BibleTrekToday.com

Year: 2010

  • My Redeemer Lives!

    Scripture reading for May 25th: Job 18-19

    The fate of the wicked is something that man has often contemplated.  In Job 18, Bildad the Shuhite summarized the thinking of his day about what would happen to those who died in wickedness.  Bildad knew of the law of sowing and reaping, and men who sowed evil and would reap sudden judgment.  His hope was to get Job to repent and avoid judgment.

    Bildad believed that after death, the wicked would have their skin eaten off and be turned over to the “king of terrors”.  Fire would reside in their tent and burning sulfur in their dwelling.  (Job 18:12-15)  The wicked person’s memory would be erased from the earth and none of his offspring would remain among the people.   This would be the fate of those who refused to know or acknowledge God.  By implication, Bildad thought that Job was such a man who had already lost his offspring from among men and was reaping a harvest of judgment.

    Job had patiently endured these attacks ten times from his friend.  (Job 19:3)  He acknowledged that he had no answers from God and only rejection and scorn from his friends.  In all of this, he begged for pity from his friends, but got none!  Job longed to have his words written down.  (Job 19:23-34)  He got this prayer answered and many others!

    Job then made one of the most famous statements of faith in all of Scripture.  Out of the midst of this terrible trial, from inside him came revelation!  “I know my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes–I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27)  Job’s heart was burning for His Redeemer!  He knew of God’s plan of resurrection and seeing this Redeemer face to face!

    God sustains His people through revelation.  Jesus Christ is the “Redeemer” that Job was longing for over 2000 years before He appeared on the earth as a man.  He is the firstborn from the dead, the “Resurrected” one who promises resurrection life to all who trust in Him!  He is coming again and we will see Him!  Even if we die, we will be raised to life eternal and live with Him forever!

  • Miserable Comforters

    Scripture reading for May 24th: Job 15-17

    Have you ever gone to a doctor for a check up and gotten a bad report?  I talked with a person the other day who went to a doctor for help with a problem and after the tests were run, the trusted doctor told this person there was no hope.   The doctor suggested funeral arrangements and getting affairs in order to die!  The doctor was trying to share what he understood from the tests, but God always has the last word!  By the way, that was thirty years ago and this person is still going on in faith!

    Job endured some similar attempts by friends to help him!  Job was told by his wife to curse God and die.   (Job2:9)   Job was told by his friends that he must have been involved in some terrible sin to be in the circumstances he was in.   At times, his own emotions brought him to depression and a desire to die. (Job 10:18-19)  Job cried out, “miserable comforters are you all!”  (Job 16:2b)  All of this was part of an attempt by Satan to get Job to deny his faith in God and give in to the circumstances and pressure of those who were judging him.

    Deep inside, even though tormented by all these accusations, Job holds to his integrity.  He declares his hands free from violence and his prayer as pure.  (Job 16:16-22)  He knows that he has a witness in heaven who knows the truth and will plead with God for him.  He knows that his time on earth is short, but his cry has come before God.  Where did these thoughts come from?  What did Job see or hear in the natural that might have given this understanding?

    God works on the inside of man by revelation.  He shows us through faith this unseen world that is more real, being eternal, than the temporary one we live in.  When we choose to place our trust in God, He enlightens the “eyes of our understanding” in the inner man.  We know that God is for us and that One intercedes for us today, Jesus Christ, the Righteous one!  (Romans 8:31-34)  The Spirit also helps us to pray and is our true comforter!  (Romans 8:26-27)  Though man may fail us, God is our comfort and strength!

  • Sunday Rest and Reflection:Willing Sacrifice

    Dear Friends,

    Greetings in the Glorious Name of Jesus!   It is such a joy to be able to be in God’s house with God’s people to worship the one who willingly gave His life for us!   No one has to force me to go to church; I delight to do that!  It’s not just because I am a pastor either, for I would do this regardless!  It isn’t a sacrifice; it is a great privilege and also a sacred responsibility.  My wife and children are watching me.  They are looking at my life and my leadership.  They are learning by my example.  My friends and neighbors are also watching.  More than any of these, God, Himself is watching and knows my heart!

    Esther was part of the Jewish nation in captivity.  She was placed in the King’s palace in a foreign land and when one of the King’s officials plotted the murder of all Jews, she had a decision to make.  It could have cost her life and position, but she fasted and made the necessary sacrifice willingly.  (Esther 4:16)  The end result was the saving of her people from execution. (Esther 9:22)

    Job was a great man from the East who trusted in God.  He willingly made sacrifices for his children each day to intercede for their souls. (Job 1:5) They were all killed in a sudden storm, but the end of Job tells of a double return for Job in everything he lost.  He had ten more children, but the implication is that the other ten would be seen again in heaven!  (Job 42:10-13)

    As you join today with God’s people, willingly give yourself and your tithes and offerings to see God’s saving grace in your family and nation!  Eternity will reveal the great rewards!

    In His Love, Pastor John

  • In Death and Suffering, Trust in God!

    Scripture reading for May 22nd: Job 11-14

    Job was a believer in God who was caught in a difficult trial.  He lost everything when he once enjoyed prosperity.  He lost his children suddenly through a violent storm.  He then lost his health.  Even his wife counseled him to curse God and die and his friends suggested that what he was getting was not as bad as what he deserved!  These ingredients could have lead one the strongest of men into depression.  Job revealed his thoughts in the midst of this trial.

    Zophar, the third friend, directly confronted Job with his need to repent.  (Job 11:13-15)  He questioned Job’s assertion that he was pure and blameless.  Zophar’s theology  placed God so high that no man could understand Him and so just that each person got his due.  The mercy of God was not addressed, nor was Job’s faith.  Some of his theology was correct but incomplete and came across without mercy.  (Job 13:4)

    Job, however, knew that God was great and powerful.  (Job 12:13-21)  He also knew that God was just and all would stand before him.  He desired to stand before God and argue his case.  His friends had judged him wrongly and missed the mercy of God.  Job so trusted God, that if God would take his life, he would still trust Him to do what was right.  (Job 13:15)

    From recent experience, Job knew the fleeting nature of human life and the troubles it entailed.  His inner desire was for God to hide him in a grave until His anger had passed and then set a time to remember him again.  (Job 14:13)  Job had a desire for resurrection and sensed that God would at some future time call him forth and restore him.  He understood what it looked like in the natural realm, but in his spirit man he knew about eternity.  (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

    This ancient discussion of God’s nature and our human nature is still around today.  Man tries to gain understanding of suffering and how to avoid it.  Religion tries to teach a set of rules whereby man controls what happens to him or at least explains it.  God’s word reveals that God is in control of everything and He will work everything out for good to those who trust Him.  (Romans 8:28) (Job 13:15)  Trusting God is the way to fruitful life and hope for the future.

  • Figure It Out!

    Scripture reading for May 21st: Job 8-10

    Job’s dilemma of suffering the loss of his family, property, and health in such a short time caused much pondering of heart and brought his friends to sit with him.  Job had been the greatest man of the East!  (Job 1:3)  He now was a sad and broken man suffering terribly.  He maintained his innocence of known sin and his trust in God throughout this ordeal.  He had many questions and no real answers!  His friends were sincerely trying to help, but their frame of reference was past experience (Eliphaz) and now in today’s reading, logic.

    Bildad the Shuhite had been listening to Job and Eliphaz discuss his plight.  Bildad rebuked Job and began by citing God’s justice.  He flatly stated that Job’s children got what they deserved when they were killed by the mighty wind.  God punished them for their sins because God is always just!  It was just logical when looked at in this way.  Bildad encouraged Job to plead with the Almighty if he was pure and upright and God would restore him.  The implication was that he was not really pure, but needed God’s mercy himself if he was to be restored.

    Job responded to Bildad with some agreement.  He knew that although he was unaware of known sin, he still carried shame before God.  He knew of God’s greatness and his insignificance in comparison.  Job tells of the greatness of God and how easily God could crush him because of His strength.  If it was His justice, Job felt he would also be in trouble.  (Job 9:19)  Job longed for a mediator who could bridge the gap between man and God.  Someone who could “lay his hand on both of us.”  (Job 9:33-35)  Someone who could remove God’s rod of wrath from Job would enable him to speak without fear.

    This deep inner longing of Job is in the heart of every man.  We long for a way to bridge the gap between our small world of sin and suffering and the great world of God and his strength and justice.  We know we are guilty and suffer here on this earth because our disobedience.  We know that punishment awaits us later because of God’s justice.  We also know that we are eternal beings because eternity is in our heart.  Without help, we struggle to figure it out!

  • Questions Without Answers

    Scripture reading for May 20th: Job 4-7

    Suffering has always been an issue for the people of God.  Our reasoning goes something like this:  if we are obedient and serve God, we should always be blessed!  When the opposite happens it puts us in a dilemma. We struggle to know whether we have some hidden sin or if God has turned on us for some reason.  Satan loves to suggest to us that God is at fault for our suffering so we should turn away from Him.  Job and his friends are going through this type of discussion in today’s reading.

    Eliphaz the Temanite was one of Job’s friends who sat with him in silence for seven days.  (Job 2:11-13)  He saw how miserable Job was and wept with him.  He listened as Job cursed the day of his birth and questioned why he was even born.  (Job 3:11)  He heard his groaning and then felt compelled to speak.  He tried to encourage Job with his remembrance of Job’s past good works.  He told him that innocent men never perished, only those who did evil.  Perhaps behind this was an effort to get Job to check his heart for any evil.

    On another level, this was an attempt by Satan to get at Job.  Eliphaz had a spirit glide past his face and he was shaken and alarmed.  This “spirit” stopped and a form stood before his eyes and he heard a voice saying, “Can a mortal be more righteous than God?  Can a man be more pure than his Maker?  If God places no trust in His servants, if he charges His angels with error, how much more those who live in house of clay, whose foundations are dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!” (Job 4:15-19)  The “accuser” was at work through this friend to taunt Job and stir up mistrust and hard feeling against God.

    Job was not comforted by these thoughts.  Although he was still suffering greatly and wanted God to back off, he held to his own faithfulness to God’s word.  (Job 6:10)  Job asked many questions about his own worth.  He wondered aloud at what he had done and why God had made him his target.  He even asked if he had become a burden to God! (Job 7:20)  This is spiritual conflict going on in the mind of Job as he suffered!  No answers came then.

  • Satan, the Accuser!

    Scripture reading for May 19th: Job 1-3

    According to most commentaries, Job is the oldest book of the Bible.  Job was a righteous man who lived sometime before the days of Abraham.  He trusted God and offered sacrifices to God for his children and family.  He avoided evil and feared the Lord.  Job was a blessed man and considered one of the greatest men of the East.  (Job 1:1-3)

    The story of Job suddenly jumps from Job’s life on earth to the Throne of Heaven.  There in the world of Heaven, angels came before the Lord and Satan also appeared with them.  Satan and the Lord had a conversation about Job and his blameless life.  Satan accused Job of serving God because of the blessings that God had provided him.  The Lord gave Job’s possessions over to Satan but did not allow Satan to touch Job himself.  (Job 1:6-12)

    Job lost his children, flocks, and herds over a short time.  What appeared to be natural disasters struck one after another, robbing Job of his children and all he owned.  He humbled himself and fell to the ground in worship.  “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)

    In another session in Heaven, Satan again accuses Job of serving God because of his health.  Satan suggests that if his health is gone, Job will curse God.  God allows the test and Job next loses his health on top of all he has already lost.  His own wife suggests that he curse God and die but Job holds his integrity and keeps his faith in the Lord.  (Job 2:9-10)

    Satan is the one who works to bring us down.  He has access to Heaven and is known as the “accuser” of the brethren.  He was allowed by God to test Job.  God knew that Job was serving him by faith, not just for what he could get from Him.  God sustained Job through the trials by faith and revelation.  We need not fear these accusations if we are truly walking by faith.  God will always protect us.  Take time today to pray for God’s favor and protection.  The Lord’s prayer asks “but deliver us from evil (the evil one)”.  We need God’s grace!

  • Relief from Enemies

    Scripture reading for May 18th: Esther 8-10

    Don’t you just love a happy ending to a sad story?  The story of Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, has a good ending for the people of God as well as for the principle characters.  The ones that were designated for death and destruction got to take revenge on their enemies.  The ones on the bottom got to be at the top.  There was joy and rejoicing in the camp of the Jews wherever they were scattered throughout the land.

    Haman had cast a lot, probably by throwing dice or some similar gambling device.   He trusted in luck and the help of gods to choose a date to wipe out the Jews.   He was overruled by God and was hanged on the gallows he constructed to kill Mordecai.  Mordecai was given his place of rulership and Queen Esther petitioned the King to change the edict.  What she did not realize was that a command of the King could not be rescinded.  (Esther 8:3-8)  The King was sympathetic, granted her Haman’s estate, and allowed another edict to be drawn up.  This edict granted the Jews the right to gather and protect themselves and even to get relief from their enemies!  (Esther 8:11-14)

    When the appointed day arrived, the Jews quickly acted against their enemies.  They killed the ten sons of Haman and 500 others in Susa alone.  Queen Esther petitioned to have a second day to finish the work and the King granted it.   In all of the country 75,000 were killed by the Jews.  (Esther 9:16-17)  The Jews then officially set apart the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the 12th month as a day of celebration and joy because of what God had done.  They give presents to one another and gifts to the poor.  The name of this feast is “Purim”.  It is named after the Hebrew word for “lot” which is “pur”  (Esther 9:26-27)

    This story is a picture of the great reversal that belongs to each child of God.  We can look forward to the punishment of those who have mistreated us.  God knows how to keep the wicked for the day of punishment and how to preserve and reward those who are faithful to Him!  The day is coming when we will dance on the ashes of the wicked!  (Malachi 3:2-3)

  • Roll a Stone!

    Scripture reading for May 17th: Esther 5-7

    “If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.” (Proverbs 26:27)   One of the spiritual laws of God is that a person will “reap what they sow”.  (Galatians 6:7)  God has so designed the world that our actions have consequences.  Consequences sometimes appear to the uneducated as “bad luck” or “unfortunate coincidences”.  In today’s reading, Haman plots to hang Mordecai the Jew in a very public execution,  but has some “bad luck!”

    The Jews had fasted three days for Queen Esther’s favor as she approached the King.  On the third day, she went and stood at his door.  He invited her to come and she received favor from him.  (Esther 5:1-4)  She invited the King and Haman to a banquet that she had prepared.  The first day she did not make a request but invited them back the next day.  As they left the first banquet, Mordecai refused to bow to Haman or show him any deference.  This infuriated Haman who went home sulking.  His wife and advisers suggested building a gallows and asking the King to allow him to hang Mordecai on it.  The idea pleased Haman and the plan was put into action.

    That night, the King could not sleep.  He had royal records brought and read to him.  The record of Mordecai exposing the assassination plot was read and the King asked if Mordecai had been honored.  Because nothing had been done, the King was moved to do something for this man who had saved his life.   As Haman was entering the gate to have Mordecai hanged, the King asked to see Haman, intending to have him help in honoring Mordecai.  Haman knew he was in trouble!  (Esther 6:12-14)

    Haman was then taken to the second banquet and there Queen Esther exposed his plot to exterminate the Jews.  The king was furious and had Haman hanged on the gallows that he had built!  (Esther 7:6-10)  What “bad luck” for Haman!  He was in the wrong place at the wrong time!

    God is not mocked.  What a man sows, he will reap.  Mordecai had sowed good will towards the King and honored his God.  He reaped blessing, protection and promotion.  Haman sowed pride, arrogance, and murder.  He lost his life on an instrument of death that he himself had built!  Be careful what you sow!

  • Sunday Rest and Reflection:Joy of the Lord

    Dear Friends,

    Greetings on this first day of a new week!  It is a joyful day to praise our Lord and gather with God’s people.  We gather to worship, honor God and read His word.  We study and pray together as those being equipped for a battle with the forces of darkness to deliver the souls of men from their clutches.  We join our church family and others around the world in every time zone who gather to praise His name.  From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, His name is praised!

    God’s people are marked with joy.  We are filled with joy because we know God as our father and Jesus Christ as our savior.  We know that we are forgiven by God’s grace and free from condemnation.  God doesn’t even remember our sins that we have confessed to Him.  We know that we have a future and hope in God that far exceeds our understanding or imagination.  Death is no longer an enemy to be feared, but is a doorway to God’s presence and a glorious future.

    The people of Nehemiah’s day heard the word of God read by Ezra and taught by the Levites.  When they understood it, some began to weep.  Nehemiah encouraged them to enjoy the day and share choice food with others who had none, because that day was sacred to the Lord.  The joy of the Lord was to be their strength!  Let His joy fill your lives today as you listen to God’s word in the presence of His people!  Rejoice in your God and Savior, Jesus Christ!  He was filled with joy at the thought of seeing us in God’s presence and endured the cross and shame on our behalf!  (Hebrews 12:2) May His joy be your strength!

    In His Love, Pastor John