Welcome! It is my prayer that the pages of this blog, lead you to a more thorough understanding of God. A dear friend shared that he would really enjoy an audio of the text as another option to reading the blog post. So I am adding an audio version of each blog posts from here on out!
“Praise the LORD,
praise him, your servants of the LORD,
you minister in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our LORD.”
Psalm 135:1-2 NIV
When we see LORD (in all caps in the Bible) it means Jehovah or YHWH. Which means God was, God is, and God will always be. He is Eternal. This Psalm is a call to praise the LORD. This is worship and worship brings us closer to God.
“Praise the LORD for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant,
For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.”
Psalm 135:3-4 NIV
The Old Testament is for our learning. It is to give us hope. Testament means will or covenant. A covenant is an agreement between God and His people and usually requires certain conduct from them. The Bible is a compilation of covenants. God is the God of Covenants.
Who is Israel?
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)- remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV
We go to the New Testament because the promises of the Old Testament are given to us through Jesus. Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus. It is a church filled with Jewish Christians and Gentiles (Roman citizens). Paul is writing to tell us that once we come to faith- we believe in Jesus Christ, His death, and His resurrection- the promise that God makes to Israel, is a promise He wants to make with us.
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Exodus 19:5-6 NIV
“I know the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.
The LORD does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Psalm 135:5-7 NIV
If we obey His commands, God tells us, we will be blessed and chosen. We realize that God is immensely more powerful, seeing, and knowing than we have the capacity to understand. However, He left us the Bible as a way of getting to know him. I pray that you are strengthened reading this blog, at church, and within your church groups so, that you feel empowered to build a relationship with God on your own. The places I mentioned are supplements for the work you do on your own in your own space and time daily. That is where the real building of your relationship with God begins.
How do we obey God? We need to go to the New Testament to find out.
“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
‘This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts
and I will write them on their minds.’
Then he adds:
‘Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.’
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”
Hebrews 10:14-18 NIV
“Your name, LORD, endures forever,
your renown, LORD, through all generations.
For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.”
Psalm 135:13-14 NIV
Hebrews is written to Hebrew Christians. The author is unknown. It is thought that brand new and immature in faith Christians were experiencing persecution from Romans and from the Jewish people. The writer is writing to affirm the superiority of believing in Jesus Christ. He is also telling the story of how God redeems sin in our life. God views us with compassion because He knows our heart and capacity. We come in faith and He begins to fill our lives with His Grace and His Mercy. It is all unearned. We only need faith in Jesus. His grace is He begins to fill our lives with His goodness and His favor. His Mercy is that we don’t pay the true penalty from sin. Which is distance and/or physical or spiritual death. Instead His uses grace and mercy to heal and edify us. We make different choices because we are strengthened and our taste for the world changes.
Next, we have a job to do.
“While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.'”
Mark 2:15-17 NIV
This is Jesus displaying our responsibilities. We grow in God and He begins to redeem the sin in our lives. This changes our desires and moves us closer to God in character. We are part of a cycle that Jesus has created. We are healed of sin. So that we can give sinners we meet the same tools we used. We are the face of Jesus offering unconditional love to sinners. So that God can fill their lives with His Grace and His Mercy and redeem them. And then the cycle starts over for the sinners they meet. One person can help 100 or more.
A lot of what I see online is Christians following Christian principles wanting to hold non-Christians and sinners to their principles. We live in a world where the growing religion is atheism, no religion. We are raising a generation of kids that will never attend church as children. It is so important that people meet the face of Jesus and not the laws of religion.
We do this by increasing our Biblical literacy and understanding, gaining knowledge on Church History, and Apologetics, which is learning to defend our faith in a way that recruits others to our team. We are called to win Christians to Jesus.
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayer, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.”
1 Timothy 2:1-5 NIV
1 Timothy was written by Apostle Paul to Timothy, a young pastor. Timothy is a leader in the church at Ephesus. The purpose of this letter is to combat false teachings and to give him and us practical advise about ministry. We are all called to the Marketplace, the place that God calls us to be a witness for Him. We look at Jesus and we become more like him. So that we can offer unconditional love to the world. It is God’s desire that everyone is saved.
Praise the LORD.
