Amos 4 - Prepare To Meet Your God

More warnings... this morning...

"Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
    you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
    and say to your husbands, 'Bring us some drinks!'
The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness:
    'The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
    the last of you with fishhooks.
You will each go straight out
    through breaches in the wall,
    and you will be cast out toward Harmon,'
    declares the Lord." (Amos 4:1-3 NIV)

And.. the warnings go on. The people bring their offerings and brag about them. Yet, they do not worship the LORD. They spend their time doing as they please; that is to please themselves. They put themselves before God and before their neighbors. No matter what God does to try to wake them up to reality, they do not listen. They do not turn to the LORD. So, in turn, they are told, "Prepare to meet your God." (Amos 4:12)

Advent is a little over a week away. Are we prepared to meet our God. I know that in our minds we have this picture of a God who simply ignores all of our sins. Does he? Does he not see those who pay no heed to His name? Does He overlook those who oppress the poor and crush the needy? Does He overlook the sins of those who spend their hours in drunken stupor? Does He overlook the sins of those who will not repent and live in fellowship with Him and one another?

For, those who believe desire to walk in His Way. Those who believe that Jesus died to save them, will indeed love as He first loved us. It is not an option for the believer because the Spirit of the Living God abides in you and through you and all around you.

Whether you like it or not; whether you seek His face or not, one day we will all meet our God. Are you prepared to meet your God and live eternally in His presence; in His love?

God's Peace - Pr. J

Daniel 5 - The Handwriting Is On The Wall

You may have heard the saying: "the handwriting is on the wall." My mother use to use this expression whenever someone was heading in a direction that she and most other people could recognize would lead them on a path to destruction. She used this expression synonymously with this expression, "Their days are numbered." (Dan 5:26) Whenever she used one of these expressions, I knew that someone had messed up "big time!" She meant that she expected that soon and very soon everything would blow up in their face and they would lose everything. Often as she predicted someone's destruction, she would also warn: "What goes around comes around."

The expression "the handwriting is on the wall" comes from this fifth chapter of Daniel. In the midst of a party, King Belshazzar (son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar) leads the group in praising the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone as they drink from the gold goblets that had been stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. "Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking." (Dan 5:5:6)

Daniel is called to interpret as no one else can figure out the meaning. Belshazzar was a hard-hearted and an arrogant king. He knew what consequences his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had suffered for his inflated ego, but Belshazzar learned nothing from his father's experience of being mad into the wilderness. Daniel tells him:

"“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
“This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin

“Here is what these words mean:  Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.""  (Dan 5:22-31)

 

There is only one God. Put away your false gods and worship only Him.  Can you imagine the fear that one would experience seeing a hand come out of nowhere and write on the wall? If a simple hand can bring such fear, how would we react to seeing God face to face? The days of that meeting are indeed numbered for all of us. It will happen. The day is coming when every knee will bow before the LORD. Everyone will acknowledge that He is God. It is written:

"'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,
'every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.'"

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." (Rom 14:11-12)

 

The handwriting is on the wall. What does it say?

 

God's Peace - Pr. J

 

Ezekiel 13 - Peace When There Is No Peace

“‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash,  therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth." (Ezekiel 13:10-11 NIV)

God's peace be with you. Every Sunday morning we greet one another with words similar to this. When we do this, we are breaking down any walls that may have stood between us and the persons we share this peace with. Ezekiel likens false prophecies of peace to a poorly constructed wall. This false peace will break down walls, as well. But, instead of truth and the genuine heart felt peace of God; it will open up the gate so that false idols might enter in.

These false declarations of peace, when there is no peace, does not actually create unity. It divides as it creates more victims. This false sense of peace whitewashes the injustice that is being done so that the doer of injustice is given a free pass to continue persecuting others; to do what is not right in the eyes of God. I'm OK. You're OK. Everything and everyone is OK. But, everything is not OK. There are still multitudes who are hungry, multitudes who do not know justice, multitudes who are lonely and afraid, multitudes who live without the knowledge of God and His great love for them, and the list goes on.

There is only one way to everlasting peace. That way is through Jesus the Christ.

May His peace be with you always. Pr. J.

Nehemiah 13 - Giving Way To The Adversary

I remember writing a blog some time ago, titled "Keep Your Friends Close, Enemies Closer."  It was about David's kindness to Mephibosheth from 2 Samuel.  The thing to remember is that keeping them closer is with the hopes of knowing their strategy against you, if they have one, and to maybe open their hearts and minds to another way of being through love and generosity. However, the point is not to let them run you over, control your life, or change your heart and mind.  If mingling with the adversary means that you are going to allow a change in your lifestyle so that God is not honored, that His will is not followed, then you probably should really look at the people you are associating with.

Eliashib, the high priest has given space in the temple courts to the adversary, Tobiah, to live.  Tobiah is not a priest.  He doesn't appear to be a Levite.  Tobiah does everything in his power to thwart the attempts to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.  Yet, he is so close that it is apparent that at least he knows about keeping your friends close and enemies closer.  The Israelites, it appears, are still straying.  They are not keeping the Sabbath!  In fact, they are profaning it. 

But, God has sent Nehemiah, to remind them and, with a firm voice and hand, to guide them in the way that they should be going.  In the end, God's will is done.  But, by compromising with the adversary, all could have been lost. 

The safest way to know God's will is to actually read the Holy Scriptures.  Whenever the priests or prophets would read the scriptures, the hearts of the people would turn once again to God.  If you're going to consort with the enemy, it's kind of good - actually, it is necessary - to know God's will and that, my friend, comes from His Word.  Stand firm.  Be strong in the LORD.  Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is His Word.  (Eph 6:17)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Nehemiah 12 - Celebrate

What a celebration!  Everyone comes together to celebrate the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem.

Out here in Arvon Township and surrounding community we have a lot of celebrations:  Music Fests, picnics, etc.. Crowds gather in this small community, coming from long distances.  On September 2nd we will have a dedication at the Aura Lutheran Church.  We will be dedicating an organ to the glory of God.  I am hoping for a crowd - that - many will come to hear God's word and celebrate this gift given for His glory. 

Every Sunday, we gather at Zion to give thanks to God for his gifts.  We dedicate our lives over and over again to him.  At times, we are a small group.  We don't have multitudes like they did at Jerusalem.  But, we have faithful people who give of their time and talents so that worship will be a genuine celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Let us think and pray on this:  Everyone comes together in celebration!  And now I have to head to Zion so that I can study with the youth as they prepare to dedicate their lives to God in the Rite of Confirmation.

God's Peace - Pr. J