Let Another Take His Office

As I was reading Ps 108 today verse 8 stood out to me. "Let his days be few and let another take his office". In this chapter of Psalms David is basically venting to God about people that have wronged him and what he desired would happen to them. Verse 8 has a star by it in my bible which means the publisher thought that this verse would be fulfilled during the time of the Jesus. Well this verse and the verse that follow it speak of Judas and what happened to him after he would betray Jesus.

Let his days be few - well he killed himself shortly after betraying Jesus
Let another take his office - well we know that another person took his place as one of the apostles. Matthias was chosen to take his place.

Here is the wisdom I received from these verses and the story of Judas? When I think of the word office I think of a place or a position of authority that is given to you by God. I'm not going to list all the positions of authority that we see everyday. Granted some are man made authority and some are God given authority. Authority can be defined as the right to do something. Believe it or not Judas was chosen by Jesus to be one of His disciples and later became an Apostle. Jesus chose and gave Judas the right do represent Him, on earth and later when He would return to heaven after His death. Wow what a powerful office! When I think of the Apostles and what they did while Jesus was one earth I think about Luke 10:1 "After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city where He Himself was about to go." Also after His death we See that the apostles would plant and built the structure of the church that Jesus said He would build in Mt 16.

The tragedy is that Judas forfeited his authority for 30 pieces of silver. We see this throughout the Bible in the stories of Sampson, King Saul, and Esau who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat.

How do we loose our God given authority or the right to do something? Well just like Judas, the way we loose or forfeit our authority is by betraying Jesus. Betraying Jesus is to sell out our relationship to Him by choosing to quit following Him and His way and to follow our own way. We sell out by going back to a lifestyle of sin and self seeking. We leave and quite being a disciple that is seeking to learn and follow all that Jesus commanded. I think of the places of authority or offices that are dearest to me and that I respect the most, The Church of Jesus Christ, Ministers and Father (parents). In Mt 28:18-20 Jesus said "all authority has been given unto me in haven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey all the things that i have commanded and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age. As Christians we have been given authority to go and do something and that is to make disciples that are learning to obey all that Jesus commanded. What happens when we sell out and not doing what Jesus commanded us to do. Just like Judas we loose our office and it is given to another. Ask yourself an a honest question are you walking in life with the authority that Jesus gave his disciples in Mt 28. If your not than maybe your not a disciple of Christ but a follower of Religion or the traditions of Man. Fathers do you have authority in your kids life or has it been given to another? Are they following you as you follow Christ? Lets look at the results mentioned in the next verse in Ps 109 that speak of someone who has betrayed Jesus and lost his or her office.

Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow- Children can be fatherless even when a father is present in the home. This is epidemic in the church and in the world. What about the father son relationships in the church where older men are fathering younger men how to be godly? See Eph 5 of how a husband is to treat his wife. Again although husbands are present in the home the wives feel like and are basically widows. Results of Forfeited authority.

Let his children continually be vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread from desolate places - a vagabond is someone that is tossed about or tottering. Eph 4 talks about when Gods ministers properly equip Gods people that they would no longer be tossed about by every wave and wind of doctrine. How stable and established are those God has given you charge over. A picture of a beggar should be self explanatory. Are we giving fresh bread (the word of God, see Jn 6) or are they beggars sitting is desolate places.

Let the creditors seize all that he has and let strangers punder his labor - what a picture of the most of the church world - in credit up to their eyeballs buying stuff that will never fulfill, stressed out and selling out our flocks and families so that we can pay the next bill. Husbands think about
another man or woman coming into your family because of divorce and neglect and plundering all that you worked for. Raising your children and sleeping in your bed.

Let there be none to extend mercy to him, let there be any to favor his fatherless children

Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. - Posterity is the end of ones life - Being cut off is being gone or remembered no more. This is the greatest result in my opinion - the generation after you is lost or gone. Thousands and thousands every year of the next generation are leaving Christianity all over the world.

May you examine yourself to see if you have lost your authority in your family and in your life. We all need to examine the church and began to ask the honest questions and what can bee seen clearly that the church has become something that God never intended it to be and she has lost her authority in this world. Yea I'm talking to your church and your denomination. The church that Jesus is building is not built on or by man's authority but its built on Jesus Christ and His word, It's filled with His Spirit, and is filled with His love and it is going and making disciples that follow and obey all that Jesus commanded. It's is submitted to His authority and the authority of each person in His body. My spirit this morning in not ON of arrogance or finger pointing but of humility and compassion asking all who read this blog to examine yourself and ask the hard questions. And if you find yourself having lost God's authority REPENT or change and start by seeking Jesus and his commandments and following them and asking God to have mercy on your soul and to change your heart. He will because He did it and is doing it for me.

Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill

I heard this song yesterday and was so moved by the words of this old Hymn of the faith. May the words bring revelation and freedom to know and understand that Jesus paid the price for our sin and through His death and resurrection he broke the power that sin hold in our life. We are free from the bondage of sin because Jesus paid it all!!


Verse 1
I hear the Savior say,
"Thy strength indeed is small.
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all."

Chorus
’Cause Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Verse 2
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow'r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots,
And melt the heart of stone.

Verse 3
And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
Jesus died my soul to save
my lips shall still repeat.

Bridge
Oh, praise the One who paid my debt,
And raised this life up from the dead.

Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill

Be Still and Know That I Am God

Ps 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth!!!

What a wonderful verse to ponder and consider. Be still - this means you. Does this describe your life today. Most people are sooooo busy with life we don't have time to be still. There's to much to do in our fast paced society and so Little time to do it. God is calling us to be still and to know that He is God. I was looking up some of the meanings of still and the words that stood out to me were to let drop, to be quite, relax, withdraw, refrain, etc. Wow this is how i want to be in my life. Think about all the world running around stressed out no peace or rest for their souls.

Ps 4:4 - Stand in awe and sin not, commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still

The greatest way to be still according to this verse is to commune with your heart with God. This is how we get still by communing with God. Commune in the Hebrew means to speak and in this context to speak with God. In true communion their is a two way relationship, you speak with God and God speaks to you. Adam in the cool of the day talked or communed with God. What a picture of how we should be with God. On your bed to me speaks of when ever you wake and when ever you go to sleep we should be still. In the morning we speak so we can make it through the day in the evening we speak because of what went on during the day. When we are still and commune with God, we will get to know God and God will be exalted among the heathen and in the earth.

The other way to commune with God besides your personal time with Him is to commune with other believers or with the Body of Christ. What a way to know God in a greater way as we share our lives with one another. So be still today!!!!!

Keep Your Heart with all diligence

Prov 4:23 - Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

I spoke on this verse last week in our father daughter banquet. As parents, espically fathers, we should keep watch over the hearts of our children because what is planted in their hearts will come out in the way they live. Jesus said out of the abundance or overflow of the heart the mouth will speek. In Mt 15:19 Jesus said - For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are issues that people are dealing with everyday. Well where did they start and where did they come from. Well proverbs tells us where they come from, our heart.

Verse 25 of Prov 4 gives what I think is one of the avenues by which things get into our heart. The verse says let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Verse 26 Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. What we see speaks of what our focus is on. For example Eve looked at the apple before she began to think about eating it. Her focus was on how good it looked and how good it would taste for her. Her eyes cause her to think about herself rather than obeying the commands of God. Her eyes brought in the seeds of rebellion and disobedience that were planted in her heart thus the issue of her life was rebellion and disobedience to God and his word. I would like to ask the question today to all who read this blog, who do you see Jesus as. The scripture says in Heb 12:2 to look to Jesus. Who is the Jesus you are looking at today. Is he the Jesus of the bible or another Jesus that man has created. The scripture says that in the last days many would say here is Jesus or there is Jesus. But who do you say that Jesus is. In Mt 28:18 - Jesus says about Himself that "all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth". The world authority here is the greek word exousia or the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed). This is who Jesus said He was and represents all power and authority and because of this He must be submitted too. Do you see Jesus as someone who must be obeyed or is it optional. Jesus is called Lord over 600 times in the new testament while He is called savior only 15 times. Many people see Jesus as savior which means that they see Jesus as a way to be saved from that bad place called hell and a means to get to the good place called heaven. This is such a distortion of who Jesus is and what He has saved us from. Jesus the Lord of the universe has saved us from our sins which means He has provided a way for us to become free from the bondage of sin (disobedience to God) to that we can obey God and Jesus can become the Lord or supreme authority over our lives. As we look to the Jesus of the bible our hearts change from a heart of rebellion against God to a heart of submission and loving obedience to God. Out of a heart that now has gratitde and thankfulness because we've been saved from sin, we become loving disciples of Christ. Remember the eyes are the gateway to our hearts and also are things that sets the pathway or direction for our feet. AS we look to and our focus is on serving the Jesus of the Bible our feet will be established to go and to tell others that Jesus is supreme authority and that he must be submitted too at all cost.

The Wilderness Will Show You Your Heart

Ps 106: 14 - "But they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tested God in their hearts". I was reading Psalm 106 this morning and I was drawn to verses 13-15. Starting in verse 6 the psalmist begins to recount the history of the Nation of Israel in their journey from Egypt to the promised land. The verses tell of how God was faithful even when Israel sinned against Him and rebelled against Him in the journey. The journey of Israel through the wilderness is such a picture of someone who is unconverted and uncomitted to God but yet wants all His benefits. It tells of the ups and downs of a people that God called His own but yet they didn't belong to God in their hearts. The tradgedy about Israel is that as a nation they never really changed throughout their history and to this day have rejected God's redemtive plan for them and for all of mankind, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They were never converted in their hearts to be Gods people although they were called God's people by name. Your actions or works will always prove where your heart is. Your works prove the real condition of your heart not what you or others call you.

They soon forgot his works - God had just delivered them through the Red Sea but yet they were fretting and complaining about God providing for them in the wilderness. A uncoverted person always worries and frets about his or her present situation or the future never resting in the past provision and works of God.

They did not wait for His counsel - An unconverted person never waits to hear from the counsel of God. To me this speaks of not relying or seeking Gods word but relying and doing what your flesh dictates. The scripture that Jesus quoted while in His trial in the wilderness was "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Deu 8:3) The devil had tempted Jesus to use His flesh to turn the rocks into bread. Jesus was probably exceedingly hungry but He would not let his fleshly appetites and carnal mind dictate to Him how to act. He knew that every converted man, in His temptation and trial, must wait for the council of God. Man must live by the council and words that God speaks not by his fleshly wisdom and council.

But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tested God in their hearts - As mentioned in the previous verse, there are two things that will lead you in the wilderness - your lust and your flesh or Gods word which is his council. The hotter the trial the greater the flesh will lust. The bigger the circumstance the more your carnal mind will race and worry and scheme. A converted person has learned through trials to wait on the Lord and to bring his fleshly mind into the obedience of God's word. The sword of the spirit is the Word of God and the peaceful mind in the times of trials is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of a person. Remember Romans 8:6 "To be carnally minded (Fleshly controlled) is death or brings death, but to be spiritually minded (or controlled by the word and Holy Spirit)is life and peace". Verse 5 - For those who live according to the flesh (they are led by and controlled by there fleshly mind not by Gods Spirit and His word) set their minds on the things of the Flesh (They are exceedingly lustful in their mind and thus in their actions) but those who live acording to the Spirit the things oif the Spirit (their mind and live is controlled by the Holy Spirit and thier words or actions prove this out, See the works of the Spirit in Gal 5:22 and the works of the flesh in Gal 5:19-21). To test God in your heart is to say that God cannot or will not provide due to HIs lack of power or love.

He have them their request but sent leaness into their souls - God will give us what we are lusting for. We can and do get what our flesh desires and often call it a blessing from God. But we will soon find out that the end result of what our flesh has aquired and asked for will bring leanness to our soul. Our soul becomes barren of the life of God although our flesh was satisfied. The perceived blessing becomes a curse in our lives.

"Is There Not A Cause"

Reading Job 29 this morning I was encouraged as Job began to describe how he lived his life. His character describes what I think the church and the people of God should look like. Here are some of the things that stood out to me.

He delivered the poor, the fatherless and the ones who had no helper when they cried out - (verse 12)

The blessing of the perishing man came upon him and he cause the widows heart to sing (sounds like pure and undefiled religion spoken of in James)

His clothes were the clothes of righteousness and Justice was like a robe and turban

I was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and I was a father to the poor. And I searched out the cause that i did not know.

I broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from its teeth.

What a powerful description of who the church should be and what the church should be doing. In my post yesterday I talked about the eye being the lamp of the body. Can you see what God has called us to be. Can you see yourself as Job saw himself. Look at Gods word today and began to open your eyes to what God has called us to be! As Job stated he searched out the cause that he did not know. God has a cause that is worth searching out. It's to bring people into the Kingdom Of God and to build His Church!!!!

"Lift Up Your Eyes and Look at the the Fields"

Jn 4: 35 - Do you not say, "There are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look to the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Jesus commanded His disciples to lift up their eyes to look at the fields. Jesus said in another place that the eyes are the lamp of the body. If your eye is good than your body will be good but if your eye is bad your body will be evil and full of darkness. In another place Jesus in speaking about the eye said if your eye causes you to sin than pluck it out. What we look at are see determines what we treasure or what gets planted in our hearts. Jesus was saying put your eyes and the fields because now is the time for harvest. The disciples obviously had their eyes focused or looking at something else. There were looking at getting something to eat. Their eyes were fixed on themselves and their fleshly appetites. Today we must ask ourselves were our eyes are and what are they looking at. Are our eyes fixed on the Fields or on souls that are lost and perishing. Some fields are already ready to harvest because someone has labored in preparing the ground and sowing the seed of the word. While other fields are not ready because no one has labored in plowing the ground and sowing seed. The churches eyes should be on the fields and we should be harvesting are preparing for a harvest. What are you looking at today. Is it anything else besides the fields that God wants the church to harvest. Lift up your eyes to the fields!!!!