The Church’s Wedding Gift

(Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
1 Kings 9:16

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Revelation 3:21-22

There historically is an event that takes place, Pharaoh attacks Gezar and kills the people in in it and sets it on fire, then he gives it to his daughter Solomon’s wife as a wedding gift. Though Solomon in these times erred by marrying a gentile woman- it serves still none the less as a timeless spiritual reminder of how God through Christ has made “unclean” people the “beloved”

Through faith in Christ Jesus, we have been “accepted in the beloved”

to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Ephesians 1:6-7 –

Though from an Old Testament sense Pharaoh’s daughter was “Unclean” she became Solomon’s wife – serving as a forshadowing of what was to come. Christ who died for sin, not just of Israel has made salvation available to “all who believe, for it makes no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

We see Pharaoh attacks the city of Gezar destroying those in it setting it on fire. We know God also reserves fire in store to pour out on those who reject His Son, and he will at some point no longer endure any more contempt from a world that defiantly rejects His rule. He will execute his judgement and give this world over to the Beloved people who love Him and do his will.

Yet for now he waits patiently for all who will respond to his invitation of peace

I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire. Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”
Isaiah 27:4-5

There is still opportunity to bow, and “Kiss the son”

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 2:10-12

“The Lord is With You Mighty Warrior”

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ” Judges 6:12

Gideon was called to free the Israelites from the oppressive power of Midian. Yet Gideon did not see himself as how God described him at all. He said things like ““Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. ”
(Judges 6:15 )

For one the Lord saw him as “Mighty warrior” and saw Gideon’s potential not present state.

Secondly, the Lord wanted Gideon to put his faith in God’s power, not his own might

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Judges 6:16 –

The key was in the phrase “I will be with you”
The Lord earlier on said this to Moses

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. ”
Exodus 3:11-12 –

When God puts in front of us a task that seems too far beyond us, well that is cause it always is. As it says “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6)

The Lord never wants us to focus on our skills, power and strength- he wants us to rely on Him and His power. “This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord .
Jeremiah 9:23-24

So when its God calling us to do something, he will more often than not make it God sized so we rely on Him to provide the strength to get through it or Him for the solution to it.

In reality living the Christian life is a Christ sized objective, we can only succeed at it through Christ’s power, so we wont take any credit!

What barriers and obstacles are you facing today reader? Lets revisit some key points

• God called Gideon what He knew Gideon has potential to become through His power
• God empowered Gideon to do the impossible

Do you feel like your facing things beyond you? Do you feel you fail to measure up to what God says you are? Take heart and invite his power to do the work and make you all He knows you can be (Philippians 2:13, Philippians 4:13)

“AS CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH” She cannot outdo His love

Jesus Christ already factored in our human weakness when he saved us. Imagine several scenarios, your children probably love you but can they really outdo the love you have showed them over their lifetime? Think of how much money you spend over a span of 18 years taking care of your children, feeding them, clothing them, sending them to school and all the money you spend for them to keep a roof over their heads. Well you cannot probably expect them to outlove you.

When you marry a woman, you may already take into consideration, she has her weaknesses and emotions and moods. She has her days where she may even herself admit she is difficult. Yet you love that woman because she is yours, and you committed your life to her. One of my dearest friends who passed away some time ago said something inspiring to me, he said “I knew my wife had anger problems before I married her, but I did it anyway. I love her anyways.” I could really sense he loved her how fondly he spoke of her and would say “You know divorce just isnt in my vocabulary”

This man was one great inspiration to me and really learned alot from him. His life was not easy but he always reminded me to trust the Lord.

Yet the thing about Grace is, we often think of grace as just a one time thing Christ did to save us, instead of a continual flow of God’s goodness to us who are saved.

We were saved by grace, we are kept saved by that same grace. In spite of weakness God knew we had in advance he still chose us to be His

Praise the Lord for that!

Spiritual Antibiotics

Penicillin

Penicillin is a mold derivative that is now an antibiotic. Yet when Penicillin was first discovered to inhibit the growth of bacteria it was observed in a petre dish. The bacteria seemed to be thriving in other places but not around the penicillin growth.

Yet, as believers Christ has commanded us to be “Salt and light” – salt too is a bit of antiseptic in nature. It has healing properties as well and is used often as a great preservative. The fact of the matter is Jesus wants us as his followers to act like this- to influence and affect the culture in such a way it preserves to some degree the values and goodness. Sin grows in this world quite extensively, yet the Christian’s influence should serve to stifle that to some degree. We do that in a few key ways

• Sharing the Gospel.
  The Gospel is one of the greatest weapons against darkness we have. We can see lives changed as result of sharing the message. The Gospel is both a lifestyle as well as a message, when we live according to the truth we speak we take an effective approach to shining light of Christ in a dark world sin grows so well in

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16 –

Light is actually also something in nature that has power to kill and inhibit some bacterial growth. The sunlight especially do to some UV rays. Yet if you remember anything from highschool biology class you will know bacteria thrive best in 5 different conditions generally

1.) Dark places
2.) Moist Places
3.) Food Source
4.) Proper Ph level
5.) Ideal temperature

Sin too is like rank bacterial growth. Sin loves the dark and does well when light is not exposing it. The Ph – the condition of the heart and not being balanced is a way to let sin begin to grow well. Lukewarmness is an invitation to sin, complacency speeds up lethargy of the soul and opens us up to spiritual infections. We often through what we allow to come into our minds and think on give sin food source to grow and grow.

Bacteria rely on moisture to move freely through droplets. Being as they make use of a tail called a flagella- moist environments make it easier for bacterial organisms to move and spread.

Salt- dehydrates and preserves, it also creates a ph level microbes are not fond of.

It is no wonder Jesus used light and salt for his illustration here.

—-Living Right and Not Compromising

When we live as we ought and do not compromise our values in a world that it is not popular. We remind the world they are living against God’s will.

Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.
Proverbs 25:26 –

——Prayer
One other very powerful way to influence society is through prayer. Since the Lord is open to the prayers of the upright, we can with confidence pray over a world that is so quickly coming undone. God listens to prayers of the person of faith and if we do not pray, who else is going to do that and be truly heard? (See JAMES 5:16)

God can do all he wants without prayer, but has decided to use the prayers of his people as means to bringing his will into situations on earth. We must not forget this.

Spiritual Therapy

We all heard of physical therapy. The techniques of strengthening muscles and getting the body stronger. Yet imagine for a moment you were trying to build your core – abdominal and balance muscles. You may be told to sit on this ball here and then imagine someone trying to push you off of it but you resist it to strengthen those core balance muscles. The more you resist against the opposing force the stronger those muscles will become. Yet our faith works alot like that too

We rest and sit on the promises of God, yet there are opposing forces trying to push us from our secure trust and position. We have to contend against what we see, how we feel, and at times even spiritual antagonists.

Yet we must resist the pressure and push. We must rely on faith inspite of what we see, and resist the urge to go by how we feel. The more we exercise faith over feelings and sight, the stronger our faith becomes.

You will one day see God had a reason for all the trials he allowed you to go through in life, and thank him for those

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline —then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Hebrews 12:7-13 –

Discipline means basically “training” and in this context it has very constructive applications. Many see the word discipline and assume it means “Punishment” for sin. The truth is though discipline may feel unpleasant, punishment from God is often destructive and done through wrath towards sin, discipline however has more friendly fatherly connotations- it is used for spiritual development

Not all trials are directly result of sin. Even ones that are I have seen personally God use to shape me and build me. Yet often our trials are a part of just living in a place that is not yet heaven but God is using all of them for our good!

Always Protects, Trusts, Hopes, Perseveres

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:7

True there are exceptions to this- we know the Bible says we ought not trust everyone and there are times where protecting someone from consequences is not good. We know that we should not put all our hope in a person but truly in the Lord. Yet what is this saying then? We should always try to practice love and protect someone’s reputation even if they did something that we could gossip about or make them look bad for. We should trust and not assume the worst. We should hope the best for others- even when we are not getting along too well with them. We should persevere through challenges and get through the messy things of life.

Think about it this way. A man who loves his wife. He ought to protect her, maybe she had a bad day and acted a certain way or maybe vice versa he was the one being difficult, but couples show love by protecting the decency and honor of eachother- not bad mouthing the other to all who will listen

Always trusts- well maybe we could say “give the benefit of a doubt” and “believe the best about that person” even if they are having a bad and off day. We all have days we need grace to come unraveled don’t we? We all need days to be loved where we are at, even though we are not where we ought to be at. Thats what grace is all about, and how blessed we are to have a God of grace.

Always hopes- well shouldn’t we hope for the best for that other? Want them to rise to the fullest of their God given potential? We hope for their best, even if they are acting their worst. Why? Cause Christ does that for us. Merciful and gracious he is, how longsuffering and patient is the Lord! Ah and he does not break His covenant of love with us because we are having bad days!

Always perseveres- pressing through difficulties is a way to really grow any relationship. Go back to the scenario of a couple. The couples that have good and amazing marriages are not ones that do not have challenges or difficulties or times they get into arguments, but stay commited and work through the “mess” to see how God will bless.

Perseverance is key to any lasting relationship as well as faith itself. We must hang in their if we want to truly succeed. Its ok to have moments, we got to never give up though!

Marriage- Teaches Us To Die To Self

“Many approach marriage seeing a crown or roses and not accepting there is the downside of thorns.”

But still it is a beautiful blessing, it is one of a man’s greatest blessings to find a woman he loves, but indeed marriage is also a cross a good man must learn to be crucified on. Yes crucifying his selfishness, his pride, his own emotions often. 

“Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it.” Ephesians 5:25

Yet there be times a man only needs to die to himself in such moment- his wife’s words may pierces his heart like sharp nails. He must at times hang there silently like Christ did. Did Christ utter threats or show anger in response? Ah it says “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23 )

There will be times her words will pierce. Her coldness and distance may keep him back like a spear extended. Yet will he follow His master’s example? One of the greatest ways a man can show how much he loves his wife is how he treats her and the choice he makes to still love, cherish and treasure her, even at her worst.

Marriage is not merely about “happiness” but holiness, Christlikeness and learning to love a human being so deep, that you know them for who they truly are good, bad and ugly sides yet still remain faithful and choose to love them inspite of it.

“Fully Vent” or Spirit Led

A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Proverbs 29:11 –

Its foolish to speak to hastily or assume something until the “afterwards.” Which is to say we can get into so much trouble by speaking on hunches, suspicions or just how something seems. We often have to quietly maintain calm composure and stick to our post before we have a conclusion.

Ever been in some situation where communication between you and someone else was maybe vague or strained, yet you opened your mouth saying things that were based on hunches or suspicions- well in my past I found that made things more messy, complicated and even ruined things. I would like to think over the years I have grown, and praise the Lord I think I have made some measure of progress by His grace. Yet there are always areas to grow and new ground to fortify over our lives.

The Proverb is saying to basically keep quiet and remain calm until you find out what is actually going on. In the NIV it says “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but the wise bring a calm end”

Yet as complex as a situation may appear, or whatever emotions it may stir up. We do well not to give full vent to “anger” or emotions in general. Staying calm can lay even great offenses to rest, it says elsewhere in the Word.

So often we make matters worse through panicking or losing calm collective composure. A good soldier for example must keep level head and not freak in the heat of combat. Imagine if a soldier came unglued at the sounds of gun fire and explosions! How would he be able to effectively fight if he could not maintain clarity and think straight. Ah yes true it is though life is full of complicated situations, yet as Jesus said “But by patience possess your souls”

Patience enables us to remain cool, calm and collective in an intense situation that may try us. The soul, the will, mind, and emotions- they must be possessed and governed by patience and the yielding to the Holy Spirit who produces the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control!

Next time you open your mouth to speak, ask

Does this reflect love?
Does this reflect joy?
Does it promote peace?
Does it exercise patience?
Does it show kindness?
Does this show goodness?
Does it reflect faithfulness?
Does it demonstrate self control?

Boom! When we follow these principles pur words and actions will be led by the Spirit of God not the acts of the flesh or the emotions of the heart! Praise be to the Lord we have this power through Christ!

Defiling Mold Of Unaddressed Sin

In Leviticus chapter 14 the Law prescribed a detailed way to handle mold growth in a house

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mold in a house in that land, the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like a defiling mold in my house.’ The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mold, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. He is to examine the mold on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mold has spread on the walls, he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. Leviticus 14:33-40 –

If the mold spread and did not resolve, the stones that had mold were eventually to be torn out and “thrown into an unclean place” – yet what does this have to do with us as believers. We are told that in Christ we are “Living stones”

As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans 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.
1 Peter 2:4-5

The Old Testament in a literal sense shows how we ought to deal with sin in the spiritual sense. Paul later on says this

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8

In our lives we too can get contaminated areas of sin we have to remove, repent of and rip out of our lives. As long as we do not address a sin pattern, it will spread to other areas of our lives like invading mold.

Also, sin in the Body Of Christ/ Jesus and the Apostles taught how to address someone who was claiming to be a believer yet willfully sinning. Meaning, they were unwilling to repent and deal with sin.

Right after 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 where Paul refers to wickedness as yeast or leaven, he says: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)

Paul is not saying we need to go out in world to deal with sinning people or look for mold outside of God’s house but rather protect the integrity inside the walls of God’s house. Paul is saying, its our job to deal with people who claim to belong to Christ who are willfully sinning, not try to micromanage unbelievers.

In essence, “expel the wicked person from among you” – that is like tearing out an old molded stone that needs to go. Take notice, see how the priest was to give a set time to see if the mold spread? We too ought to address sin in the Body that way, remind the person or individual the truth and give them time to deal with it. There comes a point though were it becomes obvious the person is not willing and must be removed from fellowship.

Jesus taught, “15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17)

The last resort was to “treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector” – Meaning not poorly but regard them as if they were just not saved. In that case only God would fully truly know if they were truly a Christ follower or not but the evident behavior of that person would cast doubt as to whether they were.

The whole point was not to let someone who was living in willful defiance to God’s commands to be a part of fellowship in order to keep their ways and ideas from spreading further. When the body gets sick, one will vomit up whatever did not agree with their stomach. In many cases vomiting is the body’s way of refusing a toxic or unhealthy substance. Yet the same is true of the Body, some will slip in and by failure to deal with sin in their own lives they will spread that sickness.

It may seem harsh, yet if you look at the case of Achan in Joshua 7, his deliberate willful sin brought problems to Israel at large. Though the rest of the Israelites were ignorant and unaware of what Achan had done, The Lord said “until you remove the objects devoted to destruction I will not give you help against the enemy”

Achan had to be dealt with before the Israelites could have victory again. So too sin must be dealt with in our own lives as well as in the walls of the Church.

Anxiety, Wrong Focus, are joy robbers

16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4:16-19 –

Jesus is indeed teaching about people who end up not coming to faith at all. Yet I think this passage can teach something even to people who are already in the faith and saved.

It speaks of troubles and persecutions causing issue for some, they receive the Word with joy but troubles and persecutions stifle it. Well, this can be said to of someone who is indeed also truly saved but their faith is not as deeply rooted as it could be. When life gets difficult, our faith is genuinely tested and we can be shaky. Maybe we are not those who “quickly fall away” but still, we seem to doubt and waver a bit. That reveals our faith is not as rooted deeply in the Lord as it ought to be. It gives us an opportunity to deepen it through life’s challenges

The Seed Among The Thorns:

18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Then again, this can apply to those who let worldly things keep them from turning to Christ. Yet think of also how many believers that may be saved become “unfruitful” through

“The worries of life”- worry can drain us of so much joy and peace we could have. If we allow our minds and hearts to be dominated by it- even if we are truly saved we will not reflect right the joy we ought

“The deceitfulness of wealth and desire for other things”—- when our hearts become too engrossed on things in the world, even good things that will also cause us a problem. Yet the whole thing is balance, its not that we cannot enjoy the good God blesses us with but if we get too engrossed or focused we can be guilty of “Forsaking our first love” and “Lukewarmness” can creep in

In Revelations 2 we see Jesus rebuke the church of Ephesus

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:2-6 –

For them they just got so into ministry and doing the work of Christ, they let the relationship slide to a cooling state. Even ministry and service to Christ cannot replace relationship with him

Jesus warned that if they did not get that corrected they would lose the influence they had. True fruitfulness is a byproduct of closely abiding with Christ.

In Revelations 3, The Church in Laodaicea also had a similar yet slightly different issue

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
Revelation 3:15-20 –

For them, prosperity caused them to grow complacent and lax. Unlike Ephesus, they were not overworking but they were letting the deceitfulness of riches and other things choke out their fire.

We too must guard ourselves against letting things of life stifle our devotion as well, whether worry, working or pleasure.