THE STORY                                              

Reading for Sunday, October 2    

THE STORY, Chapter 2
(Genesis Chapters 12-13, 15-17, 21-22, 32-33, 35; Romans 4, Hebrews 11)


A Significant Part of Faith is Wrestling with God

“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.   Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."  Genesis 32:22-28
        
A Strange but Important Story

Jacob was not a great guy. He was a conniver and a mamma’s boy who stole his older brother’s birthright. He rightly feared that Esau was out to kill him. Just before they were to meet up after decades apart, the above encounter took place. Today this encounter is huge in the Jewish Christian story. It is where Jacob becomes a man. It is where he gets the name Israel. It is where at least some Jews derive their practice of not eating the sciatic nerve of large animals (memorializing Jacob’s hip as a badge of his having “wrestled with God and won”). It is where he is legitimized as a Patriarch and spiritual ancestor of all Jews and Christians. This passage implies that “the man” Jacob wrestled with was God.
 
Have you ever wrestled with God? Do you ever find your will pitted against God’s will? I have and I think it’s impossible to be a Christian without such a struggle.    The Christian life is hard. But most things worth discovering and achieving come through struggle. And the best things come when God wins. “All salvation is the story of glorious defeat”. Although Jacob “won” it is actually the story God winning. Jacob refused to let go of God. Jacob refused to settle for less than God’s best.  When I seek God like that, then God’s got me where he wants me. 

Does this describe you?

Prayer

“Lord, please let me never, never, never let go of you. Help me today to seek, listen, pursue, argue, yes wrestle with you until I am experiencing all of You that want for me. Lord, I don’t want to settle for less than you full blessing no matter how different it be from what I imagine. Amen"

Reading for Sunday, October 2
    
THE STORY, Chapter 2 (Genesis Chapters 12-13, 15-17, 21-22, 32-33, 35; Romans 4, Hebrews 11)

The Sacrifice Isaac

“Later God tested Abraham and called to him, 'Abraham!' 'Yes, here I am!' he answered. God said, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.'"   Genesis 22:1-2

To Be a Christian, Sacrifice is Required

It’s almost as if God and Abraham were debating. “take your son” . . "my son?” . . .. “yes, your only son” . . . “but he’s everything to me” . . . .”yes take the son whom you love” . . . “but” . . . . . "and go to Moriah and sacrifice him there."

In the ancient near eastern world of Abraham, child sacrifice, especially of the first born, was frequently practiced as a way to bribe the gods. If I give the gods my best, then they will hopefully give me their best. Abraham must have thought that God was like those gods, so he obeyed. God provided a ram to sacrifice instead and thereby saved Isaac. The point is that God was teaching that human sacrifice is not required. Later in that same region (Moriah is among the hills of Jerusalem) another Father (God) did indeed sacrifice his son (Jesus) so that we would not have to die in our sins.

Yet, Christianity does demand sacrifice from believers. Can any love relationship exist without it? Can I love anyone without it. Can I be a husband or wife worthy of the title without giving up things precious to my heart for the sake of the one I love? It’s not possible. Nor is it possible to love God (the first great commandment in both testaments) without sacrifice. God gave me his best. What are you withholding from Him?

Prayer

“Lord, please forgive me for living for myself. Please forgive my selfishness and petty wants and desires. Lord, here I am. Whatever you want me to release, I will release. Help me to hear your voice and obey it. May I learn from the test of Abraham. Amen"

THE STORY                   

Reading for Sunday, October 2
THE STORY, Chapter 2 (Genesis Chapters 12-13, 15-17, 21-22, 32-33, 35; Romans 4, Hebrews 11)

What is Faith?

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. . . . he lived in tents . . For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” Hebrews 11:8-10(NIV)

Do you have Intellectual faith, Temporal faith or Saving Faith?

Intellectual faith is believing in the truth of the Gospel but not acting on it. Even demons have intellectual faith (James 2:19). Intellectual faith does not make one a Christian.

Temporal faith is trusting God for my material and physical needs. It is a faith which, instead of revolving around God, rather revolves around self one’s needs. This is not saving faith either. This kind of faith still has “me” at the center of my universe. Neither temporal nor intellectual faith will save me from my sin and grant me entrance into God’s Kingdom.

Saving faith is demonstrated by Abraham. When called he went, he acted, he obeyed. He left home, family and nation and had only God’s word that the future was safe. He lived in tents. Although real, the tents are also symbolic. Living in a tent symbolizes being ready at any point to leave what I am into and follow God. Why? Because his faith wouldn’t settle for less than the one and only foundation of all of life, God Himself.

Is your faith intellectual, temporal or saving?


Prayer

“Lord, if I’m honest my faith often falls into the first two categories. Yet the details of Abraham’s life reveal a man who’s faith is inconsistent. But Lord,  he went, he acted, he risked, he put feet to his faith. I know Lord, that without obedience I have no faith. Today Lord, give me the attentiveness to you to hear your call and to obey it.    Amen”

Pastor's Blog - Monday, September 26, 2011

THE STORY

Reading for Sunday, October 2 THE STORY, Chapter 2 (Genesis Chapters 12-13, 15-17, 21-22, 32-33, 35; Romans 4, Hebrews 11)

God's Promise to Abraham and Through Him to Us

“The LORD had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV)

I am Blessed to Be a Blessing

"all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV)

At the top of page 8 of THE STORY we read that life after the flood had become 'one big party with no thought of consequences" (makes me think of college!). Yet God does not give up on humanity.

God starts again with one man, Abram. God's plan? It is to build a nation from his descendants and then through this nation to bless the world. Yes, the Old Testament teaches its readers that God created the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob to be a nation through which the world would come to know God as their God and there by live lives of abundance and blessing. Notice this verse:

"I'm setting you (Israel) up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!" Isaiah 49:6

Prayer

“Lord, as a follower of Jesus, having been adopted into the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I accept your call on and command to me to be a blessing to other people. Please open my eyes wide so that I do not miss your daily directing me to those who need You through me. Use me Lord to serve and pray for others, to be a blessing wherever you place me. Amen”

THE STORY                                                          

Reading for Sunday, September 25     THE STORY, Chapter 1 (Genesis Chapters 1 thru 4, 6 thru 9)

God's Pain                            

“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain”  Genesis 6:5-6 (NIV)

Do You Judge God or Look at Yourself?

Think about what this verse says. “every inclination of the thoughts of the hearts of human beings was evil all the time”. And this, “God was filled with pain”. God regretted created human beings.

Has a sadder thing ever been written? Do you judge God for this attitude toward His creation and further for bringing destruction to humanity through a flood? Or do you look at yourself and ask if this description of the human condition could actually apply accurately to you?

The Bible wants us to choose the latter. The history of God’s people after Genesis two is consistently unflattering of human beings. The first people lie, their children squabble, and fratricide results. Lamech, the proud descendent of Cain is a killer too. Even, though he is described as “walking with God” is also described as “blameless among his own people”, which is hardly a ringing compliment, considering the lifestyle of his own people.

The Bible is honest about who we are. “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” writes Jeremiah (17:9).   Are you honest about yourself? It is so very painful to look in the mirror and see the corruption that has overtaken the image of God that stares back at us. Yet this is the beginning of walking with God. Notice what God did with Adam and Eve. He gave them a family and went with them. The “mark of Cain” was an act of Grace. The rainbow after the flood is a commitment to unimproved humanity (something worse than meets the eye is behind verses 9:20-23) like us.

I don’t know about you, but I live by Grace alone. I get it that I’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing that I can take credit for, yet have done much for which my impure heart is responsible.

Prayer
 
“Lord, help me to look more closely in the mirror today. Help me see the truth of my corrupted self. Help me to regret that immensely. Help me, though, also to see, behind it all, You, the something of your image that is nevertheless still there. In the humility your grace to me I choose to live. By your grace I will thrive. Amen”

THE STORY

Reading for Sunday, September 25  THE STORY, Chapter 1 (Genesis Chapters 1 thru 4, 6 thru 9)

What is wrong with the World?                            

The serpent . . . asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

2 "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. 3 "It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame” Genesis 3:1-7(NLT) 

I Am

In this brief passage we learn the core of the world’s problems.

 In Genesis 2:17 God placed a test before the first humans. Only one thing was out of bounds - all the rest was to be enjoyed. The snake (a creature, a created being, fully under the control of God, yet given freedom to work against God – Satan and God are NOT two equal separate beings) tempted but did not cause the woman to disobey.

The woman ate, and the man watched. What’s worse, her disobedience or his passivity? And now innocence is lost. Awareness of shame and guilt are born. We hide. We blame. We refuse to take responsibility.  Relationship is broken. The unaffected beauty of “self unawareness” and awareness of God is gone, replaced by self focus. The puzzle pieces no longer fit. And in not fitting, humans beings have tried to force fit their pieces at the expense of other pieces. Evil is good having gone wrong and what’s wrong is located in the heart that says (without saying it or realizing it) I must be god.

Prayer
 
“Lord, I notice that Adam and/or Eve committed the sin of distortion (vs.3) when she added to what God had said in 2:17. Lord, prevent me from embellishing or distorting your simple command to trust you and obey your word. Trust and obey. That’s what I want, Lord, to trust and to obey. Amen”

THE STORY

Reading for Sunday, September 25     THE STORY, Chapter 1 (Genesis Chapters 1 thru 4, 6 thru 9)

Creation                            

"Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day." Genesis 1:31(NLT)
 
3 Key Words

"Good"
The word God appears 30 times in the Bible’s first 31 verses. The Bible is about God. This 1st creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:3) tells us that God made everything. It also tells us that everything he made is “good”. All that is evil or bad is good having gone wrong. You live in a God inhabited, good world.  

"That"
Genesis 1 is not a science book. It tells us that God created, not how. When we bicker over the “how” we can devolve into “adventures of missing the point”. Although not written as a science, however, the Bible is the foundation for all scientific inquiry. It tells us that we live in an ordered, good world, that it is God’s world, and therefore is worthy of study. In doing science we get to know God.

"Evening"
In Genesis “day” starts with nightfall, when humans are asleep (at least used to be). The point is that we live in God’s world where God is present and active and when we wake up, we wake to God and to God’s activity and purposes and Grace. When I wake up it would be good to remind myself that my problems are not the big thing that I am waking up to. I am waking up to God and what He’s doing.

Prayer  
“Lord, I believe. I believe that this world is good, that you are at work, that nothing, absolutely nothing can remain unredeemed or unhealed. I will not let myself miss the point that you are the competent creator, sustainer and healer of all things. It is to that world I will awaken tomorrow. Amen”

THE STORY

Reading for Sunday, September 25 - THE STORY, Chapter 1 (Genesis Chapters 1-4, 6-9)

The Big Story

Creation
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Consummation and New Beginning
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . .behold, I am making everything new!" Revelation 21:1,5

My Story

Genesis 1:1 tells of God's creation of all things. Revelation 21:1-5 tells of the restoration of all things. A beginning, but not an end, rather a consummation, one in which a new beginning is promised . . . like the beginning of new and never ending book in which each chapter is better than the last. That's how it all ends/begins!

God is the author of this Big Story and God has written you into it! You have a role and a script. Yes, you!

Because there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that God does not use to redeem the world, you, too, will be used by God. God will use you if you consent to being used. God will use you if you refuse to be used.

The question is this. Will you consent to play the role you've been given and enjoy it's blessings? Or will you rebel and miss them?

Prayer

"Lord, I choose to believe that you are the Author of a Grand Story. I also choose to believe that you have placed me in it. Please forgive me for living as if I'm the author and You are there to serve me. This day I repent and ask You to guide me through this grand adventure through Your Word, Amen"

A Summary of the Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13  
                             
Below is both a guide to prayer and a summary of my messages on what we refer to as the “Lord’s Prayer”. This prayer is actually how Jesus responded when his disciples asked him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1,2). He said, ”pray like this.”

I have assembled this guide to prayer with the hope that it will be of help to you as you “cover all the bases” of your life with prayer. You may want to offer this guide to others who would benefit from an expanded outline of Jesus’ teaching on prayer.  

The Lord's Prayer: Keeping it Real"
A Guide to Praying as Jesus Taught

"The Disciples asked, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'
Jesus responded, 'Here's how". . . . Luke 11:2

“Our”

I am only one of 7 billion currently living on earth. Ponder this.

God wants his children to share. Those of us who have must share with those who have not.

I am “my brother’s keeper”.

Christianity is a “team sport”. I must live it “together” and “with”.

Be “all there” when talking to others: cell phone and TV off, lap top lid down, eyes and ears focused.

Every Christian must be an integral part of an intentional small group of believers.

Therefore we begin the Lord’s with other people, not ourselves.

“Father”

God asks us to call Him “Father”, “Abba”, which means Dad or Daddy.

God is good. God is the consummately good Father. God loves you and is faithful. You can trust Him.

He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God as Daddy alone.

God, your Father, loves it when you tell Him all that’s going on in your life and ask him for help. He loves to provide the best for you.

“in heaven”

Heaven is not just “up there”. It is also “here”. God occupies all the space surrounding each of us.

This means that God is as close to us as the air we breathe.

God is always “with us”, encouraging, guiding and disciplining.

Heaven is also “up there”. God in Jesus Christ is Creator and Sustainer of all that is and must therefore be respected, honored and obeyed. Never, never, never take God for granted. 

“Hallowed be Your name”

I give my all to The One who first gave His All for us, for me.

I will live today in such a way that others sense through my attitude, words and actions that God is good.

My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

God’s name must be hallowed by way of my decisions regarding my sexual choices.

My body was made for physical intimacy within marriage between a man and a woman.

I must honor God with my TV viewing, internet browsing, what I teach my children and how I live my life.

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of right relationships. Are your relationships right?

The kingdom of God is where God’s will is done. Tell God you want to do His will. 
“Lord, today it is my will to do your will”.

The highest and most important prayer in the Bible is, “not my will but thy will be done”. This was Jesus’ prayer hours before he was crucified.

I can pray this prayer because I know that the outcome of trusting God is ultimately good, very good. “Seek First His Kingdom and all else will be added” Matthew 6:33

Yet beware of “Catch 22”. To seek His Kingdom in order to get the other stuff doesn’t work. To simply seek first His Kingdom regardless of what comes in return, always results in a return that is eternal.

Think GPS. The satellite which guides you through the voice of the GPS knows what it’s doing! It sees what you cannot see. God sees far more than a satellite. There are times that you will need to believe that God’s guidance, like the GPS’s, is better than your own, especially when that guidance doesn’t makes sense to you.

“Give us this day our daily bread’

We are among the richest 2% of the world’s population.

I am part of God’s supply chain to the rest of the world.

God is my supplier. My job, boss, and employer are just the delivery system.

My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Gluttony is a sin. I have been given the power to moderate my intake and increase the giving of “bread” to others.

Bread is also a metaphor for all my needs. “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances”.

I have enough!

It was Jesus who said, “do not worry about tomorrow . . . seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you

”And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us"

Christians end the cycle of revenge and retribution by forgiving.

If I don’t forgive, I grow into a hardened person who himself cannot receive forgiveness. In that way Jesus’ teaching that he cannot forgive those who do not choose to forgive comes true.

Forgiveness is a decision carried out over a long period of time. The emotional release may not come until years after the decision.

When Jesus forgave me, he took on the pain that I have caused. That’s what He did on the cross. That’s love. I too must “take up my cross”, take on the pain of what others have done to me and forgive. All true forgiveness means absorbing undeserved pain. Yet, that’s what Christians do.

Step one? Receive the unmerited, undeserved, unearned love and forgiveness of God unto yourself. Not to do so is to miss the freedom in Christ for which you were saved (Romans 8:1) and also to break God’s heart for the heart of a Father is that his children know that he loves them.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

There is “land between” (between loss of job, marriage, health, or child and what the future might hold) which is fertile ground for the temptations of discouragement, defeat, anger, blame and complaint.

It is also fertile ground for God to grow real trust, real faith, real joy. You must choose. James 1:2

There is always a way out. 1 Corinthians 10:13

If you think your Christian character is so solid that you cannot be overcome by temptation, then you are in a danger zone. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful, lest you fall”. 1 Corinthians 10:12

Some things can ONLY grow in the “land between”. Real faith and trust grow only when one has to trust, has to have faith, has to believe, against all odds, that God is good.

Open your hands. Release all to God. Receive whatever he wants to give. Then Obey.

Lean into Christian friends. It the rare, rare person who is capable of overcoming temptation alone.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”.  (in the King James Version only)

The 21st century is a world of Kingdoms in Conflict.

Jesus is the one and the only ruler of the universe.

Jesus is spreading his kingdom through the worldwide church working from bottom up, from the edges in.

Jesus’ is a Kingdom of peace, right relationships and holiness.

Other “kingdoms” such as radical Islam are violent opponents of Jesus’ kingdom.

Followers of Jesus, on the other hand, to love their enemies, turn the other cheek and take up their cross.

Followers of Jesus bless those who persecute them and repay evil for good in order to change the hearts of others and to turn enemies into friends.

In the end all people, everyone who ever lived, will come face to face with Jesus as Lord of peaceful Kingdom which will have no end.

“Jesus, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:6-11(NIV)

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