Month: June 2020

God’s wisdom or the world’s wisdom? We might also say, God’s way or the world’s way?

After his visit to Athens, resulting in only ‘a few followers’, Paul changed his approach in Corinth. He didn’t come with ‘wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power’. In other words Paul did things by the power of God that the Greeks couldn’t argue with, same with the religious Pharisees.

In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul speaks about the two types of wisdom and makes some very important comments about them.

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, WHO ARE COMING TO NOTHING. 1 Cor 2:6 The wisdom and rulers of this age are coming to nothing! God has set a time limit to the present world system which seems very powerful, but it’s end is coming(we are also Spirit beings and sit with Jesus in Heaven).

No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined FOR OUR GLORY BEFORE TIME BEGAN(God’s wisdom came out of eternity, before time). 1 Cor 2:7

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that WE MAY UNDERSTAND what God has freely given us. 1 Cor 2:12 God has given us His Spirit that we can understand the things of the Kingdom.

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor 2:14 The things of God can only be spiritually discerned or understood with the help of God’s Spirit. The Athenians’ of Paul’s day and those under the Greek mindset in our day dismiss the things of God as foolishness! They can’t make sense of them without the revelation of the Spirit.

The final statement in 1 Cor 2 is encouraging for believers;

But we(together) have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:16

God wants us to get to know Him and walk with Him here on earth, in fact He wants us to be His hands and feet while we’re here. If we’ll take the time to build relationship with God through His Spirit, then He’ll give us Heavenly wisdom to guide us while on this earth.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him”. 1 Cor 2:9, Paul quoting from Isa 64:4

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God beside you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. You come to the help those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways”. Isa 64:4

God bless and keep you today.

 

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Cor 2:2

Last week we saw that God chose the foolish, weak and humble things of this world(the majority of us), so that He might get the glory!

In Acts 17:16 we read about Paul’s visit to Athens; he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. Paul reasoned in the synagogue and in the market-place day by day. He reasoned with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and was invited to speak in the Areopagus, the main debating centre. (In my experience it’s often harder to lead someone with fixed ideas or beliefs to salvation). Paul was a gifted speaker and presented the Gospel in a way to which his listeners could relate. Some of them sneered when he spoke of the resurrection of the dead, others wanted to hear more.

The bottom line or outcome of Paul’s presentation; A FEW BECAME FOLLOWERS of Paul and believed. Acts 17:34

Paul failed to get a significant breakthrough in Athens, it was difficult for the Gospel to penetrate their mindset and even Paul could only reason ‘a few’ of them into the truth.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth Acts 18:1

So Paul arrived in Corinth with a new outlook concerning the Greek mindset. He was determined not to reason with them anymore, ‘to know only Christ and Him crucified’. Western civilisation is based on the Greek mindset, logical thinking and this mindset resists the power of the Gospel. We are educated to develop a certain part of our minds (usually left brain, logic) at the expense of the intuitive/creative part of our mind. The Holy Spirit speaks to people in visions, dreams and by our senses, sometimes asking us to do things that seem totally illogical. Jesus made some mud with saliva, rubbed it on a man’s eyes and told him to go and wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. Jn 9:6

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 Prov 3:5,6

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons(Huios, mature sons) of God. Rom 8:14

Paul needed to lay down his own reasoning and learn to trust the Lord even as He did God’s work. Prov 3:5,6 is a scripture that we need pay heed to and walk in as times become more uncertain. We need to start being led by the Spirit of God in our daily lives.

Pray, Lord help me to be in the right place at the right time today and every day.

God bless and keep you.

But God ‘CHOSE’ (us)…1 Cor 1:27

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when YOU WERE CALLED. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 1 Cor 1:26

Congratulations, if you’re in these groups, then you’re in the majority of God’s people; let that sink in for a moment! God chooses the ordinary and makes us extraordinary in Christ.

God CHOSE THE FOOLISH things of the world…

God CHOSE THE WEAK things of the world…

God CHOSE THE LOWLY things of the world…

The world looks at us and thinks God chose badly, there’s far better, more able people out there, but God has chosen those who’ll bring Him the glory!

…so that no-one may boast before Him. 1 Cor 1:29

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.  Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”?  That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have – right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start – comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “if you’re going to blow horn, blow a trumpet for God”. 1 Cor 1:26-31 MSG

Rejoice today that God has ‘chosen you’ to demonstrate His love and wisdom to world and to the heavens. Eph 3:10

Prov 11:25, A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

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God bless and keep you.

 

Paul begins his letter to the Church in Corinth with a simple but emphatic appeal, to be united.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Cor 1:10

Have we ever thought what the Lord would say to our church if He was to send us a letter? Like the seven churches in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. I have heard of someone who asked the Lord to speak to them personally and show which of the comments to the seven churches were most relevant to them and they felt certain points were highlighted.

So Paul begins his long letter to the Corinthian believers by appealing for unity. Some believers, from Chloe’s household saw what was happening and informed Paul about the differences in the body(the analogy of the Church as a body is useful, because a human being can’t divide and go in different directions). Paul’s first plea was for unity!

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptised into the name of Paul?

No answers are required to Paul’s questions, he’s making the point that Christ is never divided and that there can be no factions or divisions in His body! If the body has become divided the enemy has the upper hand and little of value can be achieved for the Lord.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you(note it’s not us but our brother or sister who has been offended) leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother or sister; then come and offer your gift. Matt 5:23

Jesus put healing the offence before sacrificing to God and that may mean humbling ourselves to someone before we can fully stand before the Lord!

It’s interesting that in the remainder of the first chapter of Corinthians Paul goes on to talk about the differences in God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom. We need humility and God’s wisdom to walk in unity with the Lord and one another. Our opinions and agendas may cause strife and division with brothers and sisters among the Lord’s people.

The Lord bless and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace(Shalom). Num 6:24

 

He will keep you strong to the end…God…is faithful. 1Cor 1:7

Paul the apostle wrote a lot to the Church in Corinth, encouraging and correcting them.

He opens his first letter by telling them(and us) that he’s called to be an apostle by God and by ‘our brother Sosthenes’. Nothing is given about this brother but he’s somehow involved in Paul’s calling and recognising him.

Paul goes on to give a brief outline of the church and what it means;

To the Church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 1:2

‘Sanctified IN Christ’ and ‘called to be holy(Godlike in character – Saints)’ and ‘with those who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ(pray to Him, confirming Christ’s divinity)’.

‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ(Paul always greeted the Church with a blessing, except the Galatian Church)’.

‘I always thank God for you(again, blessing the Church)…For in Him you have been enriched in every way(Praise God for His blessings in Christ)—in all your speaking and knowledge—our testimony about Him was confirmed in you(church in Corinth)’.

Paul ends his introduction by telling the Corinthian Church that ‘God will keep them strong to the end’. ‘GOD who has called you into fellowship with His Son… IS FAITHFUL’. God hasn’t just called the Church into being, He keeps the Church! Derek Prince said he was often asked what he’d say as his final words to believers and it was these three words, ‘GOD IS FAITHFUL’! God placed this message right at the forefront of the letter to the early church because He knew they’d experience opposition, but He wanted them to know He was with them in the problems of life and would keep them. Hallelujah

I believe today that we are once again entering a new age, the Age of the coming Kingdom here on earth. God is calling a people to rule and reign with Him here on earth. Shift is happening once again as it did when the Church was birthed on earth. Situations may seem alarming as God ushers in His Kingdom, but He will keep us in all the change.

God bless and keep you.

Do not touch My anointed ones; do My prophets no harm. 1Chron 16:22, Ps 105:15 Don’t touch whoever or whatever belongs to God!

I was thinking recently of two Old Testament characters, who I didn’t know were connected, namely Ahithophel and Uriah the Hittite

Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who enquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice. 2 Sam 16:23

Uriah said to David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 2 Sam 11:11 Uriah was a very honourable man and unfortunately it cost him his life.

The connection? In 2 Sam 23:34 we learn that Eliam was the son of Ahithophel. In 2 Sam 11:3 David’s messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite”. Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba!

Ahithophel was David’s adviser but he turned against him and sided with Absalom, in his move for the kingship of the people and the land. God sent Nathan the prophet to tell David he was going to expose his secret sin, ‘in broad daylight before all Israel. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord”.’ 2 Sam 12:12

David admitted his sin before the Lord(Psalm 51). Leaders, like the all of us can acknowledge failures and find forgiveness from God. That’s something we should remember. God forgave David and Bathsheba and David’s successor, King Solomon was born to them, indeed David had four sons to Bathsheba.

Ahithophel was not so fortunate, “the Lord had determined to frustrate his good advice”. He saw his advice had not been followed so he went home, put his affairs in order and hanged himself. Ahithophel may well have sought his own revenge on David, the Lord’s anointed, for dishonouring his granddaughter. God didn’t permit it but David had to pay a high price. David had never lifted his hand against Saul, though he’d twice been given the opportunity. That may have been part of the reason why God didn’t allow his life and reign to be brought to a premature end.

We are called to pray for those in authority, leaders, God knows their shortcomings much better than we do and can deal with them in His time. Remember, the way we treat others is how we will be treated!

God bless and keep you.

A VOICE FROM THE PAST, John Bunyan(Norman – French Name Buignon) 1628-88, encouraging us to remain faithful in trials.

Bunyan had humble beginnings and little formal education. His father was a tinker and mended pots and pans, which trade he later took up. He was then called up to the army, an early stage of the English Civil War, for a period of three years and gained an appreciation of military procedure and language. Another soldier took one of his duties and was killed by a musket ball, God’s hand upon him! When he married  he began to take an interest in the things of God and started attending an Anglican Church but hadn’t given his life to the Lord. One Sabbath afternoon he was playing a game with a bat on the local village green and he heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Will you leave your sins and go to heaven? Or keep your sins and go to hell?’

One day while he was out working he heard some women talking about a newly formed Puritan Church and soon became a member and was later encouraged to preach. However, preaching outside the Anglican Church was bitterly opposed and John Bunyan was jailed for three months and threatened with deportation if he didn’t recant of his preaching. He eventually spent twelve years in prison, one fifth of his life! His wife and four children, one blind, suffered poverty and hardship(though the Puritan Church helped them). Bunyan said, ‘I saw in this condition that I was a man pulling down his house on the head of his wife and children; yet I thought, I must do it, I must do it’. He couldn’t stop preaching, he had to do it.

Whilst in prison Bunyan wrote many books, the most famous, Pilgrim’s Progress, based on Hebrews 11:13…they admitted that they were aliens and ‘Pilgrims’ on earth. The Book told the story of Pilgrim and his journey to heaven and all the obstacles the enemy put in front of him as he journeyed onwards. He also wrote a famous hymn called ‘To be a Pilgrim’ also known as, ‘He who would valiant be’.

He who would valiant be, ‘Gainst ALL DISASTER, Let Him in constancy, follow the Master, There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent, his first avowed intent to be a Pilgrim.

Who so beset him round with DISMAL STORIES, do but themselves confound, his strength the more is, NO FOES SHALL STAY HIS MIGHT, though he with giants fight, He will make good His right to be a Pilgrim.

Since Lord thou(You) dost DEFEND US WITH THY SPIRIT, we know we at the end shall life inherit(Praise the Lord, eternal life), Then fancies flee away! I’ll FEAR NOT WHAT MEN SAY, I’ll Labour night and day, to be a Pilgrim.

God will give us the grace when we need it to overcome our own difficulties and COMPLETE OUR Pilgrimage. The circumstances may seem bad, but keep looking to Jesus ‘the author and perfector of our faith’.

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Go bless and keep you, make His face shine on you and give you His peace(shalom).

Submission and rebellion, even in exile both were present.

Jeremiah the prophet, had sent a letter from Jerusalem, with the Lord’s word, to the elders and people exiled in Babylon. Jer 29 The Lord had told the exiles to settle down in Babylon, ‘Increase in number THERE; do not decrease’. A separation of the people had occurred under God’s hand, some were left in Jerusalem but the majority had been taken to Babylon.

God’s word regarding the people in Jerusalem; “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like the poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten”. Jer 29:17 They had no future in God’s plans and purposes.

Life in exile was probably a struggle and they would have had to obey their Babylonian masters in all things, yet God’s word to them was; ‘For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you(good word for us today)”, declares the Lord and will bring you back from captivity. They had a future in God, but they had to endure in exile! We all want to get out of difficulty as soon as possible, but God may want to teach us some valuable lessons first.

To those in the exile, two men, Ahab and Zedekiah were, ‘prophesying lies to you in My Name’. God was about to hand them over to king Nebuchadnezzar, ‘to be put to death before your very eyes(a warning to others)’.

Another man, Shemaiah the Nehelamite, sent a letter in his own name, to Zephaniah the priest in Jerusalem telling him, ‘to put Jeremiah into stocks and neck-irons… I will punish Shemaiah and his descendants…he will have no-one left to see the good things I will do for My people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against Me’. Jer 29:32

Sometimes it’s better to be in a place of struggle(EXILE) AND WITH THE LORD than just going through the motions and far from Him. God’s love and His favour are worth far more to us than an easy time here. Hold on in the tough times, God loves us and will bring us through,

‘I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord.

God bless and keep you today.

 

God is able to humble and also to keep. Dan 4:36,37

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken the remnant of Judah into captivity in Babylon. This pagan king had several significant dreams ‘from God’, the first was of the statue representing world kingdoms. ‘You are that head of gold’. Dan 2:38

Nebuchadnezzar had in effect become the custodian of God’s people and the treasures of the Temple until their seventy years of exile were completed. God had not punished him for the sacking of Judah and Jerusalem, but on the contrary had made him ‘king of kings’. Dan 2:36 God uses all sorts of people to mould and shape us into the people He’s destined us to be. The Jews wouldn’t listen to God in Judah, so He removed a remnant of them from their land and put them in exile under foreign rule. I’m sure many of the Jews were angry with the Babylonians but God didn’t tell His people to curse them(definitely not our job as Christians either). The opposite was true;

This is what the Lord almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Increase in number there; do not decrease.  Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. PRAY TO THE LORD FOR IT, because if it prospers you too will prosper. Jer 29:4-7

God was saying this is home for you for the present, so settle down here and make the best of things. But He didn’t only tell them to live and increase(same as the garden of Eden), He told them to pray for Babylon. The place was full of astrology and all sorts of wickedness, but God told them to pray for it, because if it prospers you too will prosper. God was willing to answer prayer to bless a pagan empire so that His people too would be blessed! God tells us today, ‘to pray for all people and for those in authority… that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness’. 2 Tim 2:1-5 God tells us to pray blessing on the place where we live and work in order that we can receive blessing. A completely different attitude to natural reasoning, but God’s ways work and our hearts will not become bitter.

May God bless and keep you this day.

 

 

Don’t look to the world to interpret the things of God! The best of Babylon couldn’t do it, they needed a ‘Daniel’. Dan. 5

Strange and unusual events are happening in the world around us today, things may never be quite the same again. Politicians and the news media want to appear well informed and in control of the situation — they’re not! God is not responsible for everything that happens in our world but He is in control and events are moving in line with His Word.

Daniel 5 is the story of Belshazzar, son or successor to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Belshazzar held a feast for a thousand of his nobles and during the course of the banquet he called for the gold and silver goblets taken from the Temple of God in Jerusalem. They drank from them and praised the gods of gold and silver… In a sense there’s been a spirit of feasting and drinking here and little respect for God and the things of God! Suddenly a hand appeared writing on the plaster of the wall near the lamp stand and the king was terrified. ‘Then ALL the king’s wise men were called but they could not read the writing or tell what it meant’. So they called for Daniel, the man who knelt down three times a day at his open window(visible) and prayed to God. Daniel didn’t have to run to God for the answer, he was before God every day, hearing from heaven!

He told the king that he could keep his gifts or give them to someone else, nevertheless he would read the writing. He spoke candidly and told Belshazzar that Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled and lived like an animal for seven years. He had known this and yet had he had not humbled himself, but set himself up against the Lord of Heaven by drinking from goblets dedicated to Him and praising false gods.

In English this saying, ‘the writing’s on the wall’ now means something is going or about to happen, there’s an inevitability about it. The writing on the plaster meant, Belshazzar’s reign was over, he’d been weighed and found wanting, his kingdom was divided and given to others. He put a purple robe on Daniel and a gold chain around his neck and made him third highest in his kingdom — alas too late, that night he was slain.

I believe God still hears and answers prayer and that we need to be serious about getting before Him in prayer, but I also sense that things have shifted and are shifting. The might of the Babylonian empire was useless before the God of Israel, I don’t expect the world powers of today will fare any better(Psalm 2, why do the nations conspire and the people’s plot in vain… the One enthroned in heaven laughs at them).

We as Christians have access through Jesus to the throne room of heaven and that’s were the answers will lie in the times ahead.

God bless and keep you today.