Standing with Christ

God's throne has a foundation:

Psalm 97:2 "...Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne..."

God laid the foundation of the earth:

Job 38:4 "...Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,..."

Zechariah 12:1 "...concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,..."

Hebrews 1:10 "...YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS..."

Solomon laid the foundation for the first temple:

2 Chronicles 8:16 "...Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out from the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed..."

Zechariah 4:9 "...The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you..."

Zerubbabel laid the foundation for the rebuilt temple:

Ezra 3:10 "...Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel..."

Jesus is, and has always been, the true foundation:

Matthew 13:35 "...This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD..."

1 Corinthians 3:11 "...For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ..."

1 Peter 1:20 "...For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you..."

Do we choose where we stand, how we build, and therefore our final outcome?

Luke 6:46-49 "...Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great..."

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 "...Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire..."

1 Timothy 6:17-19 "...Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed..."

Are we a reflection of the same foundation laid down by Christ?

Righteousness and Justice - proper and correct with a genuine respect for all people.

Radical Forgiveness - to pardon, to cancel a debt, to wipe the slate clean, even for the "unforgivable".

Radical Love - unconditional, sacrificial concern for another, even the "unlovable".

What happens when foundations are damaged?

Psalm 11:3 “...If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?..."

* Scriptures from the New American Standard Bible

Appetite

ap·pe·tite

A natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food.

Synonyms: hunger, ravenousness, hungriness, need for food; taste, palate; desire, relish; voracity, greed, gluttony, stomach.

   A strong desire or liking for something.

Synonyms: craving, longing, yearning, hankering, hunger, thirst, passion, relish, lust, love, zest, gusto, avidity, ardor.

 

Questions: (Scriptures from the New American Standard Bible)

How can a person’s appetite be a negative attribute?

Numbers 11:4-6 “...The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat? "We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna..."

Proverbs 23:1-3 “...When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you, And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food....”

Habakkuk 2:5 "...Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, So that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations And collects to himself all peoples...”

Philippians 3:17-19 “...Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things...”

How can a person’s appetite be a positive attribute?

Proverbs 16:26 “...A worker's appetite works for him, For his hunger urges him on...”

What we love is what we pursue. What determines whether or not our pursuit will lead to satisfaction?

Ecclesiastes 5:10 “...He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity...”

Ecclesiastes 6:7 “...All a man's labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied...”

Ezekiel 7:19 “...They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling...”

Micah 6:14 "...You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, And your vileness will be in your midst. You will try to remove for safekeeping, But you will not preserve anything, And what you do preserve I will give to the sword...”

Haggai 1:6 "...You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes..."

Proverbs 13:25 “...The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, But the stomach of the wicked is in need...”

Philippians 4:11-13 “...Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me...”

Hebrews 13:5 “...Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,..."

What or whom do we love and therefore pursue?

Luke 10:27 “...And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF..."

Deal with Desire

Questions:

What does God desire? (3, 4, 6, 9, 15, 31)

Does God know your desires? (14)

When does God fulfill a person’s desires? (12, 13, 18)

To what do right desires lead? (4, 15, 18, 19, 29, 31)

What desire does God oppose? (2, 20, 23, 24)

How can you develop wrong desires? (1, 8, 32)

To what do wrong desires lead? (5, 7, 10, 11, 17, 21, 22, 27, 30)

How can you manage your desires? (16, 25, 26, 28)

What appetite (desire) do you have that you know is destructive, but you still feed it?

Scriptures from the New American Standard Bible:

God reflects on desire:

1) Genesis 4:7 "...If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it..."

2) Deuteronomy 5:21 “...'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.'...”

3) Isaiah 55:11 “...So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it...”

4) Isaiah 58:10 “...And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday...”

5) Hosea 4:8 “...They feed on the sin of My people And direct their desire toward their iniquity...”

6) Matthew 9:13 "...But go and learn what this means: 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners..."

7) Mark 4:19 “...the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful...”

8) John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him...”

9) 1 Timothy 2:3-4 “...God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth...”

Job reflects on lack of desire:

10) Job 21:14 "...They say to God, 'Depart from us! We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways...”

The Psalmist reflects on a variety of desires:

11) Psalm 10:3 “...For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD...”

12) Psalm 10:17 “...O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear...”

13) Psalm 37:4 “...Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart...”

14) Psalm 38:9 “...Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You...”

15) Psalm 51:6 “...Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom...”

16) Psalm 73:25 “...Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth...”

17) Psalm 112:10 “...The wicked will see it and be vexed, He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked will perish...”

18) Psalm 145:19 “...He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them...”

A wise one reflects on desire:

19) Proverbs 10:24 “...What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted...”

20) Proverbs 12:12 “...The wicked man desires the booty of evil men, But the root of the righteous yields fruit...”

21) Proverbs 18:1 “...He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom...”

22) Proverbs 21:25 “...The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work;...”

23) Proverbs 23:6 “...Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;..”

24) Proverbs 24:1 “...Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them;...”

The followers of Christ reflect on desire:

25) Galatians 5:16 “...But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh...”

26) Galatians 5:24 “...Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires...”

27) Ephesians 2:3 “...we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest...”

28) Colossians 3:5 “...Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry...”

29) 2 Timothy 3:12 “...Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted...”

30) 2 Timothy 4:3 “...For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,...”

31) Titus 2:12 “...instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,...”

32) 2 Peter 2:18 “...For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,...”

Beyond Obedience

Obedience: To hear and act accordingly.

False Obedience:

Psalm 66:3 “...Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You...”

Psalm 81:15 "...Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever...”

Christ’s Obedience:

Romans 5:19 “...For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous...”

Christ’s Comments on Our Obedience:

John 14:21 "...He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him..."

John 14:23 “...Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him...”

John 15:10 "...If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love...”

Our Obedience requires Christ:

Romans 15:18 “...For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,...”

2 Corinthians 10:5 “...We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,...”

1 Peter 1:22 “...Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,...”

Considerations:

We all have been made in God’s image.

We all have God given value within the vast sea of humanity.

Our dilemma is that we have fallen short of what we were created to be.

Corruption exists in our present reality.

Questions:

How do we get from our current reality to God’s good intentions?

What keeps us from getting to where we should be?

The Obedience dilemma:

When obedience is perceived as the way to God’s good intentions:

Lists are created identifying things to obey.

Lists created from Biblical text result in groups of people focusing on particular behaviors.

Groups boldly claim to have the proper list and other groups, with other lists, are deemed wrong.

Obedience to a system of beliefs may create improved behavior, but does it really get a person to who they were created to be?

The Obedience pathway in secular society results in governmental laws and regulations which may control some behavior, but at best, external control still doesn’t fix internal corruption.

The Obedience pathway in religious society can easily create the type of society which found itself in direct opposition to the Son of God.

Beyond Obedience:

Only God Himself can cause rebirth, and transform the corrupted into the redeemed.

His perfect plan requires belief in Jesus (the Justifier) and surrender to the Holy Spirit (the Sanctifier).

God’s plan takes a person into the love of the Trinity, not into a struggle to obey endless regulations.

When we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, obedience follows, but attempting obedience will not necessarily take us to loving the Lord our God with all that we are.

The flesh can’t get a person to where the Spirit is intent to take them.

Galatians 5:16 “...But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh...”

Corruptible Me!

Can God Save Me?

Will God Save Me?

What is My Part?

Egypt:

Why was there bondage in Egypt? (Ex.1:8-14)

Leadership postured as the one in charge.

Why were there plagues in Egypt? (Ex.7-11)

Leadership resisted God's intentions.

Why did the Passover happen in Egypt? (Ex.12:1-32)

God saved people from the consequences of bad leadership.

Why were the captives delivered from Egypt? (Ex.12:33-42)

Bad leadership can't prevent God's purposes.

Wilderness:

Why was there miraculous provision in the wilderness? (Ex.16,17)

God sustains His people.

Why was there rebellion in the wilderness? (Num.11,14,16)

People can have external deliverance without internal deliverance.

Why was there death in the wilderness? (Num.14:21-23,16:49)

People can refuse to align with God's intentions.

Promised Land:

Why were they to fight the giants in the land? (Joshua)

God expects cooperation with his purposes.

Why were they carried into captivity in Babylon? (Jer.39)

People are corruptible.

Considerations:

The sacrifice provides miraculous protection from the consequences of bad leadership.

God can, and is willing to, protect corruptible me.

The journey which then ensues, exposes the condition of my heart, which may, or may not, surrender to God's leading.

Without surrender, can I miss the promises?

The journey takes me to a place I don't yet know.

Without surrender, can I lose the promises?

Am I cooperating with God's leadership, or am I resisting it?

1 John 1:6-10 "...If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us..."

The only escape from the deadly consequences of bad leadership is the blood of Jesus.

The only escape from wilderness death or loss of promise is proper surrender to the Holy Spirit.

The only hope for corruptible me is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Jesus Manifest

The Reality:

The world in which we live is not ideal. It's broken. It's hurting. There is a sobering reality in the situations that confront us. Circumstances are not to our liking. We are powerless to eliminate the pain and heartache.

Romans 8:22 "...For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now..."

We may wish for an alternate reality. We pray for God's Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. But we must forge ahead.

Philippians 3:12 "...Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus..."

Philippians 3:14 "...I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..."

The Disciples:

Three years with the Messiah. Listening. Learning. Loving. And then the sobering reality. Things did not work out as they had envisioned. Circumstances were not to their liking. They felt powerless in their pain and heartache.

They experienced fear, doubt, and failure. A crushing combination that clouded their thinking and rocked their confidence. What were they to do?

 

Jesus Came and Revealed Himself:

   Fear to Peace:

John 20:19 "...So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

   Doubt to Faith:

John 20:25 "...So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe..."

John 20:26 "...After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you..."

John 20:27-28 "...Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!..."

   Failure to Success:

John 21:1 "...After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way..."

John 21:3 "...Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing..."

John 21:6 "...And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish..."

Considerations:

Do fear, doubt and failure exist because we misread circumstances and fail to trust the Almighty?

Should the presence of fear, doubt and failure cause us to look more intently for the Lord?

Does the manifest presence of Jesus turn fear to peace? Doubt to belief? Failure to success?

2 Peter 1:3 "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence..."

Romans 15:13 "...Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit..."