www.missionofhopeministries.com
“Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:...” Ephesians 1:9 KJV
There is a word that is floating around with increasing interest that I have discovered. The word is singularity. I looked up this word because the idea of it is used in the biochemistry industry, also Nano-technology industry, and manufacturers of prosthesis or artificial limbs. Interesting isn’t it? It simply means something that is unique, unusual, exceptional, distinctive, or remarkable. All technology today is most astounding to say the least and fits all these descriptions. In my investigation of this word I found that it has been around for quite some time but funneled through science-fiction movies and books written based upon theory and some fiction. Non-the-less, in the last ten years it has gained popularity and momentum. I feel that the rapid increase of the technology electronics and robotics manufacturing world has been gaining steadily to the point of humanizing machines. As I stated before, this isn’t anything new to the Sci-fi buffs but it is amazing and most remarkable to realize this is going to be the near future. I fully understood the 21st century was really here when I saw the Honda Robot on display and demonstrated on a stage for the world to witness. It is quite amazing to say the least. In the world of robotics, it is their underlying fantasy to bring about a merger of the two, robotics, and human tissue, thus in a word, singularity. You think this is fantasy? Have you ever wondered what stem cell technology is really all about? When I saw the ear and skin that was grown in a laboratory at a college as a biological experiment, I knew that the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler and his team of doctors and scientists dream of a master race was still on the minds of chemists, doctors, biologists, and politicians. So, it seems the age old desire of man becoming a god hasn’t faded away at all. Do you have any idea what a government could do with an army of these super-human robotic, Robocop, type people? I feel it would be the ultimate nightmare of WWII played out. Believe me, men in high places are longing for this to happen and are not wasting any time in the advancement of Robocop, I-Robot, and Bicentennial Man, in which the family robot finally achieves his goal by being declared human by a Court of Law. Along with others watching this growth of technology, I feel this will be a reality by 2020 because of the rapid advancement of technology in all fields of science. This is exactly what it is, the insatiable quest for knowledge without knowing full well what the consequences will be. I have always thought that knowledge to scientist, biologist, and all other academics is somewhat like giving a loaded gun to a child just to see what he can do with it regardless the consequences. Just because they are adults and have a value system of the dangers involved does not mean that they will avoid risks. No, even when the risk of disaster looms they will go forward anyway and give their theories a trial run without knowing the outcome. This was before my time but does anyone remember the trial tests of the Atom Bomb? Does anyone know of the maimed servicemen and women of who lives were destroyed bringing that apparatus of destruction into being? It would be in the thousands of citizens of the U.S., and nobody wants to know because of the shame and disgrace it would conjure up among citizens. And so it goes with any and all technology that mankind has a hand in because wherever mankind goes destruction and heartache follow. Mankind always justifies his evil deeds using the good he can perform after the fact of destructive acts he has already committed against humanity. Somewhat like the Vietnam tragedy. It is just our nature to be this way and nothing outside of Almighty God can change this human calamity.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
“O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23 KJV
As I see things, the strategy of Satan from the outset of being cast out of Heaven has always been to throw the proverbial wrench into God’s master plan everywhere it would be possible. Satan has doggedly and relentlessly conjured up counterfeit people to install them in strategic places of his choosing. All these attempts of course, are allowed by Jehovah God but somehow still works along with the master plan of the ages. It is most amazing to see how God still makes things to work in His favour despite the evil setbacks Satan awards us with.
With these thoughts in mind, let us look at the plan God has for His children. The LORD God Jehovah has a plan in place for each of His children and it will culminate when the LORD Jesus Christ returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom on earth. It will all begin when the “catching up” or rapture, that the Apostle Paul describes takes place. The reason for this rapture is to consummate the Marriage of the Lamb (Jesus) with the Bride (the Church of born-again believers). This is the spiritual sense of the term, singularity. The Bride of Christ and the LORD Jesus will be together forever into eternity from this point on never to separate again. We now are spiritually one with Christ as we live out our lives on earth but not physically. Our lives will change in the moment of a twinkling of an eye as we are metamorphasized with a new and glorious body the Apostle Paul describes in I Corinthians chapter 15.
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.” I Corinthians 15:20-27 KJV
“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:...” Ephesians 2:5-6 KJV
As it stands right now we as born-again Christian’s are waiting in the wings for these things to happen. Thus we wait with hope and anxiously look forward to the return of Christ Jesus. At this juncture the Bride of Christ will be physically in the presence of the Prince of the Kingdom of God.
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” I Corinthians 15:49-54 KJV
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
"A funny thing happened on the way to Nineveh"
Reference Scripture: Jonah Chapter 1 – 4
www.missionofhopeministries.com
In this Bible Study of the Prophet Jonah today I wanted to bring into light a few pointers on what not to do when God sends you to the mission field. By using the example of Jonah, we will see he was God's disgruntle missionary.
Jonah was experienced with God and no new comer to God's works. We can attest to this according to II Kings 14: 23, 24, and 25, which reads:
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast (borders) of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.” II Kings 14:23-25 KJV
Jonah was a sign from God to the nation of Israel. Jonah was the man God had chosen for this particular time to preach in the accepted hour. As Mathew Henry has said and I quote;
“Thus God, in the darkest and most degenerate ages of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights in it; to their own age, by their preaching and living, and a few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last times.” {Unquote.}
This prophesy came to pass by the word of God through Jonah but for Jonah other assignments came from God who decided to move Jonah out of his comfort zone. God arranged it for Jonah to deliver a message to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. This is where Jonah ran into serious trouble with himself and God. Jonah was discovered to have no compassion for the people and was discovered to be a bigot. He considered that God's grace and mercy was not fit for these people and was a big waste of time and effort. Jonah eventually showed signs of being ashamed of his calling and was rebellious to God's desires of mercy for this people.
"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry." Jonah 4:1 KJV
Cause and effect: How did Jonah end up in the belly of a great fish?
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." Jonah 2:8
I have listed some reasons for his disdain. It seems Jonah changed his mind somewhere along the way to run from God according to verse 1:3:
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3 KJV
The question is why? Maybe Jonah was afraid for his life or maybe hated these Gentile beasts, but never-the-less, returned to God's command with obedience and repentance. We can read chapter 2 verses 1-10 and see in the prayer when Jonah prayed he received sound wisdom when apprehended by God. The LORD is serious when He employs one of His children into service. Whether we like it or not is irrelevant, the job that we are assigned to has deep spiritual meaning from God and to us it is our job to gain wisdom and knowledge of the task at hand. Most certainly, when we are given an assignment from God it becomes a test of obedience and trust in the LORD to perform His will for both the sent and the receiver. In my experiences with the LORD, God’s volition most always seems to serve a dual purpose for the experience at hand in which everyone benefits.
Evidently, in Jonah's mind, he shamefully began listening and agreeing with Satan. Jonah was so hardheaded he had to be told twice as we can read in chapter 3 verses 1- 10. Jonah was found disagreeing and arguing with an authority figure, Almighty God. How many times have we been caught disagreeing with the LORD in our plight of misunderstanding of His will for our lives? What are you going to tell God, He doesn’t know what He is doing? Or maybe He doesn’t understand the circumstances? It was also evident Jonah was rebellious to sound wisdom by turn a deaf ear to the LORD. Maybe Jonah was saying to himself; these people are so pagan there is no hope for them. These people are not worth the trouble. These people are going to get what they deserve. But, with a little more time to pass he began to think; there must be a better way, pausing and searching his heart. This way of life isn't for me. Jonah no doubt was dissatisfied and contemptible with current condition.
Jonah, disgruntle and under protest;
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah 3:4 KJV
At this point Jonah was proud to deliver this message of coming destruction because he wanted the prophesy to come to pass on this wicked people.
"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." Jonah 3:10 KJV
God is no respecter of persons, this is a biblical fact. It would do us well if we would consider that the Grace that was offered to us is offered to all when God deems so. God's unmerited favour is a free gift and God gives it where and when He wills it. God deemed it was time to offer it to Nineveh. What we sometimes fail to see with our spiritual eyesight is that God has a purpose for all people of the earth. That purpose is to come to the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Jonah’s day, the promise of the coming Messiah wasn’t known but by very few and most of the time only Jehovah God was in the forefront of being known as Almighty God. It wasn’t evident to Jonah that God had paved the way for him to enter into Nineveh. We can see this by the way the people received the Word of God from the prophet’s mouth. After Jonah was through delivering the message God gave him to deliver how did the people receive it? They didn’t throw tomatoes and cabbages at him did they? They didn’t run him out of town on a rail did they? No, it was quite the opposite. The people of Nineveh were immediately struck with the fear of God in their hearts and decided the best thing they could do to avoid this looming destruction was to too adhere to every word of the Prophet.
Let’s face the truth. Only God could do that and that was the preparation of the people for the sake of God’s GRACE towards them. Sometimes, people have to be put in the position to listen to sound reason from God. This is why it takes time and distance so God can do His works behind the scenes and away from the naked eye. Little do we understand that God is always working on our behalf and to our benefit? This is the wonderful love and grace God bestows to His children every single day we live. Then when we least expect it, we are surprised to learn just what it was that the LORD was doing for us. Just like a loving parent doing something special for their child, God sends us His personal blessings for us to see that God really does care for us and He loves us with an unconditional love, an agape love. God did the very same thing to the City of Nineveh. By sending Jonah, His handpicked prophet to them so they too could have the experience of God’s grace and love. As the story of Jonah goes on in chapter four we can see that when the people of the city turned and repented, God revealed His Grace by sparing the people and by establishing the fact that there is a God that everyone will have to face one day. The true and living God, Jehovah. False god’s can never conjure up the fear in a man’s heart the way Jehovah God can and does. And it is for a very good reason this happens this way. Jehovah God wants everyone in the world to know Him and get a reasonable understanding of Him so they can have a relationship with the living God and experience what millions of others have experienced, love and grace from the Creator, one and only God of the universe, Jehovah.
www.missionofhopeministries.com
In this Bible Study of the Prophet Jonah today I wanted to bring into light a few pointers on what not to do when God sends you to the mission field. By using the example of Jonah, we will see he was God's disgruntle missionary.
Jonah was experienced with God and no new comer to God's works. We can attest to this according to II Kings 14: 23, 24, and 25, which reads:
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast (borders) of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.” II Kings 14:23-25 KJV
Jonah was a sign from God to the nation of Israel. Jonah was the man God had chosen for this particular time to preach in the accepted hour. As Mathew Henry has said and I quote;
“Thus God, in the darkest and most degenerate ages of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights in it; to their own age, by their preaching and living, and a few by their writings, to reflect light upon us in the last times.” {Unquote.}
This prophesy came to pass by the word of God through Jonah but for Jonah other assignments came from God who decided to move Jonah out of his comfort zone. God arranged it for Jonah to deliver a message to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. This is where Jonah ran into serious trouble with himself and God. Jonah was discovered to have no compassion for the people and was discovered to be a bigot. He considered that God's grace and mercy was not fit for these people and was a big waste of time and effort. Jonah eventually showed signs of being ashamed of his calling and was rebellious to God's desires of mercy for this people.
"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry." Jonah 4:1 KJV
Cause and effect: How did Jonah end up in the belly of a great fish?
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." Jonah 2:8
I have listed some reasons for his disdain. It seems Jonah changed his mind somewhere along the way to run from God according to verse 1:3:
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3 KJV
The question is why? Maybe Jonah was afraid for his life or maybe hated these Gentile beasts, but never-the-less, returned to God's command with obedience and repentance. We can read chapter 2 verses 1-10 and see in the prayer when Jonah prayed he received sound wisdom when apprehended by God. The LORD is serious when He employs one of His children into service. Whether we like it or not is irrelevant, the job that we are assigned to has deep spiritual meaning from God and to us it is our job to gain wisdom and knowledge of the task at hand. Most certainly, when we are given an assignment from God it becomes a test of obedience and trust in the LORD to perform His will for both the sent and the receiver. In my experiences with the LORD, God’s volition most always seems to serve a dual purpose for the experience at hand in which everyone benefits.
Evidently, in Jonah's mind, he shamefully began listening and agreeing with Satan. Jonah was so hardheaded he had to be told twice as we can read in chapter 3 verses 1- 10. Jonah was found disagreeing and arguing with an authority figure, Almighty God. How many times have we been caught disagreeing with the LORD in our plight of misunderstanding of His will for our lives? What are you going to tell God, He doesn’t know what He is doing? Or maybe He doesn’t understand the circumstances? It was also evident Jonah was rebellious to sound wisdom by turn a deaf ear to the LORD. Maybe Jonah was saying to himself; these people are so pagan there is no hope for them. These people are not worth the trouble. These people are going to get what they deserve. But, with a little more time to pass he began to think; there must be a better way, pausing and searching his heart. This way of life isn't for me. Jonah no doubt was dissatisfied and contemptible with current condition.
Jonah, disgruntle and under protest;
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah 3:4 KJV
At this point Jonah was proud to deliver this message of coming destruction because he wanted the prophesy to come to pass on this wicked people.
"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." Jonah 3:10 KJV
God is no respecter of persons, this is a biblical fact. It would do us well if we would consider that the Grace that was offered to us is offered to all when God deems so. God's unmerited favour is a free gift and God gives it where and when He wills it. God deemed it was time to offer it to Nineveh. What we sometimes fail to see with our spiritual eyesight is that God has a purpose for all people of the earth. That purpose is to come to the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Jonah’s day, the promise of the coming Messiah wasn’t known but by very few and most of the time only Jehovah God was in the forefront of being known as Almighty God. It wasn’t evident to Jonah that God had paved the way for him to enter into Nineveh. We can see this by the way the people received the Word of God from the prophet’s mouth. After Jonah was through delivering the message God gave him to deliver how did the people receive it? They didn’t throw tomatoes and cabbages at him did they? They didn’t run him out of town on a rail did they? No, it was quite the opposite. The people of Nineveh were immediately struck with the fear of God in their hearts and decided the best thing they could do to avoid this looming destruction was to too adhere to every word of the Prophet.
Let’s face the truth. Only God could do that and that was the preparation of the people for the sake of God’s GRACE towards them. Sometimes, people have to be put in the position to listen to sound reason from God. This is why it takes time and distance so God can do His works behind the scenes and away from the naked eye. Little do we understand that God is always working on our behalf and to our benefit? This is the wonderful love and grace God bestows to His children every single day we live. Then when we least expect it, we are surprised to learn just what it was that the LORD was doing for us. Just like a loving parent doing something special for their child, God sends us His personal blessings for us to see that God really does care for us and He loves us with an unconditional love, an agape love. God did the very same thing to the City of Nineveh. By sending Jonah, His handpicked prophet to them so they too could have the experience of God’s grace and love. As the story of Jonah goes on in chapter four we can see that when the people of the city turned and repented, God revealed His Grace by sparing the people and by establishing the fact that there is a God that everyone will have to face one day. The true and living God, Jehovah. False god’s can never conjure up the fear in a man’s heart the way Jehovah God can and does. And it is for a very good reason this happens this way. Jehovah God wants everyone in the world to know Him and get a reasonable understanding of Him so they can have a relationship with the living God and experience what millions of others have experienced, love and grace from the Creator, one and only God of the universe, Jehovah.
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