Brought out of Egypt

 This story starts with God who heard saw the of the oppression of His people.

Exodus 3:7-8

⁷ And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their ^[a]sorrows. ⁸ So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 

As with most of my posts they are very personal and based on what I am going through. This one started at the beginning of this year when I began to feel the need to pray for God to open a door to move me from one job to another. We prayed and prayed, this was not the best place for me, it was if you will my Egypt, a place that was not good but comfortable because I knew pretty much what to expect everyday. In praying for God to open the door He sure did, He moved me out of our Egypt and on the journey towards our promised land. Where that land is I have an idea but there is a journey that goes along with it and this is where I am at right now on that journey.

Exodus 14:10-12

¹⁰ And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

You see it would be really easy for me and it has been to complain about God moving me from that comfortable place of hurt and pain, I had grown so used to. Why Lord would you move me out of this job/ Why into this wilderness where I don't know where my next paycheck is coming from? There are many reasons as to why God brings us out of a particular place, the biggest one is for HIS glory. You see God does not work in a vacuum, He knows exactly what He is doing. For me there are a number of reasons as to why I believe God moved me from my last job, ultimately, I truly don't know, but what it boils down to is God's ways are not my ways and He has a plan that is going to cause Him to get the glory, it will cause us and others to worship Him.

 Exodus 14:13-15

¹³ And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation^[b] of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold^[c] your peace.” ¹⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

 You see as with the people of Israel, God had to take them to the end of themselves, God does the same thing with us, when there could be any sort of claim that we did something God won't get the glory, over and over again we see this throughout the bible. Here as we are discussing in Exodus, the people were locked in and couldn't go forward or back, Joshua at Jericho (Joshua 6), Gideon and God's defeat of the Midaneites (Judges 6-7), probably the most well known story of being saved, the virgin birth of Jesus (Luke 2), there are even more stories, the Apostles walking out of Jail, Jesus feeding the 5000. Do you see where I am going? God wants all of the glory. Here is the best part of this story, when God came to save His people He was right on time, not late but look at something here really closely, they walked through on DRY GROUND! you see God cared about them so much He even made the ground dry, they could have I'm sure walked through on muddy ground, or even damp sand (dirt) but they didn't THE GROUND WAS DRY!  don't miss that part, because in all my years of studying these verses I've missed that part. When God comes to save us He doesn't just save us halfway, He does so beyond all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20-21). 

As I was praying this past week I really felt the Lord impress upon my heart to seek Him first, but not just the first part of Matthew 6:33 Seek first the Kingdom of God... but the second half as well and all these things will be added to you. Throughout the bible over and over God promises to take care of us. We are to seek His kingdom first, and let God worry about the rest. Easier said than done. I pray that for those of us reading this, including myself, that I would trust that when God parts the Red Sea that He will give us dry ground to walk on.

Blessings,

Nick

 

Brokenness

“And he went out and wept bitterly.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭62‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The last couple of months has more than anything become about brokenness in my life, I feel so broken, I have been trying so hard to fix my problems that I guess this is the point I’ve had to get to. I had to become so broken like Peter when he denied Jesus that only Jesus could restore me, fix me, provide for my needs, He needed to take me to a place of complete reliance on Him and His provision. I am waiting for an open door, I don’t know what it looks like or when it will open, what I do know is that in God’s timing it will open and I will see it. God is using this time for me to find joy in Him and His provision, I don’t just want God to give me what I ask for but for Him to provide that door for me. The last couple of weeks I have been taken from what I thought was relying on Jesus to an even more broken place, I think in a sense it is like what I have been told recruits experience at basic training, they are broken of what they thought they were and built up into something so much stronger and better than they could ever imagine. We see this same sort of thing in how Jesus was training the disciples and in particular Peter.

Peter had to come to a place of complete brokenness before he could be used by Jesus. This is the place where we see that “weeping is but for a night, but joy comes in the morning”. Ps 30:5b Peter spent a could of days in sure renewing what Jesus had said about denying Him, what I don’t think Peter understood and as that his boldness would be in his own flesh, he needed to come to a place of complete reliance on Jesus. “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?””
‭‭John‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬
Peter here reacts according to his own flesh, I’m sure I would have done the same thing, you see your Rabbi being arrested and Peter in his boldness also had just come from a place of telling Jesus he wouldn’t deny Him, this is an understandable reaction considering he had even told Jesus, He shouldn’t go the the cross and Jesus rebuked him then, however, again, this time Peter is still reacting in the flesh. After all of this went down we begin to see the beginnings of the breaking of Peter, the fire, and he first denial, the second, and then with a finality one of the relatives who was with the mob when they arrested Jesus called Him out, Peter denied Jesus, realizing what he had done he wept bitterly. (He was broken)

Here is the great part if about this, on the day that Jesus rose from the grave we see Gods merciful grace from when the Angel tells Mary to go get Peter this is the amazing grace of our Lord and Peter even understanding that grace “and both of them running together” John 20:4 Peter knew of the Lords grace already just from having spent three or so years with Jesus, he knew of Jesus’ love, His grace, His mercy. Now comes Peters restoration John 21:15-19 This is where we see Jesus restore Peter to His service and not of his (Peter’s) flesh, Jesus found Peter exactly where He knew He would Peter returning to his old ways, fishing. Jesus still had to do some work in Peter, who I’m sure was feeling pretty low at this point. Jesus asks him a few questions, and it is at this point that Peter finally get’s what it means to be completely reliant on Jesus. We see that from this point on Peter pretty much does everything in following after Jesus and not by His strength, Jesus even tells Peter that he is going to go where he does not want to signaling his death.

What does this mean for us? Well I cannot tell you what it means for you but I can say I know what it means for me…God had to take me to a place of complete brokenness a place where I’ve had to completely rely on Him and His saving grace to get me and my family through this situation we are in. I am still very much trusting in God’s grace and waiting on Jesus to restore me, in many ways I am seeking Him so much deeper than I ever have, I am having to trust Him for everything, I have nothing to give, I bring nothing to the table other than my trust. It is not easy and yet I am completely reminded that the Battle Belongs to the Lord 2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do no the dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but Gods

What are you doing?

 I know that these are super inconsistent with being posted. I try to post as often as I can. 

I got this email a few weeks ago it is from Spurgeon. As I think about life and often wonder what God has for me, this quote is what comes to mind. 

 "The first sign of the heavenly call is an intense, all-absorbing desire for the work. If any student in this room could be content to be a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a senator, or a king, in the name of heaven and earth let him go his way; he is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God in its fullness, for a man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that for which his inmost soul pants. If on the other hand, you can say that for all the wealth of both the Indies you could not and dare not espouse any other calling so as to be put aside from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, then, depend upon it, if other things be equally satisfactory, you have the signs of this apostleship."

I can say without a doubt that there are a number of jobs/careers I could do, none of them will fulfill me in the same way that my calling will, there is not enough money in the world to make me want to do anything else. I have known for nearly 25 years what I want to do, I will be patient until God opens that door. God has often called us to be fruitful where we are planted and I believe that is something we are supposed to do and be faithful to where God has planted us. So in reality it is just like the Apostle Paul writes below, serve where you're planted, when God is ready to make a change He will

 1 Corinthians 7:17; Only let each person lead the life[fn] that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

There are many gifts in the body, some people are called to many different things, each gift is a blessing it is what makes the body of Christ unique. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 28-31; Ephesians 4:11-13

 

Be faithful to where God has planted you, God in His grace and mercy is preparing you to serve in His kingdom.

 

Blessings,

Nick

Everyone deserves a participation Trophy

But it's not what your thinking...

 Some years ago my daughter played T-Ball, growing up playing sports I felt that it was important for her to learn to win graciously and when she lost to learn to work harder to improve and give it her all. She loved being on the field and cheering on her team...and the other team too. We quickly realized that maybe sports wasn't for her. At the end of the season all the teams got together and had a valley wide pizza party where everyone got a participation trophy. It's the proverbial thanks for showing up there's no reason they deserved one, they didn't do anything to earn it, if I remember correctly they didn't even keep score, and at that age I don't think they should, but to get a prize just for showing up? 

 

But that's not what this post is about. I want to share with you a couple of verses from the Bible that give us some insight why we all deserve a different kind of participation trophy.

2 Peter 1: 3-4 according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  (4) whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  (NKJV)

 

Did you see that? Let's go a little deeper...and dive in to

 

v 3. talks about a Divine power that has been given to us, it includes all things that are associated with life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him. Let's start with the Him, who is that? verse 2 tells that that He is Jesus. Let's look a little deeper here, we see that all things that pertain to life and godliness. You see when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are saying that we commit our living our life for Him and His glory. We no longer live for ourselves. We need to remember that it is not because of anything that we do but that redemption comes from Jesus alone. When we try to be godly on our own we can't it only comes from Jesus. He called us. The Bible says that He knew us before we were even born.

 

Let's now look at what has been given to us that allows us righteousness. Divine Power the word that was used in the Greek for Divine is Theios~ the meaning of this word is of Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the Father.  It is referring to our God, it's not saying that we're going to become gods but we get to participate in His power. Let's look at what happened when Jesus sent the disciples out. Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. The disciples of Jesus were able to do the same things He did, but that's not completely what Peter is referring to here, it's eternal. This divine power Peter is referring to is the same eternal life we receive when we follow Christ.

 

How does that sound? Salvation isn't just about fire insurance, what it is about is spending eternity with Jesus

 

Here is the good part. Verse 4 is where we learn how to get that participation trophy. Let me let you in on a little secret...it is FREE! We so often go through life trying to do things on our own, as Christians there are times that others will tell us that if we are not good or mess up that we will lose our salvation, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The first part of this verse confirms this, our salvation is granted by Jesus, it’s nothing that we can get apart from God. It is a promise as written in the Gospel of John 3:16-18.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

Being a Christian isn’t just about being a good person, that is a byproduct, but it is about being able to spend eternity with Christ, there are several things that happen when we accept Jesus as our Savior, the first thing is we get that participation trophy, that is the Divine nature that allows us to escape the corruption that our sin brings. The second is that when the time happens, we get to partake in the glory of a redeemed body and spend eternity with Jesus, I can tell you this I don’t want the alternative. I love that when we receive the divine nature that we are freed from the sin and corruption of sin in this world. 

 

In closing let’s review.

 

·      Divine Power-In all things

·      Called by Him-Who? Jesus

·      To what? His own glory and excellence

·      Who gave us our trophy? Jesus

·      Are we able to earn it? Nope, its free can’t do anything to get it and can’t do anything to lose it

·      What does it bring us? The ability to live in the new life that Jesus has given us freed from the bondage of sin and in the peace of God. That’s something that I want to shout from the rooftops!

 

Blessings,

 

Nick

 

 

The Day Before

Luke 23: 55-56

⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

 

This was the Friday that Jesus died, the curtain was torn in two. The sacrifice had been made, even the Roman centurion believed He was the Son of God. No one else was there watching Him as He was buried except Mary Magdalene, Jesus' mother Mary, Joseph of Arimathea who provided the tomb. They all knew where He was buried. What happens now? They went home and prepared the spices for his burial, this had to be done before the Sabbath, because God had commanded them to rest. Then comes the waiting day, you see Good Friday we celebrate that the ultimate sacrifice was made the penalty that had to have the shedding of blood which was usually made by a spotless lamb was made by the perfect Lamb of God. This is the now what day, God is still there He didn't disappear when Jesus died, He was silent, waiting on the perfect moment to fulfill all that He had promised.

 

 

Sometimes it's hard to wait, I'm sure Peter and the rest of Jesus's disciples didn't know what was to come. The day before has to be the hardest one, you're in the middle of waiting on the promise of God to be fulfilled and God is basically silent. Mark's gospel tells us who was there, that Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome showed up to anoint Jesus' body. They still didn't understand that He was going to rise again. Luke's gospel gives us a little more insight as to what happens, Luke 24 tells us that two men (angels) asked them "why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” back in Mark they specifically tell the women to tell the disciples and Peter. They then went and did just that, Peter sprinted to the tomb, why? He remembered what Jesus said, I'm sure it clicked, everything made sense. Those promises are fulfilled.

This is the same for us, we have those days where it seems like the worse thing in the world is happening and then silence, do we remember God's word in that He said he would provide? That He loves us and is always there? We need to remember that the promises of God always come to pass. He promised it and it will happen. It's that day before that is the hardest. But we have to remember that God will always fulfill His promises. Which is what we get to celebrate tomorrow.

He is Risen!

Good Friday???

 Was it really good? 

Mark 15:33-39

³³ And when the sixth hour^[a] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.^{[b] 34} And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹ And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he^[c] breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son^[d] of God!

Let's break this down, the 6th hour is noon, think though about the fact that it was completely dark during the middle of the day doesn't it make that kind of weird? Something was off, the Son of Man was hanged on the cross for all to see. It is a historical fact that on this day over 2000 years ago that this happened. The next verse here Jesus cries out with a loud voice, those standing by thought that He was calling for Elijah to come save Him, which is ironic because Elijah couldn't and even Jesus wouldn't save Himself. 

Over this period of 3 hours of darkness that light that had been on the world was off, why is that? Jesus is also know as the light of the world, Matt. 5:14-15 In fact I don't think it's weird at all that darkness had come over the whole land until the 9th hour, wouldn't it be hard as a Father to watch your Son die as the sacrifice. Jesus willingly allowed Himself to be hung on that cross and to suffer and die so that we might be able to have eternity with Him. During this time from Jesus's trial, suffering, and death on the cross there was a Holy work being done. God was accepting that we would no longer have to have a priest atone (pay) for our sin through a sacrifice. This was the final time that it would have to be done for sin. 

You might be asking yourself where is that proof, well it's in the next 2 verses. Verse 38, "and the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom". First of all that curtain was thick, 4" thick, 60' long and 30' wide, it would take over 300 priests to even move it. Here is my first proof, even if they wanted to the priests would have had to have everyone there to rip it, and they wanted nothing to do with Jesus, it was them who condemned Him to death in the first place. Second it was torn from top to bottom. This is one of my favorite verses, because it show that God through accepting Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice that we have access to Him directly and don't need a priest to go in and give a sacrifice on our behalf. Finally, in verse 39 even the Roman centurion declares that Jesus was the Son of God, it doesn't get any more simple than that. Yes, Jesus died the Apostle John in Ch 19 verses 33-34 chronicles it in more detail by saying that "when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. v. 34 But one of the soldiers pierce his side with a speak, and at one there came out blood and water." That couldn't happen unless Jesus was dead.

 It was at the moment Jesus died that our payment was made for our sin. It is because of that payment that we get to have a relationship with God. We don't, can't work off our sin. This is the difference between Christianity and every other Religion in the world. We get to rest in Gods sin payment.

 

So to answer my question I proposed earlier, Yes! today Good Friday is good, very GOOD!

Until the whole world knows 

Nick

Holy Week

 Matthew 21: 1-10

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt,^[a] the foal of a beast of burden.’”

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

 

As we begin this week, it's important to remember a couple of things. One this week is a celebration that should occur throughout the year not just during one week, and two we should celebrate this week as a remembrance. It's also Passover week, (the feast of unleavened bread) The Jews were told as they left Egypt to remember the Lord their God who brought them out of Egypt.

A couple of things that stand out to me about our passage for today. 1. Obedience both on the part of Jesus and also His disciples. 2. The donkey

Let's dig in a bit. verse 5 prophetically predicts who Jesus would ride into Jerusalem, it's from Zechariah 9:9, you see without this verse telling the Jews what to look for they wouldn't have been able to know that their Messiah was riding into Jerusalem, and "if" Jesus wasn't the Messiah this prophecy couldn't have been fulfilled. The second part to this is that Jesus of course being God in the form of man knew this and was obedient to fulfill this prophecy, the second part of the obedience we see here is that Jesus told the disciples where they needed to go to get the donkey and if anyone was to say anything what they were to reply. The disciples did as they were instructed they followed His instruction to the letter and Jesus later riding into Jerusalem.

For our second part the donkey...Jesus could have ridden on anything He like, personally I would have chosen a roaring lion, but that's me and I'm not God nor do I want to be. Jesus chose a donkey, this was a sign, you see in those days the Jews were being oppressed by the Romans. They really had no rights other than to survive and pay taxes. They were looking for a king someone who would save them from their earthly troubles. Don't we often do that? We will often run to Jesus when things get hard, I can't tell you all the times that someone has come to me saying, "If only God would save me, I'll do this or that, but only if He saves me." This my friends is the wrong mindset to take we shouldn't run to God just to save us from our earthly troubles, but rather to save us from our sin and the eternal damnation. This donkey represents so much for us, it represents that Jesus came to not just save us from earthly  trouble but our sin and earthly damnation in hell.

Philippians 2:7-- ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,^[a] being born in the likeness of men.

 It represents He came as a humble servant who was to be that ultimate sacrifice the one final sacrifice so that we can spend eternity with Him, worshiping Him forever. Sadly though so many won't see this sacrifice, they are going to miss the servant while looking for the bigger and better thing. 

My hope today is that you would look to the Lamb of God, the One who rode a donkey humbling Himself so we are saved from our sin, we only need to be obedient to the call and surrender ourselves to Him. God's Word says "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved..."Acts 16:31

If you have questions please reach out...leave a comment or send an email. 

Blessings

Nick