6-24-18 LET…!

Scripture   Isaiah 60:1-22

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Let”?

“Let me entertain you, let me make you smile”

“Let me have it”

“Let go” FROZEN – “Let it go”

“Live and let live” or “Live and let die”

“Let go, let God”

“Let it be”:

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be
And in my hour of darkness, She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be
And when the broken-hearted people, Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, Let it be

LET = to give opportunity to, or fail to prevent
          [GIVE OPPORTUNITY / DON’T PREVENT]

Our song today says:

Let the glory of the Lord Rise among us
Let the praises of the King Rise among us
Let the songs of the Lord Rise among us
Let the joy of the King Rise among us
Let it rise Ohh, ohh ohh Let it rise

Isaiah 60:1-22

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip.
⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah.
And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.
⁷ All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.

⁸ “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests?
⁹ Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish,^[a]
bringing your children from afar, with their silver and gold,
to the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.

¹⁰ “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you.
Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion.
¹¹ Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night,
so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession.
¹² For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.

¹³ “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet. ⁴ The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ “Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations.
¹⁶ You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts.
Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
¹⁷ Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron.
Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones.
I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler.
¹⁸ No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders,
but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
¹⁹ The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
²⁰ Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
²¹ Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever.
They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
²² The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

Isaiah 60-62 display the glorious future of a Jerusalem in which God’s glory shines through his anointed servant Jesus Christ: (Is 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.). That glory will express itself when sin has been conquered by God’s warrior. Even prior to that final blow to sin and death there is a realization of much of the divine glory in the here and now. From Jerusalem a witness has gone out to the world and that witness continues to this day through His people – the church.

Chapter 60 has 4 distinct parts:

1-3    Poetic introduction

4-9    Zion’s return from exile carrying the wealth of the world

10-14 Oppressive kings submit to Zion

15-22 God will not forget Israel but will restore her to himself.

The fascinating part is that the people have already returned from exile – therefore Isaiah is talking about returning from a theological exile. It has not to do with physical captivity, rather with spiritual captivity – much from the influence of the Babylonian captivity. Yes, some stayed strong during captivity like (Meshack, Shadrach, Abednego and Daniel) but many did not. The glory of the Lord had fallen from their spirits and the time had come for them to Let the glory of the Lord rise among them.

John 17:1-6

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  “I have revealed you^[a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.

John 17:10 And glory has come to me through them.

John 17:24

Paul likens us to shining stars, and the word shine means to reflect. The scientific term is albedo. It's a measurement of how much sunlight a celestial body reflects. The planet Venus, for example, has the highest albedo at .65. In other words, 65 percent of the light that hits Venus is reflected. Depending on where it's at in its orbit, the almost-a-planet Pluto has an albedo ranging from .49 to .66. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of .07. Only seven percent of sunlight is reflected, yet it lights our way on cloudless nights.

In a similar sense, each of us has a spiritual albedo. The goal? One hundred percent reflectivity. We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord. You cannot produce light. You can only reflect it.

Let the glory of the Lord Rise among us
Let the praises of the King Rise among us
Let the songs of the Lord Rise among us
Let the joy of the King Rise among us
Let it rise Ohh, ohh ohh Let it rise

6-10-18 Open Up the Heavens!

Scripture  Revelation 21:1-7

Open up the heavens

We've waited for this day, We're gathered in your name, Calling out to you
Your glory like a fire, Awakening desire, Will burn our hearts with truth

Open up the heavens, We want to see you, Open up the floodgates, A mighty river
Flowing from your heart, Filling every part of our praise

Show us, show us your glory, your power, your glory, Lord

When we all get to heaven

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing his mercy and his grace
In the mansions bright and blessed, He'll prepare for us a place

When we all get to heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be
When we all see Jesus, We'll sing and shout the victory

When the roll is called up yonder

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there

I’ll fly away

Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away
To that home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away in the morning
When I die, Hallelujah by and by, I'll fly away

Worthy is the lamb with crown him with many crowns

Worthy is the Lamb Seated on the throne. Crown You now with many crowns. You reign victorious High and lifted up Jesus Son of God. Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne, Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee, and hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

Rev 21:1-7

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 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.”

Richard Baxter was a very effective pastor in England in the 1600s. His whole adult life was spent battling one sickness after the other. He was harassed by a constant cough, frequent nosebleeds, migraine headaches, digestive ailments, kidney stones, and gallstones. He believed in supernatural healing and said several times he was restored to fruitful labor because of God's direct intervention. He said once a cancerous looking tumor in his throat vanished while he was in the pulpit testifying to God's mercies in his own life. Yet bodily suffering was with him to the end, and he once said that from the age of 21 he was "seldom an hour free from pain."

Richard Baxter's Regular Meditation on Heaven

One of the effects of this suffering was to make him intensely conscious of how temporary his life is and how inevitable death is. Once, at 35 he was so sick, he would probably not recover. He began to meditate on the joys of heaven and the age to come in preparation for leaving this world. He focused especially on "the hope of glory" and began to write his thoughts.

To his surprise he recovered, and his thoughts became a book entitled The Saints' Everlasting Rest. He took up the practice of meditating on heaven a half hour each day because of the powerful impact it had on his life. He commended the same thing to his readers. He said,

If you would have light and heat, why are you not more in the sunshine? For want of this recourse to heaven, your soul is as a lamp not lighted, and your duty as a sacrifice without fire. Fetch one coal daily from this altar, and see if your offering will not burn . . . Keep close to this reviving fire, and see if your affections will not be warm.

We Are Citizens of Another Age

This is good advice. Paul told us to do this in Colossians 3:1–4.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

In other words, if our resurrection with Christ is so sure as virtually to have already happened, then we are to live in the constant awareness that we are citizens of His kingdom. We are not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And that renewing means conformed to the newness of the kingdom to come, because God says, "Behold I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5).

Pondering the Greatness of the Age to Come 

I want us to focus on the objective reality of what is coming for us in the age of the resurrection. Romans 6:5, "If we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

The person who knows that his destiny is glorious and certain will be free to live the most radical life of love and sacrifice..

If somebody falls out of an airplane with no parachute on and you don't have one either, you aren't going to jump out after them. It won't do any good. Two deaths aren't better than one. But if you have a parachute on, you just might try one of those awesome rescue attempts, and free fall like a bullet to catch the helpless and pull your cord. It's the hope of safety in the end that releases radical, sacrificial love now.

Paul said in Colossians 1:4–5, "We have heard of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven." It's the assurance of the hope of heaven that releases the radical, risk-taking love that makes people look at your life (like Peter says) and "ask a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). What do those people see when they ask that? They see you jumping out of an airplane to save another person. So they say, "Hey how can you jump out of the comfort and safety of this airplane?" And you answer, "I have a parachute called the hope of glory."

What will it be like?

Four Ways in Which God Will Make All Things New

The purpose of God for creation will not be complete until all things are made new and the glory of the Lord fills them all. In verse 5 God says, "Behold, I make all things new." And he enforces the certainty of it in two ways. He is sitting on his throne when he says it—the throne of authority. "He who sat upon the throne said, 'Behold I make all things new.'" And after he had said it, he added, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." So God wants us to read this and be sure of it. He wants us to have assurance that no matter how much evil and suffering and futility we see now, he will make all things new.

Let's look at four ways the newness is coming.

1. Spiritually and Morally New

The greatest frustration of this age is that we still sin. Romans 7:34 describes this painful truth: "I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind." This war is the most frustrating thing about life in this age—at least it is for the children of God. We want to be holy and we fall short of the holiness we long for. We want to love and we say hurtful things. We want to worship and we feel cold. We want to walk in peace and we feel anxiety. We want to be pure in thought and impurity bombards our minds.

There is some progress as the Spirit helps us in our weakness. But what we long for is deliverance from this bent to sinning.

That is what God promises when he makes all things new. We will be made spiritually and morally new—not just partially as now, but completely. Look at verse 2: "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This is a picture of the church prepared and beautified for her husband, Jesus Christ. When God makes all things new, he makes the church—the people of God—spiritually and morally beautiful for his Son. Look at the way this is described in verses 9–11: Then came one of the seven angels who spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God [the same image as in verse 2], having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

When God makes the bride ready for the Son, the way he does it is by giving us his glory—verse 11: "having the glory of God." And this glory will purify us so deeply and so thoroughly that we will be like a rare jewel, clear as crystal. Don't you long for that day? Nothing hidden and nothing shameful. That's the first way the newness is coming. God will make us spiritually and morally beautiful for our final marriage with his Son.

2. Physically New

The Bible does not teach that the final state of glory is one of disembodied spirits. Plato and his kind wanted it that way because they thought the body was a drag on the freedom of the spirit. But the Bible teaches a very different destiny for God's people. God will make all things new—including our bodies.  Verse 4 points in this direction: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

No more death. No more pain. No more tears. What that means is that the body we know now will be changed. Because it dies. And it hurts. And it cries. If death is gone and pain is gone and tears are gone, then the body as we know it here is gone. That may sound like Plato—good riddance to the body of pain. Revelation is plain that the point is not good riddance to the body but that God will make all things new.

Paul put it like this in Philippians 3:20–21, But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

There are a lot of people who feel that they didn't get a fair shake when the bodies were passed out. Some people have dramatic deformities, some have lost limbs, some are paralyzed, some can't hear, some can't see, some have extensive skin blemishes. But God has no intention of leaving anybody in that condition who put their trust him.

When God makes all things new, he makes our bodies new.

3. The New Creation

This is the point of verse 1: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more." The hope of the prophet seems to be that this earth and heaven will be made new. God will renovate the whole thing—a kind of global rehab project. And everything futile and evil and painful will be done away.

Paul put it like this in Romans 8:21, "The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the liberty of the glory of the children of God." The newness and the glory of the church, the children of God, is primary and first. But then God promises that the glory of his people will demand a glorious creation to live in. So the fallen creation will obtain the very freedom from futility and evil and pain that the church is given.

So when God makes all things new, he makes us new spiritually and morally, he makes us new physically, and then he makes the whole creation new so that our environment fits our perfected spirits and bodies.

That leaves one last work of renewing when God makes all things new.

4. A New Relationship with God

John tells us about this in verse 3: "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them."

It's true that God is with us now. His Spirit dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus promised never to leave us to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). But in 2 Corinthians 5:6–7 Paul said, "While we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, here we walk by faith and not by sight."

So there is a deep and painful sense in which we are "away from the Lord"—we do not see as we will one day see. "Blessed are the pure in heart," Jesus said, "for they shall see God." It's a promise. Something greater is coming for all of us in our relation with God.

Zaccheaeus couldn’t see Jesus without the help of tree. Revelation 22:4 tells us how we will see him in this new relationship: "They shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads."

When God makes all things new, he will make us spiritually and morally as pure as flawless crystal, he will give us a body like the body of his glory, he will renovate all creation to take all futility and evil and pain out of it, and finally he himself will come to us and let us see his face. And so forever and ever we will live with pure hearts and glorious bodies on a new heaven/earth in the presence and the glory of our heavenly Father.

END AS WE BEGAN – WITH A MUSICAL PRAYER

Prayer of seeing heaven while living radical lives for Jesus on earth.

The great I am

I want to be close, close to your side, Heaven is real and death is a lie
I want to hear voices of angels above , Singing as one

Hallelujah, holy, holy, God almighty, the great I am
Who is worthy, none beside thee, God almighty, the great I am

I want to be near, near to your heart, Loving the world and hating the dark
I want to see dry bones living again, Singing as one

Hallelujah, holy, holy, God almighty, the great I am
Who is worthy, none beside thee, God almighty, the great I am

6-3-18 What’s New?

Scripture   Ecclesiastes 1:9

Eccl 1:1-9

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." 3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.   NIV 

Ecclesiastes 1:1-9

These are the words of the Quester, David's son and king in Jerusalem: 2 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That's what the Quester says.] There's nothing to anything — it's all smoke. 3 What's there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone? 4 One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes — it's business as usual for old planet earth. 5 The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again — the same old round. 6 The wind blows south, the wind blows north. Around and around and around it blows, blowing this way, then that — the whirling, erratic wind. 7 All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea never fills up. The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do it again. 8 Everything's boring, utterly boring — no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to the ear. 9 What was will be again, what happened will happen again. There's nothing new on this earth. Year after year it's the same old thing.  MSG

Small Intro then say “I can’t get no satisfaction.” (Video of Rolling Stones)

          Do you ever feel like “I am filled up with Christ and I am ready to take on the world?”

Do you ever feel like, “My tank is empty, nothing I do matters and nobody cares anyway, so why should I even try?”

          Does life seem to be like a roller coaster with ups and downs, twists and turns?

Or maybe a series of Mountains and Valleys that never seem to send? (Gretchen and I in the South Hills – at each summit was another hill to climb)

          If it is like that for you individually, isn’t more so for a church? Ashland used to have 500+ people a week in worship. Is that a sign of the times and we accept it could never be that again? Do the Cedar Creeks of the world have the only chance for that? Do we hope that God will work miracles or just try to make sure we meet budget and have a decent attendance?

          If it is like that for individuals and churches, how much more so for a nation. Will the US and North Korean leaders meet or won’t they? Will shootings at schools, malls, churches and concerts ever stop or become more pervasive? Will we ever get the US out of debt? Will the US serve as a moral compass for the world? Will we be the most technologically advanced country in the world?

Ecc 1:8-9 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Bud Young – Art teacher at Judson College “It’s been done before”

Well, let’s look at this cheerful text of scripture and see what it has to do with our theme for the year.

Who wrote these word?

Ecc 1:1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem’

          Of course that must be Solomon. Teacher – that could be anyone. Son of David, king in Jerusalem? That could be any of thousands of people descended from Solomon, even Jesus was known as a son of David. Very few believe Solomon wrote. Sometimes it is from the voice of a subject, not a king. It seems to be written at a later period than Solomon, but someone writing in such a way as to pick up some themes from Solomon himself.

What was this person writing about?

Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless!

Smoke, nothing but Smoke! There’s nothing to anything. It’s all smoke!

That version from the Message is a better translation than the NIV. The word used 38 times in Ecclesiastes more than the rest of the entire OT is translated meaningless – or smoke and is actually translated as breath. The Hebrew is hebel = breath. In other words, 5 generations from now no one will remember what you have done and few will even know you ever existed. You are only a mist, a breath that appears for a moment then vanishes with the wind. Life is meaningless, useless, hollow, futile, empty, worthless, pointless. If extended it could be saying your church or your country are insignificant, unimportant, inconsequential, trivial, and irrelevant.

“I love preaching so I can build people up.”

As many times as hebel is used by the author, there is a phrase connected to it used almost as often, that phrase is “under the sun” If earth were placed inside a bubble, away from heaven’s influence, separated from God’s presence, this is what life would look like.

The author says, consider your work –

the traditional wife/stay at home mom gets up, cleans, does laundry, chases the toddlers around and tries to make a creative healthy meal that everyone will want to devour.

The husband works and commutes 50+ hours per week, comes home to mow the lawn, take out the trash, watch some tv sleep and hate his alarm in the morning.

The single person works, tries to balance various friendships as well as their checkbook and wonders, who will I leave all my stuff to when I die? Everything is meaningless under the sun.

It is amazing, since there is this rhythm of life under the sun, that we work so hard to grab it and try to control it, when in reality we cannot. We seek self-importance by trying to elevate ourselves above others. It is all meaningless!

The author goes on to talk about trying to find meaning through pleasure – laughter, sex, alcohol, drugs, tranquility…all are meaningless; but a breath.  Money doesn’t satisfy nor does poverty. The possession of things or the absence of material stuff does not provide meaning – it will all be given to someone else as people say their final farewells to you.  Our nation has so many struggles with fighting from within and without. Thousands of churches close their doors every year compared to the few, in the US which are just starting – it appears we are losing ground-under the sun.

READY FOR GOOD NEWS?

          We are not living only under the sun – we are living in the SON!

We do not need to invest our lives in the temporal matters of earth. We have a destination far greater than what we see and experience day to day under the sun.

Augustine referred to Ecclesiastes as, "Setting forth the vanity of this life, only that we may desire that life wherein, instead of vanity beneath the sun, there is truth and eternal joy under Him who made the sun!"

Phil 4:11-13     I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Luke 12:22-31

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

"Paintings are valuable because the artist signs them. Imagine—what some museum would say you were worth if you could show them the signature of God upon you. That's what the Imago Dei means: God, the greatest Artist, has signed you and me. Our value is not based on what we have done, but in who made us.

          Think about this – the entire premise of Ecclesiastes – Everything is meaningless under the son – separated from God – that is a pretelling of our story – and of the story of the prodigal son who took the life his Father gave him and he tried every activity under heaven to give his life meaning and nothing ever worked, till the day he went back home and was lovingly-eternally welcomed into his Father’s arms…and that changed EVERYTHING!

ILLUSTRATION: Portrait of his son – whoever buys it, gets it all!

5-27-18 Building up Memorial Stones

Scripture   Joshua 4:1-9

RETELL CROSSING THE JORDAN    (Joshua 3)

Early Spring 1406 (flood waters) 2 spies sent out – protected by Rahab the prostitute.

 

Josh 3:11-14   MSG          Look at what's before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it — the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. 12 Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. 13 When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan's water, the flow of water will be stopped — the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap."

          14 And that's what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant.

How many crossed the Jordan?

Num 1:45-46

All Israelites 20 years old or more who were able to serve in Israel's army were 603,550.

Num 26:51

The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730. Plus, women and Children.

TOTAL 1-2½ million people

ALL HAVE NOW CROSSED THE JORDAN

Josh 4:1-9 MSG

When the whole nation was finally across, God spoke to Joshua: 2 "Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, 3 and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.'"

          4 Joshua called out the twelve men whom he selected from the People of Israel, one man from each tribe. 5 Joshua directed them, "Cross to the middle of the Jordan and take your place in front of the Chest of God, your God. Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel, so you'll have something later to mark the occasion. When your children ask you, 'What are these stones to you?' you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan — stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.'"

          8 The People of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded: They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan — a stone for each of the twelve tribes, just as God had instructed Joshua — carried them across with them to the camp, and set them down there. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan that had marked the place where the priests who carried the Chest of the Covenant had stood. They are still there today.

In the later years of his life, the great 19th century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson suffered from an increasingly faulty memory. When things would slip his mind, he complained of his “naughty memory,” as he called it. Sometimes Emerson would forget the names of different objects. In order to speak of them, he would refer to them in a round-about way. For instance, when he could not think of the word “plow,” he would call it “the implement that cultivates the soil.” More important was the fact that he could not remember the names of people who were quite familiar to him. At the funeral of his friend, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emerson commented to another person, “That gentleman has a sweet, beautiful soul, but I have entirely forgotten his name.”

The loss of memory is a sad thing. It cuts us off from days gone by. It strips away the treasured residue of past experience. It erases our personal history and leaves us with blank pages. A gentleman commented: I was visiting in the home of a delightful older woman. Periodically in the course of our conversation she would stop and — after a moment’s silence — would remark, “I’ve forgotten what I was going to say.” After this happened several times she confessed, “It’s so humiliating to have your memory go bad.” Certainly it is unfortunate, inconvenient and at times embarrassing not to remember. Yet without a doubt, for some people the failure of memory is largely unavoidable…

…that is not always the case. Sometimes we are forgetful because we neglect that which has gone before us and become inattentive to those who have preceded us. We center all of our attention only on our own time and place. We act as though the present is all that matters and the past is some shabby thing that can be safely cast off and left behind like a worn-out pair of shoes.

Memorial Day has largely become an extra day off work. This holiday is not expressly religious. It is secular. However, it can serve to promote a value that is elevated throughout the Scriptures, that value being the importance of remembrance. A failure of memory is not just something which leads to personal inconvenience or social embarrassment. It is a spiritual danger. A failure of memory in those things which are most significant results in a failure of faith. Forgetfulness erodes the foundation of our relationship with God.

On several occasions, the bible uses Memorial Stones or something similar to help the people remember – like: Precious Stones in Arron’s breastplate, Lampstand of gold with continual fire, incense that always burns, Crown in the days of Zechariah, Blood on the door post from the Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple.  All for the purpose of remembering ------- Oh, and the bread and the cup – take these; what? In remembrance of me.

IMPORTANT MEMORIAL STONES

SLIDES - PIB BRICKS     -     WEDDING RING     -     Rock - NOV. 4, 1974

What Memorial Stones have you built to remember what God has done for you? How often do you view them? Let me suggest one Memorial Stone you ought to visit often – it is a Stone that points to the Living Stone – the Bible – visit it often and it will remind you of the Living Stone…

1 Peter 2:4-5   As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

5-20-18 The Pillars of Creation!

2018 THEME BANNERS

  

Scripture  Genesis 1:14-19

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.

NEBULA = (plural nebulae or nebulas) a cloud of gas and dust in outer space, visible in the night sky either as an indistinct bright patch or as a dark silhouette against other luminous matter.

(POC 1 SLIDE)  “Pillars of Creation” in this photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the (POC 2 SLIDE)  Eagle Nebula nearly 7,000 light-years from Earth.  NASA scientists named this nebula “Pillars of Creation”, (POC 3 SLIDE)  because the gas and dust are in the process of forming new stars.

The phrase “pillars of creation” originated in a sermon given by an English Christian minister Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) to describe the birth of Jesus Christ.

“And now wonder, you angels, the Infinite has become an infant; he, upon whose shoulders the universe hang s …he who created all things, and bears up the pillars of creation.”                                      SPURGEON’S SERMON

Oh, can you conceive the yet increasing wonder of the heavenly hosts when the deed was actually done, when they saw the crown taken off, when they saw him unbind his girdle of stars, and cast away his sandals of gold? Can you conceive it, when he said to them, “I do not disdain the womb of the virgin; I am going down to earth to become a man?” Can you picture the angels as they declared they would follow him! Yes, they followed him as near as the world would permit them. And when they came to earth they began to sing, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.” Nor would they go away till they had made the shepherds wonder, and till heaven had hung out a new star in honor of the new-born King.

[: And now wonder, you angels, the Infinite has become an infant; he, upon whose shoulders the universe does hang, hangs at his mothers breast; he who created all things, and bears up the pillars of creation, has now become so weak that he must be carried by a woman! And oh, wonder, you that knew him in his riches, while you admire his poverty! Where sleeps the new-born King? Had he the best room in Caesar’s palace? Had a cradle of gold been prepared for him, and down filled pillows, on which to rest his head? No, where the ox fed, in the dilapidated stable, in the manger, there the Saviour lies, swathed in the swaddling bands of the children of poverty! Nor there does he rest long; on a sudden his father and mother must carry him to Egypt; he goes there, and becomes a stranger in a strange land. When he comes back, see him that made the worlds handle the hammer and the nails, assisting his father in the trade of a carpenter!

Mark him who has put the stars on high, and made them glisten in the night; mark him without one star of glory upon his brow—a simple child, as other children.

Bible Reading: Genesis 1

For centuries man has been trying to discover the origins of the universe, only to find that it is bigger, more complex and more amazing than we can comprehend and that the more we learn, the more there is to learn ~ infinitely more. Words fail to describe the enormity of the universe where distance is measured in light-years which are insanely fast In one year, light travels approximately 186,000 miles per second OR 6 Trillion miles (6,000,000,000,000) per year. We live on a very small planet called Earth orbiting around a pretty small star that we call the sun.  We are in an area of the universe called The Milky Way galaxy which contains approximately 200 billion stars.  Andromeda, our neighbor galaxy, is 2 million light-years away from The Milky Way. Andromeda and The Milky Way along with about 54 other dwarf galaxies are called The Local Group!

Theories abound about how the universe started, but fail to answer the ultimate question, “What existed before there was something?  From where did the ‘something’ come?”

The first book in the Bible is called Genesis meaning “beginning.”  Genesis 1 answers the five W’s ~ who, what, when, where and why ~ about creation.

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning (WHEN) God (WHO) created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (WHERE) 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (WHAT) 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

WHY DID GOD CREATE?

Gen 1:26-27

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

King David asked essentially the same thing:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers … what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4).

Why did God make us?

First, it wasn't because he needed us: "The God who made the world and everything in it … is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything" (Acts 17:24-25).

And he didn't make us because he was lonely. Long before we were here, God already had "company" with his Son and the Holy Spirit, referred to in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our own image."

And he didn't make us because he needed his ego fed. It's not like God made us to satisfy some craving to be worshiped. God is totally secure in who he is—without us.

Second, despite not needing us, God chose to create us anyway, out of his great love: "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3). Yes, God loved us before he even created us. It's impossible to get our heads around that idea, but it's true; that's what "everlasting" love means.

God is love (1 John 4:8), and because of that love and his wonderful creativity, he made us as the recipients of His creativity and love. (Finger print Unique)

[: Jesus, without one star of glory upon his brow—a simple child, as other children. Yet, leave for a while the scenes of his childhood and his earlier life; see him when he becomes a man, and now you may say, indeed, that for our sakes he did become poor. Look at his robe, it is woven from the top throughout, the garment of the poor! As for his food, he oftentimes did hunger; and always was dependent upon the charity of others for the relief of his wants! He who scattered the harvest over the broad acres of the world, had not sometimes wherewithal to stay the pangs of hunger? He who dug the springs of the ocean, sat upon a well and said to a Samaritan woman, “Give me a drink!” He rode in no chariot, he walked his weary way, foot sore, over the flint stones of Galilee! He had not where to lay his head. He looked upon the fox as it hurried to its burrow, and the fowl as it went to its resting-place, and he said, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but I, the Son of man, have not where to lay my head.” He who had once been waited on by angels, becomes the servant of servants, takes a towel, girds himself, and washes his disciples’ feet! He who was once honored with the hallelujahs of ages, is now spat upon and despised! He who was loved by his Father, and had abundance of the wealth of affection, could say, “He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.” Oh, for words to picture the humiliation of Christ! What leagues of distance between him that sat upon the throne, and him that died upon a dead tree! :]                  (POC 4 SLIDE)  

          Jesus, who brought into being the star making Pillars of Creation is crucified under a starless dark sky in the middle of the day so that we (you and I) can stand for all to see, as His new eternal Pillars of creation.

5-13-18 What an amazing gift from God!

Scripture  1 Kings 3:16-28

It’s Mother’s Day! Some motherly advice …

At times it may be difficult to get the attention of your children … if that happens just try this …

The quickest way for a mother to get the attention of her children is to sit down and look comfortable.

          Well, get comfortable mothers and let me share with you what an amazing gift God has given by the birth of children through the ages:

     Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward form him. Psalm 127:3 paraphrased

EVE

The Original Mother — more specifically, of Cain, Abel, and Seth (and several unnamed others)

You have to feel a little bit of sympathy for the girl who didn’t have a mother to ask about how things were for her back in the day. When the kids had a temperature or were teething she just had to figure it out on her own, but, then again, nobody could look at her and tell her that she was doing it all wrong. She had the mother of all heartache, too. Her sons were involved in the first homicide. She was the first mom to have to bury her child with no other family around to offer support.

          Imagine when Eve became pregnant and gave birth – no hospital – no epidural – no experience to even know what was happening except maybe having seen an animal give birth. Adam had to call God(9)11 to know how to deliver the baby. Imagine their recognition of what God had done by giving them children – what a gift…then tragedy when Cain killed Able. They did have other children. Adam and Eve and their children are the beginning of the human race, and even in their sin, they helped set up a redeeming relationship between Jesus and us. What an amazing gift from God.

SARAH

Mother of Isaac

This is the mom who gives hope to everyone who waited a little late to get started on the Mommy Track. Not that she didn’t try. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. This led Sarah to the logical conclusion that she would be the mother of many nations. When that wasn’t happening in a timely manner, Sarah decided to give her handmaiden Hagar as her maternal substitute. This resulted in a child but not the child. And “the” child is representative of “the” only son of God who would come later as a sacrifice for all mankind. When the messenger of the Lord told Abraham that it really would be Sarah that was going to deliver the promised baby, Sarah overheard, laughed, and promptly got in trouble for it. But consider the joy at almost 100 years old resigning yourself to the fact it will never happen and you are blessed with a beautiful baby. What an amazing gift from God.

ELIZABETH

Mother of John the Baptist

Her story is very similar to Sarah in that she accepted that she would never produce offspring for the husband she loved. Then God showed up and blessed her in her old age with the birth of John the Baptist who became the forerunner of Jesus. What an amazing gift from God.

REBEKAH

Mother of Jacob and Esau

For every mom who has ever had the temptation to play favorites with her children, pay attention to Rebekah. She didn’t just play favorites, she was an accessory to one of the biggest Daddy Dupes in all of history. Scripture says that Isaac loved Esau because he was an outdoors-man but Rebekah loved Jacob. Rebekah was in collusion with Jacob to take the birthright from his older brother. Turns out that this family rift lasted for a long time. Rebekah reminds us that it is a dangerous thing to use maternal power for manipulation. Twin Boys, what an amazing gift from God – a gift that Rebekah misused. It is emblematic of the fact that Jesus himself would one day be betrayed by those closest to him.

BATHSHEBA

Mother of Solomon

Bathsheba was well-named as it was her “bath-ing” that attracted the attention of King David. Their illicit affair resulted in the birth of a son. David tried covering it up by having her husband come home from military service to sleep with his wife to make it seem like it was his baby. That didn’t work so King David sent her husband to the front lines where he was killed. David thought he had gotten away with it. Nathan confronted him and David repented bitterly. But we never really hear how it all affected Bathsheba. Their son, Solomon, turned out to be a peaceable ruler whose wisdom was legendary. Bathsheba’s motherhood gives women hope that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding your pregnancy and the birth of your child, God can redeem any situation. You never know, you might just have the wisest person ever on the planet staring back at you from that high chair. Or, like Mary, who circumstances around the birth of her son were also quite extraordinary, she had the son of God staring back at her from his high chair. Even though Bathsheba’s son was born from a sinful act, Solomon was still an amazing gift from God.

JOCHEBED

Mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam

You just have to give it up for her and the midwives who, in their act of civil disobedience, allowed Moses to be born. Those midwives, when asked by the pharaoh why they were not killing the boy babies as commanded, replied that the Hebrew women were “too vigorous” and popped those babies out before they could get there! Thus baby Moses was born but had to be sent down the river (literally) with his sister serving as lookout, only to be pulled out of the water by the pharaoh’s daughter, who secured the services of Moses’ biological mom to nanny him. Moses’ mom shows us that the determination and ingenuity of a desperate mother can result in surprising circumstances. This story points to Jesus, the one who was rescued form Herod who had all the Bethlehem babies killed and went to Egypt for safety, then like Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus leads us out of slavery to sin. What an amazing gift from God.

HANNAH

Samuel

          Hannah was unable to conceive. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life.” That is exactly what God did and she carried through on her promise and Samuel became great among God’s people. Even as Hannah was desperate to have a child, so to the world was desperate for a messiah to come which would happen years later when Jesus was born. What an amazing gift from God.

Mother EUNICE and Grandmother LOIS

Timothy

These women taught Timothy the scriptures from the time he was a baby. The result was nothing short of miraculous – Timothy became a great man of God and largely responsible for the growth of the early church. Paul treated timothy like a son and recognized his faith in Jesus was a direct result of his mother and grandmother’s teaching, example and influence on him as a young child. What an amazing gift from God.

MARY

Mother of Jesus

          Mary gives birth to the son of God but still has to change his diapers, tend to is skinned knees, feed him and see that he is educated. She neglects to make sure he is with them on a trip home from Jerusalem and leaves him behind. She was not the first or last mother to have a child go missing and experience the relief on finding him. She pushes him to be the best version of himself at a wedding in Cana. And then we see Mary at the crucifixion. Disciples may scatter, followers may be in hiding, but a mother stays when the rest of the world walks away. In fact, Mary is a rich tapestry of real motherhood: a lot of excitement followed by years of work and moments of intense pain, while seeing her son care for her even as he is dying for the sins of the world he makes sure she is taken care of by his friend and disciple, John. What an amazing gift from God

*        Mary giving birth to Jesus seems like the logical place to stop, but there is one more birth story that truly shows what an amazing gift children are to mothers who love them more than life itself.

TWO PROSTITUTES

Baby Split in two

          1 Kings 3 is the story where Solomon is offered whatever he wants by God. He asks for wisdom to rule God’s people. God is pleased with his answer and grants him wisdom along with what he did not ask for – wealth, security and a long life. As he is worshipping and sacrificing to the Lord – his very first case comes before him which will test his newly acquired godly wisdom. The case has to do with true motherhood and the recognition that children are an absolute amazing gift from God.

          1 Kings 3:16-28

Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son — and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne.”

The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.'” Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

          The love of a real mother is a willingness to give up her baby if it would benefit her baby. CHILDREN: What an amazing gift from God.

          It is the gift of God, the birth of a child that makes you a mother, a grandmother, an aunt or any other relationship that allows you to know the great gift an opportunity to raise a child in the ways they should go. This gift comes from Jesus, and the greatest way to say thank you for this amazing gift from God is to dedicate that child to God and do all you can to teach by words and example that Jesus is the true son of God and in him alone is found eternal life through receiving a new birth and being born again where God, in you, wants to make all things new!