08-18-13 Where has all the water gone?

Where has all the water gone?

Scripture:                                         John 7:37-39

WATER IN SOUTHERN IDAHO

Number of boats in Idaho:    2007 - 91,612         2012 - 85,749

Can’t get in at Salmon Dam (chart)

Pulled out at American Falls

by Associated Press  August 8, 2013

Idaho Power officials say they are getting ready to lower flows of the Snake River that feed the spectacular Shoshone Falls.  The utility intends to lower volumes significantly on the river. In the last few weeks, Idaho Power has been releasing water stored at the American Falls Reservoir to generate electricity at dams downstream -- and thus boosting volume spilling over Shoshone Falls.  Flows on the Snake River peaked at 2,500 cubic feet per second Thursday. Idaho Power will throttle down flows to about 600 cubic feet per second by Friday night.

 WATER IN THE HUMAN BODY

Water serves a number of essential functions to keep us all going:

·  A vital nutrient to the life of every cell, acts first as a building material.

·  It regulates our internal body temperature by sweating and respiration

·  The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream;

·  It assists in flushing waste mainly through urination

·  acts as a shock absorber for brain, spinal cord, and fetus

·  forms saliva

·  lubricates joints

Different people have different percentages of their bodies made up of water. Babies have the most, about 78%. Adult men, about 60% However, fat tissue does not have as much water as lean tissue. In adult women, fat makes up more of the body than men, so women have about 55% of their bodies made of water. Thus:

·  Babies and kids have more water (as a percentage) than adults.

·  Women have less water than men (as a percentage).

·  People with more fatty tissue have less water than people w/ less fatty tissue as a %

 WATER IN THE BIBLE

Creation

The flood

Plague in the Nile

Water from the rock in the wilderness  (Ex 17:5-6   The Lord answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.")

Water consumed by fire with Elijah

Fleece dry and wet Gideon

Crystal river in heaven   (Rev 22:1-2   Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city.)

Changing water into wine

Jesus spat on the man’s tongue/eyes for healing   (Mark 7:33-35 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue.  He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!").  At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. /  Mark 8:23-25   He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."  Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.)

Calming the sea

Cast your net / Fishers of Men

Woman at the well – Living Water

OUR NEED FOR GOD’S WATER

Ps 63:1

Oh God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Isa 44:3-4

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.   They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.

Ezek 37:1-6

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"  I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."  Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"
 
John 19:28-30

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.   When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Rev 21:6-7

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

Rev 22:17-21

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.  He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Where has all the water gone?

John 4:4-42
Now he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour (noon).

          When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."  "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"  Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,  but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

          The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."  He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."  "I have no husband," she replied.  Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband.  The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."  "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."   Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."   The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."   Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

          Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."  But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"  "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.  Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

          Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.  They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

Rev 7:13-17

Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes — who are they, and where did they come from?" John answered, "Sir, you know.  These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.  Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.  The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.   For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.

John 7:37-39

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

08-11-13 What’s the Number?

What’s the Number?

Scripture:                                         2 Peter 3:3-9
Some Strange and Astonishing Numbers from the Faithbook – the bible.
- The King of Bashan was apparently so huge he had a bed measuring 13 and 1/2 feet long and 6 feet wide.  Deut 3:11  Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.

- Absalom once had 6.5 pounds of actual hair removed during his annual haircut.  2 Sam 14:25-26  In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom.  From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.  Whenever he cut the hair of his head — he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him — he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard.

- King Solomon had 700 wives, 300 concubines, and 12,000 horses. 1 Kings 11:1-4   King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. (1000 mothers-in-law)

- An Army of 185,000 wound up being destroyed in a single night   Isaiah 37:36-37  Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning — there were all the dead bodies!

- Rehoboam was a father of 88 children. 2 Chron 11:21   Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had 18 wives and 60 concubines, 28 sons and 60 daughters.

- King Zimri is said to have reigned for only 7 days. 1 Kings 16:15-17   In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town.  When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp.

- Adam was 930 years old when he died. Gen 5:5   Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

- Methuselah, lived to be 969 years old.   Gen 5:27   Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

- Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark, and 950 years old when he died. Gen 7:6  Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.   Gen 9:28-29  After the flood Noah lived 350 years.  Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

- A Biblical army once consisted of 700 left-handed men.   Judges 20:15-16    At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred chosen men from those living in Gibeah.  Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

- One man supposedly had 12 fingers and 12 toes.    2 Samuel 21:20-21   In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot — 24 in all. He also was descended from Rapha.  When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David's brother, killed him.

          Those are unusual facts from the bible using numbers.  At church we like to say numbers don’t matter.  You know when we say that? – when attendance is stagnant or decreasing.  Numbers mattered to God – why else would we know that on one occastion Jesus fed 4000 and another time 5000 from one boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

Jesus had how many disciples? 12 / 120 / 500 many others

How many did Jesus send out 2 by 2 to preach?  70

Lazarus had been dead in the tomb how many days? 4

How many days of creation are there? 7

In Egypt how many years of plenty? 7  How many of famine? 7

How many days did the feast of unleavened bread last? 7

How many days did the Israelites march around Jericho? 7

How many trumpets were carried and blown by the priests? 7

How many times did they march around Jericho on the final day? 7

How many days did it rain to create the flood?  40

How old was Moses when he fled from Pharaoh’s palace? 40

How many more years till God sent Moses back to Pharaoh?  40

How many years did Moses and the Israelites wander in the wilderness?  40

How many days was Jesus in the wilderness between his baptism and temptation?  40

How many souls were saved in the Philippian jailer’s household?  All of them

How many souls were saved in the Samaritan village after the woman at the well told them about Jesus?  Many of them. And after hearing Jesus, many more believed in him.

How many souls were saved on the birthday of the church – at Pentecost? 3000

We could do this all day.  The number 40 alone appears at least 140 times in scripture.  The number 7 about 500 times.  What is the name of the 4^th book of the bible? NUMBERS!

2 Peter 3:3-9

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

 SCOFFERS: Persons who will endeavor to turn Christianity into ridicule, as this is the most likely way to depreciate truth in the sight of the gullible multitude. The scoffers, having no solid argument to produce against revelation, endeavor to make a joke of some parts of Christianity; and then to laugh at it, and get superficial thinkers to laugh and unknowingly agree with them.  (Is that true in Peter’s day or ours? – YES!)

4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." You have to give the scoffers credit – this is an excellent line of thought. If Jesus promised to return and he always keeps his promises, where is he and why is he waiting sooooo long to return? 

5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.            PAST -  FUTURE               7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  The promise is still valid – it is just being help up for some reason?  That reason has to do with the answer to the sermon’s question?  “WHAT’S THE NUMBER?  Or WHAT IS GOD’S NUMBER?

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (That is like the difference between the widow and the wealthy who were giving their contribution into the temple treasury – the wealthy gave a lot by most standards but not by the Jesus standard when compared to the two pennies of the widow because she gave all she had. – 2 pennies to her were like $2,000.00 to them.  One day to us is like 1000 years to God.  Even though it may seem like a long time to us and to the scoffers it is like no time to God.  But that doesn’t fully answer why it is taking so long for Jesus to return?

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some (scoffers) understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

What’s the number?  NOT ONE to perish  What’s the number EVERY ONE to come to repentance.

Luke 15:3-10

The 100 Sheep:  Then Jesus told them this parable:  "Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses 1 of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.
          The 10 coins  8 "Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses 1. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over 1 sinner who repents."

Luke 15:31-32

The Two sons:   The father said, "My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

CONCLUSION

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

 

08-04-13 Raise Your Ebenezer

Raise Your Ebenezer

John 12:20-33
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

          23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!"

          Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

          30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."  33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

 

1 Sam 7:5-13

(Ashtoreth =  the moon goddess of the Phoenicians, representing the passive principle in nature, their principal female deity; frequently associated with the name of Baal, the sun-god, their chief male deity. This deity is spoken of as Ashtoreth of the Zidonians. She was the Ishtar of the Accadians and the Astarte of the Greeks.  There was a temple of the Ashtoreth goddess among the Philistines in the time of Samuel.

Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you."  When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah.

          7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines.  They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf, and the Lord answered him.

          10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.

          1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.

SPECIAL MUSIC: Saved by Grace – Teddy

Jesus was tempted to raise a stone (false Ebenezer) and turn it into bread.

COMMUNION BREAD – Jesus took the bread (lift it up) and gave thanks…

 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing was written by Robert Robinson in 1758. The second verse of the song begins with these words: “Here I raise my Ebenezer.” If you are like many who have sung this song, the word “Ebenezer” immediately brings to your mind visions of old Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens’ Christmas Carol, screaming at Bob Cratchet to conserve coal and get to work. Yet, we all know that is not the idea behind this song. Where, then, does the term Ebenezer originate, and what does it mean?

In 1 Samuel 7, the prophet Samuel and the Israelites found themselves under attack by the Philistines. Fearing for their lives, the Israelites begged Samuel to pray for them in their impending battle against the Philistines. Samuel offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for His protection. God listened to Samuel, causing the Philistines to lose the battle and retreat back to their own territory. After the Israelite victory, the Bible records: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ ” (1 Samuel 7:12).

The word Ebenezer comes from the Hebrew words ’Eben hà-ezer (eh’-ben haw-e’-zer), which simply mean “stone of help”. When Robinson wrote his lyrics, he followed the word Ebenezer with the phrase, “Here by Thy great help I’ve come.” An Ebenezer, then, is simply a monumental stone set up to signify the great help that God granted the one raising the stone. In Robinson’s poem, it figuratively meant that the writer—and all who subsequently sing the song—acknowledge God’s bountiful blessings and help in their lives.

Now when you sing about raising your Ebenezer, you will be able to “sing with the understanding” that you are acknowledging God’s help in your life.

SONG: Come Thou Fount – Praise Team

 Jesus lifted up a cup in the garden – Let this cup pass from me…

COMMUNION CUP - Jesus offer the cup (lifted up) and gave thanks…(surely the presence…)

3 songs: I could sing of your love forever/ No other love/ We Fall Down

This is a story of my Ebenezer. Emily Peterson

On a warm night in July, I found myself in a quiet, dimly lit dorm room in Ankara, Turkey. I had the window propped open and somewhere in the streets below the final azan (call to prayer) was being sung out into the darkness. That night at 11:55, I submitted my application for the World Race.

A week later in the same dorm room, I was having a wrestling match with God. Though I was confident at the moment I pressed "submit", it didn't take long for doubt to work its way into my thoughts. The more I considered the situation, the more absurd it all seemed. There were so many reasons for me not to go in January. Lots of things would have to work out perfectly, and if they didn't... I simply couldn't go. I told God these things as if to say, "Look, I don't know if you thought about all this but I want you to know that I'm pretty sure this won't work so don’t make me say I told you so."

As I prayed really sloppy, weak prayers, the Lord kindly interrupted me and said, "Make a list, Emily. Write down all you need from me - everything I have to provide in order for you to go in January. Write a list and watch me provide."

In my journal I scribbled down the list. Some of it is shamefully trivial, but other things were serious: "I need a sub-leaser and/or someone to pay my rent" and "I need a job for the semester." In all, there were eleven things that God had to provide or else it wasn't going to work.  Three days after I wrote that list, I got an email about a job opening in Austin. A day later I’d applied and got the job. I also got a call from AIM welcoming me to the World Race. The phone calls were minutes apart.

One by one I scratched through something that had previously been a barrier blocking my way to leaving in January. The bricks in my Wall of Jericho were coming down and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with God keeping his promises.

As the months passed, things continued to line up perfectly. But then, days before Training Camp and two months before graduation, I went to my advisor to apply to graduate. After doing a “degree audit”, my advisor turned to me and gave me the worst possible news. In the most irritatingly nonchalant way he said, “It looks like you’re one hour short of graduating in December.”

Naturally, I freaked out and assumed this was some kind of error, but he stared back at his computer and confirmed that I was in jeopardy of not graduating because one credit hour had slipped through the cracks somewhere. So I panicked and said something like, “Look you don’t understand. I have to graduate in December because I’m leaving the country in January to go be a missionary for a year. I’m going to hold orphans and eat rice and I ALREADY BOUGHT MY CHACOS!” My advisor dismissed my panic by telling me about one of his previous students who had done something seemingly similar. “She did something called ‘The World Race.’ Have you ever heard of it?” he asked. Okay wow, God, I thought. Okay wow.

I ended up having to take this special test to get the credit I needed to graduate, but because of Training camp I only had two days to learn an entire semester’s worth of material. I’ve never had so much riding on a single exam, nor have I ever been so sick with nerves. Anyway, I passed the test.

At training camp my teammate Jordynn said the Lord gave her a message for me: “Fall boldly, because the Lord wants to catch you boldly.”

When I came home from training camp, the last major thing on my list was finding a sub-leaser. At that point, I’d posted in every possible place and though plenty of people had responded, not a single person worked out. As the weeks passed, it seemed hopeless until eventually, it came time to buy a plane ticket.

I remember that night very well. I was sitting alone in my room feeling absolutely terrified at the idea of buying a one-way ticket out of Texas when I still didn’t have any secured way of paying my rent for six months. I knew it was the riskiest possible move to buy that ticket, but as I prayed about it I felt the Lord tell me, “Emily, you have to trust me with no backup plans. Fall boldly, remember?”

So, I bought the ticket. I told myself that I’d wait until  two weeks before Launch, to find a sub-leaser. If I hadn’t found one by then, I’d try to raise the money to cover my rent – nearly $3,000.

On December 15th I still had not found a sub-leaser. A friend and mentor from home referred me to a family he knew that might be able to help. I contacted the family and arranged to meet with them when I was back in town.

On the evening of December 23rd I met with a member of this family. The conversation lasted no more than ten minutes. I was prepared for the worst, but I was a little caught off guard when, instead of a polite refusal to help me, the person sitting across from me said, “My family and I believe in the kind of work you’re doing, and we want to support you.”

Three days later I picked up a check for $2,850 – six months’ rent in full. Ten days before I was scheduled to leave home for a year, the Lord fulfilled the last of the promises he’d made to me almost EXACTLY five months before.  As I think back to that night in Turkey and the list I wrote that changed my life, there is simply not a doubt in my mind that the Lord is real.

You can be sure that I’ll carry that list with me around the world this year. In a moment of doubt or fear, I’ll pull it out and remind myself of what the Lord has done. When others need reassurance, I’ll raise my Ebenezer and offer undeniable evidence that the Lord is real, he is good, and he keeps his promises.

If and when you find yourself before a mountain and it seems impossible that you’ll ever get to the other side, I encourage you to raise your Ebenezer, stop telling God how big your mountain is, and start telling that mountain how big your God is.

An Ebenezer is a Rock that reminds us of God’s Help.  A Rock that reminds us of God’s help.  A rock…God raised a rock and rolled it away to reveal our eternal help had conquered sin and death once and for all.  The rock was moved to prove that God was our help!!!  That was only possible because Jesus had first gone to the cross where he had been lifted up.  … and I, if I be lifted up will draw all men to myself.

 What is your Ebenezer?  BETTER: Who is your Ebenezer?

Ps 62:6-8

God alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

1 Cor 10:3-4 (Manna and water in the wilderness)

They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

 Jesus is our rock – he is our Ebenezer – let us lift him up.

RESPONSE SONG:  Lift Him Up!

 LIFT HIM UP

WRITER: REBA RAMBO-MCGUIRE

   LIFT HIM UP, LIFT HIM UP

LIFT THE NAME OF JESUS HIGHER

LIFT HIM UP, RAISE HIS BANNER TO THE SKY

HE SAID IF I BE LIFTED UP I WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME

LIFT HIM UP ALL YE PEOPLE, LIFT HIM UP

   PRAISE THE LORD, PRAISE THE LORD

PRAISE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS FOREVER

PRAISE THE LORD, LIFT YOUR VOICES TO THE SKY

HE SAID IF WE WON'T PRAISE HIS NAME

THEN THE ROCKS AND STONES WILL CRY OUT

PRAISE THE LORD ALL YE PEOPLE, PRAISE THE LORD

   SHOW HIS LOVE SHOW HIS LOVE

SHOW HIS LOVE TO EVERYBODY

SHOW HIS LOVE LET YOUR CANDLE ALWAYS SHINE

HE SAID THAT BY THE LOVE WE SHOW

THEY WILL KNOW WE'RE HIS DISCIPLES

SHOW HIS LOVE ALL YE PEOPLE, SHOW HIS LOVE

07-21-13 How’s your ecclesia?

How’s your ecclesia?

Scripture:                                      Colossians 1:15-20
          He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

CHURCH =  Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., "the Lord's house"), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship.

In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia, which is synonymous with the Hebrew kahal of the Old Testament, both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found. There is no clear instance of its being used for a place of meeting or of worship, although in post-apostolic times it early received this meaning.

We find the word ecclesia used in the following senses in the New Testament:

(1.) It is translated "assembly" in the ordinary classical sense (Acts 19:32 / 41) The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. / After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

(2.) It denotes the whole body of the redeemed, all those whom the Father has given to Christ, the invisible catholic church (Eph 5:23, 25, 27, 29; Heb 12:22, 23) For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. / Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her / and to present her to himself as a radiant church / After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— / But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

(3.) A few Christians associated together in observing the ordinances of the gospel are an ecclesia (Rom 16:5; Col 4:15)  Greet also the church that meets at their house. / Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

(4.) All the Christians in a particular city, whether they assembled together in one place or in several places for religious worship, were an ecclesia. Thus all the disciples in Antioch, forming several congregations, were one church (Acts 13:1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul); so also we read of the "church of God at Corinth" (1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God in Corinth), "the church at Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem), "the church of Ephesus" (Rev 2:1 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:)

(5.) The whole body of professing Christians throughout the world are the church of Christ.  1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Gal 1:13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.

Matt 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

The church visible "consists of all those throughout the world that profess Jesus!  It is called "visible" because its members are known and its assemblies are public. There is a mixture of "wheat and chaff," of saints and sinners. "God has commanded his people to organize themselves into distinct visible ecclesiastical communities, for the great purpose of giving visibility to his kingdom, of making known the gospel of that kingdom, and of gathering in all its elect subjects. Each one of these distinct organized communities is an integral part of the visible church.  This is "the kingdom of heaven," whose character and progress are set forth in the parables recorded in Matt 13.

The church invisible "consists of the whole number of the elect that have been, are, or will be gathered into one under Christ, the head." It is the body of Christ. it is called "invisible" because the greater part of those who constitute it are already in heaven or are yet unborn, and also because its members still on earth are living imperfect.

The church to which the attributes, prerogatives, and promises appertaining to Christ's kingdom belong, is a spiritual body consisting of all true believers, i.e., the church invisible.