Tag Archives: Proof

FREEDOM

Posted on July 2, 2023 | Leave a comment

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The phrase that got my attention this morning is “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” It’s that word “hidden” that made me wonder – is it the old life, the new life, or both that’s hidden…And why?  Most of us would like at least part of our old life to be hidden. That’s where those “earthly things” before “Christ, who is your life” are. Why would that old life with those scars be worth hiding “with Christ in God?” Why not just throw them away?  Wouldn’t that be freedom?

How about that “new life?” We get to live with new realities and new options where our responses are based on transformation, not trapped in old information. Why would we want anything about this new life hidden?  Maybe God really does have a Safety Deposit Box where He keeps all the details of our progress toward freedom! It’s odd, but our scars may be part of the treasure that has been hidden by God “for” our future, not just “from” our past. God has found valuable purpose for our life even with scars.  

God’s Safety Deposit Box is where every proof of our inheritance, our treasure and our healing are hidden and protected from ever being lost. Freedom continues to grow and we continue to receive it’s dividends because God has kept every detail of our journey safe. This morning before July 4, 2023 here is the evidence of real Freedom to celebrate.

“-I have been  crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by [the faith of] the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
-For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
-So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.
-He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it!
-For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”a

a “Galatians 2:20 [“the faith of” from the old KJV],  Romans 8:2, 2 Peter 1:12, Philippians 1:6, Colossians 3:3”

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Posted in 2 Peter, Colossians, Galatians, Light, New Testament, Philippians, Romans, Sunday

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Divided Hearts

Posted on June 18, 2023 | Leave a comment

1 Then Darius the king made a decree…
2 And in Ecbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written:…
3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained…
4 with three layers of great stones and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.
5 And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God…be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place.
…11 Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.
12 May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”

Preparation:
The exile’s return created a conflict of territorial, cultural and religious rights between them and the people who occupied the land in their absence. Frustration, intimidation and fear have resulted in a years-long delay of building and divided hearts in the people of God.

Proof:
God has chosen the prophet’s words to overcome the fear and intimidation of His people by their adversaries and prepare their divided hearts to resume rebuilding the temple.
AND the the long-awaited letter from Darius the King has arrived with full details of how the project is to to be funded, orders giving the Jews full territorial rights to this spot: to proceed rebuilding the house of God without the interference of the cultural opposition to the project and the promise to return the stolen religious treasures from the original temple.

Provision:
The most interesting truth of this story is it’s about God’s provision for divided hearts to accomplish His plan.  He used the challenging words of Haggaia so His own people could recognize their hearts were divided by circumstances.   And there was Godly preparation for the divided heart of a Persian king to acknowledge that despite territorial, cultural and religious disputes with those same people he would issue a dramatic decree of accountability to a God he did not really know…”May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

a Haggai

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Posted in Ezra, Haggai, Light, Old Testament, Sunday

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Image Bearers

Posted on April 25, 2021 | Leave a comment

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…”  NIV

I’m sure you’re familiar with the triangle image of the Godhead where each of the three points represents one of the three persons; God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  It’s the image of life for those who, by accepting and acting in accordance with Jesus, have been placed securely within that Perfect Triangle.  My life is in that triangle.  So is yours.  Can you be thrilled by what a drawing can show you about how convincingly God can prove to you that your image really is just like His?  Yes!

A simple straight line beginning at one of those thee points and stretching across to an opposite line to establish a connection to that Perfect Triangle always results in a brand new triangle. Something visually  happened as I drew line after line always staying within the boundary lines of that Perfect Triangle.  As long as each straight line began at one of the, now multiple, points to an opposite line, it always became a triangle without my doing anything more.  Each triangle was a different size and had a different shape with different angles but every time I drew a straight line to make that connection three new “points” appeared. The triangles were not a perfect duplicate of the original but without a doubt they visually confirmed a likeness to that Perfect Triangle.

The creator of all mankind chose the simplest of all processes to replicate Himself in those who would be bearers of His image. The more I drew straight lines, the more I recognized how reliable that connection was.  Every one of those imperfect triangles began as a simple straight line but by God’s good purpose He chose to verify that likeness even further for His image bearers as each connection was completed. I saw those three replicated “points;” God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, appear over and over as each line became a new triangle within the Perfect Triangle. That was the visual proof that thrilled me.  

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them;” God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit created within us, every time.  Yes!

 

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Posted in Genesis, Old Testament, Sunday

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Proof!

Posted on January 22, 2020 | Leave a comment

John15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ [ESV]

>§§§>

The reference to “is written in their Law” without a footnoted citation left me searching commentaries to unravel the obscurity of that phrase.  Here are some notes I made searching for clarity that became my food for thought.
• Jesus as command-giver vs mankind as command-keepers
• fulfilling the law through merit or mercy
• divine destiny
• finally this quote from an obscure commentary by Philip Schaff a “The very law of which the Jews boasted, and into which, from imagined reverence for it, they were continually searching,—in that very law they might see themselves. In such a connection of thought might it not he [Jesus] be called ‘their law’?”

√ The first note I checked off without question was, of course, the divine destiny of Jesus.  That is a foundational tenet of our faith as Christians.
√ Then I went on to considering the difficulty of yielding to a command-giver when you’re a command-keeper living in a highly merit-based system.  That is a foundational dilemma of human nature.
√ Finally the quote from Schaff reminded me of this foundational truth from Jesus himself in Matthew 5:17
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.” [NLT]
√ Proof: ‘They hated [Jesus] without a cause.’

aPhilip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and a Church historian who spent most of his adult life teaching in America.  He also served as president of the committee that translated the American Standard Version of the Bible, though he died before it was published in 1901

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Posted in John, New Testament, Wednesday

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Preparing

Posted on November 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

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A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Isaiah 11:1

I love advent. I love taking the time every day to think about how the story of the birth of Christ is the beginning of life for so many of us.   It’s as if remembering all the long-ago events that led up to his actual birth is God’s way of refreshing us.  I love Advent Calendars and wreaths. This year I’m going to create a digital version of a less-well-known way to remember these days leading up to Christmas, the Jesse Tree, the branch Isaiah 11:1 mentions.  There’s a lot of information on the internet about that if you want to know more.

On this first day of Advent 2016 I can’t help but think of the effort God put into preparing what we are here to remember again this year. Isaiah is a perfect place to begin.  Out of the root of that stump of a great tree that seemed seemed only to be lost, there came Jesus, the branch who began at the very moment of his birth to bear fruit that you and I are living proof of.

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Posted in Advent, Isaiah, Testimony

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