"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom." Psalm 45:6
Commenting on Psalm 45: "The king turned out to be God--as verse 6 had suggested. The poem that seemed to be only about a king's marriage turned out, in the end, to be about God's marriage to humanity."
God's plan during ancient times:
"You are to be holy [to nation of Israel] because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own." Leviticus 20:26
My texts to my two friends this week...
"I LOVE Isaiah 55 :-) I just love Isaiah in general. If you have never studied Isaiah I highly recommend you do. It's amazing. Just get a Bible with commentary notes and you'll be guided for hours. :-) lol but anyway Isaiah 55:9-11 amazes me. :-) cuz God's Word is NEVER meaningless. Anytime we speak of Him to ANYONE it goes out and will accomplish a purpose, God's purpose. God's ways are mysterious but His heart and character are not. :-) <3"
Isaiah 55:9-11 : As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
"What other ancient society ruled like this?: When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself. For you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:34-35. One reason God allowed his people to be enslaved in Egypt is that after they were freed, He was able to remind them that they are nothing without their God and they are no better than any other human being."
"For me to live is Christ and die is gain. I'm seeing how radical Christ following is. We're crazy. lol the intellectual does not get it. "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power" I get how when Paul preached in Athens how only a few compared to the hundreds of Greek philosophers actually believed. It isn't a mass conversion religion. You don't have the power in your words until God decides to act through them."
"Neither Esther nor Mordecai had the power or position alone to deliver their people. It was only as they acted in concerted power and authority that they were able to lead God's people through the crisis of death and into deliverance. Neither of them aspired to the role; perhaps neither of them deserved it. It was thrust on them by a series of improbable circumstances largely beyond their control. Nevertheless their unlikely partnership accomplished God's ancient promise and the Jewish race was preserved until in the fullness of time God entered history through this people as the Messiah. How marvelous are God's inscrutable ways!" -Beth Moore Commentary on the story of Esther
Sermon today:
Jesus is king over all yet the world is not forced to obey his kingly rule. Satan can deny it. Humanity can deny it. Hence why there is sin and evil in the world. And so Jesus has not fully conquered evil yet. Yet He has started, through his people. His kingdom is already present in his followers.
You cannot have Jesus as Savior and not accept him as Lord.
Luke 17:20-21 : Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is among you."
Contemplating tonight:
Luke 13:20-21 : Again he asked, "What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough"
my text to a friend after reading that...
"[luke 13:20-21] We are working through the dough of this world. :-) The kingdom of God is not invading from the outside. It is coming from the internal, from humanity itself. Wow. God is amazing."
C.S. Lewis Quotes:
"I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time-waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God-it changes me."
"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."
My thoughts:
If my feelings or my logic alone were the only thing that drove my belief in God, then God doesn't exist. I do not always feel God, nor can I logically prove God. Yet there are mysteries in this world and power among people that I cannot deny the existence of God. In my mind, God is not dead until His people are dead. They have survived 2500 years of persecution and being a minority amongst the greatest nations of our world's history. If the world is evil, and is by nature an enemy of God, would it not then attack the people that have been chosen by God? Judaism is a persecuted people. The core of Christianity is a persecuted god and its followers were persecuted soon after their god. Why? There is something more going on here than just some religion.
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