Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Awe of God

Last weekend, our pastor made a comment in his sermon that has stuck with me all week. The text was in Luke 9:28 thru 56 but the part I have been pondering was verse 43 …

And they were all amazed at the greatness of God (NIV)
And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. (KJV)
And they were all astonished at the majesty of God. (ASV)
Awe gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God’s power. (NLT)
They all shook their heads in wonder, astonished at God's greatness, God's majestic greatness. (Message)
And all were astounded at the evidence of God's mighty power and His majesty and magnificence. (Amplified)

Greatness, Mighty power, majesty – how do you describe God as He works in your life?

One of the translations offered a specific word that intrigued me. AWE. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said “we have an awesome God”!

Consider this … we live between the AWE-SOME and the AWE-FUL of life. There are times when our lives seem to be FULL of bad things happening. There are other times when we have glimpses of SOME wonderful miracles or answers to prayers.

In either case, God is worthy of our AWE!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

War? - What war?

Growing up in the 60’s on the west coast, there was so much talk about peace not war. There were so many slogans, like make love not war. There were so many people against everything rather than for anything.

Fast forward to today.

One of the least understood items we make is our WordCube – The Armor of God.
The whole idea of putting on armor. Even the concept of going to war. We want somebody to protect us. We want somebody to keep us safe. We want someone to make us more secure. We want something to make us feel like we won’t be in harm’s way.

So many lies and so little time.

A short time before Jesus set his eyes on Jerusalem and the cross and one of the last “trips”with his disciples was to Caesarea Philippi. A little history here …
West and North of the Sea of Galilee was Jewish territory. East and South of the Sea of Galilee was called the Decapolis region. This region was considered evil. It was considered pagan. This area was NOT where a good Jewish rabbi would want to go. Yet this is where Jesus took his disciples for another teaching. They went across the Abyss (the deep water) to a place of evil. Jesus took them to Caesarea Philippi, where “The Gates of Hades” was.

Pan worship was prevalent at this time. You know that four legged Grecian image … half man / half goat playing a flute instrument. The Temple of Pan was here in Caesarea Philippi where there was a deep crack in the rock where a huge spring of water gushed out. That crack or cave was considered to be the entrance to the underworld … the “gates of Hell” for the Pan worshipers there.

Along the short walk from the seashore to this “place”, Jesus asked his disciples, “who do people say that I am?”. Rightly, Peter said, "You are the Christ,[b] the Son of the living God." Here they were, going to an evil place where people worship a goat- god – and Peter declares that Jesus is the living son of God!

Jesus declares to his disciples, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[d] will not overcome it.[e] 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[g] loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

The disciples were in this evil country, looking at an evil place and they were in the presence of the Son of God. They were looking at a rock with water coming out of it. There were idols. There was idolatry all around. There were probable many people who came to this place to receive water and refreshment and a spiritual event in their lives.

I think Jesus took the disciples to this unholy region, unholy city, unholy temple to make the statement …

Even here in the most unholy of unholy places – my church will stand and conquer. Even the “gates of hell” cannot prevail.

Jesus was preparing his disciples (including us) to know that no matter where were go, if we go, when we go in His name and His power and His authority, we will prevail.


The Armor of God

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.