Isaiah 66

"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says..."

{Acts 7:48} (NIV) 

We live our lives in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, on our roads, and playing fields, but when we enter church we hush, we change our language, we imagine that God is here, and therefore we act different. We say words on Sunday that we may never say through the week. We sing songs on Sunday that we may never even think of again, let alone sing during the week. 

Stephen is addressing men who imagined that they were God’s people because they had God in a building. What a building it was! A very impressive building, a great building suitable for a great God! The problem that Stephen is pointing to, and that Isaiah pointed to, is that God doesn’t dwell in buildings. He dwells with those whose hearts are broken before Him. When our hearts are not broken and contrite, when we imagine that we have God in a ‘room’ that we can visit every now and then, and then do certain things that will cause Him to bless us and our families - when we reduce the worship of God to activity that is separate from our ‘real’ life, we make the mistake that the Jews who killed Stephen made. We make a huge mistake! To be so close to God and yet so far! How many millions of people throughout the ages have made the tragic mistake of thinking that God belongs in a special room, and if we just do what the priests tell us, we have peace with God. 

Friend, don’t make the same mistake! Let us humble ourselves before our God right now, this very moment, wherever we are. "These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word."  (Isa 66:2b)

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2 Samuel 7

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?"

{2 Samuel 7:5} (NIV)

David loved the LORD and desired to honour Him always. As he sat in his palace and thought about the manifest Presence of the Almighty God, resting in a tent, he decided to build a temple. This chapter is so full of beauty! There are expressions of love, there are amazing prophecies, and there are these poignant moments; a reminder of Saul’s rejection, a prophecy of Solomon’s future disobedience, and a promise to treat him differently than Saul and a rejection of David himself as being unworthy to build the temple. (1 Chron 22:6-8) 

The most precious of all is the LORD’s declaration that He will build an everlasting house for David. This prophecy is none other than the prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Root and Offspring of David (Rev 22:16), and the Builder of the great temple of the LORD Almighty. A temple not built by human hands, but by the LORD Jesus Himself. A temple not built by bricks made of earth, but built out of living stones, chosen by the Father, placed by the Carpenter and held together by the bond of the Holy Spirit. Somehow David knew that the LORD desired a house, but David only saw this precious building from a distance through a prophetic haze. We however are his house! IF indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Heb 3:6)

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Psalm 27

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."

{Psalm 27:13} (NIV) 

This verse brings us back to right now, right here! We gaze on the beauty of the LORD; our souls are lifted up and we are encouraged through His Spirit’s ministry in our minds as we reflect on His good plans for our future, and then we come back to earth and our specific situation. David links his corporate worship experience with the terrible things that are about to happen to him. He is expecting days of trouble, and to be surrounded by enemies, (David obviously hadn’t heard about only speaking positively about your future), and yet he is CONFIDENT that the LORD will be good to him NOW in this life, not just in the life to come. 

David makes many links in Psalm 27 between corporate worship and the LORD protecting him in this life (vs 1,2,3,5,6,13,14). He is CONFIDENT in the LORD and is convinced that even if his dad and mom won’t have anything to do with him, the LORD will still help him. The confidence he has in the LORD, and in the LORD’s willingness to intervene on his behalf, is startling. This type of CONFIDENCE and HOPE in the living God, makes other people sit up and notice. They will even ask you about it (1 Pe 3:15). 

What is the secret of David's CONFIDENCE and HOPE? He loves to go to church! David is known for his praise and worship songs. He is known for his exuberant, unseemly worship style. He is known as the man who is after the LORD’s own heart. May we imitate his attitude toward church!

"Better is One Day", Matt Redman, via YouTube

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Psalm 27

"One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."

{Psalm 27:4} (NIV) 

A person could say, “Come on John. The LORD dwelt in the tabernacle in the same way that the Holy Spirit dwells within us in this age of grace. You can’t say that David’s desire to meet God there is a parallel to a Christian desiring to go to church.” Actually, the key to my approach to this verse is found in the statement: to gaze on the beauty of the LORD. This is not just poetry, it is TRUTH. David did gaze on the beauty of the LORD, and so do all people who worship God. 

The beauty of the LORD was described by Him as He passed by Moses on Mount Sinai. The beauty of the LORD is His character and specifically how He deals with humans. The beauty of the Lord Jesus was not in His appearance (Isa 53:2) but in how He acted towards those around Him. Therefore we don’t gaze at the LORD as we would gaze at a beautiful sunset; we gaze at the LORD as we deliberately focus our attention on His character, and on how He deals with sinful humans (us). 

Friend, this type of gazing is why God’s people have always been told to assemble. The Israelites were commanded to appear at the temple, a minimum of 3 times a year (Ex 23:17). Christians are encouraged to “not give up meeting together” (Heb 10:25), but to keep assembling especially as we get close to the Day. A synonym for this type of gazing is corporate worship. A local church is the only place that designs group activities for the purpose of focusing our attention on the beauty of the LORD. We can see the LORD in the sunset, in little children, at the beach, in the fireplace and in our fishing boat. But it is hard to gaze on His beauty when we are alone, we need each other to help us. A person who seeks the LORD and desires to gaze on His beauty, can’t get enough of church, for it is in the assembly that our gaze is focused on the LORD!

"Oh Lord, You're Beautiful", Keith Green, via YouTube

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Psalm 27

"One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."

{Psalm 27:4} (NIV) 

David echoes the prayer of Moses and the desire of the Israelites. If I can’t have YOUR Presence I don’t want anything. If I can only ask one thing, I ask for YOU. My 9 year old daughter told me yesterday that this verse is about praying for heaven. I told her that she was right, that the LORD’s temple is in heaven, that is the place where we will truly see Him and that a prayer to dwell there all the days of my life is a desire for heaven. And yet, there is more to this verse than heaven. 

This verse is about approaching the LORD in His tabernacle. David uses the word 'temple', but David is speaking in faith, for he was not allowed to build the LORD’s temple. David’s corporate worship experience took place in the tabernacle. Notice that David uses the Name 'LORD' three times, just as the Name 'LORD' is used three times in the priestly blessing of Numbers 6. This verse is about the desire in God’s children to gather together in the place where His Presence is manifest. An equivalent prayer in our day of grace would be, “One thing I ask O LORD, is that I would be able to be in church all the time.” 

In this day of doing our own thing, meeting God by ourselves, “attending” the so-called “invisible” church that the boomers have created, this prayer is an affront. We look for reasons as to why people don’t value church; much discussion and hand wringing takes place. David wanted to go to church because He would meet God there in a special way. God was with him in the shepherd’s field, God was with him on the battle field, God was with him in his palace, but David yearned to meet Him in the midst of His people! For church is the place that the LORD has promised to meet us.

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Numbers 6:22-27

 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

{Numbers 6:27} (NIV) 

Part of the preparation for the establishment of tabernacle worship, was to train the priests in what they should say to the Israelites as they came into the tabernacle seeking to worship the LORD. This is an absolutely beautiful passage, to have revealed to us that God’s desire is to bless us as we seek Him! We dread to seek out people we have wronged, for they usually want a pound of flesh. But that is not what the LORD is after; instead He seeks to bless us. 

Verse 27 makes it clear that God’s blessing comes through His Name. Specifically, the “putting” of His Name unto the Israelites by the verbal blessing that the priests utter to them as they approach the alter. To be blessed by the LORD, to be kept by the LORD and to have the Creator LORD turn His face towards us in pleasure, is to be in the most secure place in all of creation. A threefold blessing from a Triune God; here again we have a glimpse of the 3 persons of the Godhead. We are blessed by the Creator, we are kept by the Holy Spirit, and we have peace through our Lord Jesus. We are our Heavenly Father’s children, we are the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. 

O Friend, grace upon grace, blessings upon blessings! May we seek His face this day, and bask in the blessings He graciously gives us.

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Judges 5

"Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;"

{1 Peter 5:2} (NIV) 

God’s leaders must be willing. A church is not a church unless they have shepherd leaders, which is what we call in Parkdale, an elder/pastor/deacon. God’s leaders are required to shepherd because they want to, not because they have to! The heart of the leader, the motive that drives his actions, is of primary importance to God. 

Deborah’s beautiful song of the victory of God’s people over the enemy contains within it key truths about the importance of the willingness of all of God’s people, for victory to occur. The women rightly get the glory, for it was Deborah who got the men moving and Jael who finished Sisera off! The singers, the villagers, the leaders and the volunteers are all mentioned. 

When leaders lead out of willingness - when singers sing out of a glad heart - when wise women step forward and speak to the leaders - when people from all walks of life, willing volunteer and gather together under leadership, following them as they step out. WOW. When this happens, God shows up in power and there are great victories won for Him. 

I am so thankful for the leaders at Parkdale, for their willingness and inner motivation to be the leaders that God wants them to be! I am so thankful for the many people who willing volunteer and gather around under leadership. This willingness in the hearts of the people of Parkdale, and the Presence and blessing of God in our efforts has brought souls into His kingdom this past year, and we can expect great victories to come!

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Mark 14:32-42

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

{Mark 14:38} (NIV) 

Our Lord Jesus is so gentle, so humble and so kind! Here He is in anguish, about to face His harshest hour, and when He finds that the men God has given Him as followers cannot even stay awake to pray with Him, He doesn’t lose it on them. Instead He teaches them a deep truth about willingness and obedience. 

These men were willing, and they were with Him, for they had decided to follow Jesus, wherever He went. However the Lord knew that a willing spirit by itself is not enough for obedience. He tells them (therefore us as well) that a willing spirit is the start, but getting our bodies to do what our spirit wants to do requires prayer. In other words, our Lord is teaching us the importance of prayer for our bodies and therefore direct intervention of God the Father through answers to our prayers. 

Our spirit can be most willing but our sinful bodies will stop us every time! Friend, we need God’s help, not just to change our spirits, but also to give us victory over these sinful bodies which war against our willing spirit that God has created in us. May we take heed to our Lord’s teaching and may we follow Paul’s example: The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20) May we pray today for God’s grace to overcome our sinful bodies.

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Matthew 23:13-39

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."

{Matthew 23:37} (NIV) 

The message of our Lord Jesus is clear! The leaders of Israel and therefore the majority of the people have not been willing or obedient. Instead they have resisted the Word of God and rebelled against His prophets and His Word. Our Lord knows that the children of God have been chosen before creation (Eph 1:4). He Himself told us that only those the Father draws will come to faith (Jn 6:44). He also told us the parable of the sower. 

Our Lord obviously believes that God is Sovereign in every aspect of salvation. Some would call Him a Calvinist. Yet He makes it very clear in this verse that it was not the Lord’s lack of desire to see good come to them, that would bring destruction upon the people. Rather, it is the people’s lack of willingness that brought about their destruction. Their spirits were not willing. They did not WISH to drink from the stream of eternal life, therefore they would see the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in their time. The sword would come against them and Jerusalem would be destroyed. 

O friend, do not become fatalistic about salvation. Do not become fatalistic about your future and your family’s future. Salvation and how our lives play out on earth, depend on whether or not we are willing and obedient! Let us instead pray for a willing spirit!

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Isaiah 1

"If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;"

{Isaiah 1:19} (NIV) 

There is such a thing as obedience without willingness. The little girl standing in the corner says to her mom, “I may be standing up on the outside, but I am sitting down on the inside.” Obedience can be forced and coerced out of us, and if that is how we live our Christian life, we have missed the message of the gospel and the specific message of this verse. 

Obedience without willingness is useless in our approach to God. It can work when we approach people that way, but God, who sees our hearts, knows better. I tend to think that obedience without willingness is better than disobedience (my kids will testify that I believe this), simply because we are spared the pain and consequences of sin. However, a person could make the biblical case that this type of obedience causes our love to grow cold, and becomes legalism and a deadly trap. God requires willingness with obedience. 

My paraphrase would read, “If you are willing and then obedient, then you will be in the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.” In order for me to be willing to be obedient, I must believe that God’s commands are good for me and my loved ones. I must also believe that God has the best of intentions towards me. Most importantly of all, I must trust that the Lord knows what I need to do in every situation, better than I know.

Oh Father, please help me to obey You willingly this day.

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Psalm 51

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

{Psalm 51:12} (NIV) 

Psalm 51 is the prayer of a person who has seen their sin, is sorrowful for their sin, and is seeking restoration of their right relationship with the LORD. Church people use the word ‘penitent’ to describe such a person; our Lord used the word ‘blessed’ in his sermon on the mount to describe such a person. 

A blessed and penitent person desires the presence of the Holy Spirit (they WISH for it) and so they come to God in humility seeking God’s mercy, grace and power. They come with their spirit BROKEN (vs 17) realizing that they don’t have any capability to change themselves, apart from His power being at work in their spirit.  

A blessed and penitent person asks God first to make their spirit steadfast (vs10) and then to make their spirit willing (vs12). This is a prayer for inner change! "Lord please purify my heart and cause my spirit to be steadfast (cause my inner self to be completely focused on pleasing You). Lord, please restore to me that joy of knowing that I am Yours, and that You are mine. Please give me that joy again, and then cause my spirit to be willing." 

A blessed and penitent person knows that they need God’s help in order to even WISH to drink from the water of life.

Oh Father, please make my spirit both steadfast and willing this day.

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John 4:1-42

"The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."

{Revelation 22:17} (NIV) 

We wonder, as we read this verse at the end of the most beautiful passage in the Bible, to have our entrance to this glorious eternity dependent upon a human’s wish seems ludicrous and contrary to the biblical notion of a Sovereign God who seeks out and rescues those who are trapped in spiritual death. But it’s inclusion in the closing comments of God’s eternal Word signifies its importance! Not wishing upon a star, hoping that some unseen force will move on our behalf! NO. Wishing that, results in action by me on my behalf as I draw near to the Lord and drink deeply from the eternal well of the Holy Spirit. You must COME and you must TAKE, but you will only do these things if first you WISH! 

John 4 teaches us that this invitation is for those who are not yet saved. It is the invitation of the gospel, given by the Holy Spirit and Christians (the bride) together. Yet those of us who are saved know that this invitation is for all of us who want to persevere in the Lord. 

Friend, we need more than anything else God’s grace, power and mercy flowing into our lives, deeply drinking of the spiritual life that flows from His presence in our lives today. We say, of course I WISH for that! Really? Then have we GONE to the Lord this day and TAKEN?

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1 Corinthians 13

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned."

{Song of Songs 8:6,7} (NIV) 

These two verses in the biblical book of romantic love express both the mysteries and the power of love. You can’t buy love, our popular culture knows this and sings about it, and yet each of us desire to be loved. This causes the beloved one to plead with the Lover to decide to truly love her. She wants him to write her on his heart and to write her on his arm. Popular culture does this with tattoos, yet they can only be symbols, for true love is more than skin deep. 

True love also contains jealousy, not envy, but jealousy. We are envious when we desire something or someone who belongs to another. But true jealousy is our desire to be the only object of the love of the one who belongs to us. True love contains jealousy, and jealousy proves the existence of true love. This is the love that the beloved wants. She wants this Lover to love her with a true love that burns bright, that contains jealousy, for she knows that this kind of love means her Lover will fight for her (Prov 6:34), and she knows this type of love lasts forever. 

Friend, our God’s name is Jealous! He loves us with an everlasting love; a love that burns in flame, a love that desires all of our love.  May we be encouraged as we reflect on the awesome truth, that our God has placed us on his arm and His heart, and that His love is stronger than death, for nothing can stand in the way of His Jealousy!

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Hosea 1

"The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”"

{Hosea 3:1} (NIV) 

If we ever feel like we got a terrible ministry assignment from our Lord, we need to read the first 3 chapters of Hosea. This man’s ministry assignment was to marry a woman that he knew would be unfaithful and allow her to have children by other men and to leave him and go and live as a prostitute. THEN he is commanded to love her, not from a distance, but to go and buy her from the man who now owns her (talk about insult being added to injury), bring her into his home as his wife and simply tell her to be faithful from now on. This is the ministry of Hosea the prophet as he lives out an example of the great Husband, the LORD God Almighty. 

God knew when He chose Israel that they would not be faithful to Him. He chose them anyway, because of His great love for Abram, Isaac and Jacob, and the wonderful promises He gave them! He choose them, and bore their unfaithfulness, allowing them to leave Him, yet all the while planning to bring them back to His side. What a Husband! What a Lover! What a Redeemer! This is our Redeemer who bought us from the evil one (Rev 5:9). This is our Husband who is faithful when we are faithless (2 Tim 2:13). This is our Lover who loved us before we loved Him (1 Jn 4:19)! 

Oh friend, do you know this Lover of your soul? Then love Him with everything you have!

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Deuteronomy 4:32-40

"Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength." 

{Deuteronomy 4:37} (NIV) 

There is no other god like our God! No other god has ever ripped a nation by miraculous force out of the midst of another nation. No other god has ever spoken to His people with an audible voice out of a mighty fire, or revealed Himself, His power and His character like the LORD God did for His people. No other god has ever led His nation to a land occupied in force by a group of prosperous nations, and then miraculously wiped out those nations and given His nation their land. All other so-called gods, can’t even come close to what the LORD God Almighty has done. 

This amazing passage does more than describe what He has done, for it also gives the reason for His actions. The reason is LOVE! An amazing eternal LOVE for Abram, Isaac and Jacob that moved Him to act on their descendants behalf! This LORD has not changed. It was LOVE that caused Him to reveal His glory through the incarnation of the Eternal Word. It was LOVE that caused Him to send His Son to die in our place. It is LOVE that causes Him to rip our souls out of the clutches of the kingdom of darkness. It is LOVE that causes Him to seal us with His Spirit and continually speak to us and cause us to live our lives in true freedom. It is LOVE that will cause Him to come in power and destroy the evil forces and the wicked people, cleanse the earth and give us the land to prosper in. 

O how He loves you and me!

The Love of God, Casting Crowns, via YouTube 

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Luke 10:25-37

"He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

{Luke 10:27} (NIV) 

There is no such thing as coincidence. When we read this passage we should remember that the story of the good Samaritan was told by Jesus to help illustrate the great truth that God desires ALL of our love. 

It is not a coincidence that this story appears beside the great commandment. It was placed there to teach us that if we love God with ALL of our heart (that is, our will is completely focused on loving Him), if we love God with ALL our soul (that is, our eternal person is focused on Him), if we love God with ALL our strength (that is, we are vigorous and use our bodies to do His will), if we love God with ALL our mind (that is, our mind seeks Him, and seeks to know Him), IF we are really doing that, then we will love those people God places on our road with compassion, mercy and love. 

I can fool myself about whether or not I love God completely, but He has placed tests in my path. These tests are people that need my love. They need my help and my mercy. There is no such thing as coincidence. We have been placed in families so that we can demonstrate our love for God, by loving those we know too well. We have been placed beside coworkers so that we can demonstrate our love for God, by loving these we barely know. We have been placed in neighbourhoods so that we can demonstrate our love for God, by loving strangers. May we love HIM with everything we have this day!

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Mark 12:13-34

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this:

‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

{Mark 12:29, 30} (NIV) 

The Pharisees tried to catch Jesus in His answer to their trick question and the Sadducees thought that they would stump Him with their question, but what they got was wisdom straight from God! When a teacher of the Law observed these exchanges, he asked the Lord a question, not out of malice but a sincere question about the main point of the Law, seeking to gauge the level of understanding Jesus had about the Law. The teacher praised Jesus for His answer, and when Jesus responded to that praise, the teacher realized that it was himself that was being tested, not the Lord. 

The nature of the Lord’s answer proves that James was correct in saying that Scripture taught that God longs jealously for our spirit (James 4). Actually Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6, in which Moses reminds the people that God is a jealous God. It can’t be any clearer; God wants ALL our love! He wants us to love Him with ALL our heart, with ALL our soul, with ALL our mind, and with ALL our strength. God is not willing to share any of our love with another! He wants it all. 

Friend, where are we in this matter today? Honestly now, do we love Him with everything we have and everything we are, or are we holding something back? He loves us with everything He has and everything He is. He is the Great Lover of our soul. It is amazing to me that He would care about me, and that He would care about my love. May we love Him with everything we have this day!

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James 4:1-10

"Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?"

{James 4:5} (NIV) 

There is no specific verse from the Old Testament being quoted here by James. He is instead referring to the overall message of the Old Testament. The list of suggested readings this week at Parkdale will give us some of the Scriptures that teach this truth. The truth is that God wants all of His children’s love. He is not willing to share our love with anyone else, or anything else. Our love for God is expressed through obedience, for He is God and we are lessor, therefore obedience is proof of love. 

Many of us fool ourselves into believing that emotional feelings and specific acts of service are what God desires, and yet Scripture teaches clearly that what God desires is complete love, perfect love, which means complete and perfect obedience to His Word and His Spirit. This truth is the solid ground ton which James bases his instructions for us to be unfriendly to the world. Don’t make the mistake that he is teaching us to be unfriendly to the people in the world. NO! He is teaching us that we are not to be friendly with their ways, their behaviours, and their system of life. For it is a system designed to cause us to disobey. It is designed to feed our sin nature, and it is designed to draw our love away from our Great Lover towards ourselves and the pleasure that sin brings. 

Oh friend, is it not truly amazing that God would desire our love? Our love; who would think it would be important to HIM?

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Suggested Reading: Exodus 32-34; Deut 4:1-40; Joshua 24:1-28; Ps 78; Song of Solomon 8:5-7; Hosea 1-3; Mk 12:28-31; 1 Cor 10; 2 Cor 11:1,2; James 4:1-10; Rev 2:1-7; Rev 3:14-22

2 Corinthians 6:14 thru 7:1

"How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

{Exodus 33:16} (NIV)

We understand holy to mean ‘like God’, or ‘God like’, for we know that God is HOLY. As we read the Bible we discover that holy means different than our norm. We see that in the story of creation, the seventh day is to be holy, different than the other days. In Exodus the mountain is holy and is to be treated differently than the land around it. The people are to be God’s holy nation, that is, different than the other peoples of the world. We see it in the tabernacle; the Holy Place is different than the outer courts, and the Most Holy place is different than the Holy Place. 

I choose to use the word different because Moses makes the point that it is the Presence of God in their midst that distinguishes (makes them different) than the peoples of the earth. How does God’s Presence distinguish them? His Presence guides them, provides for them, protects them, causes them to prosper and causes them to live their lives, or to behave in a specific God, reflecting Way. This different behaviour is the whole purpose of the Covenant and the Law. 

Paul makes exactly the same point to those of us who are included in the New Covenant by the Presence of the Holy Spirit in our bodies. It is good for us that God is HOLY, that He operates completely different than humans do. Praise His HOLY Name! What about us? Are we holy? Do we operate any differently in our lives than the peoples who live around us?

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Isaiah 63:7-14

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."

{Ephesians 4:30} (NIV) 

I love it when I read a passage like Isaiah 63 that tells us that the Holy Spirit was present during the Exodus. The word Trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, but God in three persons is revealed through the entire Scripture, including the book of Exodus. 

Exodus contains the revelation of YHWH the LORD; who He is, some of His Names, and His own description of His character or goodness. 1 Corinthians 10 teaches us that our Lord Jesus was with them; that they ate of Him and drank of Him. Isaiah 63 teaches us that the Holy Spirit was there guiding them and giving them rest. Isaiah identifies in verse 10 that the Israelites grieved the Holy Spirit, and the result was that the Holy Spirit fought against them. What a sobering thing it is to realize that the Presence of God, that they so desired, became their enemy when they chose to sin and to serve other gods instead of the True God. 

Baptists get sorta squirrely about this realization, because we so strongly hold to the doctrine of eternal security. This doctrine is explained clearly in Ephesians 1:13,14 and is the key part of our blessed state “in Christ”. Paul quite correctly taught us this doctrine and yet Paul rightly admonishes us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. He is inside me. God Himself is present in my body! May we bless Him, welcome Him, surrender to Him and certainly not grieve Him.

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Hebrews 3:14 thru 4:16

"The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

{Exodus 33:14} (NIV)

What a wonderful promise! I trust that you realize that God is speaking to you today. This is a personal promise to you from the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth. You say to me, “Come on John! He is talking to Moses specifically because Moses represents the nation Israel; I can’t take this promise literally to me today.” 

Actually friend, you can, according to our Lord that is. He said, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Mat 11:28) This is personal promise from our Creator to us through our Mediator the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe it! Pray it back to God. Go to God and say, “God you promised me rest, I am coming to you now. Take this burden and give me rest.” 

It is that simple, it is easy, no work on our part is required, just faith! Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we don’t see. Faith is taking God at His Word, believing Him and acting out of that belief. The book of Hebrews tells us that lack of faith is what keeps people from entering the promised rest! We make a big mistake if we think of this rest as only eternal rest. No friend, it is rest for the here and now! Rest for this moment - right now!

Dear Lord Jesus, help us with our unbelief, increase our faith we pray.

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Revelation 21:22 thru 22:5

"They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."

{Revelation 22:4} (NIV) 

The LORD told Moses that no one can see His face and live (Ex 33:20), and yet here we have a vision of our future and it includes us seeing His face and being very much alive. We have been told by John that this vision is of the new heaven and new earth. What we are visualizing is the final state of God’s children with their heavenly Father. We have been changed into such a state of being that we are able to see God with our eyes and live. This is not news to God’s people, for Job tells us in Job 19:26 & 27 that he was convinced of this coming true for him! 

To spend some time meditating on this will surely bear some spiritual fruit in our lives; not to speculate on the details of His form and other such meaningless speculation, but to meditate on the plain awesomeness that we will see Him face to face and that we will be His treasured possession, for we will have His Name written on our heads. When people look at us the first thing they will see is His Name. God’s Names given in the Bible always reflect His nature, His character and how He deals with people. 

Could we work on this now in our present state? Could it be that as we abide in Christ today, could it be that when people look at us they see His Name?

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