One very interesting method of presenting which I have discovered is to ask for favorite scriptures. From most groups I get three or more. In one of our meetings in Central Java, there were just three:
Psalm 37:4
Psalm 23:1
1 Cor 2:9
These scriptures all fit nicely into the message of the day for this area, described in the previous blog.
The basic teaching is from Romans 8:28 about whether we qualify, and whether we believe.
Then the additional encouragement about what great things God is about to do (1Cor 2:9) which we can’t even imagine. I also included some other scriptures like Luke 21:12-13. I also used James 1:2-4 which is described in the previous teaching on Faith.
Psalm 23 is one we haven’t looked at in this Faith series yet. We could consider this just a song of David. We could also make it our song, our confession, our discussion with God. If it becomes our confession, then we acknowledge that the Lord (Jesus) is our shepherd. We know that Jesus is our creator from John 1, Colossians 1, and other scriptures, and as such he loves us and will provide for us. We know he loves us because of the abundance of New Testament scriptures, from which we know he loves us so much he gave his life for us. So he will provide for us, protect us (in the ways described later in the Psalm, among others) just because he loves us.
In addition, his position as a shepherd is a job, with responsibilities. As a shepherd he is required to take care of us. When we realize this, and believe it, then the confession and profession of faith in the second part of verse 1 becomes ours. I shall not want. I lack nothing now, and I shall lack nothing in the future. I don’t lack health, I don’t lack wealth, I don’t lack customers (if I own a business, for example), I don’t lack friends, I don’t lack wisdom, I don’t lack clothes, and so on. I just simply don’t lack, don’t have needs that are not met.
It is amazing!! The favorite scriptures were quite unexpected, not the usual, especially the 1 Corinthians one, but they all fit together to make a message of faith. I kind of suspect any three scriptures might do so. The amazing thing to me is that as I stood in front of the congregation, I actually saw the message along with supporting scriptures materializing. And the message was an hour long, with interpretation. Not just a short few paragraphs as in this blog post. The Lord is good. He is my shepherd, and I shall lack nothing, especially a message tailored just for the group to whom I happen to be speaking at the time!!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
ABOUT FAITH
We have just finished a week outreach in Central Java. The last three days have been in villages around Jepara, on the North coast of Java some two hours east of Semarang. We have had six meetings in the three days here, and most of the messages have been some variation of Faith, or lack of, as the case might be.
HEARING GOD - The first step
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hearing includes understanding, not just sounds coming into our ears, or words into our mind. My understanding of the biblical meaning of hearing is understanding. According to Paul here, it comes from Jesus, the word of God (John 1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Faith starts with the question of hearing God. James says that faith without works is dead. Our faith is based on the promises of God. If we can’t hear God, either through the scriptures or in our heart, then it is difficult to do. One of the most often asked questions I encounter is “how can I learn to hear God?” The answer is just like you learned how to walk: just start doing it. The key is in John 10:27. Jesus says that his sheep know voice, and follow him. It is a statement of fact. If we are one of his sheep, then we know his voice, if we believe the scripture. Now comes the faith and action part. First, do we believe the Word of God? If so, then we accept and believe that as a sheep, we do know the voice of Jesus in our heart.
Now comes the do part, a bit more difficult as it often doesn’t make sense, God’s ways and thoughts being so far different from ours (Isaiah 55:8-11). Once we overcome the Devil’s lie that we have believed, that we don’t or can’t hear or know Jesus’ voice, then we can expect to hear, and actually start listening. While we have believed the lie, we won’t listen because we think we can’t or don’t hear. I often say that the mind can be confused but the heart is never confused, because it is in the heart, or spirit, that we have a perfect relationship with the living God, our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit residing in us. Our mind was largely programmed by the world, which is the enemy of Jesus, so will resist most attempts to hear or obey. That’s why Paul in Romans 12:2 tells us to let God transform us by the renewing of our minds. Our minds are reprogrammed by the Word of God and by our new experiences as we obey and discover that indeed the Word of God is true.
So it is that we learn to hear the word of God. We train the unrenewed mind to be renewed and to hear the voice of God which we already hear and know in our heart, through the word of God which we find written in the scriptures.
OBEYING THE VOICE OF GOD
OBEYING the voice of God starts, as noted above, with HEARING. Then comes BELIEVING. For example, John 14:12. The promise, prophecy, or prediction, this statement of fact, is for believers. If one does not believe, one will not experience it. Same with Mark 16:15-18. No belief, then it’s not true for you. (These scriptures are about believers and miracles).
Next comes REMEMBERING. How often Jesus told his disciples (and us) “I tell you these things so that . . . Whatever follows is ours, if we remember. If we forget, the the ‘so that’ part cannot be appropriated. My two favorite examples are John 16:33 and Romans 8:28. In John Jesus says I tell you these things so that in me you will have peace. In the world, he says, we will have trials and tribulations. For sure I have experienced in my 66 years that the statement about in the world is really true. I have not always experienced peace in the midst of the trials and tribulations. But when I remember and do his words, then I get the peace. My problem is that I forget, or just don’t do. Dead faith with no obedience doesn’t produce the promised result.
Romans 8:28 reminds us that we know. What do we know? That God works all things together for good.
With two requirements. For those who love God, and for those who are called according to his purpose.
Lets HEAR, which includes understand. 1 John 5:3 is the most direct of many statements about what is love for God. Love for God is that we obey his commands, which are not burdensome. John 15: If you love me, you will keep my commands. If you don’t keep my commands, it means that you don’t love me. I think maybe you get the point. If we are not obeying his commands (have to HEAR, BELIEVE , and REMEMBER first) then we do not meet the first requirement.
How about called according to his purpose? If we hear the call, then it has become a command for us and we must be doing what we are called to do. So, the promise is for those who are obeying and who are working within the calling with which he has called us. At least that is my understanding.
Now, I fully understand that I may not qualify 100% in these two areas, but then I realize that I am still a growing baby, and that my Daddy also realizes this, and will cut me some slack. So I believe that the promise in Romans 8:28 is for me. I have HEARD it. And I BELIEVE it. When I remember it, then it frees me from all fear and worry. If I believe it, then I understand that if God is working ALL THINGS FOR GOOD, then nothing bad can possibly happen to me. What about that promise of trials and tribulation? Well, it turns out that they are not bad for me, but good. I just have to HEAR, BELIEVE, AND REMEMBER James 1:2-4. James reminds us, just as Paul did in Rom 8:28 of something we know - that our trials will ultimately result in us being perfect, lacking nothing. That is my goal, so if it helps me reach my goal, it is good. In fact it is only through this path that I can reach my goal, so it is not only good, but necessary.
If I can only HEAR, BELIEVE, AND REMEMBER, then I am free from all worry and fear. Also free from anger, because I now realize that what someone may mean to harm me, God means it for good. The story of Joseph comes to mind here (Gen 45). He was not angry with his brothers, had not been bitter all these years, because he knew that God had a plan and a purpose, though perhaps he could not see it coming to pass through slavery or prison. Yet in just a day he was elevated from prison to head of the country. He had HEARD God in the dreams of his youth, he BELIEVED them, and he REMEMBERED them in all of his trials and tribulations.
It will only work if you obey. I heard TD Jakes say ‘The Word of God will work for you, if you work it.” It’s true. You must take the step of faith, evidence of things not seen, and then the thing not seen becomes seen and experienced. It may take some time as it did with Joseph (some 16 years) and Abraham (25 years) but it will come if you do live in faith.
HEARING GOD - The first step
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hearing includes understanding, not just sounds coming into our ears, or words into our mind. My understanding of the biblical meaning of hearing is understanding. According to Paul here, it comes from Jesus, the word of God (John 1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Faith starts with the question of hearing God. James says that faith without works is dead. Our faith is based on the promises of God. If we can’t hear God, either through the scriptures or in our heart, then it is difficult to do. One of the most often asked questions I encounter is “how can I learn to hear God?” The answer is just like you learned how to walk: just start doing it. The key is in John 10:27. Jesus says that his sheep know voice, and follow him. It is a statement of fact. If we are one of his sheep, then we know his voice, if we believe the scripture. Now comes the faith and action part. First, do we believe the Word of God? If so, then we accept and believe that as a sheep, we do know the voice of Jesus in our heart.
Now comes the do part, a bit more difficult as it often doesn’t make sense, God’s ways and thoughts being so far different from ours (Isaiah 55:8-11). Once we overcome the Devil’s lie that we have believed, that we don’t or can’t hear or know Jesus’ voice, then we can expect to hear, and actually start listening. While we have believed the lie, we won’t listen because we think we can’t or don’t hear. I often say that the mind can be confused but the heart is never confused, because it is in the heart, or spirit, that we have a perfect relationship with the living God, our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit residing in us. Our mind was largely programmed by the world, which is the enemy of Jesus, so will resist most attempts to hear or obey. That’s why Paul in Romans 12:2 tells us to let God transform us by the renewing of our minds. Our minds are reprogrammed by the Word of God and by our new experiences as we obey and discover that indeed the Word of God is true.
So it is that we learn to hear the word of God. We train the unrenewed mind to be renewed and to hear the voice of God which we already hear and know in our heart, through the word of God which we find written in the scriptures.
OBEYING THE VOICE OF GOD
OBEYING the voice of God starts, as noted above, with HEARING. Then comes BELIEVING. For example, John 14:12. The promise, prophecy, or prediction, this statement of fact, is for believers. If one does not believe, one will not experience it. Same with Mark 16:15-18. No belief, then it’s not true for you. (These scriptures are about believers and miracles).
Next comes REMEMBERING. How often Jesus told his disciples (and us) “I tell you these things so that . . . Whatever follows is ours, if we remember. If we forget, the the ‘so that’ part cannot be appropriated. My two favorite examples are John 16:33 and Romans 8:28. In John Jesus says I tell you these things so that in me you will have peace. In the world, he says, we will have trials and tribulations. For sure I have experienced in my 66 years that the statement about in the world is really true. I have not always experienced peace in the midst of the trials and tribulations. But when I remember and do his words, then I get the peace. My problem is that I forget, or just don’t do. Dead faith with no obedience doesn’t produce the promised result.
Romans 8:28 reminds us that we know. What do we know? That God works all things together for good.
With two requirements. For those who love God, and for those who are called according to his purpose.
Lets HEAR, which includes understand. 1 John 5:3 is the most direct of many statements about what is love for God. Love for God is that we obey his commands, which are not burdensome. John 15: If you love me, you will keep my commands. If you don’t keep my commands, it means that you don’t love me. I think maybe you get the point. If we are not obeying his commands (have to HEAR, BELIEVE , and REMEMBER first) then we do not meet the first requirement.
How about called according to his purpose? If we hear the call, then it has become a command for us and we must be doing what we are called to do. So, the promise is for those who are obeying and who are working within the calling with which he has called us. At least that is my understanding.
Now, I fully understand that I may not qualify 100% in these two areas, but then I realize that I am still a growing baby, and that my Daddy also realizes this, and will cut me some slack. So I believe that the promise in Romans 8:28 is for me. I have HEARD it. And I BELIEVE it. When I remember it, then it frees me from all fear and worry. If I believe it, then I understand that if God is working ALL THINGS FOR GOOD, then nothing bad can possibly happen to me. What about that promise of trials and tribulation? Well, it turns out that they are not bad for me, but good. I just have to HEAR, BELIEVE, AND REMEMBER James 1:2-4. James reminds us, just as Paul did in Rom 8:28 of something we know - that our trials will ultimately result in us being perfect, lacking nothing. That is my goal, so if it helps me reach my goal, it is good. In fact it is only through this path that I can reach my goal, so it is not only good, but necessary.
If I can only HEAR, BELIEVE, AND REMEMBER, then I am free from all worry and fear. Also free from anger, because I now realize that what someone may mean to harm me, God means it for good. The story of Joseph comes to mind here (Gen 45). He was not angry with his brothers, had not been bitter all these years, because he knew that God had a plan and a purpose, though perhaps he could not see it coming to pass through slavery or prison. Yet in just a day he was elevated from prison to head of the country. He had HEARD God in the dreams of his youth, he BELIEVED them, and he REMEMBERED them in all of his trials and tribulations.
It will only work if you obey. I heard TD Jakes say ‘The Word of God will work for you, if you work it.” It’s true. You must take the step of faith, evidence of things not seen, and then the thing not seen becomes seen and experienced. It may take some time as it did with Joseph (some 16 years) and Abraham (25 years) but it will come if you do live in faith.
When we really HEAR and BELIEVE, and REMEMBER, then we will OBEY just because it is the very best thing we can do, and we realize it. It is not burdensome, as John in his first letter has told us. If we try to OBEY without really HEARING (includes understanding, remember) or without really BELIEVING, then we do it from the flesh, not the spirit, and it is difficult, or burdensome.
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