Notes of Faith May 2, 2022

Pray Until Something Happens

In the 2010 Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, actor Colin Firth plays the part of King George VI, whose ascension to the throne of Great Britain would be accompanied by his severe speech impediment. King George knows that to rule effectively and be taken seriously, he must have command over his diction. He hires a speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush, who gives the king the confidence to enunciate words that he formerly struggled with, helping him to recover both his cadence and his self-assurance. It is an incredibly moving film, one that highlights the importance and power of the spoken word.

God, who is the King of kings, creates everything by the Word of His mouth. In fact, His Word is supreme in the universe. Nothing and no one can undo what He has spoken and what He has declared. In Genesis chapter one, God creates the heavens and the earth, light and life, by nothing more than speaking. His Word is the beginning and the end of all things.

PUSH prayer is prayer that is based upon the Word of God. If you can see God’s Word as seed, you will see that within this seed is the will of God. Every seed reproduces after its own kind. It cannot do otherwise. An orange seed cannot produce bananas and an apple seed cannot produce watermelons. This is because within each seed is its DNA.

Each word of God contains the DNA of God within it and it is sent forth for no other reason than to establish or bring about His will.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. — Isaiah 55:11

The Word of God is so powerful that the Bible says in Matthew 13 that when the Word of God is sown and the recipient does not understand it, the devil comes immediately and snatches away what was sown (Matthew 13:19). The devil is terrified of the Word of God because he has no power over it. However, he has the power to snatch it away and he attacks it, resisting it relentlessly. When we speak God’s Word we are engaging in spiritual warfare. The devil hates the Word because it brings forth light and diminishes darkness.

Prayer is most potent when we speak and declare the Word of God.

It acts like a battering ram, pushing back the siege walls of the kingdom of darkness. It releases into the atmosphere that which overcomes darkness, bringing forth light. Jesus spoke into a tomb and a dead man walked out. In the middle of a tempest, Jesus stood on the bow of the ship and said “Peace, be still!” and immediately the storm subsided and the sea became as calm and smooth as glass (Mark 4:39). PUSH is prayer that is based upon the Word of God, fueled by the Word of God, carrying the goal of accomplishing the Word of God.

Excerpted from PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens by Jurgen Matthesius, copyright Thomas Nelson.

 God’s Word is the beginning and the end of all things. What would happen if we started praying the Word of God over our families, community, nation, and world issues? What if we faced spiritual battle with His Word confidently? What could happen?

Pray without ceasing!  God hears and answers our prayers.  Pray about everything, then wait and expect God to respond and His will be active in your life.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith May 1, 2022

Article by Marshall Segal
Staff writer, desiringGod.org

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1)

In March of 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first-ever phone call, which, in time, came to dramatically transform how we relate to one another. On the surface, the communication revolution has seemed to render isolation something of an endangered species — we’re more connected than ever, right? And yet one wonders if isolation eventually mutated into something more subtle and yet equally dangerous (perhaps even more dangerous for being subtle). At least one prominent sociologist fears that’s the case:

We are lonely but fearful of intimacy. Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our networked life allows us to hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other. We’d rather text than talk. (Sherry Turkle, Alone Together, 1)

Or, as the subtitle of her book says, “We expect more from technology and less from each other.” And whenever we expect less of each other, we inevitably drift further and further from each other, leaving us as isolated (or more) as the lonely man before the advent of the telephone.

What Kind of Isolation?

Some may read the last few paragraphs and quietly envy a time when no one called, emailed, texted, or (worst of all?) left a voicemail. A life with less people actually might sound kind of appealing. You may struggle to relate to the possible dangers of isolation. Wisdom, however, knows the hazards hiding in the shadows of our seclusion: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18:1).

What kind of isolation did the wise man have in mind? The next verse gives us a clearer picture:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,

     but only in expressing his opinion. (Proverbs 18:2)

He doesn’t want to hear what others think; he only wants someone to hear what he thinks. This strikes a major nerve in the book of Proverbs. As this wise father prepares his son for the realities of life in this wild and menacing world, he wants him to see that some of the greatest threats are stowaways, striking from within. He warns him, in particular, about the ruinous power of unchecked pride.

Be not wise in your own eyes;

     fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:7)

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?

     There is more hope for a fool than for him. (Proverbs 26:12)

There is a way that seems right to a man,

     but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12)

The proud man, we learn, breaks out against all judgment because he invites destruction on himself. Arrogance makes his isolation dangerous: I don’t spend more time with other people because I don’t need other people — because I know better than other people. This pride distinguishes isolation from the virtues of solitude, which God encourages again and again (Psalm 46:10; Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35).

The ways that lead to death are the ways we choose for ourselves while refusing meaningful community — relationships marked by consistent honesty, counsel, correction, and encouragement.

Alone with Our Desires

What draws us into the spiritual shadows of isolation? Our own selfish desires. “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire.” Whenever someone leaves or avoids the community he needs, he has been lured away by sinful desires — desires for privacy or autonomy, for comfort or ease, for money or sex, even for vindication or vengeance. At root, it’s our desires that divide and isolate us:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. (James 4:1–2)

“Whenever someone leaves or avoids the community he needs, he has been lured away by sinful desires.”

The desires that keep us from one another are varied, but they’re all rooted in selfish discontentment: We want and do not have, so we excuse ourselves from love — either by attacking one another or by abandoning one another. Our desires, Scripture says, are what isolate and undo us (Jude 1:18–19). Consider, for instance, the lazy man:

The desire of the sluggard kills him,

     for his hands refuse to labor.

All day long he craves and craves,

     but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (Proverbs 21:25–26)

The sluggard dies in sin because he’s been hardened by its deceitfulness: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12–13). Whenever we isolate ourselves from the perspective, encouragement, and exhortations of others, we open ourselves wide to the deceitfulness of sin. And why is the deceitfulness of sin so compelling? Because Satan studies and preys on our desires. He’s a master gardener, carefully seeding selfishness, discontentment, and bitterness in just the right places.

Consistent, meaningful community, however, exposes and thwarts him. It reveals just how thin and shallow his lies are, and just how far our desires can sometimes wander.

Sweetness of a Friend

The opposite of soul-wrecking isolation, though, is a life deeply rooted in the hearts and counsel of good friends. “Where there is no guidance, a people falls,” Proverbs 11:14 warns, “but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” As is so often the case, wisdom, fruitfulness, and safety grow out of humility — out of a willingness to submit our thoughts and plans, dreams and desires, sins and weaknesses to someone else.

“The most effective and fruitful people are those who distrust themselves enough to diligently seek out guidance.”

The most effective and fruitful people are those who distrust themselves enough to diligently seek out guidance — not three or four times over a lifetime, but several times each month, maybe even each week. “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22; see also 20:18) — notice, not just advisers, but many advisers. And not just many advisers, but the right advisers: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Online articles, sermons, and podcasts can be a great gift, but we all need flesh-and-blood, life-on-life perspective for our particular personalities, struggles, and circumstances. We need friends who can look us in the eye and see what no one online can.

So who are your advisors? Who knows you well enough to challenge your plans and decisions? When’s the last time someone pushed back on something in your life? If you can’t remember, you may be more isolated than you think, at least in the ways that really matter.

Wounds of Togetherness

One way Satan isolates us is by convincing us that the counsel and correction we need is burdensome, not life-giving. Both Scripture and experience, however, testify against him:

Better is open rebuke

     than hidden love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend;

     profuse are the kisses of an enemy. . . .

Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

     and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. (Proverbs 27:5–9)

Life in rigorous community is not a stifled life, but an enhanced one. Faithful counsel may wound us in the moment, but only so that it might heal and preserve us. As Ray Ortlund says,

When iron sharpens iron, it creates friction. When a friend wounds you, it hurts. So, do you see? There’s a difference between hurting someone and harming someone. There is a difference between someone being loved and someone feeling loved. Jesus loved everyone well, and some people felt hurt. So they crucified him. If we don’t understand this, then every time we feel hurt we will look for someone to blame and punish. We will make our emotional state someone else’s fault. (Proverbs, 168)

Don’t judge your church or small group or friendship by how much it hurts when hard words come. Ask what those hard words are producing in you over time. Is the friction you feel slowly drawing you closer to Christ and making you more like him? Has the pain you’ve felt in certain conversations led you deeper into repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10)? If so, then your wounds may be healing wounds from faithful friends — rare friends who are worth keeping at whatever cost.

Antidote for Isolation

What practical advice would I give to someone who realizes he is more isolated than he thought? My first piece of advice would be to find, join, and serve a local church.

Friendship is a great weapon against spiritual isolation, but one meaningful covenant with a church family is worth an army of friendships. When our desires begin to harden us to God, his word, and his will, friends may stay and fight with us, but our church has vowed to stay and fight — until death ushers us together, sinless, into the presence of Jesus.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24–25)

Isolation dies in church families that know they need, and want, to gather. For them, Sunday mornings aren’t a sweet addition to a full and happy life; they are the foundation of a full and happy life. God means for us to know him, serve him, enjoy him, and become like him as a part of Christ’s body. The more isolated we become, the more we cut ourselves off from the fountains of his grace, mercy, and guidance.

Meeting together as a church family bring me great joy.  There I find love, forgiveness, accountability, mercy, grace, hope, endurance, help . . .

Thank you for blessing me as I hope to bless you as we gather together! 

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 30, 2022

Pastor’s Pen Pulpit – Charles Covington

Easter Sunday 2001

“THE BENEFITS OF HIS RESURRECTION”

Romans 6

We are all familiar with the teaching of I Corinthians 15 and other New Testament passages which show clearly that because Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, all Christians will one day have a glorified body like His.  That is a fact settled in Heaven.

However, let us look briefly at His bodily resurrection as it benefits Christians today.  In Colossians 3:1 Paul writes:

If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

This is a blanket statement of fact.  We have to go to that familiar sixth chapter of Romans to see the details. 

He begins in verses 1 and 2 by saying that because we died together with Him, then it is unthinkable that we can continue to live in a pattern of life habit of sin.  Paul says we have been baptized into His (Christ’s) death, identified completely with Him in death so whatever happened to Him on the cross, happened to believers in God’s eyes.  Then verse 4 follows logically - if we have died with Him, we live with Him because He was raised up from the dead by the glorious power of the Father.  We are identified with Him in death and identified with Him in resurrection.  The resurrection power of the risen Christ lives within each true believer in Christ.

Because of that fact, sin no longer reigns in our lives - leading us down the same old path we once trod.  Paul punctuates that fact in verses 6 and 7:

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for He who has died is freed from sin.

Beloved, that is the present application of the resurrection.  Believers have no need to yield and keep on yielding to anger, pride, gossip, and all the things that go with the sin nature.  Spiritually you are as much alive with Christ today as you will be throughout all eternity.  Claim this truth for yourself and experience the true Easter message.  All truth is relevant for today.

God bless each and every one of you this Easter Season.  I challenge you to seek those things which are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Love to you all,

Charles

The two italicized portions of this pen-pulpit are the beginning of my message for tomorrow, May 1, 2022.  I felt it appropriate to share Pastor Charles thoughts …

As he poured his life into me, so I pour out mine to you.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 29, 2022

Article by Scott Hubbard
Editor, desiringGod.org

Have you ever found yourself in a night so black that you nearly stopped hoping for morning?

Some guilt feels so deep that you wonder if you should just lie down and die. Some mental or spiritual midnights feel so thick, and the sky so starless, that a step in any direction seems useless. Sometimes, you not only walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but you collapse partway through, and don’t rise.

Maybe you’ve been there, as I have. Maybe you are there right now. If so, Holy Week offers a fellow failure, an anguished friend, a brother in the darkness. If anyone has tasted the bitter salt of midnight weeping, he has. And if anyone can testify to the miracle of dawn and the drying of tears, he can.

What was happening in those dreadful hours on Holy Saturday, as Peter, sobbing and beating his breast, remembered his three denials, remembered Jesus’s final look (Luke 22:61), remembered how it all ended, and yet somehow did not go hang himself like Judas? A scene from Maundy Thursday gives us the answer: the prayer of Jesus was holding him.

Against the accumulated powers of sin, Satan, and despair, a praying Christ was Peter’s only hope. And ours.

Satan Roars

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. (Luke 22:31)

Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, we read the foreboding words, “When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from [Jesus] until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). As night falls on Thursday, the time has come, and the devil knows it (Luke 22:53). And so, Satan, after devouring one of the twelve (Luke 22:3), roars for the other eleven.

For three years, Jesus had stood between Peter and the dragon’s mouth, keeping him, guarding him (John 17:12). But now he was leaving, and Peter, like Job before him, would discover how much his strength rested on the hidden shield of his Lord. For the first time, he would walk the valley without the familiar comfort of his shepherd.

Satan demands to sift the disciples: to throw them on the sieve and shake, shake, shake until Simon Peter was only Simon again — clay and not rock (Luke 6:14), a fisher of fish and not of men (Luke 5:10). Here is the real terror behind our darkest nights. We feel like we’re unraveling, as if our testimony is being told in reverse. We fear we’re falling back into a Christless past.

We would, if Jesus left us alone in Satan’s sieve. Thank God he doesn’t.

Jesus Prays

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. (Luke 22:32)

What words could overcome the horror of “Satan demanded to have you”? These: “But I have prayed for you.” I have prayed for you, Peter. I, Jesus, the storm-stilling, sickness-healing, demon-destroying Son of God. I, Jesus, the Father’s beloved, his Chosen One, whom heaven hears with pleasure (Luke 3:22; 9:35). I, Jesus, have prayed for you.

Peter will still be put in the sieve. But Jesus asks that, in all the shaking, Peter’s faith will not fall dead to the ground. He asks for an ember to burn under the ashes of Peter’s failure — a secret comfort in his weeping, a buried warmth beneath his anguish, a hidden hope that would compel him come Sunday to sprint to the tomb rather than follow Judas (Luke 24:10–12).

“Your night, no matter how black, is no sure sign that your faith has finally failed and fled you.”

In all likelihood, Peter could neither see nor feel the ember. He may have felt inconsolable, sure that this darkness would never see the dawn. Maybe you feel similarly. Know this: Jesus has seen embers of faith in his saints where they saw only ash. Your night, no matter how black, is no sure sign that your faith has finally failed and fled you.

Jesus still held Peter, even from the tomb. So he holds all his people, even when a stone seems to have rolled over the heavens. And we can feel him holding us when we, like Peter, stubbornly refuse Judas’s despair, and labor to believe even on the bleakest Saturday.

In the coming hours, the sun’s light would fail (Luke 23:45). But in answer to Jesus’s prayer, Peter’s faith would not.

Peter Turns

And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:32)

When Jesus looks at Peter, he sees the three denials hiding in his heart (Luke 22:34). But he also sees something deeper than his denials, a threefold “I love you” that will survive till Sunday, sustained by his own prayers (John 21:15–17). He sees a man who will plant his feet in the same footsteps of his denials, this time walking in the opposite direction.

And even now, Jesus wants Peter to see himself beyond the coming misery. And so, he doesn’t say, “if you have turned again,” but when. Peter’s perseverance does not rest on the slender thread of his own power, but on the unbreakable beam of Christ’s own prayers. And so it is for all Christ’s disciples. Our deliverance — whether from our own sin or from a darkness not our fault — may seem uncertain on our side; we wonder if our faith will fail along the way. But on Jesus’s side, our deliverance is as certain his own intercession (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). If we are truly in Christ, our turning is a when, not an if.

And in the matchless mercy of Jesus, we will find, as Peter did, that he welcomes us back as not a slave but a son, reassured and recommissioned. “When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” The one who was too weak to stand with Jesus will now strengthen others, his failure having fitted him for a wiser, humbler, more Christward ministry, resting on a power not his own.

Peter now knows the weakness of Peter, the strength of Satan, and the overpowering redemption of Jesus. And the restored Peters among us, who know the same firsthand, are often best suited to strengthen others.

He Prays for You

What might Jesus have prayed for Peter on that darkest of nights? We get a clue in John’s Gospel.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)

“Don’t come undone, and don’t despair, if the sky above you looks black as Peter’s. Instead, hope.”

Jesus did not ask that Peter be removed from the world, where the devil prowls. Peter felt “the power of darkness” on Maundy Thursday (Luke 22:53), and the darkness nearly broke him. But Jesus did ask that Peter be kept from the devil’s devouring jaws. And the Father answered: Peter did not become a Judas.

We may find, too, that Jesus’s intercession does not keep us from nights whose darkness nearly swallows us. Don’t come undone, and don’t despair, if the sky above you looks black as Peter’s. Instead, hope. Pray. Huddle together with the other disciples, and wait for Sunday morning.

In time, something will stir on the horizon of this midnight: a light beyond hope, a magic deeper than the misery of sin or the mercilessness of Satan. Jesus prays for you.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 28, 2022 Prophecy Update

Notes of Faith April 28, 2022 Prophecy Update

Watching Israel as we wait for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ!

“It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” Zech. 12:3

Since 1948 when Israel miraculously became a nation again after some 1900+ years of being scattered around the earth, the United States has been her only true ally.

We came to her aid in her War of Independence in 1948, the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Each time God allowed her to overcome almost impossible odds.

Most Israelis admit that if it weren’t for the military support of the United States, Israel would not be a nation today. And Israel is openly and profoundly grateful for our help.

No doubt God orchestrated the USA to reach her “leader of the free world” status in 1945, just in time to have Israel’s back when she was a burgeoning and vulnerable nation.

By 2008, our support was still present, but waning, when Obama came to power. His administration fully supported Iran over Israel, giving Iran a legal track to slowly develop nuclear weapons.

President Trump put a screeching halt to that nonsense for four years but now those who are in control have again turned the administration's support from 100% Israel to 100% Iran.

Today Israel knows she has no true ally in the world, other than the body of knowledgeable evangelical Christians.

Having organized one of the world’s best intelligence gathering networks, Israel knows more about what’s going on in the Biden Administration than most working inside the Biden Administration.

Israel Going Out On a Limb

Israel's isolation and the hatred toward her is about to quickly become worse. While we were in Israel recently, calls to rebuild the third Jewish Temple began being openly discussed in major publications like the Jerusalem Post.

Calls to go back to making blood sacrifices will further distance her from every other nation. Most in the USA have been "Bambized" by Disney and will be totally disgusted when they hear this.

Since 1948, there have been fringe groups, like the Temple Mount Faithful, who have pushed for rebuilding the Jewish Temple. They have faithfully and ceremoniously carried a cornerstone to be laid to begin construction of the Temple once a year, knowing they would be refused.

But now it’s in the mainstream Jewish Media. Consider these recent headlines in Israel:

And here’s another:

The Israel Today article includes this paragraph:

“Responsible Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders should use this recent wave of Islamic violence to immediately begin discussing practical and peaceful steps for the rebuilding of the Temple on the Temple Mount. It could be done without damaging or disrespecting the Dome of the Rock or Al Aqsa, as part of a future peace plan between Israel and her Arab neighbors to end the plague of Islamic terror once and for all.”

Wow. Wow. And oh WOW! This is another one of those things I never thought I would see in print pre-Rapture! Israel is openly discussing in their major newspapers peace in conjunction with rebuilding their Temple and going back to sacrifices. Things seem to be quickly coming together for our soon loud and exhilarating exit.

We know the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt and sacrifices re-instituted right after the 70th Week of Daniel begins – the Tribulation – because the Antichrist will put a stop to the sacrifices half-way into the 7-year peace period.

“And he will make a firm covenant [peace treaty] with the many for one week [week of years = 7 years], but in the middle of the week [3 1/2 years later] he [the Antichrist] will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;” Dan. 9:27

You can't stop something that hasn't started!

However, they will NOT start building their Temple until the Two Witnesses(1) show up to measure out where to build.

Then there was given me [John] a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. Rev. 11:1-2

The above verse is quite interesting because it’s something that occurs post-Rapture—the 2 Witnesses, Elijah and John(1), only show up after the Rapture…after the 7-Year Peace Treaty is signed.

As you can see above, there is plenty of room to build the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount, even leaving the Dome of the Rock intact and adding a church in one of two places. All three major religions of the world in one place.

Israel building their Temple will most likely be included in the post-Rapture 7-year peace treaty signed by Israel and 10 nations (the ten toes of the beast in Daniel 2).

With a victory over the Russian/Iran invasion (Ezek 38/39) Israel will be in a strength position and can get anything they want.

Back in 1967 when Israel captured the Temple Mount in the Six Day War, Moshe Dayan, Israel’s wartime military General, gave use of the Temple Mount back to the Muslims in an attempt to avoid another war.

The Muslims were given permission to operate their facilities on the Temple Mount area but Israeli soldiers had full control of the area. Muslims have their Friday services there but the Israel Defense Force controls the entire area.

So when Israel begins calling for sacrifices on the Temple Mount, two major prophecies are being fulfilled – her return to sacrifices and becoming a burden to the world.

What an amazing thing to watch. What an amazing time to be alive.

CQLJ! (Come Quickly Lord Jesus)

BP

Reference:

1) https://compass.org/the-identity-of-the-two-witnesses/

WHO OWNS THE TEMPLE MOUNT?

An up-close and personal perspective from our recent trip

It's confusing for many what Israel can and cannot do on the Temple Mount (the red rectangle area above). The bottom line is that God gave it to Israel for their First Temple. But they lost it to Babylon and got it back 70 years later.

They lost it again in 70 AD. In 1948 it was given to them by the United Nations. Jordan immediately captured it and illegally occupied it until 1967 when Israel got it back in the Six Day War.

So it belongs to Israel today and they can do as they please—their choice. Muslims are PERMITTED to use it by Israel's grace. But Israel maintains its soldiers up there.

For example, this past week when Muslims threw bricks down on the Jews worshiping at the Wailing Wall on Passover and then hid in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, the IDF stormed into the Mosque and arrested those who had been throwing bricks.

When our group was on the Temple Mount last week, just before that well-publicized incident, there were more than the usual number of Israeli soldiers patrolling and they were on high alert. They apparently were expecting that something might happen.

After our Easter services at the Empty Tomb last week (pinch me!) we made one last walk through the Old City and saw numerous groups of 8-10 IDF soldiers in full riot gear throughout the Old City. Israel wasn't giving the Muslims a chance to start anything.

Israel Has Been Preparing To Rebuild The Temple For A Long Time

One of the most interesting sites we visit in Jerusalem is the Temple Institute where they are actively assembling all the necessary Temple implements that go inside, quite a large undertaking.

They want to have everything ready once they can rebuild. They've even found the blue dye for the trim on the High Priest's robe. They still need the ashes of the red heifer though.

It seems that just like the Holy Spirit is loosening His Restrainer grip on the world before full and total departure(1), God apparently is beginning to wake up Israel to the reality of her spiritual heritage in a big way.

And as she moves more toward God, the world will hate her more and all nations will be against Israel.

CQLJ!

BP

Notes of Faith April 28, 2022

Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3) —or some kind of construction worker (the Greek word can also refer to a mason or smith). But long before He learned to work with wood, He was an artisan. With His hands, He brought order from chaos. The apostle John opens his account of the life and ministry of Jesus with a fascinating bit of narrative poetry.

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

— John 1:1–5

Modern industrialized religion and polluted, watered-down, self-help pseudo-spirituality too often miss this. The Word wasn’t just from God; the Word was God. The Word wasn’t part of creation; it was the vehicle of creation. The Word is not just bright or one good source of light among many; the Word is the light, and it is life. It is so pure and true and good that no darkness can overcome it! The Word isn’t a proof text used to support a point; it isn’t a political system or a fund-raising mechanism. It is not a step-by-step guide to self-discovery or spiritual superiority. It is a beacon drawing us toward itself. This is amazing stuff.

This is the stuff of art.

This Word —logos in the Greek —is Jesus. Jesus has been creating things with His hands since the very beginning. In complete and perfect community with the mysterious triune nature of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus brought light into darkness. God spoke, and Jesus was His Word. Through Him, all things were made. All things!

I’ve been scuba diving in sixty feet of water and seen tiny creatures that need not be as elaborately colored or intricately designed as they are. Everything on this planet screams, “Creation!” Jesus crafted the mountains, the seas, the deserts, the animals, the plants, and even human beings according to God’s perfectly wise plan. Then He gave us free will and the ability to imagine and dream. He created us “in His image” —a mysterious statement that at least partly points to our ability to be junior creators. We can’t speak something out of nothing, but He does invite us to participate in the ordering of our world.

He honors our attempts to create. Whether it’s bread, coffee, music, a painting, or a community, when we create, we follow in His steps.

In bodily form, Jesus kept on creating. He was a winemaker, a community builder, an architect, a healer, and a storyteller. He was a bread maker and a fishmonger. He drew pictures in the sand that saved a woman’s life. His creative power was so intense that the sick were healed with just a thought. He spit in the dust, made some holy mud, and opened a man’s eyes.

My favorite creative act of Jesus was gathering blue-collar workmen and marginalized women and crafting them into a force that would change the world. He built a church —and if you’ve had a bad experience with contemporary churches, I invite you to replace the word church with community (Grace Brethren, yes!)—that subversively sought out, honored, and served the unlovely, the diseased, the broken, and the dead.

It breaks my heart to hear people say they love Jesus but have no use for the church. Yes, many of the corporate, industrialized aspects of the modern church bear more resemblance to the local megaplex or department store than they do to a countercultural group of ragged lovers and servants, but deep down, the church is something Jesus established. I believe today He longs to call out to her in her manufactured tomb, like He did to His friend Lazarus, “Come out!” I have experienced dead church.

I have felt queasy whenever harsh, ignorant, attention-starved charlatans make their way on to the TV screen and say all kinds of nonsense in God’s name. I’ve cringed as politicians cheapen the gospel, cherry-picking it for their petty purposes and ignoring the difficult bits. I’ve railed against hypocrisy, even as I regularly must repent of my own. I’ve tasted stale, hardened white bread when what I needed was the bread of life. I’ve sipped the vinegar of bitterness, hatred, and fear when what I needed was the rich wine of salvation. I realize many modern churches get more wrong than right.

But when I return to Scripture, I am reminded that when Jesus called me out of my tomb, He placed me in a family He calls church.

My deep need for belonging —I believe Jesus put it there as a homing beacon to call me to Him.

I’ve also noticed how deeply ingrained my identity as a consumer is. When I complain about the problems of the church —the manufactured nature, the corporate aftertaste —I do so as a consumer who wants his money back. The more I’ve worked to see my primary and highest calling in relation to other believers as a servant, the more my capacity for grace and patience has expanded.

Jesus invites me to be creative —to speak order into the chaos of community. To be the church by living a life that is deeply committed to other flawed and difficult people. I feel His hands sanding my rough edges and binding me irrevocably to His people.

Church is art, or at least it should be. If yours isn’t, maybe you should roll up your sleeves before heading for the exit.

After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit came to embolden, empower, and galvanize the tiny group of shaky disciples Jesus had left behind. The first chapters of the book of Acts describe the early church as a people transformed. They shared all they had, giving to any in need; they gathered in their homes and in the temple; they ate together, prayed together, and devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles. I realize this account is descriptive and not necessarily prescriptive, but I don’t think it takes much of a theological leap to see that the underlying values were communal, not individual. Truth was proclaimed and argued, and people were fed and healed. Ever the artisan, the Holy Spirit crafted a living, breathing body out of many disparate and damaged parts.

In Eden the Father spoke a word and made Adam from the dust and breathed the breath of life into his lungs. In Acts, the Father spoke a word and through His Spirit assembled many different people (members) into one new body, then breathed life into His church. That’s art!

Excerpted from Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate by John J. Thompson copyright  John J. Thompson.

When we create (no matter what it is), we follow in Jesus’ footsteps! When we dig into the community of believers and contribute, interact, build relationships, serve, fellowship, and eat and pray together, we follow Him as well.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 27, 2022

Lamb and Lion Ministries

Can we take the books of Genesis and Revelation literally?

Most people today, even many Christians, do not accept the plain sense meaning of these bookends of the Bible. Instead, they spiritualize their interpretation, arguing that the plain sense meaning of Scripture is not its true meaning. The result is that the beginning and end of the Bible are the two most abused areas of God’s Word, having been spiritualized into meaninglessness. We believe this results in a travesty to one’s understanding of God and His plan of salvation.

This Epic Battles series is meant to combat this abuse of God’s Word. Our hope is that through it you will gain an appreciation for the literal interpretation of the Bible. And, we also hope that you will gain the wonderful realization that Genesis and Revelation are not at odds, but that these books complement each other. God’s plan for the ages is meant to be understood and that is meant to provide us with hope in these challenging days.

In our first episode, Eric Hovind of Creation Today Ministries addressed a controversial debate in Genesis: “A Literal Global Flood.” (It’s one of my all-time favorite “Christ in Prophecy” episodes, so check it out!)

In this week’s second episode of our series, I’m going to swing to the other end of the Bible to address a controversial debate in Revelation: “A Literal 1000-Year Kingdom.” I’m seeking to prove that a literal interpretation of the Bible reveals that Jesus Christ will, in the future, physically rule over this earth for a thousand years. And, the takeaway that I want you to get from this is — knowing our future in Christ’s victory is meant to bring you both joy and hope.

The following excerpt skips ahead a little past Nebuchadnezzar’s dream where God foretold the end of failed human government due to the return of King Jesus and picks up in the middle of my biblical exposition of what life will be like living during the Millennial Kingdom.

A Time of Joy

One of the aspects that really touches me about the Kingdom of Christ is how it’s going to be a great time of joy. Jeremiah 31:13 says, “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, I will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.” The Kingdom of Christ is defined as a time of peace and righteousness and justice, but it’s also a time of great happiness and childlike joy.

Zechariah 14:16-18 adds: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain.” The Feast of Tabernacles will be instituted across the entire world so that Jesus gets to have all of His people come at least once a year to visit Him. And, if they neglect Him, well He shuts the rain off for a little while as a kind of reminder for them to return.

A Time of Peace and No War

Not only will the Kingdom of Christ be a time of great joy, but it is also going to be a time of peace with no war. Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3-4 tell us: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.” Hosea 2:17-18 adds, “Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them lie down safely.”

How long has mankind tried to end war and failed? And yet, during the Kingdom of Christ, it will be a time of true peace with no war. Just think about it: no soldiers, no weapons, no hatred towards our fellow man. Consider how much of our nations’ budgets go to war production and weaponry when the money could be used for building and caring for its people. What a tremendous time it will be when you don’t have to fear for your life due to endless wars!

The Animals at Peace

Nor will mankind have to fear the animal kingdom, for the animal kingdom will once more be at peace with humanity. Isaiah 11:6-9 and 65:25 reveal: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.”

Even the animals will be at peace with each other and with mankind. Although, I have to admit, I think the lions are probably going to be quite depressed at that time as they’re back to eating grass again! (jk) But, there will be very bountiful grass for them to find because…

The Bountiful Land

Amos 9:13-14 tells us, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.” And, Zechariah 8:12 reveals, “For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew — I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these.” And, Isaiah 4:2 describes, “In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped.”

The Kingdom of Christ is defined as a time of great bounty and unlimited food. There will be no hunger or poverty at that time.

Zechariah 14:8 describes, “And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur.” And, Ezekiel 47:8-9 adds: “This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live.”

The Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it. It sits at the lowest elevation in the world. It’s also the deadest body of water. But, during the Kingdom of Christ, the waters will flow into it again. Life will flow into the Dead Sea! It’ll become alive once more. Just imagine fishermen out there fishing on what was once known as the Dead Sea.

The Plains of the Earth

Considering the geography of the Kingdom of Christ, the Bible indicates that the earth will be all plains. Look at Isaiah 40:4-5, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.” Revelation prophesies how during the Day of the Lord four tremendous earthquakes will level the mountains and make the islands move from their positions. A strong possibility exists then that the Kingdom of Christ will be a land of plains with Jerusalem as the only exalted mountain.

Long Life

Long lifespans add another welcome characteristic of the Kingdom of Christ. Isaiah 65:20-23 describes: “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people.” Remember that people before the Flood lived for hundreds and hundreds of years, and during the Kingdom of Christ — the same thing. People will live hundreds of years again, except those who choose evil, for they will die young.

Isaiah 33:24 foretells, “And the inhabitant will not say, ‘I am sick’; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.” And, Isaiah 35:5-6 exclaims: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” Sickness and disability will not be an issue during the Kingdom of Christ. The curse that God had put on the planet when mankind rebelled at the Garden of Eden will be partially lifted. Oh, how the Creation so looks forward to that time!

Satan Bound

What a wonderful time to live knowing that Satan will be bound! Revelation 20:1-3 tells us: “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while.”

While Satan is bound for a thousand years, he cannot deceive anybody. Revelation 20 reveals two things about the Kingdom of Christ. One, when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, He’s going to throw Satan into the Bottomless Pit. So, mankind will not be tempted by demonic activity during the Kingdom. Two, we also learn that Satan must be released for a little while at the end of those thousand years. So, we learn that the Kingdom of Christ will last for exactly a thousand years. That’s where the Kingdom of Christ gets the label “Millennial Kingdom” as “milli” means “1,000” and “annum” means “years,” so “a thousand years.”

Satan Defeated

It’s at the end of the millennium when Satan is once and for all defeated. Revelation 20:7-10 explains: “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, and to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So, for a thousand years, Christ has been reigning physically on this earth and Satan has remained in a prison. But, near the very end, Satan will be let out for a short time. Those children who will be born to the Tribulation Saints still get to choose Jesus or not. Sadly, many will turn to Satan as a lightning rod and will follow him. They will attempt to overthrow Jesus in Jerusalem. But, Jesus sends fire down and evaporates the rebels. Satan is then cast into the Lake of Fire, which is Hell, where our old Adversary will finally receive God’s justice for all of eternity. Satan is finally defeated and he can no longer hurt anybody anymore.

Final Judgment

We have now reached the point in world history when the unredeemed mankind receives their final judgment. Revelation 20:11-15 explains: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the book. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire.”

Hell is the Second Death. Anyone not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Satan’s been defeated and sentenced to Hell. It’s now time for God to judge those who died in rebellion against Him. So far they’ve been sentenced in Hades awaiting judgment, and at that time they’ll be resurrected. They’ll then stand before God’s Great White Throne. They will be judged by their works, but they’ll be missing the one and only work that matters — the saving work Jesus did on the cross. They never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior nor the saving work He accomplished on the cross, that He alone did, and their names will not have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They, like Satan and his demons, will be sentenced to Hell.

And that’s when we get to the sum of all things. First Corinthians 15:24-28 foretells: “Then comes the end, when He [Jesus] delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He [Jesus] must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death… Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”

The Kingdom of Christ has lasted for a thousand years. Finally, at long last, all of Christ’s enemies have been defeated, including Death. King Jesus then hands over the Kingdom to the Father. And that’s when the Redeemed enter the Eternal State (but that’s a story for another time.)

The Plain-Sense Interpretation

When I read the Bible for its plain sense meaning, it tells me these things concerning the Kingdom of Christ:

That the Jews have to be regathered back to the land of Israel.

That the world must endure the horrors of the Day of the Lord.

That Jesus has to return physically to conquer.

That the Gentile world order has to be destroyed.

That the world is judged so only the faithful will enter the Kingdom of Christ.

That Jesus rules and reigns as King and Priest from His temple in Jerusalem.

That King David and the resurrected saints fill the roles as governors and mayors.

That the Jews serve as an exalted priestly people.

That all of the world’s inhabitants know Jesus and worship Him.

No war between man or beast exists, but only peace and bounty.

Lifespans are counted in the hundreds of years.

Satan is bound in a pit for a thousand years and does not tempt people, that is until the very end when he is released and permanently defeated.

Now I ask you: Has any of this happened or is happening now? No, of course not!

But, there are some who would answer, “Yes, this all has to happen, but it already has or will happen spiritually.” Well, no matter if you take a literal interpretation of the Bible or an Amillennialist’s spiritualized interpretation, we agree on two things: one, that Jesus Christ is coming back for His saints; and two, that the Redeemed will spend eternity with God.

A literal interpretation of the Bible or a spiritualized interpretation? Should the Bible be interpreted literally or symbolically?

Is there a literal Davidic King? Yes, Jesus Christ. Is there a literal throne? Yes, it’ll be in Jerusalem. Will there be a literal Kingdom? Yes, it’ll last for a thousand years and then on into Eternity. Amen! The Bible says yes and so it will be.

When it comes to interpreting the Bible, do so then by the Golden Rule of Interpretation: “When the plain sense makes sense, look for no other sense, lest you end up with nonsense.”

A literal interpretation of the Bible reveals that Jesus Christ will, in the future, physically rule over this earth for a thousand years. Knowing that Jesus Christ’s victory is coming should bring us great joy and happiness for today. It should lead us to a life excited about the Kingdom that is to come. Christians are already residents of that Kingdom, and it is coming to full fruition soon.

You may ask yourself: “How can I become a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ?” Well, it requires that you have accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of your life. You can’t live in that Kingdom unless you follow the King.

Now, for those who are Christians, we can already find great joy and hope knowing what wonders await them. But, for those who have rejected Jesus Christ, they cannot claim that hope. They have the Lake of Fire waiting for them in the end. They’re the citizens of the Second Death.

For those of you who have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, now’s the time to do so. Listen to the Holy Spirit’s tug inside your heart, pulling you to accept Jesus as your Savior. Then pray from your heart something like: “Dear, Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. I know I am a sinner. Please forgive me and be my Savior and the Lord of my life.” And, Jesus will do just that. Your sins will be forgiven. The guilt will be washed away. The Holy Spirit will reside in you. And then, you too will become a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ.

Read your Bible!  Take the truth it speaks literally first, then listen to the symbolism if taking it literally does not make sense.  If God loves us and wants us to know Him and have relationship with Him, He will not keep revelation of Him hidden in mysteries.  He has revealed Himself in His Word and through His Son, Jesus, through whom we can be reconciled to God, forgiven, redeemed, and be given eternal life.  Seek Jesus.  See Jesus.  Open your heart to truth and know the God who gives life!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 26, 2022

What Is Lost When We Only Pray Alone?

When you pray, Jesus said, get by yourself, go into your room, shut the door, “and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). Sounds pretty straightforward. So we just pray alone, right? Wrong. We don’t pray only in secret; we pray together — something we see all over the book of Acts, for example (in texts like Acts 2:42; 4:31; 12:12; 13:3; and 20:36, to name a few). So, why do we pray together and not just alone? What’s added when we pray together? And what’s lost when we pray only by ourselves?

In 1981, Pastor John took up this question in a sermon on 2 Corinthians 1:8–11. There, Paul writes this testimony of his agonies:

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

And then Paul makes this request in verse 11, which is a little complex, so listen carefully: “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” Here’s Pastor John.

That’s a hard verse. I noticed Glen this morning had trouble reading verse 11, just like I did. He had to stop and make sure he had it just right because it’s a very complex sentence. I had to read verse 11 again and again, and I could not get the gist of verse 11 until I drew it on paper.

Line of Prayer

Now, follow with me the line of prayer. Keep one eye on the text, one eye on the line, and both ears on me.

The line of prayer begins with Paul, and he feels a need. That’s where prayer begins. His need was probably, “Oh, how I need to rely on God more. Oh, how I need to trust God for deliverance from all my adversaries more.” So what does he do? He sends out a line of prayer, “Help me,” horizontally to the Corinthians. “Help me by prayer.” And that’s stage one in the line of prayer.

Then the line of prayer curves up through the heart of the Corinthians as they hear the plea, and they look up to God and pray that God will, in fact, answer their prayers for Paul’s deliverance and for his faith. That’s stage two: the prayers of the Corinthians heading up to God.

Then the line of prayer enters the heart of God, who is there listening, waiting for the prayers of his people. And in response to the prayers of the many Corinthians, God sends down a gift — or a “blessing,” as the text says — to Paul. What blessing? Greater faith in God, greater dependence on him alone, and deliverance from his adversaries. That’s stage three in the line of prayer.

Now, just as many people heard the plea of Paul to help through prayer, so many people now see the answer to the prayers as they look. “Look: Paul got out. He got out of the Philippian jail. He got away from Ephesus. He made it all the way through Berea and Thessalonica. He’s coming down here to us. He’s going to make it all the way to Jerusalem with that money. He may make it to Rome, to the ends of the earth, and preach to the emperor. Praise God!” And that’s line four.

They see the answer to prayer, and that curves up through their heart in praises and thanksgiving, through many people, back to God. And that’s stage five in the line of prayer. And that’s where the text stops.

Spiraling Delight

But I think there is something implied in the text that’s not explicit, that is just a choice truth that I don’t want to leave out. Namely, if Paul chose to motivate the Corinthians to pray for him by pointing out that it would abound in many thanksgivings to God, then it must be a great delight to Paul to think about God getting so many thanks. And if it’s a great delight to Paul to see God being thanked, then that little dotted line that comes down from God is joy coming back into the heart of Paul as he sees God being thanked in response to the answer to many prayers. So that’s stage six that I’ve added.

In fact, I could go on adding stage seven, because God gets delight in Paul’s delight, and Paul gets delight in God’s delight in his delight. It’s just a great spiral on up into infinite joy someday, when there’s no more sin to clutter up that spiral. That’s the line of prayer.

Let me sum it up just briefly. Paul has a great need, and he feels it. He knows he’s coming into adversity. He said in Acts 20:23, “The Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonments and afflictions await me.” He needs help. “Help me, Corinthians.”

They hear the word, responding, “God, help Paul.” God looks down, “I hear the prayer. Here’s the help, Paul.” Paul is helped. He’s delivered. He’s free. He’s preaching. He’s full of faith. Who sees it? Lots of people see it. What do they do? Praise God. God has responded to our prayers, and the thanks go back to God, and he’s glorified. That’s the line of prayer. That’s what ought to be happening in this church again and again and again.

Many Prayers, Many Thanks

There are more lessons in this than I can begin to say this morning, but I want to mention two — two lessons from the line of prayer. The first is this. If you’re like me, you’ve probably asked yourself why it is that corporate prayer is important. Why pray in groups? Why pray publicly? Why not just close the door, like Jesus said — we should many times — and pray alone?

Why does Paul not simply pray, “God, save me from the enemies; God, fill me with faith” — and not write letters and tell other people to pray for him? Doesn’t he think God can answer his prayer? Is he lacking in faith? Are we weak in faith when we ask many people to pray for something?

That’s the kind of question I came to this text with, and I think the text gives a tremendous answer to why corporate and public prayer is so important. Why might God be more inclined to answer the prayers of many rather than the prayers of one? That’s my question.

And I think the answer begins like this: according to our text, the thing that’s different when many people pray — notice “the prayers of many” — is that the stage is being set for lots and lots and lots of thanks. The more people that are earnestly praying for some blessing from God, the more thanksgiving will ascend to God when that blessing comes.

Paul’s argument is very simply this: “You must help me by prayer so that many will give thanks when the prayers of many are answered.” The reason for praying at all is so God might be thanked when blessings come, and God loves to be thanked. God loves to be thanked. That’s the basic premise here for why this prayer becomes so effective. He loves to be acknowledged and praised as the giver of all good gifts.

Therefore, when we urge, when I urge you to pray for some need — four hundred people, say — I’m creating a situation in which the provision of that need will result in many, many, many thanksgivings, more than if each of us was praying privately.

“God loves to be thanked by many, and therefore, there is a power in church-wide prayer.”

And therefore, we tap into a tremendous incentive on God’s part, because God loves to glorify himself by doing what he must do to get as many thanks as possible, and that means answering the prayers of many people. God loves to be thanked by many, and therefore, there is a power in church-wide prayer because the more people there are praying for the spiritual life of our church, the more thanksgiving will ascend when God gives it.

Seeking Blessing Together

Now, the same reasoning that comes straight out of 2 Corinthians 1:11 also shows that we should not only pray in large numbers, but that we should get together in groups to pray. I’ll try to show you how that follows.

Picture two possibilities. One would be a dozen people, privately in their homes, praying for the release of Paul, say, from jail in Philippi. They pray. God answers and delivers Paul. They get word of it. They give thanks. God is honored. Great!

But suppose that those dozen or so people met together in a group, in a room, in a living room there in Philippi, just like the saints did in Acts 12 to pray for Peter’s release when he was in jail. Suppose they got together and prayed, and the fervor of each other’s prayer kindled each other’s fervor up to God. God released Paul miraculously through this earthquake, and they hear about it.

“When you and I experience a blessing that we’ve asked for together, your thanksgiving deepens and heightens mine.”

Then what would happen? The praises and the thanks would ascend, and is it not human nature — see if this isn’t true to your own experience — to feel gratitude more intensely when somebody you love is sharing the experience with you? Is that not human nature to feel the joy of gratitude more intensely when someone you love is feeling it together with you?

When you and I experience a blessing that we’ve asked for together, your thanksgiving deepens and heightens my thanksgiving, because it works like this: When the answer comes, I see the blessing coming from God. I see it, and I’m glad. I rejoice. But then I look down, and I see it reflected and magnified in all your faces, and my joy, therefore, is compounded, and my thanksgiving is greater. And God loves heightened and deepened thanksgiving, and therefore, he wants us to meet in groups to pray.

Therefore, we are setting ourselves up for tremendous spiritual blessing in this church when we gather in groups to seek God’s blessing on our church.

This came from an interview with John Piper.  I pray that you were encouraged to pray alone and with many together.  May God richly bless as we seek Him!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 25, 2022

Thoughts on Romans 7:14-25 – Is this Paul pre-Christian and after saving faith or is this the battle between the new nature giving life to the spiritually dead and the flesh that we still live in? – John Piper

Framing the Disagreement

The disagreement exists because, on the one hand, Paul says, “I delight in the law of God, in my inner being” (Romans 7:22), and he says, “I myself serve the law of God with my mind” (Romans 7:25) — which is hard to imagine as a description of pre-Christian Paul. That’s my opinion. It’s very hard to imagine that.

On the other hand, he says, “I am of the flesh, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14), or, “I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15), and so on. My disagreeing brother would ask, Would a Christian say that? Would the Christian Paul describe himself that way — “sold under sin”?

So, there’s the problem, and I’m going to give nine reasons for thinking these are Paul’s description of his present experience from time to time, though not his total Christian experience.

1. ‘I’ in the Present Tense

The most natural way to understand Paul’s use of the first person I and the present tense is that he’s talking about himself and part of his life now as a believer. He uses I or me or my about forty times in this text, and he explains his situation in the present tense all the way through.

“I am of flesh,” “what I am doing I do not understand,” “I do the very thing I do not want,” and so on — present tense. On the face of it, then, it looks like he’s describing his present Christian experience. So, for the average person like me, it’s going to take a lot to say, “No, that’s not what is happening.”

2. Law in the Inner Being

Paul speaks about the law of God in this passage in a way that sounds like the way a Christian believer would talk about it — not the way an unregenerate Jewish man would talk about it. “I delight in the law of God, in my inner being” (Romans 7:22). Now, it’s this phrase “in the inner man” that sounds so much like the way Paul talks as a Christian about the Christian’s real inner self. I don’t think Paul would have said this about his pre-Christian self.

3. Inconsistent with His Past

The description of Romans 7 of Paul as a divided and sometimes tormented man in relation to the law doesn’t fit with the way he describes his experience before he was a Christian.

In his pre-Christian days, he is anything but a man who is torn because of any perceived failures to live up to the law of God. In Galatians 1 and Philippians 3, he describes himself as having undivided zeal for the law. So the Romans 7 Paul doesn’t fit with the way he described his pre-Christian experience.

4. More Than Fallen Flesh

I think Paul talks about himself in Romans 7 in a way that only a Christian could — a person with faith and with the Holy Spirit.

“In Paul’s view, the pre-Christian person is only flesh. Only a Christian is more than fallen flesh.”

For example, he says in Romans 7:18, “I know that nothing good dwells in me” — and then he qualifies it — “that is, in my flesh.” Now, if Paul is here giving a Christian assessment of his pre-Christian experience, then why does he add to the statement “nothing good dwells in me” the qualifier “that is, in my flesh”?

I think, in Paul’s view, the pre-Christian person is only flesh. Only a Christian is more than fallen flesh. He has the Holy Spirit, and that’s why Paul has to say that qualifier: “that is, in my flesh.” There is a good thing in me — namely, the Holy Spirit. So he’s not talking about the pre-Christian Paul, I think.

5. Parallel to Galatians 5

In Galatians 5:17, Paul uses language very close to Romans 7, but everyone agrees that in Galatians, it’s a description of Christian experience.

He says in Galatians 5:17, “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other” — and now comes the phrase that sounds just like Romans 7, almost the same language — “to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” This is a description of the inner conflict of the Christian, and the language is so similar to Romans 7 — “I do what I don’t want to do; I don’t do what I want to do” — that I conclude Romans 7 is also Christian experience like Galatians 5.

6. Temporarily Enslaved To Sin

My sixth argument is an answer to the strongest argument against my view — at least that’s what some say it is. In Romans 7:14, Paul says, “I am of the flesh, sold under sin.” And my friends would say, “Would Paul really say, Piper, of a Christian that he is sold under sin?” The imagery is of being sold as a slave. Can a Christian ever say, “I am sold under the slave master of sin”? After all, Romans 6:18 says, “Having been set free from sin, [you] have become slaves of righteousness.”

Now, my response is that I don’t think Paul is saying the Christian lives under sin as a normal way of life — continually dominated and defeated by sin — but that in the moment of failure, sin gets the upper hand like a slave master temporarily getting control of a person who’s not really his. I think this because both in Romans 6:12 and Galatians 5:1 Paul warns Christians precisely not to submit again to the reign, or to the yoke, of slavery.

It’s a real possibility that Christians can see themselves as temporarily sold under sins. I don’t think that is a decisive counterargument.

7. Unbelievers Don’t Cry for Freedom

This is a response to the objection from Romans 7:24. Can a real Christian cry out, “Who will set me free from the body of this death?” To which my response is, Can a real Christian not cry out, “Who will set me free from this body of death”?

“The unbeliever does not cry out for release. He doesn’t. He is at home in it. This is a Christian cry.”

The body is not only diseased and dying and groaning, according to Romans 8, but it is also the staging ground for many evil desires, Paul says. It is regularly the base of operations for sin. The unbeliever does not cry out for release from this. He doesn’t. He is at home in it. This is a Christian cry.

8. Free from Captivity, Not Warfare

My eighth argument is the way others use Romans 8:2 — this is, I think, very powerful. It says, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Now, some say that this is a clear declaration that the warfare of Romans 7 is over because the phrase law of sin in 8:2 is used in Romans 7:23. The person in verse 23 is made “a captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” But now, in Romans 8:2, we are free from the law of sin and death.

So, people conclude the person in 7:23 cannot be a Christian because the Christian is Romans 8:2, and he’s free from that. But I think, in view of all we’ve seen and in view of the exhortations in Romans 6, that to say we are now in Christ set free from the law of sin does not at all preclude the reality that from time to time the law of sin does indeed get the upper hand and must be repented of and renounced.

There is a freedom from it, but not an absolute freedom from its influence, which we can defeat with warfare in the Spirit.

9. Anticlimax in Romans 7:25

Romans 7 seems to reach its climax in verse 25, the first half of the verse. It goes like this: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” In other words, who’s going to deliver me from this horrible situation that I’ve been describing in these verses in Romans 7? Answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This is often taken to mean that after all the failure of verses 14–25, Paul now arrives at a point of triumph and transition. He is moving from the defeated pre-Christian experience of Romans 7 to the triumphant Christian experience of Romans 8. But if that’s the way Paul is thinking, the second half of verse 25 is a colossal embarrassment and a stumbling block.

Verse 25 closes like this, which doesn’t at all fit this understanding of a big transition from Romans 7 to 8, with the fulcrum being the first half of verse 25. Just when this view expects a triumphant statement about how the divided man is finally united in victory and beyond conflict and entirely under the sway of the Spirit, what do you get in the second half of verse 25?

You get just what you would expect to get if Romans 7 is really about the frequent Christian experience of conflict and struggle. You get a summary statement of the struggling and divided life. It goes like this: “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). What an anticlimax if the intention is to say that there’s this decisive break between chapters 7 and 8.

So, for these nine reasons, I think we should read Romans 7:14–25 as the description, not of the totality of Christian experience, but of the kind of discouragements and conflicts and defeats we often encounter as we do battle with sin.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith April 24, 2022

God saved Moses’ life and called him to lead the Israelites. ~Wendy Blight

TODAY’S READING: EXODUS 3

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

—Exodus 3:14

As Exodus 3 opens, we find Moses in a most extraordinary encounter, standing next to a burning bush wrestling through his doubts with God.

1. Where else do we see God revealing Himself, or His will, accompanied by fire? See Exodus 13:21, Exodus 15:7, Exodus 19:18 and Malachi 3:2–3. What does Hebrews 12:29 say about God?

Why would God choose fire? Because throughout Scripture, God presents fire as purifying and refining. It separates the impurities and leaves what is valuable. Friend, when God brings or allows the fiery furnace of discomfort in our lives, it does not burn indiscriminately. It burns intentionally, to make us more like Him. We can trust that it is always for our refinement and never for our destruction. God knew Moses was about to walk with God’s people through some serious refining.

God also knew Moses lacked what He needed to step into His assignment. So, the fire was dramatic. Necessary. A powerful reminder of who God was, who Moses was, and who God was calling him to be.

In Exodus 3:11, Moses, who had been hiding as a fugitive for 40 years, questioned God’s assignment. Moses asked,

"Who am I that I should go . . . and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

God simply replied,

I will be with you.

—Exodus 3:12

It is interesting that God doesn’t build up Moses’ confidence. He simply gives Moses a promise. He affirmed that He would be with Moses.

Moses asks for more assurance. Who exactly is it that will be with him as he returns to Egypt?

God then gives Moses a special revelation of who He is. God gives Moses a new name to call Him. God says, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Though the meaning of this name is not completely certain, one possible meaning is “I will be to you all that I AM.”

How I love this name God has given Moses in the midst of the fear of the unknown! God knew what lay ahead for Moses. Moses did not. Through this name, God promised to be EVERYTHING Moses needed. Everything Israel needed to ensure that the nations around them knew that the Israelites’ God was the One True God.

2. How do the following New Testament passages undergird what we have learned in today’s reading? (Romans 8:35–37, 1 Peter 1:6–7, and James 1:2–4)

What a beautiful reminder that who we are is not nearly as important as who God is.

We need to ask where, or to whom, do we look to fill our longings? More specifically, we should pause and ask, in what or whom do we place our faith? In the things of this world? In idols, as the pagan nations did? In making a name for ourselves, like the ones who built the tower of Babel? Or do we place our faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? In Israel’s God? The One True God?

Friend, God, who is our great “I Am,” fulfills every longing of our hearts. Jesus carries this truth forward into the New Testament as He declares His many magnificent names. He is the Bread of Life sent so we never need to hunger or thirst again (John 6:35). He is the Light of the World so we never have to walk in darkness again (John 8:12). He is the Good Shepherd who will lead us so we never feel anxious, fearful, lost, or alone again (John 10:11). He is the Resurrection and the Life who guarantees abundant life here on earth and forever in Heaven with Him (John 11:25)

Take a few moments to ponder where you place your faith when you doubt, fear the unknown, or question God’s actions. Is your faith based on you or is it anchored in who God is? His character. His Word. His power. His very presence living within you.

“I am.”

“I am the bread of life.”

(John 6:35, John 6:41, John 6:48, John 6:51)

As bread sustains physical life, so Christ offers and sustains spiritual life.

“I am the light of the world.”

(John 8:12)

To a world lost in darkness, Christ offers Himself as a guide.

“I am the door of the sheep.”

(John 10:7, John 10:9)

Jesus protects His followers as shepherds protect their flocks from predators.

“I am the resurrection and the life.”

(John 11:25)

Death is not the final word for those in Christ.

“I am the good shepherd.”

(John 10:11, John 10:14)

Jesus is committed to caring and watching over those who are His.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

(John 14:6)

Jesus is the source of all truth and knowledge about God.

“I am the true vine.”

(John 15:1, John 15:5)

By attaching ourselves to Christ, we enable His life to flow in and through us. Then we cannot help but bear fruit that will honor the Father.

Excerpted from 40 Days Through The Bible by Lysa TerKeurst and Proverbs 31 Ministries Team, copyright Lysa TerKeurst and Proverbs 31 Ministries Team.

 Just as He was for Moses, God is everything we need! Who we are is not nearly as important as who God is.  Put your faith and trust in I Am today.

Pastor Dale