My Sheep Hear My Voice...And They Follow Me

See this video that shows sheep following their shepherd...

Tabernacle Replica in the Wilderness

I ran across this blog today.  I have seen Tabernacle replicas over the years but have not really seen a full scale replica out in the open wilderness like it would have been during Israel's journey to the Promised Land.  Hope you enjoy!

King David and End of Life

Acts 13:36 KJV - For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

It is beautiful to find that word sleep used of David's death.  His life had been full of tumult, storm, and passion, of war and blood; many a revolt had cast its foam in his face; but rest came at last, as it will come to all.  Like a tired infant's, those aged eyes closed in the last sleep, and the spirit joined the mighty dead.  His sepulcher remained to the day of Pentecost, for Peter refers to it; but the man whom God had raised up was drinking of the river of his pleasures, and was satisfied as he awoke in his likeness.  The fairest dreams of his Lord that had ever visited his soul fell short of the reality; and upon his aged face must have rested a look of glad surprise, as though the half had not been told.

The parallel between him and our Lord may be carried into minute particulars.  In their anointing; their inimitable words; their sufferings; their zeal for the house of God; their love for their friends; their betrayal by those they had trusted; their wars; their love for Jerusalem - how much in common!  But there the parallel stays. In his atoning death, in his incorruptible nature, in his glorious ascension, the Son of David stands alone.  David himself, in the Spirit, called him Lord, and knew that he alone could fulfil that ideal of kingship which had passed before his inspired thought, given to him by the Holy Ghost, but which no mere mortal would ever be able to realize.

Psalm 72:6, 8, 12, 17 KJV - He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers [that] water the earth. ... He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. ... For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and [him] that hath no helper. ... His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and [men] shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

- as quoted from F.B. Meyer's David

Quotes from Lutzer's Book

From Erwin Lutzer's 2010 book When A Nation Forgets God (my emphasis in bold):

...have we forgotten that God's power is more clearly seen in the message of the cross than in any political or social plan we might devise?...Do we cling to the cross with the deep conviction that it is not simply a part of our message to the world, but rightly understood it is the whole of it? (p134)

He refers to an analogy by a Christian writer of Christianity having become an empty bottle and then says this:

Regrettably, today the Christian bottle has been filled with many different agendas: pop psychology, environmentalism, and a nationalistic spirit that cannot distinguish between Christianity and the American way of life.  The cross has become an an ornament hung around the neck, not an instrument that changes the heart.

Some political activists have filled the Christian bottle with a strategy for political reform.  Salvation, it appears, is electing conservatives to national and local office.   Important though the right leaders might be, we must always remember that God is neither Republican nor Democrat.  When the cross is wrapped in the flag of a political party, it is always distracted or diminished.  Even for some who have experienced its power, the cross has become an addendum to what is thought to be more pressing agendas. (p 36) 

 

Helpful Books for Understanding Our Times

Two books I am reading...one for the first time, another is a re-read:  When A Nation Forgets God by Erwin Lutzer (2010) and World Chaos: Its Root and Remedy by G.H. Lang (1949).  Both are insightful and provide food for thought of parallels between what occurred in Germany prior to and during WWII and what is happening in our world today.

Lang's book, among many other valuable things, provides an in-depth look at the belief system of Hitler and his advisers that relied heavily on Fate (i.e. Karma, Kismet, etc.) and, thus, allowed them to, in delusion, rid themselves of any accountability to the God of the Bible.  Any belief system that accomplishes that, including evolution, is exactly what the natural man craves and what the enemy of man's soul will provide.  When one succumbs to such, they find themselves open to a wide range of ultimately destructive ideas.  For Hitler, the state became his god.  For some of Hitler's closest advisers, when Hitler died, they saw no value in living and thus took their own life.

Lang's book is available through Schoettle Publishing.  Lutzer's book is available from a variety of sources.

In Everything Give Thanks?

Ephesians 5:20 KJV - Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

In everything give thanks, Lord?

Even the pain, the hardships, the heartaches?

It is easy to give thanks for the good things: 

The health, the comforts Thou hast blessed me with.

But Thou alone, can make me thankful 

For trials that try my faith.

As Paul wrote, "I have learned in whatsoever 

My state, to therewith be content." (Philippians 4:12)

As he so learned by his trials, so I must learn.

Only by thy grace, can I learn to give thanks

For all things.

Thank Thee, Lord, for grace to do so.

- Becky Coffey

God's Will

Romans 12:2 KJV - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Is this passage teaching that we are to use our God-given faculty of discernment to determine ('prove') which of many options for God's will is the one that is good, acceptable and perfect in a particular situation?  Or, rather, is it that we are to have our mind so adjusted as to understand that God's will for us in any particular situation is in fact good, acceptable and perfect?  I think the latter.

The difficulty we face is acknowledging that anything contrary to our way of thinking and is burdensome to us might in fact be the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.  My will may be to take all steps necessary to alleviate a particular problem circumstance. Frankly, this is thinking that conforms to the world's way of thinking. God's will may be that I stay under that circumstance until He resolves it.  Which would be better?  My way or His?  His, no doubt.