the others I am going but will soon come again to take you…for I am preparing a great mansion that awaits you.

The harvest is soon coming, and my workers are few, but I have made you my
overcomers…and the evidence of My presence is My residence in you.

My heart is now overflowing with this good theme,
I recite my composition to the risen King.
My tongue is now the pen of a ready writer,
My Lord has resurrected and my future is forever brighter!

"Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:
“‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:37-38)

Jesus is the source of all blessing, love, life, and truth. He is also a King with a kingdom.

When you receive King Jesus, this kingdom of God is opened up for you to see and you immediately become a part of this kingdom that you might represent it and reproduce it in the various places where God has called you to go and work and shine His light.

The kingdom of God is the rule, reign, and righteousness of God as revealed in Jesus.

This kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. It is not a temporary kingdom led by a power-hungry man who wants to abuse His power and use people for His personal gain. Rather, He came as the servant of all and goes after the least, the last, and the lost.

The King of this kingdom is perfect in all of His ways and His perfect love casts out all fear and worry and anxiety. He sees each person with eyes of compassion and favor. He does not treat people as merely His servants but rather calls all those who believe in Him His friends and He delights in serving us since He came to give His life as a ransom for us all.

You see...When He sees everyone, He sees each one...as if they are JUST ONE.

Yes, He sees YOU dear saint! He knows everything about you and yet still loves you. He saw you even before the world began...and He sees you RIGHT NOW as you navigate your way through this broken and torn world...and He knows how to bring beauty from the ashes.

Jesus taught that a person must be "born again of the Spirit" in order to "see" this kingdom (John 3:3) and this kingdom is reserved for "the poor in spirit" who are graciously given this kingdom because they know they cannot earn it and know they do not deserve it (Matt. 5:3).

Therefore, each of us must recognize our personal poverty and spiritual bankruptcy without Christ in order to have access to this kingdom. We must believe that Jesus died for us and rose again and invite Him to be the Lord of our lives today and always.

As we heed the words of the prophets who spoke before Him and learn the teachings that came forth from His mouth and life, we can practice His ways and become His faithful witnesses and ambassadors to a world full of deceived, discouraged, and desperate people. We need to learn most of all that His kingdom is all about joy and peace and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. His kingdom is in power and not just in words.

His kingdom starts in our hearts and then expands from the inside out!

Love is now the banner over us. So when we wake up, get ready, go out, and start another day, we know that what drives us and compels us to do what we do is LOVE. Our one law is to love God with all that we are and to love others with all that we have. That's it! Yes, it is that simple.

"If we live to love, we will love to live."

His triumphant entry into Jerusalem was not for the purpose of starting a war with Rome but rather for making a peace treaty with the enemies of God. Jesus came to end the war within our hearts where Satan and sin had its domain. Jesus came riding lowly on a donkey because He came to make peace with His creation and to reverse the curse that robbed God of His glory and the fellowship that was broken when sin entered the human race.

He is a King that is always ready to make His domain in the hearts of those who receive Him. Whether people were longing for freedom, desiring to acquire greater wisdom, or living a meaningless life of boredom, Jesus has a kingdom that changes everything for everyone when He is invited to rule and reign in their lives.

His kingdom was likened to a stone but it soon would became a mountain. As Isaiah the prophet one said, "...Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’S house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:1-3)

He was greeted by the branches of the palm date trees that were plentiful all around Jerusalem as well as the clothes and garments that covered the lives of the ordinary. Jesus would then plant His seed in the hearts of His followers to grow trees of righteousness and He would clothe them with His robes of righteousness and with garments of praise.

For..."The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God." (Psalm 92:12-13)

This was the first time He allowed Himself to receive open and public praise. He had to wait for the appointed time to be seen as the promised Messiah so that His mighty works could be known and lead all true seekers to become true worshippers and heirs to His kingdom.

But not everyone who worshipped remained loyal to Him or His kingdom. The praises did not continue but soon faded away in the final phase of Jesus' ministry. The celebration and shouts of "Hosanna" soon turned into vehement cries of "Crucify Him!" later in the week.

But it had to be done so that Jesus could fulfill His mission and you could be redeemed, restored, and forgiven.

Will you allow Him to have the full reign of your life....today?
May you pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."

He has so much more that He desires to do in you and through you...if you let Him reign.

"Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until THE TIME OF THE END...But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

Daniel is an old man when he hears these words (in his nineties). He has witnessed great changes in his lifetime but now as he moves toward the end of his days on the earth and the Lord has graciously shown him what it will be like at the time of the end for His people Israel. O what a privilege it is to see what God has purposed to do!

Jesus taught that there was a very distinct difference between the wise and the foolish. The wise build their lives on the rock and hear His sayings and obey them but the foolish hear the same sayings and do no obey them and thus they build their lives on the sinking sand. Ever since Daniel interpreted the first dream of King Nebuchadnezzar he saw the major kingdoms that would exist concerning His people to the end of the age but the one that would last would be the large rock that represented God's kingdom in His Son.

After Daniel hears the prophecies concerning the developing kings of Persia and Greece, one of the Lord's angels shows him an inspired time interval that jumps ahead into the future. We need to pay close attention to the time indicators that show us a greater lapse of time which takes us to the time of the end, such as "the time of the end" (Dan. 11:35, 12:4,9) and "time, times, and half a time" (which is 3 and 1/2 years found in Dan. 7:25, 12:7 Rev. 12:14).

These latter days and times were spoken through Moses and then through the prophets to God's people. In Deuteronomy 4:30-31, it says something that has application for both the generation that heard these words but sets the tone for it actual fulfillment in the end: "When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them."

For the people of Israel, it is also called "the time of Jacob's trouble", which reflects how Jacob's name was changed to "Israel" when he finally desperately called out to the Lord and finally prevailed with God and men in Genesis 32:24-28.

The prophet Jeremiah says, "Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it...For I am with you,’ says the LORD, “to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. [That means that Israel must continue on and God's promises] But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’" (Jer. 31:7, 11)

Jeremiah the prophet describes the last 3 and 1/2 years by describing God's wrath on the earth as the Antichrist commits the abomination that causes desolation and the heavy persecution for Israel reaches its climax as well as the judgments of God...BUT GOD keeps His covenant promise to His people Israel and to all who are wise and believe.

The Antichrist rises up above all the former antichrist types and embodies the spirit of opposition against the Lord and His anointed because he will be empowered by Satan who desired to be exalted and worshipped in heaven. Since that agenda did not work, this is attempt to find his place of exaltation on earth and to gather as many people to the destruction that awaits him.

“Then the king [Antichrist figure] shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all." (Daniel 11:26-37, See Dan. 7:25)

All the while, the angels are doing war in the heavenlies and Michael the archangel is helping to ensure the full execution of God's purpose and to save the remnant of Israel and all of God's chosen in Christ as Daniel 12 shows us. Everything is under God's sovereign purpose until the gospel has been preached throughout the earth and the Lord is ready to gather His Church and all the wise and ready believers of the earth in His appointed time.

In these last days, knowledge will increase everywhere, but as in the days of famine in Amos, people will still not understand the word of God which is able to lead to the saving of their souls. As Proverbs 11:30 says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise." Unfortunately, the prophets warning still applies where it says His people are "destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hos 4:6). The Apostle Paul agrees and tell us that people (even in the days of the internet and widespread access to information) are "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7).

Therefore, let us be the wise who put their trust in the Lord and call upon His name and turn many to righteousness. May all of God's people in every generation be living for the kingdom of God that now is but yet coming in fullness when Jesus gloriously appears with His people and establishes His righteous reign forever and ever. For "many will be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand...and will arise to their inheritance AT THE END OF DAYS." (Dan. 12:7,13)

DANIEL CHALLENGE:
"Dare to be a Daniel!
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known!"
...Be wise and turn many to Jesus!

Questions for open discussion and reflection:

1. What has been the most impactful spiritual lessons from the book of Daniel? What things are similar and different in Daniel's time and the time we live in?

2. How has studying the prophecies of Daniel opened your eyes to what you are seeing in the world concerning the spirit of Babylon and the soon coming of Christ?

3. How are you challenged to live for the kingdom of God with greater purpose and passion? Explain and share from your heart.