Isaiah 60:1-22

In reading scripture it is possible that some portions don't jump out at us while other sections speak volumes. It is for this reason that re-reading that which you have already read often times produces different meanings. God is able to use the scripture to reach us where we are at that time.


Today just one small portion really stood out to me. You will find my notes in that section of scripture.


Isaiah 60:1-22
1 "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,
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.
Remember, this is what Jesus is telling me through scripture. It may be different for you. Today, this tells me that God is always reaching out for us. His door is open and we may enter into His presence. The wealth we bring Him is our talents and abilities in serving Him. 

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.

14 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."

The Word Became Flesh

This is from my reading today.


John 1:1-18
 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.


What is Jesus telling me in the paragraph above? The one sentence that stands out for me is that through Jesus all things were made. Nothing was made without him. What Jesus is saying to me is that Jesus was meant to be a part of me. When I deny Jesus a seat at my table I am incomplete. I am in darkness with no direction because Jesus is my light and tells me the correct thing to do.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John.He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.


Jesus is telling me in this portion that I am not the light. But I am to be like John in this instance. I am supposed to testify concerning the light so that through Jesus all might believe. I am called to make new disciples of Jesus. I am a witness of the light of Jesus.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.


This reinforces the message I received from above. Although I was made through Jesus I don't always recognize or accept Jesus. When I live with Jesus as my master I am a child of God with the rights that come with that.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, "This is the one I spoke about when I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'")Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.


I keep trying to live by the law because it allows me to have some measure of control regarding how I live. It helps me determine if I succeed. My historical ancestors had the same problem and continued to request laws from God so they would know how they were supposed to live and so they could determine if they were living correctly. God did not intend for me to live based on my own abilities. For that reason I always fail when I try and follow the law. I can do pretty well for a while, but eventually I mess up somewhere and then I am a failure. Jesus is calling me to step back and let him take control of my life. My job, my role, is to do everything I can to do that which Jesus directs me to do every minute of every day. By making Jesus the master of my every moment I am given freedom to live within His spirit and to place all of my worries in Jesus.  I struggle when I determine that I must do something and I fail to check with Jesus first.

My journey as a disciple of Jesus

My church has been reading If Jesus Were a Parent by Hal Perkins and he has been speaking at our church this past week. His main emphasis is how to be a disciple of Jesus and how to make other disciples. My blog will now start following the process I take in learning how to be a disciple and how to make other disciples.

I don't believe my father or his father or his father's father were ever taught how to be a disciple. Although my mother's mother was a pastor, I don't believe she was ever taught how to be a disciple either. If they were I don't believe they were ever trained how to make new disciples. My guess is that a lot of people today can make the same claims. I know that I haven't really found anyone who feels that they were properly trained. It seems as if we were told that we had to accept Jesus into our heart, we had to follow Jesus commandments, and we had to learn things in church. That is about the extent of it.

My life often centered around trying to please Jesus and the church and feeling like I failed miserably. In turn I would cry out for forgiveness while feeling horrible for not having had the strength to not sin in the first place. I would often question my commitment to Jesus because if I really loved Jesus I wouldn't have sinned against Him.

The truth is that we need to learn how to follow Jesus. We need to learn how to study the Bible. We need to learn how to live in relationship with Jesus and we need to learn how to teach others to do the same thing. Of utmost importance is that we need to teach our families how to be disciples. We can't expect people to accept Jesus and automatically know what to do. Telling them stories from the Bible isn't enough. Telling them how to be a disciple isn't enough. It requires living in close relationship to help each other develop in relationship with Jesus and in learning how to focus our attention towards Jesus and to involve Jesus in everything we do.

At present I am in 2 mentor groups with 3 guys in each group. Our goal is to do what I have described above. I won't be sharing their stories unless they ask me to, but I will share what I learn.

Watching Hal Perkins as he has been teaching us, the primary thing I have learned is how he approached people with grace and that his primary focus is relationship. People in our church have been drawn to Hal in significant numbers. What is it that draws them to him? He points them towards Jesus and Jesus' love for them. He isn't asking them to intellectually discern a scripture portion. He is asking them what Jesus is telling them a passage says. He is asking them to allow the Holy Spirit work in their lives. He is then asking them to discuss this with others so that everyone can listen to the Holy Spirit and agree if that is what the Holy Spirit could be saying to them. The process removes it from being just about what we think God might be telling us to letting a group confirm it. It also allows each us to speak to one another through the Holy Spirit.

I have a sense that this is about to change everything. 

Who is your master?

We all submit to someone or something. The question is, "Who have you made your master?" Who or what do you let control your life?

Some believe they are intellectuals and too smart to be hoodwinked by religious beliefs. They want proof or it must be wrong. Yet, many of these same individuals place faith in a concept that somehow inert material with no energy or life somehow spontaneously combusted into the biggest explosion ever. An explosion so large that it would destroy everything if it happened today came out of material smaller than a grain of sand with no external forces causing it to happen. Seems like that will be hard to replicate. But they continue on in faith that it happened all the while claiming faith is ignorance. Personally, I believe that God created everything and if He chose to start the process that way it does not make Him any less than He is. The main point is that their ideology has become their master.

Some allow entertainment or technology to become your masters. That which you spend the most time doing is your master.

I propose to you that Jesus is supposed to be our master and we are to be His bond slave. A bond slave is a person who sells himself to the master. He then serves his master obeying every commandment. I believe that many in the church, including myself, have misunderstood the salvation process.

In Romans 3:21-28 we read that we are justified freely by faith not by works. We are told that salvation is a free gift. All we have to do is believe and accept it. I'm sorry but that is wrong. It is true that we can't earn salvation by anything we do and that Christ gave it freely, but there is a catch. There is a cost.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples,“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

When we accept salvation we must die to ourselves and become a bond slave to Christ. It is a life for a life. Jesus gave us His life and we give him ours. Learning to be Jesus slave doesn't usually happen overnight. But we must do everything we can to learn and allow our new master to teach us and disciple us.

Think about this. How can we exist in Heaven which is a perfect eternity if we do not allow God to perfect us? We can't accept the gift of salvation and continue living for ourselves and continue sinning and think that we can exist in Heaven. It is very clear that we are called to follow Jesus and that He is to be more important than anything else in our life.

You should work where you work because Jesus wants you there. When are at work you are there to represent Jesus. You work hard because you represent Jesus. You are polite and fair because you represent Jesus. Most of all you try and build relationships to provide you the opportunity to have a positive impact on their lives ans because you choose to love them.

You should pick your house because Jesus wants you to minister to that neighborhood.

You begin to do everything for the glory of God. You give up your selfish desires. If you don't then you have not made Jesus your master.

What is our goal? Heaven or relationship?

As a church we are currently working through the "Not a Fan" series. One step that they suggest is DTR. Define the Relationship. In other words what is your relationship with Jesus based on?

I see two possibilities. Jesus is your ticket to Heaven (eternal reward) or Jesus is the goal.

Think about it. Since man was created we have tried to find a way to get what we find to be enjoyable. Many of us can picture another reality (afterlife) where basically we get everything we need to be happy. That hope is all that keeps us going. At one time that meant following over 600 laws and sacrificing animals. Then Jesus came along and changed the game. Now He is the answer.

Before Jesus everyone knew what the rules were. They had control over their destiny by following those rules and if they failed then they knew what they had to do to correct it and get back on track for their reward.

Jesus came along and told them that they had it all wrong and that he was the only way to get the reward. Soon everyone started making up rules for following Jesus. Wait a minute. Do you get that?

Moses started off with 10 rules. Do these things and you will be living like you are supposed to. But man had to clarify what that meant. How do you keep the Sabbath Holy? You can't walk over 'x' amount of distance. You can't cook. How do we do all these other things? Before you know it they had over 600 ways to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing. You were the best if you followed all of them.

After Jesus left people started trying to figure out how they were going to do what Jesus wanted. They started coming up with rules. Go to church every Sunday. Tithe 10% of everything you make. Don't swear. Some churches say you can't drink alcohol, or dance, or go to movies. Some churches had it so that if you paid the priest a penance than they would forgive your sins. Some said only priest could read the Bible. Some like to think that we have to do church a certain way to make it count. 

If your focus is an eternal reward then you are viewing Jesus as the ticket or resource for achieving your goal. You are in control of your destiny and you just have to do enough to keep Jesus happy so He will save you. Why don't we steal from other people? Because it would make Jesus mad and then I lose my ticket to heaven. If this is how you are living then you are living a tortured life because you continue to fail. You know you messed up when you failed. Then you have pray to Jesus to forgive you, hoping that you didn't go to far this time. Perhaps you think that if you prayed to Jesus once to save you then you have a ticket that can't be taken away. You figure you are safe, but even so you try and to what is right.

Allow me to introduce you to a better idea. Don't focus on your eternal reward. Focus on Jesus. Jesus is the goal. When you follow rules or you find ways to please Jesus to get your reward you are still in control. You can be who you were meant to be right now. The key? Give complete control to Jesus. Once Jesus is your entire focus everything else falls into place. You start doing the right things because you want to and because you are doing for Jesus not to try and earn something. When you give Jesus complete control, everything you do in life is for Jesus. Your work is no longer your work. It is now your mission field. You are in that place to be an example and witness to those who work there. Your home is no longer your home. It is a place where you bring people in to build relationships so that you can be a witness and example. Your school is no longer your school. It is your mission field.

When everything you are doing is for Jesus you are able to handle anything. There is the key. Heaven is living in perfect relationship with God. You can experience a taste of heaven here on earth. All you have to do is give everything you have to Jesus. Then you can live with joy regardless of what happens. Will it still hurt? Yes, but you will still have joy. You will still struggle, but it is different.

It also usually does not happen over night. Just as with our children, often times the only way for us to learn a lesson is to suffer the consequences of our actions. Through suffering comes understanding. When Jesus disciplines us so that we will learn a lesson, it is often uncomfortable. When we give Jesus complete control of our lives we will go from being disciplined in one area to the next; it doesn't stop.

Stop wishing and hoping for heaven. Stop trying to use Jesus like a pawn to get what you want. Instead enter into a real relationship with Jesus. Give him control of your life and then you will find joy because you will be who God intended for you to be. Don't worry if you fail from time to time. It is a part of the learning process. The main thing is that when Jesus has control you learn from it and it strengthens you. It also takes practice to let Jesus have full control. If Jesus is not in control and you fail then you will follow the rules and ask forgiveness so you can keep your ticket. If that is your life then you will be miserable.

By the way, all those rules....The ones you should follow come naturally because you will be doing it out of love.

Peace

This one may sound kind of philosophical, and I suppose it is, but here it is. You will never have peace when your peace depends on that which is outside you. Life can't bring you peace. No one else will ever bring you peace. Life will bring you struggles and tribulations. Life will being much sorrow and pain, but if your peace comes from God then you can have peace no matter what is happening.

You have to be like the water droplet. Your surroundings are constantly changing your shape and form; but they can't change who you really are. The water droplet may become a part of a lake or a river or rise in a mist of steam or ice in the arctic; but it is still the same water droplet. As people we end up in different jobs or life situations than we ever thought possible. Often we think that we have missed our chance to be who we were meant to be. That is not true. We were called to be a child of God and no matter how life has shaped us, we will always be called to be a child of God. Even if life has changed our make up a little bit we can still serve God.

Peace comes from knowing that we are where God wants us and accepting that as what is best for us. When you accept that then you have peace. If you do not have peace then you are either where God does not want you or you have not accepted where God has placed you.

Once you are in the right place and accept it, then you can handle anything life might throw at you.

Are you Happiest when you are cranky and does God hate you?

What I am discovering is that a lot of people are living by emotion and feeling rather than by decision. When we live by emotion we react to that which happens around us. When we live by decision we are living life as we choose it and respond as we choose. Living by decision requires discipline. In order to live as God would have us live we have to be willing to be disciplined by God. Someone who lives a disciplined life learns to say no to that which they don't need. They learn to do without that which they want. They even learn to live through suffering for the sake of the experience and the knowledge they gain.

Those who live by emotion tend to seek happiness, comfort, joy, peace, love, and many other feel good moods. Those who live by decision decide to be happy. Decide to live joyfully. Decide to live in peace. Decide to love.

It is impossible to do this on your own. By nature we are selfish. But we have to get to the point where we at the very least cry out to God to save us and lead our lives. From there it is a process of giving more and more of our lives to God until eventually all that we have and all that we are has been given to God. We no longer worry about the things in our lives that make us happy. We worry about serving God and living as God would have us live.

There are some rudimentary issues to work through to understand God's relationship with us before we can fully learn to live by decision. (We need to take care of our emotional response to God. Will God take care of us?)

Read Matthew 6:28-34.

  ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This scripture talks about eating, drinking, and what we wear and that the pagan's worry about such things. The main emphasis verse is 33. When our entire existence is centered around serving God, He will provide us the resources necessary to accomplish His work. Our primary worry should not be our physical condition but rather if we are serving God.

Read Malachi 3:6-12

 ⁶ “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. ⁷ Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.

   “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

 ⁸ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

   “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

   “In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. ¹² “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

Many worry if God will come through and provide us enough money to pay our bills. I have witnessed many of those same people keep their tithes just to make sure they are covered. They figure once they have extra then they will tithe. Somehow they never have extra. To me it is plain and simple. If you do not tithe you do not really believe that God exists and is who He says He is. Tithing is our way of showing God that we trust Him to take care of us. This isn't about the church. This is about you and God. If you do not tithe, God will not bless you. I will not guarantee that you won't suffer if you do tithe, but if while tithing you seek to honor and glorify God and serve Him in all your ways, then God will make sure that you have what you need to accomplish what God needs you to do. That is the catch. Are you willing to be where God wants you rather than where you want to be.


God might call you to serve a people or a culture where money has very little value. If God calls you to serve in Ethiopia your home might be a tent. Your food might be beans and rice. Your clothes might be donations. Is that acceptable? Is it that God is only blessing you if you are in a 3 or 4 bedroom house with a 3 car garage with 2 cars and a boat and the ability to eat out twice a week?


What if you are serving the people in a starving country and your family starves as well? Will you only love God and serve God if He meets your physical needs as you see them?


Read Matthew 6:19-24


   ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

   ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[c] your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[d] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

   ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry

    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

When our life is based on what we have or don't have then we will be disappointed even angry at our life. We will be cranky with other people. We will feel like life is unfair. We will feel like God doesn't like us.

The only way to true happiness, joy, peace, love, etc.... Is by giving every last part of who you are to God. You must give God control of every part of your life. You must be ready to accept any job that God determines is the job for you. (You have to ask God for the right job, of course.) You must be ready to accept where God has you live. You must be ready to accept what God provides in terms of clothes and food. You must be ready to accept with joy if what God determines is best for you is homelessness and starvation. You must view the sacrifice and the suffering as an honor and be grateful that God has determined that you are able to serve him in that circumstance.

If your happiness is based on this world in any way you will be disappointed. True peace and joy is centered on your ability to be where God wants you doing what God wants you to do. God will provide everything you need to do that.

Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-14

 ⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

   “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
   their righteousness endures forever.”^[a]

 ¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

 ¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

God does reward us when we are faithful. He might not reward us in wealth, but He without a doubt rewards us in our relationship with Him and our ability to be at peace and joy in all things.

Next time you are feeling a little cranky and feel like God is picking on you, ask yourself if you are seeking what you want or what God wants. Ask if you are trusting God in all things including your money by tithing or if you are holding back, just in case God doesn't do what you want Him to.

May God bless you in all things that you require to serve Him.