Study-Grow-Know Ministries

The other day, in church, as our pastor walked up the two stairs to the platform, I pictured Jesus sitting on those steps and me walking over to Him. I took a seat on the floor and looked up at Him. He looked at me and sincerely and compassionately asked, "Fred, how are you doing?" This was not a vision. It was my imagination, yet it concurs with Scripture because of how much He cares about you and me. He didn't ask me because He wouldn't have known. It was His way of drawing me out, telling me it was safe to share with him by deepest, darkest thoughts and concerns. He knows them already yet does not reject me.

n my last article, I spoke of being in the Word. No one will completely master His Word in this life though I'm amazed at the ability of some to quote it verbatim. If we are honest with ourselves, we will be forced to admit that we probably do not read or study it enough. We also do not likely apply ourselves to memorizing parts of His Word to carry it in our hearts at all times. We may not even think about it or contemplate it enough throughout each day. We become what James 1:24 says; we look in the mirror, walk away and immediately forget what we look like. It takes effort to dwell on, contemplate and remember God's Word even after we are done reading it and walk away from it.

As a Christian, do you find yourself not talking to Him about what concerns you, preferring instead to keep it to yourself and handle things on your own? How can we think we will get to know Him when we do that? God allows trials and issues to come our way so that we will take them to Him, so that we can see Him actually work in our lives. When we see Him moving and taking care of things, this increases and strengthens our faith in Him.

By the time of Malachi, Israel had literally become numb toward God, having gotten to that point by deliberately and continually moving from faithful and obedient to becoming full faithless and disobedient. They eventually became bitter toward God. Can you imagine that? They actually harbored animosity and bitterness toward the God who had rescued them from Egypt and many troubles after that.

Over the years, as I have faced situations that have caused anxiety in me, sometimes, I have submitted myself to the Lord for His keeping and His guidance. On other occasions, I have only half-heartedly done this and it usually resulted in works of the flesh. The problem for me has usually been the fact that I tend to feel as though I'm sinning because the anxiety is getting to me. Doesn't the Bible tell us that God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set on Him (Isaiah 26:3)? So when I'm not at peace within, I feel as though I failed. This is wrong. When we are not at peace within, it essentially means that God is trying to get our attention so that we can bring our cares and concerns to Him for Him to deal with for us (1 Peter 5:7).

I thought about David's reaction and his desire to have his sins blotted out, to be washed thoroughly from his iniquity and to be cleansed from his sin. Commentators believe this occurred just prior to the birth (and death), of Bathsheba's child. During those months, he had apparently hardened his heart toward God and his own moral failures. Yet, the Psalm shows the process that David finally went through in order to regain the closeness with God he had experienced prior to his sins.

I'm quite certain that there are good people trying to get into the USA. Unfortunately, those people are nearly completely eclipsed by those whose intentions are not good and in any case, everyone coming into the USA by illegal means is breaking America's laws. Turner seems to be saying that we should set all this aside and simply view them as people in need. Of course, their biggest need is salvation. I'd agree with that, but there's more to it than that.

This is how far the Israelite society had fallen because of their continued rejection of God and His truth. They didn't want to do things His way. They wanted to do things their way, much like the way global society today is doing things. God out. Self in. They think because there has been no immediate reckoning, that God either doesn't hear, or worse, doesn't exist. This is the exact same type of thinking that Israel entered into and because of it, got themselves in serious trouble time and time again.

Zechariah 14 is a powerful and dynamic chapter that speaks of the Day of the Lord and the ultimate victory of God over evil. It serves as a reminder to all believers of the hope and redemption that is to come through Jesus Christ. The imagery of judgment, deliverance, and worship points to the final fulfillment of God's promises to his people. As we await the return of Christ, we can take comfort in the knowledge that God is sovereign and will ultimately triumph over all.

Israel's problems came from the fact that they often wandered from God, literally turning their backs on Him, to worship false gods (demons). While they often continued to observe the sacrificial system, their hearts were not in it. They simply went through the motions of worship to check things off. God saw their hearts, that they were far from Him. Because they had turned their backs on Him, He chose to turn His back (temporarily) on Israel in order to refine and purify those within Israel who were dedicated to Him.

Let's go back to realize something Gideon did not. The reason it appeared to Gideon that the Lord had forsaken Israel is simply due to the fact that Israel had forsaken the LORD. I find it fascinating that God did not directly respond to Gideon's question, but simply tells him to go and save Israel from her oppressor, Midian.

Though Israel endeavored to follow this judge or that judge's leadership, as soon as that judge died, the people of Israel reverted back to their former ways and began again to worship foreign gods (v19). It is amazing to me that God continued to put up with that and if not for His unconditional covenant with Israel, He would have completely wiped that nation off the face of the earth. He did not do that though He often destroyed many within Israel because of how they rejected Him continually.

I've said this before and it bears repeating. I knew that the Left would try everything they could to stop Trump from doing what he could to make America great again. I'm not an idiot and neither are you. We know that whatever Trump accomplishes will only be due to God's allowing him to accomplish it. However, Satan doesn't give up. He doesn't need a break, nor does he even stop when he knows he's losing. He keeps on going, doing whatever he can to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

By the time the coming Tribulation begins, I'm guessing that much of the human population on earth will be either demonized outwardly or fully possessed. Demons seem to be coming out of the woodwork in preparation for what is coming to this earth. However, during the Tribulation, they actually do come out of the woodwork in several of the judgments God pours out on the earth.

In truth, it is not just that Israel rejected the Good Shepherd, but that Israel then embraced/will embrace Worthless Shepherds throughout her history and will do so a final time in the future! This recounts the events of the Messiah's first advent and death, followed by the destruction and dissolution of Jerusalem and Israel as a nation in AD 70. (The video did not turn out, so there is only audio for this particular message.)

Understanding what Satan is attempting to accomplish and will be allowed to accomplish through those sold out to him, sets us free from the worry that fear can create. We are not meant to live forever in this life. The fact that God physically expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden so that they could not eat of the tree of life after sinning proves that He doesn't want us to live eternally in this life, in our sin. We will all pass from this life to the next and as Christians will be given immortal bodies forever free from sin. It will be then that we will live forever as He originally intended.

Zechariah 11 deals with the problems that Israel would face. The prophet was speaking a hundreds of years before Roman armies surrounded and sacked Jerusalem, but his words came to fulfillment. While many conservative commentators believe there was partial fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecies in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70), the full and final aspect of this fulfillment will not occur until the coming Tribulation period of seven years, leading up to the physical return of Jesus to this planet.

This entire incident has become another "stone of remembrance" for me. Silvia and I can look back at this situation and know beyond all doubt that God oversaw it and was fully in the details. Even though we had our own plans, God interrupted us with His plans. He knew what was going to happen with my wonderful wife and He deliberately had us in the right place at the right time for medical care.

But nuancing is one excellent way to hide actual truth, by dressing it up as something it's not. Off the top of my head, I can think of numerous leaders within Christendom who routinely nuance things. It makes them sound very intellectual and who doesn't like to listen to an intellectual? Of course, Jesus was the most intelligent and intellectual of all, yet aside from the fact that He often presented truth in parabolic form, He also spoke plainly. I do not consider Jesus to be a nuancer. He was not cunning, crafty or subtle in His approach to people and most certainly not where God's Word was concerned. He spoke the truth and only the truth. He didn't soft soap it or cunningly attempt to hide the often brashness of God's Word. He spoke truth and let the chips fall where they might.

For Christians today, we are all fully under the blood of Jesus. Without it, we have zero protection from God's wrath. With it, we are fully protected from it. However, the same temptation exists today for all Christians that existed for Nadab and Abihu. That is, the tendency to take God for granted or to allow our arrogance to move us away from how God expects us to live in this life. It is a constant battle for the Christian, isn't it? Thank God He does not deal with us as He dealt with the Israelites under the Law!