Monday, February 25, 2013

Malachi: First comes The Smack Down, then comes Jesus

Malachi: Jesus

Part 4 of a 4 part message on Gods Justice and Redeeming Grace



Well to start things off I apologize for the break in writing. I came across some writers block and just decided to take the weekend off and finish on Monday, and well today is Monday so lets get started. As I write this I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Fayetteville that is run in part as a ministry through New Heights Church here in Fayetteville. Their coffee is amazing and it comes from an orphanage/coffee plantation in Guatemala run by an old lady named Mama Carmen. She has such a love for the children who are fatherless and motherless and opens her home to them and teaches them about the Father and about the Son and how they are truly never along. Today's message is dedicated to Mama Carmen and the ministry God has provided for her to pursue during her time on this earth. God bless you Mama Carmen, praise God you are a faithful follower and sister in Christ.

Well last week I wrote about the Smack Down and how God justly judged Israel and her priest for the intolerable acts that they committed against God. Today on the other hand is the promise of redemption, the promise of grace, the promise of the Messiah to come, the promise of Jesus Christ himself. Although not mentioned by name Christ is the main focus of the fourth and final chapter of Malachi. Lets take a look at it, shall we?

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.  “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Wow! All I can say to that is God is good all the time! "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.....And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet" I mean God is promising you and I that whose who believe in Him will see Christ, will see the Day of the LORD, will see redemption from sin. That's incredible, and along the way the wicked will be trampled by our feet because we are sharing the good news of Gods redeeming grace. I mean how awesome is that!! It's not that we deserve it either, God is blessing us with this gift, this merciful God whom we trust in is giving us a way out from sins persecution and hold on our lives. It's just incredible to think about. God is promising the destruction of those whom go against Him and the redemption of those who love Him. It's the perfect example of Gods duality as Judge and Savior. How He is able to discern those who follow Him and those who ignore Him. Malachi also states that we(those who follow God) will be healed, we will be like "calves from the stall" leaping and rejoicing for our salvation is at hand. We will stand amazed at the wondrous doings of God and how He is redeeming the nations through His Son. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." God is saying here, Look out for my messenger, look out for my prophet, my reckoning upon this world. He is giving us a warning to be ready, to draw near to Him, to make sure we are being faithful and following His statutes. It's not hard to discern that this is speaking of the day of John the Baptist coming and bringing forth the message of Christ. It's easy to see how the Gospel is just overflowing here in the end of Malachi, how God is offering redemption and grace through faith in Him. That's the message of Jesus, that's the Gospel of Christ!! Malachi says that "Elijah" will turn us back to Him, will turn us back to our Father in Heaven! God wants us, He loves us, He wants us to be with Him!!! That's just a powerful statement from our Creator. I mean knowing that God loves me and wants me to be in fellowship with Him just makes me break down and weep at times, because I am worthless compared to God. I am nothing compared to my Savior, yet God still wants me, He still finds worth in me, and loves me out of His compassion and desire for me to know Him. That's an amazing thing to know and meditate on. My King wants me. Think on that and watch this video.

This is the message of Malachi, the Bible, and the Gospel. This is the Redeeming Grace, the Salvation, the Fellowship that God brings us into when we deny ourselves and follow Christ, His one and only Son. It's indescribable, incomprehensible, yet so easy to understand at the same time. God loves us and desires to be in fellowship with His creation because it's why we were created. Adam and Eve may have messed things up for us for a while, but God sent Christ to redeem us and He has come and He will reign no matter what we may do to try and reject Him. When the Holy Spirit and God call you cannot do anything but respond to Him by giving your life to Him. Jesus is the recovery, redemption, salvation from the Smack Down, and I so desire for you to know Him the way that I do. My prayer is this, that you may search your heart and soul and seek forgiveness for rebelling against God and deny yourself and follow Christ, you will be blessed my friends for doing so. I know I have been and continue to be blessed each and every day.

God bless,

James


All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway


Friday, February 22, 2013

Malachi: FIrst comes The Smack Down, then comes Jesus

Malachi: The Smack Down

Part 3 of a 4 part message on Gods Justice and Redeeming Grace



Yesterday we looked at Malachi chapter two and how God dealt out judgment upon judgment on Israel and her priest. We looked at the injustices that we covered on Wednesday and sought the reasons as to why God did what He did to Israel. The priest if you recall decided it was better to barely scrape by and give God the second, third and fourth best as an offering rather than give the first fruits, the choice lamb upon the altar of God. As you recall God did not take too kindly to this offering and He threw it back into their faces as it tells us in chapter one ““I have no pleasure in you”, says the LORD of host, “and I will not accept an offering from your hand””. God does not accept an offering from the Israelites because of their disobedience, and today we will look into the further injustices Israel has and is committing against God. Let us begin.

Malachi chapter three opens up with this dialogue from God concerning the messenger from God ““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.” Two things I can immediately point out to you here are A. The messenger of the covenant is referring to John the Baptist, B. The message is that of the coming of the Messiah, the Christ. Compare this text to words spoken by Jesus in Matthew chapter ten verse eleven “This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’” We find that Jesus is in fact saying that John the Baptist fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy about the coming of the messenger and his message you ask? The message is that of Christ making himself known, coming into the world. The message is that of the new covenant replacing the old covenant, because obviously it wasn’t working for the Jews of Israel. The man who “will sit as a refiner and purifier” is Jesus, He is the only person qualified to cleanse men and women of their sins. Christ will purify “the sons of Levi….and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord”. Malachi is telling us that God is sending Jesus to heal the affliction of sin and disobedience and that He is coming soon. The messenger has been chosen and the message is at hand. John the Baptist is coming soon to bring about the good news of redemption in Christ and Jesus is coming soon to fulfill the prophecy of the Messiah, the new covenant. God then goes on to tell us through Malachi that the offerings will again be pleasing to Him once Christ comes to redeem Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. God is promising the redemption to Israel even though they continue to disobey His commands. How amazing is our God? He is loving and just in His will and ways. He is constantly giving man the chance to pursue Him, seek Him out, and draw ever close to His side. The term God is love gets tossed around too often these days I think, but here it is explicitly applicable because God in His infinite wisdom, grace, mercy,  and love defies all kings, emperors, conquers probably responses to disobedience and disloyalty by offering His children a way of redemption. That is just incredible to ponder and talk about with anyone. So for today only I will cave and say God is love.

Later on in the chapter we see God communicate through Malachi this discourse on how He is being “robbed” by the Israelites and how they can once again receive blessings from Heaven. Verse six goes as follows “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.” Okay now this passage is actually pretty easy to understand once you break down one key indictment against Israel that God imposing Israel with. God is telling Israel that I am being robbed by you, and Israel has no idea what God is talking about(as usual). God is referring to the fact that Israel is not giving Him their best, and this is in fact robbery. I look at it this way, if I were to say to God “Father you’ve commanded me to bring tithes and offerings to you, well I’ve earned $100,000 this year and I know you demand 10% but I’m going to give you 1% and use the rest for me”, now God would have every right to say that I am robbing Him of what is owed to Him. In fact everything I earn belongs to God because it is His to begin with, and this is the point He is making with Israel and their lack of adhering to the Law. They owe everything to God and all He asks in return is obedience, faith, loyalty, and a pure offering(honestly not a whole lot considering God is the Maker of the Universe) God then tells the Israelites that if you do bring me what I deserve than you will be blessed, I will remove the curse, I will keep the “devourer” at bay and I will not “destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear”. God clearly wants to provide for Israel and all they have to do is trust and obey in His command. You think that it would seem clear to Israel by now that if they only just obeyed the covenant set forth by God to Abraham than they would be blessed and overflowing with bountiful gifts from God. What can you take away from this passage? Well do what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew chapter twenty-two verse twenty-one “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” We must give to God which is already His and for ourselves rely solely on His provision. Israel just couldn’t quite grasp that and even in the New Testament where Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees in the context of the scripture above they still didn’t have it figured out. Hopefully we can learn from their mistakes.

Wrapping up chapter three we come across a small passage where God talks about remembering those who serve him in reverent fear and love. Starting in verse sixteen “Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” God knows who honors Him, God knows who loves Him, and God knows who fears Him. Is it that hard to understand that God will only admit those into Heaven who believe in Him and faithfully follow Him? Here God is reminding Israel that those who are “wicked” will not receive His blessing. They will only inherit death and destruction. They will never venture into Paradise in fellowship with their Father. That’s a scary indictment and something we all as Christ followers need to keep in mind. Several people who call themselves Christians because of the church they go to or the Christian things they say and do will never enter Heaven because they truly never admitted their sin and truly never followed Christ commands. We as followers of Christ must constantly witness to our own because we never know what words of Truth we speak will affect someone’s eternal soul. God is calling on us all to step up to the plate and change our lives to pattern them more like Christ (ergo His own life). I leave you with this question for the day, and it’s one I’ve asked before. What are you doing to follow and serve God, and do you know where you stand with your Father in Heaven?

 

God Bless,

James

 
All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV)
published by Crossway

 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Malachi: First comes The Smack Down, then comes Jesus

Malachi: The Smack Down

Part 2 of a 4 part message on Gods Justice and Redeeming Grace


Yesterday I discussed how God was angry with Israel for offering the worst they could offer. The very bare minimum of what they had to the God who created them. They were barely scrapping by adhering to the covenant forged between them and Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. God had a right to be angry because we all know that God deserves our best due to the fact that He created us, molded us from dirt and dust, and forged us in the likeness of His image. I am not surprised at all for a minute that God is judging Israel for what they did because to this day we as Christians continue to offer him "lame sheep" upon the altar, we as Christians do not give God our full attention and obedience that our Father deserves. Well today I'm going to talk to you about the further injustices done by the Israelites and mainly the men who are in the priesthood, and how God in response rebuked them and cursed them. So sit back, open up the Word, and lets get to it.

Right off the bat in Malachi chapter two verse one we see God is definitely not finished with Israel "And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. " Okay so God is really stressing the "give honor to my name" point because A. He is due all the honor and glory, and B. He's LORD of all, Jehovah, Yahweh. He is our Father, our Creator, our God. He deserves it. I cannot stress that point enough, and it may seem that I'm repeating myself(which I am), but I need to hammer this point home to you. God demands respect, loyalty, fealty, however you wish to say it. God deserves nothing but the utmost allegiance because He is God.

Moving on in the verses above we see God cursing Israel and her blessings, He will "spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offering" that's some very vivid language and it gives you the idea that God is not fooling around. He is fed up with the way Israel is acting. God is going to and has already cursed the blessings of Israel, that means even the blessings they have received from Him before all this are now cursed, and all the blessings afterwards will be cursed. It's kind of like what God did to King David and the child he first conceived with Bathsheba. If you do not know the story or are rusty with your Old Testament history allow me to direct you to the scriptures I'm referring too. Second Samuel chapter eleven "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” and now comes the good part, the part where God sends a man to rebuke King David in the next chapter "And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped." You see God blessed David with a child, but He also cursed the child to death because of the sin David had committed with Bathsheba against Uriah the Hittite. God gave him a son then took him away because God is just in all that He does, He is righteous in all that He does, because He is God. Israel knowingly or even unknowingly was defying God by offering impure sacrifices to God so what does He do, He curses their blessings and justly smears them(figuratively or literally I've no idea) with the dung of their impure offerings. God is pretty much saying I think this highly of the offerings you've given me and I rebuke you and say you are worth this much if you believe me to be a fool enough to accept it. I AM GOD! That's what God is telling Israel. He's throwing the offering that they thought they could get away with right back at them, and curses them to boot. This is all in the first three verses!!

Malachi goes on to report in verses four through nine "So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.” God is reminding the priest of Israel the covenant that He made with Levi and how Levi stood in reverent fear and awe before God and honored Him without question. The priest have gotten away from this, they've turned aside from God and sought new teachings, they've led others astray from the path of God and corrupted the agreement, the covenant with Levi originally made hundreds of years beforehand. The priest have been teaching a new doctrine, a new way of offering to God that is foolhardy and deadly to the people of Israel. So God does what He knows He must do, He despises them, He deals out judgement upon judgement and belittles the priest in front of the people of Israel because in reality by corrupting the covenant with God the priest have done the same. They've made God out to be some kind of puppet on a string, bending to the will of man. God had every right to do what He did. As Christians we must always be on the look out for men and women both who are corrupting the Word of God with their own teachings, with unbiblical practices, with words that may sound pleasing to the ear, but are entirely a death trap of sin. We must not be like the priest of Israel, we must make much the name of God and promote Him and His True Gospel, His True Word. We must not rely on our own intellect to get us by, but rely solely on the knowledge of God and the wisdom He has given us through the sixty-six books we call the Bible.

Malachi goes on to tell the people of Judah in verses ten through sixteen to remain faithful because abominations have been committed by Israel and Jerusalem, turn aside from you sinful nature and do not conform to the worldly views and norms(all a paraphrase mind you). God is demanding Judah to not be faithless but to seek the light, seek the Truth that they already know in their hearts. He is commanding Judah to distance themselves from the "foreign gods" of the women that they have married themselves into and to cast out the sin in their lives and return back to Him. God wants us to worship Him and love Him and honor Him, but how can we do so when we hold things above Him? How can we approach the throne of Grace, Mercy, and Truth when we envelop ourselves in deceit, sin, and anarchy from the One True King. God says "guard yourselves in spirit, and do not be faithless" we must have faith in God and just like Israel was lacking faith, just like Judah was lacking faith so are so many Christians in today's world are lacking faith in God to provide, comfort, heal, protect, and guide us in His perfect will. Gods judgement is at hand for Israel and for us, there will come a day when we are all before the throne of God and He will turn people away because they did not know Him although they may have called out to Him "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ " The Gospel of Matthew is quite clear on this in chapter seven verses twenty-one through twenty-three. Judgement is coming and you must truly know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be in Heaven with Him. You must rely solely on God to be admitted into Heaven.

I leave you with this question. Where do you stand with God, do you know Him, do you know His Son, do you faithfully follow Him and His commands?  Tomorrow we will move onto chapter three of Malachi and discuss who the Messenger of God is, how Israel(and we as Christians) have robbed God, and the people whom God will remember.

God Bless,

James


All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway

 

 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Malachi: First comes The Smack Down, then comes Jesus

Malachi: The Smack Down

Part 1 of a 4 part messgae on Gods Justice and Redeeming Grace


"The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi", well one would think that only good things could come from an oracle of God. I mean Abraham and Sarah were approached by an angel of the LORD bearing news that Sarah was to conceive a child in her old age, something they wanted for such a long time. God sent Gabriel to Mary to tell her the good news that she had been found righteous and worthy to give birth to the Son of Man, and before that even occurred her cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah received news from Gabriel that they too would soon give birth to a son named John. That's all good news. Even the shepherds on the hill overlooking Bethlehem received good news from a whole host of angels proclaiming "Good tidings of great joy to be for all people" about the birth of the Messiah. So from this evidence one would think an oracle from the LORD is a really good thing, something that announces good news. I'm about to rock your idea of an oracle of the LORD, well God is doing the rocking, I'm just a vessel being used by Him.

In Malachi we read the message of an oracle that appeared to the prophet Malachi who was sent to the Israelites to pretty much tear them down and tell them that God was pretty angry with them and that He demanded respect, because well He's God and in being God we owe Him our unyielding allegiance and obedience. Well on with the smack down.

Malachi starts off by the oracle reporting to Malachi to tell Israel that He still loves them, but that He is becoming displeased with them. God says "I have loved you, but you say how have you loved us? Was not Jacob Esau's brother"declares the Lord, "Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated, I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert". Honestly that sounds like God loves Israel(Remember that Jacob and Israel are used interchangeably by God), and it sounds like God isn't too angry just yet. It sounds like He's angry at the other side of Jacobs family, at Esau's descendants, but He's just laying the groundwork for some serious accusations that Israel needs to answer to, and soon. Malachi chapter one verse six starts off as such "A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father where is my honor? And if I am a master where is my fear? says the LORD of host to you, O priest, who despise my name. But you say 'How have we despised your name?' By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say 'How have we polluted you?' By saying that the LORDS table may be despised..." Whoa...what happened you ask, well Israel done messed up is what happened. They thought that they could get away with offering dirty, poor looking, sickly animals to the LORD of Heaven and Earth and get away with it. I mean who do they think they are? Does God not deserve our best? Don't you think they would remember what happened to Cain when he offered measly old vegetables to God as an offering. Doesn't God require blood to atone for sins? Doesn't God give them the Law through Moses? You think that they would remember these things, well they kind of backslid on this and figured just any old lamb, goat, either lame or sick would do. Well it just doesn't.  Lets continue on in verse ten "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire upon my altar in vain!(Gods angry)I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of host.  But you profane it when you say that the Lord's table is polluted, and its fruit, that is, its food may be despised. But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations." Yeah I think God's really angry here, and He has a right to be for one huge reason. Israel was disobedient. Israel tried to get by, by just offering the leftovers, the scraps, and God of Heaven deserves the freshest cut, the purest offering imaginable.

Tomorrow I'll continue on The Smack Down and why God was angry at Israel. Be praying and searching your own heart. Ask yourself "Is there something I'm not offering to God that isn't pure and worthy of Him?"

God Bless,

James

P.S. Be sure to check out the links on the side of my blog, the information is priceless and can only help you further your understanding of God and how He is always relevant no matter the circumstances. Also I've posted links to mission opportunities and how you can become involved whether you are single, married, retired, in high school, or college. Whatever season of life you're in God can use you.

All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway

What are we called to do?

As a Christian I'm often asked what it is I do, and why is it I do it. Well when people ask that question they have no idea how simplistic the answer really is going to be. They think they're going to get some long drawn out theologically challenging answer, when really it's quite simple. I make disciples because Jesus told me to.

Now some of you may ask "Now really Jesus called down from Heaven and told you to make disciples?", and to you I say yes! Yes He called down to me and told me to go!! It wasn't a question like "Hey James, I was wondering if you could possibly spend your life making disciples and sharing my story, can you?" it was a command to go! It was a command to never stop going and never stop multiplying the Kingdom of Heaven. It was a command to die to myself and live for Christ.

The Gospel of Matthew tells us in the twenty-eighth chapter starting in verse sixteen and continuing on through the end of the chapter " Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”. Do you see that? It's not a request, it's not an invoice, it's not a meek man asking for the minimalistic things in life. It's the LORD of Heaven and Earth demanding and commanding us to GO and make DISCIPLES of ALL NATIONS. It doesn't just say make disciples in America where you are comfy or in your hometown or in your secluded little church groups. He tells us to GO to the nations and teach them all that He taught us. Now this doesn't mean drop everything and move overseas(although I know some people who've done just that and they are doing amazing things for Christ), but what it means is don't live a sedentary semi-Christ following life. It means do something with your life and disciple someone, anyone who will listen to the Word of God and teach them how to disciple others and multiply the Church body. Some of you who read this may feel like God is calling you to be pastors, youth pastors, music ministers, women's ministry leaders, or just laypeople, but my question to you remains the same. What are you doing? What are we all called to do? We are called to make disciples plain and simple.

Now some of you out there may say well what about you James? What about all this nonsense of church planting? Well first off it's not nonsense and second of all discipleship and furthering the Gospel is the entire theme of the book of Acts and they did it by planting churches and multiplying the Church body through discipleship. Planting churches is key to furthering the Gospel message across the globe. Thousands of people each year give up their normal lives and jobs and pack up and move to a new city, state, country all for the sole purpose of planting a church where there wasn't one before and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ where it's barely been whispered of before. I am one of those people whom I believe God has called up from the local Church body to go and do as such. This fall I will be starting my one-year internship with the North American Mission Board in conjuncture with Cross Church Springdale on church planting and by the end of the year long internship I will be sent out to plant a church where Jesus Christ is much needed. Where will I go you ask? Well even I don't know that, what I do know is that God already is preparing the hearts and souls of those that I will witness too and the community in which I will plant one of His churches. Notice I didn't say I'm going to start a church, because there was one already started over two-thousand years ago by a carpenter from Galilee and his name is Jesus. I only make that point because so many times I hear stories of people saying "oh you've started a church" or "so what kind of church are you starting?", and frankly I'm at the point where I want to shout it out "JESUS STARTED IT I'M JUST PLANTING A BRANCH CAMPUS!!!". That's pretty much all I'm doing anyway, I'm planting a branch campus of the Church of Jesus Christ here on Earth. As Louie Giglio puts it "It's a Jesus church, nothing more and nothing less, I preach Jesus". 

So what are we called to do? We're called to GO! What are you doing about it?

God Bless,

James

All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Beginnings

Beginnings:



My name is not James Bond however awesome that would be, but I am a Bond in one unique and special way. I am a bond servant, a man called by God to serve Him faithfully, without ceasing, and never questioning His authority over my life. My name is James Forbis and I am a sinner saved by grace through faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, by the love of the Father, and the ever present conviction of the Holy Spirit.

The reason I started this blog is simple: I want people to know Christ the way I know Him. I want people to love the Father the way I love Him. I want people to rely on the Holy Spirit the way I rely on Him. I am a man called by God to serve Him as a minister of the true, unyielding, and undeniable Gospel of Jesus Christ. How I do this is by listening to what the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart and soul through everyday situations, conversations, and connections with other Godly men and women.

This fall I will be entering a new season of life as a church planting "apprentice" if you will on staff with Cross Church Springdale. I will also be going to the Cross Church School of Ministry pursuing a missiological track in church planting, collegiate ministry, and pastoral studies. I will be learning under the amazing leadership of Dr. Ronnie Floyd(check out his blog at http://www.ronniefloyd.com ) and the biblical based teachings of Dr. Jeff Crawford(check out his blog at http://jeffcraw4d.wordpress.com/ ). These men have been called by God to fill the gap that churches and seminaries tend to leave in a called man or woman's theological education. You can learn all about the Cross Church School of Ministry here at http://crosschurch.com/ccsm/ and all about Cross Church and our family of churches in Northwest Arkansas at http://crosschurch.com

First off I'd like to share with you my testimony and how God called me into His ministry to teach, protect, shepherd, guide, and minister to His Church, His People, His Bride.

I was seven years old when I acknowledged my need for a savior. I knew I was missing something in my life, and I thought I had already believed in Christ, but growing up in a church and a Godly family doesn't save you. At least at that time I thought it did, but my Dad and my Sunday school teacher Dr. Norman corrected me and showed me in the Bible what truly saves you from your sins. His name is Jesus Christ and until you tell Him that you need Him and that you are sorry for your sins and that you cannot live without Him, you'll never be safe from temptation, Hell, or even the wrath of God. I'll tell you what I was scared out of my mind. I didn't want to face Gods wrath as a seven year old kid, and still do not want to face His wrath as a twenty-two year old man. As I sat there and listened to my Dads testimony and then to Dr. Normans testimony though I saw light, I saw truth, I saw joy, and as a child I wanted that so bad. I accepted Christ that night, on March 16, 1998, and was baptized that fall on November 16, 1998(the same day my baby sister was dedicated to the church, kind of cool), and I've never looked back since. I've never regretted giving my life to Christ and to following Him. I've also never made a more important decision in my life, although making the decision to become an Arkansas Razorback was pretty special, but nothing compares to making the decision to follow Christ committedly, faithfully, and unyielding. Fast forward a few years later and it's the fall of 2003 and I'm a thirteen year old, prepubescent, voice is a crackin', Mr. Know It All, squirt. I was at a Disciple Now youth weekend retreat with my youth group from First Baptist Church of Longview, Texas at Pine Cove Christian Camps in Tyler, Texas, and it was there that I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me for the first time in my life as audibly as someone calling out your name. It was clear, concise, and perfect. I had no idea the ramifications it would have on my life or what He wanted, but I listened the whole weekend and the night of the altar call I went forward and told my discipleship group leader, Mr. John Black, that God was calling me to something to do something. I had no idea what it was I was trying to convey to Mr. John, but I knew it must have been important because we prayed for a long time, a long long time. Finally we went to my youth pastor, David Adams, and I told him exactly what I told Mr. John and what I was feeling and what I thought God was saying to me. I told him that I felt led to go, to be sent out, to serve, and I was scared. I had no clue what David would say, but I was relieved when he looked at me and started weeping because I knew it must only be good news. David told me that I was being called into the ministry and that he was not surprised at all by God choosing me. I was floored instantly I began praying with David and Mr. John and we were hugging by the end of the night and praising God for His faithfulness, His awesome power, and just His ability to answer prayer. Now I'm twenty-two(twenty-three in July) and I'm writing this blog telling you that I still have the same fervor, passion, desire, and drive to serve God as I had when I was thirteen. I'm a college grad from the UofA(WOO PIG SOOIE!!), a Cross Church church planting "apprentice" and student of the Word, and I love every bit of it. God has limitless plans for my life and I'm so jacked to be able to serve Him till my last breath. My favorite quote from any movie is from Kingdom of Heaven and it's first uttered by Liam Neeson. His character if you are unfamiliar with the movie is that of a crusader, a baron of the Holy Land, a knight, and with his final breath he knights his long lost son using this oath "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright, that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong; that is your oath.". I believe that this mandate if you will is applicable to all called men and women of God. We must be brave, we must speak the Truth, and we must be without fear in the face of temptation and the Devil, because we must set the example and follow the one Christ laid out for us over a millenia ago.

I leave you with this question to ask yourself. Am I serving God to my fullest potential, is God calling me, is God choosing me to lead His Church, His People, His Bride, and if He is what am I doing right now that's not that?

God Bless,

James

All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway