Author: kezha1

Let us come together as one and praise God. First, “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever.” (Revelations 1:18) Just think, without Jesus Christ’s resurrection and new life our lives would be hopeless & doomed. Second, “I am God Almighty.” (Genesis 17:1) Another word for this is El Shaddai…all powerful God. Finally, “For You, O Lord are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You.” (Psalm 86:5) Our God is gracious and merciful to us when we least deserve it. So, with hearts full of gratitude, let us worship our God together.

We see in Isaiah 24-27 what it called, “The Day of the Lord… the time of judgment on the whole earth and its destruction by God. This section is often called “Apocalyptic”, which is a genre in which something hidden is now revealed. Here, Isaiah holds up before both sinner & saint the clear teaching of “The Day of the Lord”…with every person being judged…especially verses 17-18 which show that no one will be able to escape His wrath. Elsewhere in the Old Testament we see this reference to the great & terrible Day of the Lord in Amos 5:18-19 and Joel 1:15-29. But even in the New Testament it is spoken of by Paul in Frist & Second Thessalonians as a warning of being ready & vigilant for Christ’s return.

Interestingly enough, this quote comes not from Charles Spurgeon, but from his beloved wife, Susannah. “The moment we come into any trial or difficulty, our first thought should be, not how soon can we escape from it, or how we may lessen the pain we shall suffer from it, but how can we best glorify God in it.” The bottom line is, we don’t like to suffer in any shape or form. But life doesn’t care about our wishes… and we all know this – adversity & troubles will follow us throughout our life here on earth. But we also understand that we learn much more in the valleys than the mountaintops. And our focus then should be in glorifying God in the midst of all our sufferings… not trying to avoid them.

There is not one of us that are absolutely good, that’s because our motives will ruin it every time. James 1:17 explains this as every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights of Whom there is no variation or shadow…hence, there is no dark shadow side to God. He is consistently good, and matter of fact, God doesn’t even know how to be anything but good. And so, if we call on Him, He will richly bless us with all good things. (Romans 10:12)

Plainly we can see the contrast of the righteous and the wicked in their destinies here. This is repeated in Job 8:13 which tells us, “Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.” But for the righteous there is hope… or as I Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When our desire is for the Lord, we will experience happiness & wisdom as we seek for the ultimate plan & purpose in life. But if we rebel against God, the expectation for us is only anger, frustration, rage, and defiance.

If you talk to any First Responder…if they’re honest…they’ll admit they can be0 afraid. Afraid when they run into a burning building, afraid when they enter a domestic violence situation, afraid when they head into an active shooter 911 call. Our human nature uses fear to keep us safe, but fear can also debilitate us to the very core, impairing our reasoning and weakening our will. Psalm 31:24 tells us to, “Let your heart take courage.” In other words, we need to grasp and hang on to the Lord’s strength as we take confidence and courage in Him and not the perceived danger before us. Remember, courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.

Both Peter and Jude were alarmed at the great number of false teachers that were being accepted into the Church. And just as Peter confronted this apostasy in II Peter 2:1-3:10, Jude also confronted the threat of false teachers using our freedom in Christ and the free gift of God’s grace as a license for immorality. Both warned against these teachers preaching a philosophy called antinomian, which believed that since salvation was by grace alone, the requirements of the moral Law were irrelevant…kind of like having your cake & eating it too. But both Peter & Jude sternly denounced this type of thinking…instead urging the people to grow in their knowledge of God’s Truth in order to bear a firm witness of His Truth…all the while willing to bring back those whose faith had waivered.

To magnify something is to make it look larger than it really is. When we talk about ourselves…our accomplishments, talents, and achievements, it’s so easy to embellish, overstate, and stretch the truth a bit. We boast about things that might or might not have happened and allow foolish pride to rule our mouth. But we simply cannot say too much about God’s goodness, love, and mercy towards us. And if you really think about it for a moment…the most exaggerated things we can think of will still be far from Who God really is and does on our behalf.

If you’re anything like me, being thankful to God can often get delegated to the back of the bus. Sure, I’m grateful to Him, but do I voice my thankfulness as often as I should? Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Thankfulness makes much of little.” That means I should be thankful for all the small blessings as much as I am for the big ones. That also means that I can’t take for granted Who God is and what He does in my life. Hebrews 12:28 tells us that our gratitude should come from knowing that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20) and from receiving the inexpressible gift of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 9:15) But being thankful is also a conscious & determined mindset. If we look at Psalm 69:29-30 we can see David’s transition from pain to praise. In verse 29, David is imploring God to remove the pain and anguish of a terrible affliction…his soul crying out from long-term distress. But in the very next verse we see the sudden transition, and his resolute determination to thank God. “I will praise the Name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” So today, whatever is going on in my life, I will praise God.

If we go back to the Gospel of John, this is where he first writes that no one has ever seen God. (John 1:18) In I Timothy 6:16 we read that God is invisible and without form. Moreover, if God were to manifest His glory in a form that we could behold, His divine purity would destroy our sinful bodies. (Isaiah 6:1-5) Yet, His Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to reveal God to us…being fully man & fully God. Thus, Jesus brought the invisible and the visible together in such a way that sinful man could gaze upon our Heavenly Father. And then in perfect love & obedience, Jesus modeled for us how we are to pattern our lives, one to another… because He loves & abides in us.