Have you ever found life has you between a rock and a hard place? When Pharaoh finally released the Israelites, they quickly found themselves in this predicament. God led them to make camp between the Red Sea and the wilderness. When Pharaoh soon changed his mind and pursued them, they were caught with no way to escape.
The Egyptians held the Israelites captive for 400 years. When they cried out to God, He heard them and got Moses involved.
Through the burning bush, God spoke to Moses, I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, so I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8).
That our culture—like Esau—is one of instant gratification, is hardly news. The soaring statistics in both credit card debt and divorce have been proof of this fact for many years. The following chart is a stunning summary of what has happened to American/Western culture in the last century and a half:
Modernism: the late 19th/early 20th century. Personal experience questions truth.
Post-modernism: mid-late 20th century. Personal experience defines/chooses truth.
Pseudo-modernism: 1990’s—today. Personal experience creates truth.
If you were looking for material for a daytime television drama, you could hardly do better than the story of Jacob and Esau, grandsons of Abraham, the father of faith. It has sibling rivalry, parental partiality and on-going intrigue, all set against a backdrop of wealth and power within the palace walls (if the walls were made of animal skins…).
Recently, a friend and I met for a catch-up lunch. As so often happens, the conversation drifted to events in the lives of our children and grand-children. Soon we were enveloped in the low-frequency melodrama that is modern family life, along with the seeming inability, in many areas, to do much about any of it. (And mothers hate not being able to fix things!). Then I looked at my friend and said, “We shouldn’t be surprised. Can you name one family in the Old Testament that wasn’t dysfunctional?” She thought about it for a moment, then agreed.
Several years ago now, our little neighborhood Bible study piled in our cars and drove an hour to a nearby city. Our destination was a day-long conference led by a woman who for over forty years had been a world-impacting teacher and author of Bible studies.
The Greek word, kairos, means the opportune time is now.
Dr. Tony Evans, founder and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, Texas, outlines his views of a Kingdom Disciples living in the present day culture.
Do you have any scars on your body due to injury or illness? These constant reminders of past difficulties are sometimes good reminders of the faithfulness of God during times of healing.
Do you have any invisible scars or scars of the heart?
If you have given your heart to Jesus Christ, you are his disciple. The term disciple does not exclusively describe missionaries or clergy; it describes a Christ-Follower. If you are certain you have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life, you are not exempt from the highest calling to live as a disciple! This is exciting because it means Jesus has given you the authority in heaven and on earth to act as His Disciple.
In the understanding of many, we enter the Kingdom of God only when we enter Heaven.
However, the Bible teaches Christ followers that Jesus sent us out to proclaim the kingdom of God in the world now. We have the responsibility and privilege of inviting people to live under God’s authority in every part of life. But as we proclaim this message, we should live it by acknowledging God’s reign over all of our life.
These are tender words from Jesus. We are his “little flock.” He is aware that some of us need to hear a childlike statement spoken over us now and then. Our hearts yearn for calm and reassurance during these uncertain times. Like being rocked or sung over as a child, this melodious verse could be a lovely nursery song.
The writer of Hebrews offers a not-so-gentle prod to these Judean Christians—you who believe and are saved are not to shrink back (10:39). Rather, remember those earlier days after you had received the light (10:32). Then, they had full assurance of faith (10:22), knowing they were able to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way (10:19-20) rather than by the Law. Then, they had hope (10:23) of their eternal reward. Then, they stood (their) ground in a great contest in the face of suffering (10:32). Now, their confidence is fading.
Fixing our thoughts on Jesus (3:1), asking WWJD, seeing that HWLF (He would love first), we are moved forward in our thinking by the writer of Hebrews: keep on loving others as long as life lasts. Living a life of love till the end makes sense. It appears though that these Judean believers were losing hope because of all the false teaching and persecution of the time. We too could throw up our hands at the messy theology around us and lose hope of ever seeing our family and friends come to know Jesus.
Holy brothers—oh my goodness! Yet that is what we are. We, you and I and those Judean believers, are holy—sacred, pure, blameless by Christ’s atonement (2:17). We are set apart to live as holy, separated from sin, since we confess Jesus as our apostle and high priest. And we share in the heavenly calling: to confess Jesus as apostle and high priest to all who will listen, so they too may be holy.
Paying careful attention to what we have heard is critical ladies—what we have heard being the Gospel truth, not the word on the street. Truth is: Jesus is the author (2:10), of such a great salvation (2:3) as these Judean believers had, and as we have.
I shudder in disbelief at the headline news these days, ladies. What in the world has happened to faith, to truth, to living to please God! How do our children and grandchildren stay strong in the present academia? How do we maintain moral integrity in the workplace? How do we not compromise our values? Oh, for the good old days!
I breathe a sigh of contentment when reflecting upon this statement:
As believers, we have been granted all that we need
to be what God has called us to be
and to do the things God has called us to do
in the place where He has put us.
Move forward in the certainty that He is with us, for us and in us.
This God of awesome power will grant power to do what is needed. *
Awareness that God uses specific places to mark His interaction with believers encourages me in the dailiness of my faith walk. Since Adam and Eve left their home in the Garden, the longing for a specific place to call home has resided within our hearts. Many of the times when God makes His presence known occurs within these homes. That’s part of what makes a home so significant.
A gift from my daughter, a piece of barnwood with the word “dwell” on it, hangs proudly on the cabin wall. It’s a lovely word to ponder. “Dwell” has multiple meanings in the English language. The Greek verb, eskēnōsen, used in John 1:14 means “to make His dwelling among; tabernacle; dwell in a tent.” I love how the usage creates a vivid description for Jesus coming to live among us.
The longing for a place we can call home began after God created the world and called it very good. He fashioned a man and a woman and placed them in a garden named Eden. The dynamics of their world changed dramatically as a result of the choices they made. They lost their dwelling place, and rootlessness entered creation. They and their ancestors would forever struggle to find their place in a broken world.
