Leviticus 10:1-3 – Jesus the Perfect Mediator

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ”And Aaron held his peace. (Leviticus 10:1-3 ESV)

Nadab and Abihu went into the Holy of Holies, the most holy place, a thing only to be done by Aaron, their father. God had rules for purification and for coming before him and offering sacrifices. Unfortunately for Nadab and Abihu, their unauthorized fire as they came before God was punishable by death. Fortunately for us, we don’t have to go through any of this anymore when coming before our God. We have a person who took our place before God, his name is Jesus. Because of his substitutionary death on the cross we are now sinless in the eyes of God (Colossians 1:22). We are no longer enemies of God, but friends on account of Jesus (Romans 5:10). We can now enter the holy places with confidence and not be fearful of death (Hebrews 10:19). We tend to take much of this for granted. Next time you come before God in prayer or worship think of Jesus and his work on the cross to allow you to enter it with confidence.

Sovereignty of God

Isaiah 46:8–11,

Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
One of the most foundational of all the 30-year theological trademarks of Bethlehem is the priceless truth of the sovereignty of God. Let’s go right to our text lest even from the beginning we import something here that does not come from the word of God. This matter is far too serious, and touches on so many painful realities, that we dare not trust ourselves here to come up with truth without being told by God himself.

In Isaiah 46:9 God says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” So the issue in this text is the uniqueness of God among all the beings of the universe. He is in a class by himself. No one is like him. The issue is what it means to be God. When something is happening, or something is being said or thought, and God responds, “I am God!” (which is what he does in verse 9), the point is: You’re acting like you don’t know what it means for me to be God.

What It Means to Be God

So he tells them what it means to be the one and only God. He tells them what’s at the heart of his God-ness. Verse 10: What it means for me to be God is that “I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.” Two statements: One, I declare how things turn out long before they ever happen. Second, I declare not just natural events but human events — doings, things that are not yet done. Verse 10: “I declare from ancient times things not yet done.” I know what these doings will be long before they are done.

Now at this point you might say, What we have here is the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge, not the doctrine of his sovereignty. And that is right, so far. But in the next half of the verse God tells us how he foreknows the end and how he foreknows the things not yet done. Verse 10b: “I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’” When he “declares” ahead of time what will be, here’s how he “declares” it, or “says” it: “saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”

In other words, the way he declares his foreknowledge is by declaring his fore-counsel and his fore-purposing. When God declares the end long before it happens, what he says is: “My counsel shall stand.” And when God declares things not yet done long before they are done, what he says is: “I will accomplish all my purpose.”

Which means that the reason God knows the future is because he plans the future and accomplishes it. The future is the counsel of God being established. The future is the purpose of God being accomplished by God. Then, the next verse, verse 11b, gives a clear confirmation that this is what he means: “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” In other words, the reason my predictions come true is because they are my purposes, and because I myself perform them.

God Purposes All Things

God is not a fortuneteller, a soothsayer, a mere predictor. He doesn’t have a crystal ball. He knows what’s coming because he plans what’s coming and he performs what he plans. Verse 10b: ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’ He does not form purposes and wonder if someone else will take responsibility to make them happen. “I will accomplish all my purpose.”

So, based on this text, here’s what I mean by the sovereignty of God: God has the rightful authority, the freedom, the wisdom, and the power to bring about everything that he intends to happen. And therefore, everything he intends to come about does come about. Which means: God plans and governs all things.

When he says, “I will accomplish all my purpose,” he means, “Nothing happens except what is my purpose.” If something happened that God did not purpose to happen, he would say, “That’s not what I purposed to happen.” And we would ask, “What did you purpose to happen?” And he would say, “I purposed this other thing to happen which didn’t happen.” To which we would all say, then, “But you said in Isaiah 46:10, ‘I will accomplish all my purpose.’” And he would say, "That's right." Therefore, what God means in Isaiah 46:10 is that nothing has ever happened, or will ever happen that God did not purpose to happen. Or to put it positively: Everything that happened or will happen is purposed by God to happen.

Now if that seemed a little too complicated, let’s do something simpler. Let’s confirm this view of God’s sovereignty by looking at some other passages of scripture.

A Statement on Sovereignty

But before we do that let me read from the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith so that you don’t think I am expressing a private opinion of my own. I’m simply expressing and supporting a doctrine to which all the elders of this church give their heartfelt affirmation.

3.1 We believe that God, from all eternity, in order to display the full extent of his glory for the eternal and ever-increasing enjoyment of all who love him, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his will, freely and unchangeably ordain and foreknow whatever comes to pass.

3.2 We believe that God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons – all in accord with his eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify himself, yet in such a way that he never sins, nor ever condemns a person unjustly; but that his ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability of all persons created in his image.

3.3 We believe that God’s election is an unconditional act of free grace which was given through his Son Christ Jesus before the world began. By this act God chose, before the foundation of the world, those who would be delivered from bondage to sin and brought to repentance and saving faith in his Son Christ Jesus.
So this is the way the sovereignty of God is expressed in our Elder Affirmation of Faith. Now, consider with me the extent of support for this in the Bible, and then some closing implications, and why it is so precious to us.

Facing a Crucial Question

When I am finished you may be overwhelmed at the extent of God’s sovereignty — at least I am. And we will face a choice: will we turn from our objections and praise his power and grace, and bow with glad submission to the absolute sovereignty of God? Or will we stiffen our neck and resist him? Will we see in the sovereignty of God our only hope for life in our deadness, our only hope for answers to our prayers, our only hope for success in our evangelism, our only hope for meaning in our suffering? Or will we insist that there is a better hope, or no hope? That’s the question we will face.

Let it be said loud and clear that nothing you are about to hear, as paradoxical as it may seem to our finite minds, contradicts the real moral responsibility that humans and angels and demons have to do what God commands. God has given us a will. How we use it makes our eternal difference.

Let’s divide God’s sovereignty into his governing natural events on the one hand and human events on the other. In the first case he is governing physical processes. And in the second case he is governing human choices.

God’s Sovereignty Over Nature

He is sovereign over what appears the most random acts in the world. Proverbs 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." In modern language we would say, "The dice are rolled on the table and every play is decided by God." There are no events so small that he does not rule for his purposes. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?" Jesus said, "And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:29–30). Every role of the dice in Las Vegas, every tiny bird that falls dead in the thousand forests — all of this is God’s command.

From worms in the ground to stars in the galaxies God governs the natural world. In the book of Jonah God commands a fish to swallow (1:17), God commands a plant to grow (4:6), and commands a worm to kill it (4:7). And far above the life of worms the stars take their place and hold their place at God’s command: Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.”

How much more, then, the natural events of this world — from weather to disasters to disease to disability to death.

Psalm 147:15ff, “He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.” Job 37:11–13, “He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.”

The Winds Could Have Stilled

So snow and rain and cold and heat and wind are all the work of God. So when Jesus finds himself in the middle of a raging storm, he merely speaks, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm (Mark 4:39). There is no wind, no storm, no hurricane, no cyclone, no typhoon, no monsoon, no tornado over which Jesus can say “Be still,” and it will not obey. Which means, that if it blows, he intends for it to blow. “Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6). All Jesus had to do with Hurricane Sandy last Monday was say, "Be still," and there would have been no damage and no loss of life.

And what about the other sufferings of this life? “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?’” (Exodus 4:11). And Peter said to the suffering saints in Asia Minor, “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17).

Whether we suffer from disability or from the evil of others God is the one who ultimately decides — and whether we live or die. Deuteronomy 32:39, “There is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” Or James 4:13–15, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” Or as Job says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

The roll of the dice, the fall of a bird, the crawl of a worm, the movement of stars, the falling of snow, the blowing of wind, the loss of sight, the suffering of saints, and the death of all — these are included in the word of God: "I will accomplish all my purpose" — from the smallest to the greatest.

God's Sovereignty in Human Actions

And when we turn from the natural world to the world of human actions and human choice, God's sovereignty is just as extensive. You should vote on Tuesday — on the candidates and on the amendments. But let there be no man-exalting illusion as though mere human beings will be the decisive cause in any victory or loss. God alone will have that supreme role. “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; . . . the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Daniel 2:21; 4:17).

And whoever the next president is, he will not be sovereign. He will be governed. And we should pray for him that he would know this: "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1). And when he engages in foreign affairs he will not be decisive. God will. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10–11).

When nations came to do their absolute worst, namely the murder of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, they had not slipped out of God’s control, but were doing his sweetest bidding at their worst moment: “Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27–28). The worst sin that ever happened was in God’s plan, and by that sin, sin died.

So Boasting Is Excluded

And so our salvation was secured on Calvary under the sovereign hand of God. And, if you are a believer in Jesus, if you love him, you are a walking miracle. God granted you repentance (2 Timothy 2:24f). God drew you to Christ (John 6:44). God revealed the Son of God to you (Matthew 11:27). God gave you the gift of faith. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). The sovereignty of God in our salvation excludes boasting.

There may have been a hundred horrible things in your life. But, if today, you are moved to treasure Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can write over every one of those horrors the words of Genesis 50:20: Satan, "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."

I conclude therefore with the words of Paul in Ephesians 1:11, “God works all things according to the counsel of his will.” All things — from the roll of the dice, to the circuits of stars, to the rise of presidents, to the death of Jesus, to the gift of repentance and faith.

Why God's Sovereignty Matter: Seven Exhortations

What then does this mean for us? Why is this precious to us? I will speak them to us as exhortations:

So let us stand in awe of the sovereign authority and freedom and wisdom and power of God.
And let us never trifle with life as though it were a small or light affair.
Let us marvel at our own salvation — that God bought it and wrought it with sovereign power, and we are not our own.
Let us groan over the God-belittling man-centeredness of our culture and much of the church.
Let us be bold at the throne of grace knowing that our prayers for the most difficult things can be answered. Nothing is too hard for God.
Let us rejoice that our evangelism will not be in vain because there is no sinner so hard the sovereign grace of God cannot break through.
Let us be thrilled and calm in these days of great upheaval because victory belongs to God, and no purposes that he wills to accomplish can be stopped.

By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Matthew 9:36 – Compassion For The Selfish

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36 ESV)

From Ryan

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with self centered people. You know, the people that just seem to only think about themselves. Working with them is the worst. You probably have someone like this in your life, who just really gets you angry every time you think about all the self centered things they have done. We know the only way they will change is with Jesus, but we still have a difficult time interacting with them.

Today’s verse struck a chord with me, because it showed how Jesus viewed people who were not followers of him. He said they were harassed and helpless. Those are two things we don’t want to have in our lives, harassment and helplessness. There is nothing worse than feeling helpless, like you don’t have control of a situation. Jesus says that this is what these self centered people are feeling. What a horrible way to live life! No wonder they care about themselves more than others. They are just trying to bring some stability to their lives.

Not only do we learn how Jesus viewed them, but also how he felt for them. Jesus had compassion for them and tells us to pray for them in the next verse. How convicting! Often times there is not a drop of compassion in me as I interact with these people, but Jesus did.

When we start to see those around us with the eyes of Jesus, we will start to have the heart of Jesus. Stop right now and ask Jesus to give you His heart and His view for the challenging people around you.
by Short Daily Devotions

Isaiah 55:8-9 – Humbled

JANUARY 28, 2014

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

God is big, we are small. God is perfect, we are not. God is all-powerful, we are weak. God is never ending, we have but a few years on the earth he created. God is beyond us, like the end of the universe is beyond the earth. Trillions of lightyears separate the boundary of limitless space and bright burning stars, yet it all falls under God’s hand. We should be careful to remember this when we speak of him.

When we talk of God, we should make certain we understand that we can never fully understand him. Yes, he has revealed himself to us, but only in part. When we think of God, we should remember that his “thoughts are not [our] thoughts”, and “neither are [our] ways [his] ways”. There should be a humility in us when we think or speak of God, a deep reverence that knows he is beyond us in every way. And this respect, if held rightly, won’t lead us further from God, but closer. It will do so because we will ask with the Psalmist, “what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4) There is nothing God gets from us that he can’t get better from himself, yet, he still loves and pursues us. God is definitely love, and this makes us want to know and be amazed by him.
by Short Daily Devotions

Daily devotional 1/29/2014

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. (Acts 5:41-42 ESV)

Have you ever suffered disgrace? Maybe there was a time when you were humiliated for your faith? Or, maybe you had an experience where you tried to do something for God and instead got extremely discouraged when things didn’t go according to plan. This is what happened to Peter and the other apostles when they stepped out in faith to perform miracles in Jesus’ name. Instead of receiving praise for the miracles they had done, they were arrested and flogged (probably a little worse than the disgrace you and I will ever suffer). It is the apostles’ reaction to this disgrace that encourages us. Not only did they rejoice in suffering but, “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopping teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

In these times of discouragement, we must remember to continue to fight the good fight. Day after day, we must never stop teaching and proclaiming what Christ has done for us. It is from God alone that we receive fulfillment and he is greatly pleased when we commit ourselves to Him at times when we are in the depths of despair. True fulfillment comes from living a life for Christ, no matter what the cost. Let us remember to continue to proclaim His good news everyday!
by Short Daily Devotions

ABCs "V" God gives us V I C T O R Y

In the church I attended for many years we had a closing prayer...a blessing... The pastor said, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” We replied, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Many congregations say that every week.

But WHAT victory?

How can that be when so many are living in defeat?

What victory when we are still in bondage to sin?

What sort of victory when we know that our hearts are hurting, wounded?

When we KNOW full well we have yet to obtain victory in an area of our life?

When daily we are bombarded with bad news, either personally or in the world around us?

Today we are going to think about victory.

I do not presume to have any answers, but the Word has truth and I am going to offer two avenues of thought.

First of all...the Sunday before Easter is the Sunday many remember what is sometimes called “the Triumphal Procession”.

Let’s look at that in the book of John. 12
 12 The next day a vast crowd of those who had come to the Passover Feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And as they went, they kept shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He and praise to Him Who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!

14 And Jesus, having found a young donkey, rode upon it, [just] as it is written in the Scriptures,

15 Do not fear, O Daughter of Zion! Look! Your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!

Notice it says, as it is written in Scriptures. This was foretold in ‪Zechariah 9:9
[ The Coming King ] “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

I want to explain something for a few minutes. First of all every Jewish person, knew that their Messiah would come riding on a donkey because it had been foretold in Zechariah. Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy.
They, however, were expecting a King in the worldly sense who would overthrow the evil Romans and take up a royal kingship.

As we know, Jesus was not that kind of King.
His kingdom is not of that sort.

The other interesting thing is that they waved, or placed palm branches. Jewish people all knew that in that time palm branches were a symbol of rebellion to the authority of the Romans. So they did have it right and yet also wrong.

Jesus who came, who entered that day, was the Messiah. He was the Victorious King. But not like they hoped.

In fact when he was crucified and their hopes were dashed (they thought) many fell away.

Let’s stop and relate that to our personal lives.
Sin and death are defeated foes? Right?
 Jesus went to hell and took the keys to death and hell from the devil.

Jesus says in Revelation 1:18: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And
I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”

Jesus conquered death..but does it say he took them during that time between death and
ressurection? when he went there... or has he always had them...dodi doesnt know for sure..But either WAY JESUS has them and the devil is defeated.

((((((Eph 48 Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,And gave gifts to men.”[b]9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended
into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all
things.)))))



We are seated as victors in heavenly places in Christ.(Eph 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,)

 So....hmmmm is there an area of our lives where we expected
V I C T O R Y to look different than it does?
Can anyone think of a time where victory came, but in a much different way than we hoped or imagined?

Remember in the gospels, Jesus says “the kingdom of heaven is like.....”Matthew 13 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

31(b)“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Does not sound like a normal kingdom, a normal kind, or a normal victory does it?
Comments or Questions?


Now lets look at a few verses..completely different
‪1 Cor 15:57 NIV
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Young's Literal Translation
and to God -- thanks, to Him who is giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;

Slight difference in the two versions. He gives, he is giving...but are they different? Is it a continual giving?
If so is it a process? Are we perhaps needing to rethink what victory might look like?

Could it look more like this: ‪2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

Could the things that we suffer, the very things that cause or caused us pain, be used by God to draw others to himself? To “spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”
Is that an even BETTER Victory than we could dream up.

I know in my own life, the very places of struggle, the very hardest things, were the very things that drew me closer to God. And also the very places where I can share His hope with another whose heart is hurting.
Is that a better victory maybe?
Comments? Questions?

‪Hebrews 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--
Isn’t this a wonderful promise of victory?

***‪Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Another sort of victory?

I heard a story recently I would like to share in closing.
Actually I had heard it some months ago and again recently, it really helped me understand why/how if we have “the victory” there are still so many battles on a daily basis. Chip Ingram tells this story. (‪http://livingontheedge.org/blog/?p=1708)

During World War II, my dad fought in the South Pacific. When the war ended there was a treaty signed to cease all gunfire … yet, the battle still raged. On multiple islands, guerrilla warfare broke out and my dad, along with hundreds of other marines, continued to fight for their lives.

Did you know that as Christians we’re in a similar type of guerrilla warfare? Only, ours is an invisible battle — a cosmic conflict with eternal implications – in which souls of people of all over the planet are at stake.

God has already won the war when Jesus broke the power of sin and disarmed Satan at the cross. Our position, which is secured with Christ in heaven, proves this. But the battle we fight against Satan and his demons still rages here on Earth.

Does that picture help you as much as it did me? When I first heard it, it was like a light bulb going off...

Comments or questions?
Jesus has WON the battle. We will still have to fight “guerilla warfare” but the end result for us is this:
REV 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.


And while we are on earth there is this hope and this direction when the battle heats up: ‪Deut 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He shall thrust out the
enemy from before you; and will say, “Destroy them!”
and
‪Josh 1:9 “Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be
dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

and this:
‪Ps 56:9 When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

and from the message:
‪Jeremiah 29:11-14, from The Message Bible -

“I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed. GOD’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you…”

Going back to the beginning. We also need to rethink VICTORY.

In Christ all victory comes from first having surrendered all-that-we-are, our hopes and dreams to HIM. Then He will fight FOR us and we will begin to experience true VICTORY in the hard places of our hearts.


Victory comes only from surrender and we live in "opposite" world. Not victory as in a war, it IS a war. But when they celebrated Jesus coming on what some call Palm Sunday, which was lamb selection day... or others call Triumphal Entry..they thought Jesus was going to be worldly king who would overthrow the Romans by force. He was King and Messiah but just not the way they thought. So maybe we have to rethink victory. And true victory comes from surrender.

In closing, see if you can click on this link and see an inspiring message from dayspring:
http://ecards.dayspring.com/ecards/subcat.asp?CategoryID=1&SubCategoryID=23&CardID=401887&Widescreen=False&CurPage=1

Sunshine posted a study a while back about VICTORY also.
sunshine study: When you do, He becomes your hiding place and your shelter in the storm -- just as He was to David. Hidden in Him, you can count on His victory, for He not only covers you as a shield, He also fills you with His life.
‪viewtopic.php?f=255&t=10347

Contend for the faith

Contend for the Faith

Scripture: Jude 1:1-4

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Believer's Assurance: the God Who Keeps

Jude's letter begins and ends with very comforting words to Christians. In verse 1 it describes us as "those who are called, loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." All three verbs are passive. They stress the action of God. God calls, God loves, and God keeps. We are called, are loved, and are kept. Jude is very eager to begin by stressing the security of the believer in God's electing and preserving love.

Then at the end of his letter in verse 24 he says, "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God . . . be glory." Notice, in verse 1 we are kept by God for Jesus Christ. And in verse 24 God is able to keep us from falling. Jude begins and ends the letter by assuring believers that God exerts his omnipotence to keep them from falling away from the faith.

So what should you answer when someone questions how you can be so sure you will keep the faith to the end and so be saved at the judgment? You should say something like this: "God has called me out of unbelief. Therefore I know that he loves me with a particular electing love. Therefore I know that he will keep me from falling. He will work in me that which is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21), and present me with rejoicing before the throne of his glory."

The Believer's Call: Fight for the Faith

That's the way Jude begins and ends his letter. But in the middle his concern is different. It is not to help believers feel content, but to help them feel vigilant. Having shown them the electing love of God and the unsurpassed power of God (vv. 2–5) to keep them safe, Jude now shows them the danger that surrounds them. And he tells them to fight for the faith.

Verse 3: "Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." In other words the assured victory of the believing church does not mean that we don't have to fight to win.

Just because the brilliant Commander in Chief promises victory on the beaches doesn't mean the troops can throw their weapons overboard. The promise of victory assumes valor in battle. When God promises that his church will be kept from defeat, his purpose is not that we lay down our sword and go to lunch, but that we pick up the sword of the Spirit and look confidently to God for the strength to fight and win. Wherever the promised security of God is used to justify going AWOL, we may suspect there is a traitor in the ranks.

So God's way, as we see it in Jude, is to give his people confidence that their faith will be victorious in the end (in verses 1 and 24) and then to send them out to fight for it.

Four Aspects of the Main Point of Jude

The main point of this little book of Jude is verse 3. And so I want to make it the main point of my message, namely, it is the duty of every genuine believer to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. I will try to unfold the meaning of this doctrine under four headings.

There is a faith once for all delivered to the saints.
This faith is worth contending for.
This faith is repeatedly threatened from within the church.
Every genuine believer should contend for the faith.

1. There Is a Faith Once for All Delivered to the Saints

Sometimes the word faith is used for the feeling of trust in Christ. Other times, as here, it is used for the truths we believe about the one we trust.

A Personal Relationship with Jesus

Sometimes it is necessary to stress that Christianity is primarily a relationship with Jesus rather than a set of ideas about Jesus. The reason we do this is because no one is saved by believing a set of ideas. The devil believes most of the truths of Christianity. We need to stress that unless a person has a living trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, all the orthodoxy in the world will not get him into heaven.

Objective Truth

But if our stress on the personal relationship with Jesus leads us to deny that there is a set of truths essential to Christianity, we make a grave mistake. There are truths about God and Christ and man and the church and the world which are essential to the life of Christianity. If they are lost or distorted, the result will not be merely wrong ideas but misplaced trust. The inner life of faith is not independent from the doctrinal statement of faith. When doctrine goes bad, so do hearts. There is a body of doctrine which must be preserved.

The main evidence for this in verse 3 is that this faith is said to be "delivered to the saints." This means that it was passed down from the apostles. It was not thought up by the church. It was revealed by God to his apostles and their close associates and then taught to the churches as the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) or the "standard of teaching" (Romans 6:17).


"Once for All"

For us one of the most important phrases in verse 3 is "once for all." Here we are 2,000 years after the faith was first delivered to the church, and we are surrounded with hundreds of people and sects and cults who claim to have a new word of revelation that now completes God's word to mankind. Mohammed offered his Koran. Joseph Smith his Book of Mormon. Sun Moon his Divine Principle. And you meet people every day who consider every contemporary intellectual trend as a suitable replacement for the Bible.

But please notice very carefully. Jude taught that the faith has been once for all delivered to the saints. God's revelation concerning the doctrinal content of our faith is finished. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20). Anyone who comes along and claims to have a new word from God to add to the faith once for all delivered to the saints is against Scripture.

The reason we have a Bible is that the church of the third and fourth century recognized that God had spoken once for all in these writings. The canon was closed, and every other claim to truth is now measured by the standard of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The Unity of Apostolic Faith

One other thing before we leave this first point. When we say there is a faith once for all delivered to the saints, we mean faith and not faiths. Today it is fashionable to speak of many theologies in the New Testament. Scholars love to stress the diversity of viewpoints among the New Testament writers, and the difficulty of bringing them all into a single coherent understanding of reality.

Well, there is indeed some diversity from one inspired writer to another. But I would plead for a new generation of students to think long and hard about the implications of Jude 3: "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." Whatever diversity there is in the way we view this faith, the emphasis here falls on unity. There is an apostolic faith. There is a body of doctrine that hangs together and is called the faith. We should not add to it or take from it. It has been once for all delivered to the saints.

2. This Faith Is Worth Contending For

In Romans 14 we read that one person regards one day better than another and one person regards all days alike. Each should be convinced in his own mind and not despise or condemn the other. Now here we are in Jude being told to contend for what we believe.

Truths Worth Dying For

What I infer from this is that there is a body of doctrine worth contending for, and there are secondary applications of those doctrines which we should not contend with each other about.

But mark it down in your mind: there is truth worth contending for. There is truth worth dying for. That is hard for our relativistic culture to understand. We might be able to imagine dying for people, but not many today consider any truths so precious they will contend for them or even die for them.



The Blood of the Martyrs

It wasn't always this way. The faith that we cherish was preserved for us with the blood of hundreds of reformers. From 1555 to 1558 Queen Mary, the Catholic ruler in England, had 288 Protestant reformers burned at the stake—men like John Rogers, John Hooper, Rowland Taylor, Robert Ferrar, John Bradford, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer. And why were they burned? Because they stood by a truth—the truth that the real presence of Jesus' body is not in the eucharist but in heaven at the Father's right hand. For that truth they endured the excruciating pain of being burned alive.

The blood of the martyrs is a powerful testimony that the faith once for all delivered to the saints is worth contending for. But there is evidence of this right here in verse 3. Jude says that what he is really writing about is our common salvation. "Since I am eager to write about our common salvation, it is necessary to urge you to contend for the faith." When the faith is at stake, our salvation is at stake. If the truth is lost, salvation is lost. The apostles and reformers were willing to die for the sake of the faith because they cared about whether the message of salvation would be preserved—they cared about people and about the glory of God.

We need to gain a whole new sense of the preciousness of biblical doctrine. We need to know as a church the depth and beauty and value of the doctrinal truth.

3. This Faith Is Repeatedly Threatened from Within the Church

The worst enemies of Christian doctrine are professing Christians who do not hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  I don’t want to offend anyone or hurt their feelings but, I would be very careful about advocating any author or book or for that matter any speaker, evangelist or preacher whose words do not line up with Biblical truth.

The Warnings of Paul and Jude

In his last message to the pastors of the church of Ephesus in Acts 20 Paul warned them that after his departure "fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (vv. 29–30). The wolves who pervert the faith are professing Christians. They are pastors and church leaders and seminary teachers and missionaries.

In Jude the reason the church needed to gird itself to contend for the faith is given in verse 4. "For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

So the threat to the faith is coming from among some who are now inside. They are probably saying something like this: If we are saved by grace, then it doesn't matter what we do morally. In fact when a Christian sins, it only serves to magnify the grace of God. So they turned the grace of God against the commandments of Christ and in effect denied the lordship of Jesus.

And that's the way it's been ever since the first century. Paul said it would happen. Jude saw it happening. He saw it as a fulfillment of the apostles' predictions. Verses 17–19: "But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they said to you, 'In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.' It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."

Contentions with Professing Christians

As many tears as it may have cost Paul (Philippians 3:18), virtually all his letters have to do with contentions that he was having with professing Christians. So it should not surprise us if today much of our contending for the faith will be with professing Christians who teach and write things which (at least from our perspective) are contrary to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The plain New Testament teaching is that the faith will be repeatedly threatened from within.

Which leads finally to the admonition . . .

4. Every Genuine Believer Should Contend for the Faith

This letter of Jude is not written to a pastor but to "those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ" (v. 1). The duty to contend for the faith is, therefore, not just the duty of the ordained ministers of the Word, though they do have a special responsibility. It is the duty of every genuine believer.

Verses 20–21 tell some of the things we should do to prepare ourselves to contend for the faith. And verses 22–23 tell some of the ways to contend for the faith.

Preparing to Contend for the Faith

Verses 20–21: "But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep, yourselves in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The best thing we can do to become a church that is effective in contending for the faith is to become a church well built on the faith. "Build yourselves up on your most holy faith." Study! Meditate! Build! Grow! There is so much wonderful truth about God to learn. And the best defense of the faith is to know it and love it.

Prayer is an indispensable part of contending for the faith. "Pray in the Holy Spirit." Unless we seek the mind of the Holy Spirit in prayer, we will not grow in our grasp of the faith and we will be weak contenders.

Contending for the Faith

When it comes to the actual contending Jude says in verses 22–23, "And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

At least two things are evident here. One is that contending sometimes involves an intellectual effort to change the way a person thinks: "Convince some, who doubt." The other is that contending sometimes involves moral reclamation: go after them into the mess where their perverse ideas have taken them, and snatch them back to safety even while you hate what they are doing.

In reality these things always go together: an effort to change the mind and an effort to change the morals. Contending for the faith is never merely an academic exercise. It is never merely mental. Because the source of all false doctrine is the pride of the man's heart not the weakness of his mind.

This is why Jude tells us to grow and pray and stay in the love of God and depend on his mercy before he says anything about how we should contend for the faith. The best argument for the faith is when the saints live it. That's why Peter says, "Be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15). The way you contend is as important as the content of your arguments. You can win with your logic and lose with your life.

Summary

There is a faith once for all delivered to the saints.
This faith is worth contending for.
The faith is repeatedly threatened from within the church by professing Christians.
It is the duty of every believer to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

And The Government Will Be Upon His Shoulder

And The Government Will Be Upon His Shoulder
By Slyvia Gunter

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end.
Isaiah 9:6-7a
 
Most English translations say "and the government shall be on his shoulder."  In our modern culture when we say the word "government," the image that comes to mind is the temporary nature of it. Governments rise and fall. If we don't like who is in office now, we wait a few years and vote in someone else. Many have become cynical and don't believe government can really do anything.

The use of the word "government" waters down the intensity of what the Scripture is saying. To our modern mindset it is better translated "and dominion shall be upon his shoulder." Now what is coming to your mind when you hear dominion? A sense of royalty, rule, supremacy, never-changing authority and power, ability to accomplish whatever is needed or desired, full and complete control.

Full dominion is on the shoulders of Jesus. What beautiful shoulders they are.
 
Shoulders that lend His strength to the weak and sick.
 
Shoulders that bear burdens.
   
Shoulders that picked up a cross and carried it on our behalf.
 
Shoulders that lean forward to pick up a fallen one.
 
Strong shoulders that we can hide behind as He defeats our enemies.
 
Shoulders to lay our head on when our heart aches.
 
Shoulders that embrace us tenderly with love that never lets go.
 
Shoulders that shake with laughter as we delight Him.  
 
Isaiah 9:7 says that of His dominion there will be no end. He is more than enough. He has abundant dominion for your every need. For whatever may be happening in your life right now, King Jesus has really big shoulders. Lean into Him.


 "Lord Jesus, master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas. We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus!" (Henri J. M. Nouwen)
Be blessed to know that you can entrust yourself completely to the King who was foretold so long ago who came to earth to reign in your heart.
King of kings and Lord of lords.
Forever and ever and ever.

Contend for the faith

Contend for the Faith

Scripture: Jude 1:1-4

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Believer's Assurance: the God Who Keeps

Jude's letter begins and ends with very comforting words to Christians. In verse 1 it describes us as "those who are called, loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." All three verbs are passive. They stress the action of God. God calls, God loves, and God keeps. We are called, are loved, and are kept. Jude is very eager to begin by stressing the security of the believer in God's electing and preserving love.

Then at the end of his letter in verse 24 he says, "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God . . . be glory." Notice, in verse 1 we are kept by God for Jesus Christ. And in verse 24 God is able to keep us from falling. Jude begins and ends the letter by assuring believers that God exerts his omnipotence to keep them from falling away from the faith.

So what should you answer when someone questions how you can be so sure you will keep the faith to the end and so be saved at the judgment? You should say something like this: "God has called me out of unbelief. Therefore I know that he loves me with a particular electing love. Therefore I know that he will keep me from falling. He will work in me that which is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21), and present me with rejoicing before the throne of his glory."

The Believer's Call: Fight for the Faith

That's the way Jude begins and ends his letter. But in the middle his concern is different. It is not to help believers feel content, but to help them feel vigilant. Having shown them the electing love of God and the unsurpassed power of God (vv. 2–5) to keep them safe, Jude now shows them the danger that surrounds them. And he tells them to fight for the faith.

Verse 3: "Beloved, being very eager to write to you of our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." In other words the assured victory of the believing church does not mean that we don't have to fight to win.

Just because the brilliant Commander in Chief promises victory on the beaches doesn't mean the troops can throw their weapons overboard. The promise of victory assumes valor in battle. When God promises that his church will be kept from defeat, his purpose is not that we lay down our sword and go to lunch, but that we pick up the sword of the Spirit and look confidently to God for the strength to fight and win. Wherever the promised security of God is used to justify going AWOL, we may suspect there is a traitor in the ranks.

So God's way, as we see it in Jude, is to give his people confidence that their faith will be victorious in the end (in verses 1 and 24) and then to send them out to fight for it.

Four Aspects of the Main Point of Jude

The main point of this little book of Jude is verse 3. And so I want to make it the main point of my message, namely, it is the duty of every genuine believer to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. I will try to unfold the meaning of this doctrine under four headings.

There is a faith once for all delivered to the saints.
This faith is worth contending for.
This faith is repeatedly threatened from within the church.
Every genuine believer should contend for the faith.

1. There Is a Faith Once for All Delivered to the Saints

Sometimes the word faith is used for the feeling of trust in Christ. Other times, as here, it is used for the truths we believe about the one we trust.

A Personal Relationship with Jesus

Sometimes it is necessary to stress that Christianity is primarily a relationship with Jesus rather than a set of ideas about Jesus. The reason we do this is because no one is saved by believing a set of ideas. The devil believes most of the truths of Christianity. We need to stress that unless a person has a living trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, all the orthodoxy in the world will not get him into heaven.

Objective Truth

But if our stress on the personal relationship with Jesus leads us to deny that there is a set of truths essential to Christianity, we make a grave mistake. There are truths about God and Christ and man and the church and the world which are essential to the life of Christianity. If they are lost or distorted, the result will not be merely wrong ideas but misplaced trust. The inner life of faith is not independent from the doctrinal statement of faith. When doctrine goes bad, so do hearts. There is a body of doctrine which must be preserved.

The main evidence for this in verse 3 is that this faith is said to be "delivered to the saints." This means that it was passed down from the apostles. It was not thought up by the church. It was revealed by God to his apostles and their close associates and then taught to the churches as the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) or the "standard of teaching" (Romans 6:17).


"Once for All"

For us one of the most important phrases in verse 3 is "once for all." Here we are 2,000 years after the faith was first delivered to the church, and we are surrounded with hundreds of people and sects and cults who claim to have a new word of revelation that now completes God's word to mankind. Mohammed offered his Koran. Joseph Smith his Book of Mormon. Sun Moon his Divine Principle. And you meet people every day who consider every contemporary intellectual trend as a suitable replacement for the Bible.

But please notice very carefully. Jude taught that the faith has been once for all delivered to the saints. God's revelation concerning the doctrinal content of our faith is finished. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20). Anyone who comes along and claims to have a new word from God to add to the faith once for all delivered to the saints is against Scripture.

The reason we have a Bible is that the church of the third and fourth century recognized that God had spoken once for all in these writings. The canon was closed, and every other claim to truth is now measured by the standard of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The Unity of Apostolic Faith

One other thing before we leave this first point. When we say there is a faith once for all delivered to the saints, we mean faith and not faiths. Today it is fashionable to speak of many theologies in the New Testament. Scholars love to stress the diversity of viewpoints among the New Testament writers, and the difficulty of bringing them all into a single coherent understanding of reality.

Well, there is indeed some diversity from one inspired writer to another. But I would plead for a new generation of students to think long and hard about the implications of Jude 3: "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." Whatever diversity there is in the way we view this faith, the emphasis here falls on unity. There is an apostolic faith. There is a body of doctrine that hangs together and is called the faith. We should not add to it or take from it. It has been once for all delivered to the saints.

2. This Faith Is Worth Contending For

In Romans 14 we read that one person regards one day better than another and one person regards all days alike. Each should be convinced in his own mind and not despise or condemn the other. Now here we are in Jude being told to contend for what we believe.

Truths Worth Dying For

What I infer from this is that there is a body of doctrine worth contending for, and there are secondary applications of those doctrines which we should not contend with each other about.

But mark it down in your mind: there is truth worth contending for. There is truth worth dying for. That is hard for our relativistic culture to understand. We might be able to imagine dying for people, but not many today consider any truths so precious they will contend for them or even die for them.



The Blood of the Martyrs

It wasn't always this way. The faith that we cherish was preserved for us with the blood of hundreds of reformers. From 1555 to 1558 Queen Mary, the Catholic ruler in England, had 288 Protestant reformers burned at the stake—men like John Rogers, John Hooper, Rowland Taylor, Robert Ferrar, John Bradford, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer. And why were they burned? Because they stood by a truth—the truth that the real presence of Jesus' body is not in the eucharist but in heaven at the Father's right hand. For that truth they endured the excruciating pain of being burned alive.

The blood of the martyrs is a powerful testimony that the faith once for all delivered to the saints is worth contending for. But there is evidence of this right here in verse 3. Jude says that what he is really writing about is our common salvation. "Since I am eager to write about our common salvation, it is necessary to urge you to contend for the faith." When the faith is at stake, our salvation is at stake. If the truth is lost, salvation is lost. The apostles and reformers were willing to die for the sake of the faith because they cared about whether the message of salvation would be preserved—they cared about people and about the glory of God.

We need to gain a whole new sense of the preciousness of biblical doctrine. We need to know as a church the depth and beauty and value of the doctrinal truth.

3. This Faith Is Repeatedly Threatened from Within the Church

The worst enemies of Christian doctrine are professing Christians who do not hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  I don’t want to offend anyone or hurt their feelings but, I would be very careful about advocating any author or book or for that matter any speaker, evangelist or preacher whose words do not line up with Biblical truth.

The Warnings of Paul and Jude

In his last message to the pastors of the church of Ephesus in Acts 20 Paul warned them that after his departure "fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (vv. 29–30). The wolves who pervert the faith are professing Christians. They are pastors and church leaders and seminary teachers and missionaries.

In Jude the reason the church needed to gird itself to contend for the faith is given in verse 4. "For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."

So the threat to the faith is coming from among some who are now inside. They are probably saying something like this: If we are saved by grace, then it doesn't matter what we do morally. In fact when a Christian sins, it only serves to magnify the grace of God. So they turned the grace of God against the commandments of Christ and in effect denied the lordship of Jesus.

And that's the way it's been ever since the first century. Paul said it would happen. Jude saw it happening. He saw it as a fulfillment of the apostles' predictions. Verses 17–19: "But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they said to you, 'In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.' It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit."

Contentions with Professing Christians

As many tears as it may have cost Paul (Philippians 3:18), virtually all his letters have to do with contentions that he was having with professing Christians. So it should not surprise us if today much of our contending for the faith will be with professing Christians who teach and write things which (at least from our perspective) are contrary to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

The plain New Testament teaching is that the faith will be repeatedly threatened from within.

Which leads finally to the admonition . . .

4. Every Genuine Believer Should Contend for the Faith

This letter of Jude is not written to a pastor but to "those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ" (v. 1). The duty to contend for the faith is, therefore, not just the duty of the ordained ministers of the Word, though they do have a special responsibility. It is the duty of every genuine believer.

Verses 20–21 tell some of the things we should do to prepare ourselves to contend for the faith. And verses 22–23 tell some of the ways to contend for the faith.

Preparing to Contend for the Faith

Verses 20–21: "But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep, yourselves in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The best thing we can do to become a church that is effective in contending for the faith is to become a church well built on the faith. "Build yourselves up on your most holy faith." Study! Meditate! Build! Grow! There is so much wonderful truth about God to learn. And the best defense of the faith is to know it and love it.

Prayer is an indispensable part of contending for the faith. "Pray in the Holy Spirit." Unless we seek the mind of the Holy Spirit in prayer, we will not grow in our grasp of the faith and we will be weak contenders.

Contending for the Faith

When it comes to the actual contending Jude says in verses 22–23, "And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

At least two things are evident here. One is that contending sometimes involves an intellectual effort to change the way a person thinks: "Convince some, who doubt." The other is that contending sometimes involves moral reclamation: go after them into the mess where their perverse ideas have taken them, and snatch them back to safety even while you hate what they are doing.

In reality these things always go together: an effort to change the mind and an effort to change the morals. Contending for the faith is never merely an academic exercise. It is never merely mental. Because the source of all false doctrine is the pride of the man's heart not the weakness of his mind.

This is why Jude tells us to grow and pray and stay in the love of God and depend on his mercy before he says anything about how we should contend for the faith. The best argument for the faith is when the saints live it. That's why Peter says, "Be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15). The way you contend is as important as the content of your arguments. You can win with your logic and lose with your life.

Summary

There is a faith once for all delivered to the saints.
This faith is worth contending for.
The faith is repeatedly threatened from within the church by professing Christians.
It is the duty of every believer to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

10 Plagues

Ten Egyptian Plagues For Ten Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Moses, called of God to be the Deliverer.

The God of Israel is greater than all other Egyptian Gods and Goddesses.

Moses was a great prophet, called by God with a very important job to do. As an instrument in the Lord's hand he performed many signs, or "wonders", attempting to convince Pharaoh to allow the Israelites freedom from their bondage of slavery to the Egyptians. These "wonders" are more commonly referred to as "plagues" sent from the God of Israel, as a proof that the "one true God" was far greater than all of the multiple Gods of the Egyptians.

These Egyptian Plagues were harsh and varied to correspond to the ancient egyptian gods and goddesses that were prevelant during Moses time in Egypt.

The number ten is a significant number in biblical numerology. It represents a fullness of quantity. Ten Egyptian Plagues Means Completely Plagued.

Just as the "Ten Commandments" become symbolic of the fullness of the moral law of God, the ten ancient plagues of Egypt represent the fullness of God's expression of justice and judgments, upon those who refuse to repent.

Ten times God, through Moses, allows Pharaoh to change his mind, repent, and turn to the one true God, each time increasing the severity of the consequence of the plagues suffered for disobedience to His request. Ten times Pharaoh, because of pride, refuses to be taught by the Lord, and receives "judgments" through the plagues, pronounced upon his head from Moses, the deliverer.

Jesus Christ…Savior and Redeemer of the world.

The Ten Egyptian Plagues testify of Jesus Christ and His power to save.

Moses and Aaron are sent as messengers of the Lord, to Pharaoh, to instruct him to let the children of Israel go "so that they may serve the Lord." It is further stipulated that they must be allowed to travel a three days journey so that they may offer their sacrifices as a means of worship.

Pharaoh responds simply, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." Soon however, Pharaoh will find out who this God is, and why he should obey His voice. He will understand His power over all the other Egyptian gods and goddesses.

These ten Egyptian plagues not only demonstrated the power of God to Moses, the children of Israel, the Egyptians, and Pharaoh, but they were of such magnitude that they would be remembered for all generations, throughout the entire world. They again testify, as does both the Old and New Testament alike that salvation, from beginning to end, is only accomplished through Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of our faith." (Heb 12:2)

Corresponding Egyptian God and Goddess to the type of plague:

Type of plague that God pronounced upon Egypt:

Hapi- Egyptian God of the Nile

Egyptian Plague- Water Turned to Blood

The first plague that was given to the Egyptians from God was that of turning the water to blood. As Aaron, the spokesman for Moses, touched the "rod" of the Lord to the Nile River it immediately turned to blood, all the fish died, and the river stank. Partially able to duplicate this miracle, the magicians of Pharaoh also turn water into blood, leaving Pharaoh unimpressed with this great wonder from God.

Seven days the water throughout all the land of Egypt remained in this state, unsuitable for drinking, the perfect length of time to demonstrate that the Lord was superior to all the other Gods of Egypt.

Heket- Egyptian Goddess of Fertility, Water, Renewal

Egyptian Plague- Frogs coming from the Nile River

Still, Pharaoh refused to let the children of Israel go from the presence of Egypt.

The second plague that was extended upon Egypt, from the "rod" by Aaron, was that of frogs. The frogs came up from the river and were in their houses, in their food, in their clothing, in every place possible. From the greatest to the least, no one in Egypt escaped the plague of frogs. Pharaoh's magicians were able to bring more frogs in their attempt to imitate the power of God, but only Moses was able to make the frogs go away. This was another attack on a famous Egyptian Goddess, Heket.

Geb- Egyptian God of the Earth

Egyptian Plague- Lice from the dust of the earth

Still Pharaoh would not concede, even after this display of power from the Lord, or magnificent plague, he would not let them go.

At the command of the Lord to Moses, Aaron was told to stretch forth his rod and smite the dust of the earth. When he did the dust became lice throughout all the land, on both people and beasts. The very dust that was referred to in the creation process of man is now used to plague men, as a reminder of his mortality and sin which both lead to death.

Finally, the magicians of Pharaoh are humiliated, being unable to compete with this power that was so much greater than themselves and the powers that they had from their Egyptian gods and goddesses, and they profess, "this is the finger of God." This was the last plague that required Aaron's involvement, as the next set of three plagues are issued by the word of Moses himself.



Khepri- Egyptian God of creation, movement of the Sun, rebirth

Egyptian Plague- Swarms of Flies

With the fourth Egyptian plague, which consisted of flies, begins the great miracle of separation or differentiation. Moses met Pharaoh at the Nile River in the morning and made the demand, speaking on behalf of the Lord, "Let My peole go, that they may serve Me." Again, Pharaoh hardened his heart and disregarded the request, resulting in a pronouncement of swarms of flies.

This time, however, only the Egyptians are affected by the judgement, or plague, and the children of Israel remain unscathed. This wonder also moves the Egyptian plagues to a different level, adding destruction as well as discomfort to the consequence of their decisions.

Plagued by flies, Pharaoh tried a new tactic and begins bargaining with the Lord, showing his desire to maintain power and authority over God. He tries to dictate the terms and conditions of the offer, telling them they may sacrifice but only "in the land" clearly not complying with the requested "three days journey" that the Lord required. Moses wouldn't budge, and Pharaoh relented allowing them to leave, but telling them not to "go very far."

This temporary allowance is made solely to have Moses "intreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart", at this point Pharaoh has learned in part who the Lord is and asks for His assistance over the Egyptian gods and goddesses. As soon as the request is granted by the Lord, Pharaoh reneges on his promise and will not let them go, and continues to worship his Egyptian Gods.

Hathor-Egyptian Goddess of Love and Protection


Egyptian Plague- Death of Cattle and Livestock

Moses once again demanded of Pharaoh, "Let my people go, that they may serve me", revealing also the next Egytian plague to occur on the condition of continued disobedience to the request. This plague was given with an advanced warning, allowing a period of repentance to occur, which goes unheeded.

"Tomorrow" the hand of the Lord would be felt upon all the cattle and livestock, of only the Egyptians, as"grievous murrain." This means that disease and pestilence would fall upon their livestock with so severe a consequence as to cause them to die. This plague affected the Egyptian by creating a huge economic disaster, in areas of food, transportation, military supplies, farming, and economic goods that were produced by these livestock. Still Pharaohs heart remained hard and he would not listen to the Lord but remained faith to the Egytian gods and goddesses.

Isis- Egyptian Goddess of Medicine and Peace


Egyptian Plague- Ashes turned to Boils and Sores

Unannounced the sixth Egyptian plague is given, for the first time, directly attacking the Egyptian people themselves. Being instructed by the Lord, Moses took ashes from the furnace of affliction, and threw them into the air. As the dust from the ashes blew all over Egypt, it settled on man and beast alike in the form of boils and sores.

As with the previous two, throughout the remaining Egyptian plagues the division is drawn between the Egyptians and the children of Israel, as God gives protection to his covenant people. The severity of the judgment of God has now become personal, as it is actually felt by the people themselves.

Cleanliness being paramount in the Egyptian society, this plague pronounces the people "unclean." The magicians who have been seen throughout the previous plagues are unable to perform ceremonially rituals to their Egyptian Gods and Goddesses in this unclean state, not allowing them to even stand before Pharaoh; they are seen in the scriptural account no more. It is great to notice the contrast shown as Moses and Aaron are the only ones left standing in front of Pharaoh, with the "One True God" as their support.

Nut- Egyptian Goddess of the Sky


Egyptian Plague- Hail rained down in the form of fire

Again warning is given before the enactment of the plague takes place. Pharaoh is warned of the impending doom that will be faced if he does not listen to the Lord, and forget his own Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Hail of unspeakable size and ability to destroy, would rain down from the sky and turn to fire as it hit the ground. The Lord, in showing Pharaoh that "there is none like Him in the Earth", allows those who are willing to hear His word, and do as He commands, to be saved.

A division is now felt between the Egyptians in the form of those "converted" to the Lord, as shown by their obedience and willingness to escape to the protection of their "houses." Similarly we are warned to make our houses a place of refuge from the world today, we have been warned.

Interestingly enough, the crops that were destroyed by the hail consisted of flax and barley, which were ripening in the fields. These two particular crops were not the mainstay of their diet, but were used more specifically for their clothing and libations. This destruction would make their life uncomfortable, but as far as effecting their food supply , the wheat still survived. This gave the Egyptians still another chance to turn to "the One True God", and forsake their own Egyptian gods and goddesses, thus showing His mercy and grace even yet.

Seth- Egyptian God of Storms and Disorder


Egyptian Plague- Locusts sent from the sky

Still Pharaoh would not listen to the message of the Lord, still he relys on his own Egyptian gods and goddesses.

The eighth plague issued by the Lord had an even greater purpose than all the others, it was to be felt so that Pharaoh would tell even "his sons and son's sons" the mighty things of the Lord, thus teaching even future generations of the power of the "strong hand of God" over all the other Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh with the same request, "Let my people go so that they may serve me", and pronounced the judgment of locusts if not heeded. This is the second wave of destruction to follow the hail, and whatever crops were left in tact after that display, were now completely consumed by the swarms of locusts that were unleashed from the sky. This wonder definitely affected their life source. By hitting them in their food supply, the Lord displayed the possibility of eminent death if a change of heart did not occur. Yet still, Pharaoh would not listen.

Ra- The Sun God


Egyptian Plague- Three Days of Complete Darkness

Darkness now fell upon Egypt, unannounced, as a prelude to the future fate to be felt by the Egyptian empire when the message of the Lord was not heeded, and they still turned to their own Egyptian gods and goddesses. Three days of palpable darkness, that was so immense it could be physically felt, covered the land of Egypt.

The sun, the most worshipped God in Egypt other than Pharaoh himself, gave no light. The Lord showed that he had control over the sun as a witness that the God of Israel had ultimate power over life and death. The psychological and religious impact would have had a profound influence on the Egyptians at this point. Darkness was a representation of death, judgment and hopelessness. Darkness was a complete absence of light.

Pharaoh- The Ultimate Power of Egypt


Egyptian Plague- Death of the Firstborn

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, was worshipped by the Egyptians because he was considered to be the greatest Egyptian God of all. It was believed that he was actually the son of Ra himself, manifest in the flesh.

After the plague of darkness felt throughout the land was lifted, Pharaoh resumed his position of "bargaining with the Lord" and offered Moses another "deal." Since virtually all of the Egyptian animals had been consumed by the judgments of the Lord, Pharaoh now consented to the request made, to let the people go, but they must leave their animals behind.

This was a totally unacceptable offer, as the animals were to be used as the actual sacrifice to the Lord. The Lord is uncompromising when He has set the terms.

Enraged by the refusal, Pharaoh pronounced the last deadly plague to be unleashed upon the land from his very own lips as he warns Moses, "Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die."

And Moses said, "Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more."

At this point the passive obedience that the children of Israel have shown is now moved to a level of active obedience. They are given strict instructions to follow so that they do not also feel the judgment of this last plague sent by the Lord. These instructions are known as "The Feast of Passover", "The Feast of Unleavened Bread", and "The Law of the Firstborn." In these rituals are displayed the law of sacrifice, the law of the gospel, and the law of consecration, all necessary requirements to receive ultimate salvation from spiritual death.

"Let My people go that they may serve Me"

As God's children today we have learned through this great show of power that ultimately it will require "active obedience" to receive salvation from the "One True God."

Looking back over the instructions that were given to Pharaoh to "let my people go that they may serve me", this principle is manifest throughout. Service to the Lord is the requirement of His people, and the blessing for this show of obedience and sacrifice is the ultimate salvation not only from physical death but from spiritual death as well.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ten-Plagues-For-Ten-Gods

Presence of God

Present: (Dictionary) -“Being, existinga or occurring at this time; to furnish or endow with a gift; to formally introduce a person to another.”
Present: (Bible) “To stand by; to present; the present time; to be at hand.”
The English language must seem a bit odd in places as people study to learn English. The words “present” or “presents” can mean different things but are spelled exactly the same way. The word “presence” sound like “presents” but is spelled differently.
The Jews were well acquainted with the presence of God. They had seen His glory at the tabernacle many times in the wilderness and at Mount Sinai. They understood that God was not only very real, but was in the midst of them and abundantly available for help. He provided food and water and protected them in their journeys and often against great odds. People who study God’s word know that God’s heart is to give:
James 1: 16-18:  ” 16 Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. 17Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. 18By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.”  (HCSB)
Our Father provides all we need and gifts us in many ways. However, some people want or seek His “presents” rather than His “presence”. God desires to have an intimate relationship with us and one of the things that happens within that fellowship is God’s release of gifting into our lives and into the church of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7:  ” 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (NASB)
God will gift each believer with the gifts that are best for us- whatever they may be. He desires to see His children walking in Spirit and truth and seeking Him and His kingdom. Out of that relationship will flow all the gifts (presents) that our God releases in our life.
The Scriptures are filled with amazing promises and reveal the heart of our heavenly Father. But we also need to have a clear understanding of what it means to be in God’s presence. King David knew what it meant to be in God’s presence and he also knew what it was like to leave that presence to pursue his own path. David’s sin with Bathsheba led him to cry out to God in Psalm 51.
Psalm 51:10-12:  ” 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.   12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” (NKJV)
David had seen what had happened to King Saul when God removed His presence and David did not want to lose his relationship with the Lord. He knew it would result in a disaster. The Lords presence is seen and felt in His creation, in praise, in worship and in prayer. The creator of the universe seeks to have a relationship with us and invites us into His presence so we can be washed in His grace. All through the Psalms we see a focus on God’s presence.
 Psalm 16:11:  ”You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” (HCSB)
Psalm 100:1-2:  ”Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!2 Serve the Lord with gladness;  Come before His presence with singing.” (NKJV)
The writer of the book of Hebrews called attention to the need to seek God’s presence:
Hebrews 4: 16:  ” 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (NIV)
Jesus also wanted us to know the power of being in God’s presence and experience that intimacy:
Matthew 6:6:  ” 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (NKJV)
Matthew 14:23:  ” 23 After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.” (HCSB)
Jesus would often pray alone. He went away from distractions and focused on His prayer time.
As followers of Jesus we should be students of His word and seeking the truths that are there. Being in the presence of God means there will be peace-even when the things around us are in chaos. Being in His presence means having joy in the midst of trials. Being in His presence means singing “Amazing Grace” when your life situation is painful. In His presence there is peace and joy. We need to find that place so we can truly be lights in this world. If our spirit is hurt or we have not been seeking God, we need to change direction and cry out to our Lord:
Acts 3:19:  ” 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” (NIV)
Our majestic, loving Lord is there, waiting for us. Let us cast aside all restraints and take action. Let us seek Him in prayer, praise and worship. We all know that we have one life to live. The best way to walk out our salvation is abiding in His presence! Thank you Father for hearing our prayer-help us enter into your presence and to abide there.  Amen
http://sevenminutesermons.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/presents-and-presence/
How to Practice God's Presence
By Rick Warden, eHow Contributor
Practicing God's presence has to do with developing an awareness, by faith, that God is with us each moment of the day. A revered 17th Century French monk, Brother Lawrence, coined the phrase in his writings. He laid hold of powerful truths in the New Testament and his posthumous book, "The Practice of the Presence of God," is widely read to this day. The following seven steps include Lawrence's main principles and additional scriptural doctrines.
Instructions
Things You'll Need
⦁ Bible
⦁ Daily devotionals
The first step sets us free to enjoy the others. Receive Jesus Christ as savior and lord. Jesus taught in John 3:3 that we need to be born again spiritually to establish a connection with God.
2.  Recognize your body has become a temple of the Holy Spirit. When we become children of God, our whole perspective on life should change. We are to no longer live just for ourselves, but with an attitude of surrender and submission to God. See 1 Corinthians 6:19. This outlook leads to a closer sense of communion with God.
3.  Relate with God throughout the day, every day. The essence of the new covenant is the ability to have a personal and intimate relationship with the living God. See Jeremiah 31:31-34. This ability has been promised by God, but we have a conscious choice regarding our mindset. The Apostle Paul wrote: "Be joyful always; pray continually." (1 Thessalonians 5.16-17). There's real joy in God's presence and this can be increased by developing a continuous sense of thankfulness to God.
4.  Renew your mind with the word of God. Romans 12:2a says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Meditating on scripture and daily devotionals, asking God questions and putting your knowledge into daily use are all helpful towards practicing God's presence.
5.  Resolve to love God in all you think and do. The minute we recognize anything in our minds and in our lives that will hinder our close relationship with God, we are to turn away from it completely. This is perhaps the most difficult step, requiring the most self-discipline.
6.  Repent sincerely when needed. We all sin and sin separates us from fellowship with God. Ideally, we will repent quickly and turn from our sin when we slip up. But we also need to recognize there may be deeper issues that may require a longer process of healing along with repentance.
7.  Run the race of life as an adventure. In a dynamic, living relationship with God, each day truly is a new adventure. The more we are able to practice the presence of God, the more we will be in awe at the things we see God doing in us and through us.
Tips & Warnings
Plug into a church and community of other Christians who also desire to grow spiritually. Growing in knowledge and experience will help you practice the presence of God for the long haul.
Be cautious of living only for the sake of experience. Seeking God's presence is a good thing, but the main goal for the Christian is to glorify and please Him.
Don't be discouraged if you find this practice difficult. Brother Lawrence, for example, wrote, "This proved to be an exercise frequently painful, yet I persisted through all difficulties."
http://utmost.org/
http://www.ehow.com/print/how_7241240_practice-god_s-presence.html