STAND With God: 2014

Thursday, September 11, 2014

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL LIFE BIBLE REFERENCE VERSES

JOSHUA 1:7,8
PROVERBS 13:3
PROVERBS 2:1-5
PROVERBS 3:1-8
PSALMS 37:3,4
PROVERBS 4:20-22
PROVERBS 3:9,10
READ DEUTERONOMY 26:1-END
GENESIS 14:20
GENESIS 28:20-22
MALACHI 3:10
2 COR 9:6-8
PROVERBS 3:27-31
PROVERBS 4:23-27
PROVERBS 4:14,15
PROVERBS 6:6-11
PROVERBS 24:30-34
EPHESIAN 4:28
2 THESALONIAN 3:6-11
PROVERBS 10:22
PROVERBS 13:11
PROVERBS 15:16
PROVERBS 20:21
PROVERBS 21:5,6
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10

Sunday, September 7, 2014

God wants a Family

Gen 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

And what I like to do is focus on things from God’s perspective for the next few minutes. And I want to share with you “God Wants a Family”.

So we’ve just been looking at how we are brothers and sisters. And now I want to take it more from God’s perspective as being our Father in His desire throughout the ages.

I wanted to sort of ponder God’s original plan. So we have in God’s original plan, billions of stars, and quasars, nebulas, galaxies, flowers, redwood trees, rabbits – I mean think about the Creator who made these stuff, and tigers, and colorful fish, and I was thinking about the clouds, how when God made the clouds, it’s like an animated piece of art. Everyday, a canvas with new shapes and sizes. Just think about the generosity – the genius of God in what He made. And unlike maybe some of us when we make something, I saw this with my wife, she made this painting. And she wasn’t really satisfied with it, so then, a month later, she worked on it again. Until she got it the way she wanted it to be. With God, He made the universe, He did it kinda fast, and when He was done, He said, it’s very good. You know what I mean? He just kinda got it right the first time. And God’s original plan shows us His heart, what does God want? This is what God wants, sunsets, and clouds, and bunny rabbits, and tigers, and fish, and billions of stars. And people, like us, right? And you look at the mandate, what are the three things God asks of humans when He put them in the garden. They weren’t like doing the dishes, and taking out the trash and uhh – you know, it was

Be fruitful and multiply

Eat freely except one tree

Have dominion over everything

When God says be fruitful and multiply, He’s aware of how He designed that process to occur. You know what I’m saying? I mean, He has loaded our bodies with these erotogenic nerve endings, that was His idea. He made us that way. You know, with eating freely, you know how many taste buds you have on your tongue? According to the internet (which never lies), 10,000. 10,000 taste buds, that’s incredible, right? That was as excessive, but He did it like that. Because He want us to enjoy being fruitful and multiplying. He wanted us to enjoy eating freely. And He gave us this mandate to have dominion over everything. He put His first man, Adam. His first woman, Eve. He put them in the world that He had made and He had everything just the way He wanted it with those colorful fish and those tigers and these redwood trees and everything else in this glorious world, and He said, you know what, I want you to just manage it, to steward it, to build it up, to make it be even better than what it is.

Build houses, dig trenches, do stuff. It’s your world. Isn’t that so cool how God gave us the world and --- so this is what He wanted in the beginning. And these three commands give us basically what He desires. He wants to have a family. He wants to have people that He can relate to. I don’t know how much time do you spend with bunny rabbits or tigers but they’re very non-relational. They don’t talk very much, there’s not – I mean maybe they purr, if it’s a tiger or bite you maybe. But you know, like humans. Those are the ones that God has made to be relational with. To enjoy that family with.

Gen 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

I’ve been thinking about this “naked and not ashamed” a lot. Just to give you an idea of how old this picture is, he’s using a flip phone. He’s naked and unashamed. Here’s another one, he’s wearing underwear and a hat and boots. I photoshopped in those underwear – no I’m just kidding. But a lot of times, my son Wesley, he will come out of the house, we’re all standing at the bus stop, you know, I have the two older boys with me at the bus stop, 7:30. And Wesley will bust out of the house, and this was a conservative outfit. I mean, he will come out butt naked and I’m there with the other dads, and I’m like “Get inside!” And he’s like “Daddy!” You know, everything is floppin’ around and he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care that he’s got a little pot belly, and his genitals are small. He doesn’t care, he’s unashamed. That’s the way we are, that’s how the way we started out, we started out naked and unashamed. And that’s how Adam and Eve were, not the day we’re little babies or anything, but when God started out with them, he put them in the world, and he didn’t started out with designer clothes, he started out with naked and unashamed. As an adult, can you imagine that?

I was thinking like, how could I illustrate this by making you feel really comfortable. I was thinking what if I just started taking off all my clothes, and at what point would it get weird? Right? I mean, we can’t handle naked. Even like when my kids, Wesley, just today, he just starts taking his shirt off, ‘cause a little something at it. So of course, you just take it off and walk around shirtless, what’s the big deal. He spilled something on my pants, I didn’t think to take my pants off. You know? But that’s the way we are. And this to me is the state of innocence. That’s the state God made Adam and Eve in our first parents, the state of innocence. And a child is innocent, a child can be naked and around other naked people and it’s no big deal. They don’t worry about it at all, they don’t stress out about it.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Gen 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

Gen 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

Gen 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!

Gen 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make {one} wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Look at what the snake does here. He drives a wedge between God and the people. Do you see that? What’s the first question he asked?

Gen 3:1 : …"Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

See, just that first question is designed to drive a wedge between God and the first people. “Is he trying to keep you from eating anything you want to eat? Is that what he’s trying to do?” And then, she responds, and says, “Well, that one tree, if we eat that tree, we’re going to die. But everything else is okay.” And then the serpent says, “You’re not going to die, that’s a lie. He’s lying to you. He knows that if you eat from that tree, you’re going to be like God. You’re going to be like gods yourselves, knowing good and evil.” And so, what is happening here? And I asked you before, take it from God’s perspective. We typically look at this from Adam and Eve’s perspective and what we can learn from it for ourselves. But take it from God’s perspective, God’s there. He has placed everything so that they have a choice to choose Him, to trust in Him. To love Him, to express love towards Him. And the serpent comes in there and He’s doing His job, and what did they choose to do? They believed that the Father is not really giving them what’s for their best interest. Maybe they said, “I’m mature enough to know good from evil now. I can handle this. I don’t need Him to protect me. I’m old enough, I can handle this. I’m smart.” You know, that’s what she said, right?

Gen 3:6: …”the tree was desirable to make {one} wise”

Yeah… She wanted that education. There it is, you know, she wanted that momentary pill that’s going to make it all better. And she was convinced and Adam along with her, that God was not giving them what was best for them. He was holding them back. See how that wedge was driven between the two?

Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

I mean, fig leaves? Come on, how many days until a leaf turns brown and withers, does anybody have any leaf clothing this weekend? Why? Because it makes terrible clothes, everybody knows that. I mean it’s so pathetic. Our first parents, they choose to leave the reservation, to reject God, and reject what He has for them. And they’re like, “Oh no… we’re naked!” And they hide themselves. You know where they’re hiding themselves from? They’re not even hiding themselves from each other. It’s not even awkward feeling of like being naked next to somebody else. It’s to hide their nakedness from God, from their Father.And that’s the first thing God brings up too.

Gen 3:8 ¶ They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Again, not the most brilliant move in the world. We’re talking about the God who created nuclear power that generates sun energy and created the double helix DNA system of reproduction and tigers and they’re going to hide behind the tree. You know what I’m saying? Like, even if you hide behind the tree and I’m looking for you, you’re probably sticking out, right? Less it’s a redwood tree. I mean, come on. So they’re clad in fig leaves, and they’re hiding behind a tree.

Gen 3:9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Gen 3:10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

Gen 3:11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

The other night, I came home late and I hadn’t seen my little son Wesley all day and we have a rule with him which is, after he goes to bed, he’s supposed to stay in his room, he’s supposed to stay in bed. And he is the most flagrant offender of this rule in the history of children I’m convinced, like from the day he was born. He just doesn’t stay down, you know? And so I’ve been cracking down a little bit lately, trying to help him realize that it’s not family time, at 8 o’clock at night, that’s not family time, that’s time for sleeping. It’s time to go night night. And so we comes downstairs, you know, I bring him back up, and usually he gets a freebie, but then I say to him, look you come back down again you’re going to be in trouble. So anyhow, I got home late, and I was coming in and he snuck down and there was nobody downstairs so he was kinda tooling around doing his thing. He’s like “an empty house, let me just go over here a little” – Of course, he’s half naked, and do this and he likes to combine things. Like metal stuff with screws to my vents, they go to the airconditioningsystem, that kind of stuff is what he likes to play with. It’d be easy if he played with toys. So anyhow, I come around the corner, and I looked in the back window of the house, and our eyes meet for a second.Pshoo, he’s gone. That kid ran. And I went in the house, and all I can hear was “up the stairs” and I go up the stairs after him. And I’m not even there to discipline him ‘causeI just haven’t seen him all day and I just wanted to talk and say hi. You know, I was kinda glad that he’s awake, but I know I got to tell the line, “I made a rule, you stay in the room.” I’m going to the room, so I lay in the bed next to him, we get to talk, and he tells me about his day and everything. But that moment where he saw me and he ran. That moment, that’s Adam and Eve. As soon as they heard God walking in the cool of the day. They’re outta there, they’re gone, they ran. They knew they did something wrong, right? They ran away, and they hid behind the tree. And God said, where are you? Like God doesn’t know. And they’re like, “we were just scared because we’re naked.” Just take it from God’s perspective. He lost the innocence that he had with his children. And innocence is not the sort of thing that you could earn back, is it?You have it, and then once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t get innocence back. You can be cleansed and forgiven. But you never get innocence back. You never get to not know what you know. And God lost that. You know, he probably has some sort of plan. That they could grow up, and that he would teach them about the world just like any parent has a plan. You know what I mean, you don’t do the talk with the birds and the bees out of the gate, right now, I’m going to teach him how to play with his ball here. And how they’re going to grow with God in that relationship, and that was snatched away from Him in that moment. Isn’t that just so tragic. I hate that. And look what they lost. This is just a few things. They did not trust Him as a good Father to say what was best for them. They believed the snake. They cut short God’s plan from maturation, whatever that might’ve been. They excluded themselves from paradise from the presence of God, no longer do you have this kind of open relationship, they chose the path of rebellion, and we confront it which we’re not going to read all about this, but what do they do? They shift the blame. God says to Adam, did you eat of the tree, that’s the verse we read, right? Adam says, “Woman, you gave me.” I mean there’s only like 3 beings in the universe, right? There’s God, there’s the people, and Adam blames everybody else. And He says to the woman, “Did you do this?” And she was like, “The serpent deceived me. I was tricked!” We’re the same, boys and girls. We want to blame somebody else, right? And so even in this moment when they were confronted by God as their father, they wouldn’t own up to it. They wouldn’t say, “Look, I did it. I’m wrong. I’m sorry. Is there any way out of this.” It’s “The woman you gave me, or the serpent…” It’s somebody else’s fault.

This is kind of one of our problems isn’t it. I want to look at the flip side. I hope I’ve depressed you a little bit. Now we want to look at the flip side. Okay? Because there is another good contrast very early on in the Bible. Instead of looking at Adam and Eve, and how they broke God’s heart as a Father. Let’s look at Abraham and Sarah and how they did the opposite. And how they really trusted in God. So God picked some new parents.

Gen 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.

Gen 17:2 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly."

Gen 17:3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

Gen 17:4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

Gen 17:5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Gen 17:6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.

Gen 17:7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

What’s God’s covenant. What’s His promise? What’s His special relationship, He’s answering in with these two new people, actually they’re kinda old but they’re new compared to Adam and Eve, right? What’s His promise. He says, look. Here’s my covenant with you. I’m going to be God to you. That’s what He says.

Gen 17:8 "I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

He’s calling a man and his family, He’s calling Abraham and Sarah. They don’t have any kids yet. Okay? And He’s answering it to this relationship with them in order to be God to them. His promise to them is to live in the land forever. Does not sound like Adam and Eve to you? Where He calls two people and He says to them, I’m going to make you fruitful and you multiply and live in the land and fill the land and rule over the land. And now, here we have it again. The world’s all messed up because of the consequences of that initial rebellion. But God’s not done. Maybe there are some people that’ll be different, that’ll treat God differently than Adam and Eve did. So He calls them and they answer, and they say “Yeah, I’ll do it. Live in the land forever.”

Gen 17:9 ¶ God said further to Abraham, "Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Gen 17:10 "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

Now just think for a moment about what God is asking Abraham to do here. Boys. Gentlemen. If there is one part of your body that you protect, it’s probably not your ear. And it’s probably not your big toe. It’s going to be the thing that God has just said I want you to cut. Right? God’s not asking for some sort of in the ordinary thing here. In Abraham’s time, he was the first one. So there’s no like expectation that this is how things are supposed to look. It’s like, you want me to be a father of many nations. God really stressed that, didn’t He? Be a father of many nations, over and over in this chapter. And by the way, I just need you to circumcise yourself just tokinda seal the deal. I mean, we all know about this, we have anesthesia and you know, but like, do they even have knives 4,000 years ago? Are we talking to sharp rock here? You know what I’m saying? Like I don’t know. It’s scary, it’s scary. And what God asks – I know it’s a little funny but at the same time, just contemplate it as if He’s asking it to you, that some of it might have to imagine more than others, it’s just like, God’s asking you to take a serious leap here, Abraham. And He’s asking you to cut yourself, and then to do that to all of the males in your household.Right? All of these different service. And you know what Abraham does? He says, “I’ll do it.” Doesn’t that blow your mind? Do you think that blew God’s mind? You know what he asked Adam and Eve to do? Have lots of children, eat all the food, rule over the world. Just don’t touch this tree. Don’t mess with this tree. That’s what he asked to do. He says to Abraham, I want you to circumcise yourself, it’s not really a fair deal, right? Abraham’s like I wasn’t going to go anywhere near that tree. So let me just get to that deal. But no, that world is gone. There’s been a flood and everything else. And God said, I want you to circumcise yourself, and all your descendants after you to this day. Ladies and Gentlemen, 4,000 years later they’re still doing it. Abraham is the father of faith. And he says, I will take my most vulnerable and precious part and I will do what you ask. Even it doesn’t make sense to me, I just trust you God, but as a Father, You know what You’re doing. I’m going to be okay. Because they were no guarantees. Right? It’s not like he grew up with surgical knowledge. You know? There are no guarantees. He trust God, and he does it. And over time. We look at Abraham and Sarah, and we see, that they believed God’s promises. The first thing, we’re not even going to read this. This happened in chapter 12, we’re in Chapter 17 here. 5 chapters earlier, God said to Abraham and Sarah, “Hey look, leave your native land and go to a place that I will show you.” Right? They had left the land. Adam and Eve, they started in the land. Everything was beautiful. Abraham and Sarah, God says, “I’m going to give you a land but you got to go. You got to move out. Leave everything you know. Leave your friends, leave your family. Leave the God’s of the city that you’ve been offering sacrifices to. I want you to go to a pilgrimage to a holy place, and I’m going to give it to you. And they believed Him. They trusted Him. It’s just awesome, isn’t it? Abraham and Sarah, they rock. They left, they did it! They went. And then we get to chapter 17, and God says, “I need you to get circumcised, and Abraham is like, “Let’s do it!” He does it. And then he does ______ and he does the whole rest of his household.

Even if I ask all men in here to pierce an ear. There’d be something like, “Hold on a second, is that really necessary?” Right? Just saying.

Abraham did it, he trusted in God to perform the impossible. Abraham is how old, he’s 99. Right? He got circumcised at 99, and a year later, he has a baby.That’s trusting in the impossible. And it’s not like he grabbed an 18 year old girl. He’s with Sarah whose 90. You know what I’m saying, it’s the same woman he’s been with for a long time. And he trusted in God and the impossible, I just love their example. Over time, they grew more faithful, in the beginning there were some bumps, right? There were some bumps like, oh she’s my sister and then the king takes Sarah and the rest of it happened. And then there was the Hagar incident. So I’m not trying to say Abraham was perfect, but over time, he grew in his faith, in his trust, that God really is a God to him. And he really treated God as a Father, and he made himself to be one of God’s people. And the way it works is, if you agree that He is God to you, you do what He says. Right? I mean, He’s got to know more than we do if He’s God. Right? And they died trusting in God. But there is this one moment. In Genesis 22 when God says to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son” – Now this is, you know, he’s 99 when he got circumcised, and things obviously healed, because a year later, Isaac is born. And this is some time after that. I don’t know how old the boy was, he might’ve been a teenager. He might’ve been younger, he might’ve been older, I don’t know. But could you imagine for a moment how spoiled this kid was. I mean, that we even know about he’s been waiting 25 years for this boy to be born. You think Abraham wanted to have kids starting when he was 75? It was probably a little bit younger than that when the thought crosses his and Sarah’s mind, right? These people have wanted kids for decades. For almost a century, right? They finally got their little boy, and it probably would make us sick how much they spoiled him probably. I mean, here’s the heir. Here’s the one we’ve been waiting for. Here’s our baby, and how much did they love him and lavish, I don’t know what kind of trees they had, maybe fig or something – but on this boy, right? And they just love it. And God says “Take your son, your only son whom you love.” God sees it, and He’s like, “Abraham you love this boy. Take your son whom you love, Isaac. And go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering of one of the mountains of which I will tell you…. WHAT?! That’s insane, right? Come on, that’s insane. God has just done this whole plan. Leave your country, 25 years of promise, finally has his kid, growing up a little bit, teach him, nurture him in the admonition of the Lord. And God said, “You know what, I want you to offer him to me. I want you to kill your son.” Okay… And if there is anything more valuable to a man than what Abraham had done in chapter 17. It’s what God asked him to do in chapter 22. I mean, what a mother/father will do instead of having their child suffer. I mean, you would gladly give your own life on behalf of your children. Gladly. It wouldn’t even be a debate. Right? You would suffer any kind of thing, you would work yourself to the bone just to provide for them. Just anything, that’s how we’re wired, and that’s a good thing. And God sees that, He knows how we’re wired, He wired us, and He says, “Take your son whom you love and give him to me as an offering. Kill him.” And there’s this – it turns out to be a three day journey to get to the land of Moriah, on which later the temple would be built. It’s just like, imagine that trip for three days, because Abraham doesn’t tell anybody what he’s doing, he’s not dumb. You know he says to the wife, you know, I’m going to take the boy and we’re going to go worship, we’ll be back. You know, he’s the sacrifice. And you know, he’s got this service with him, and they’re on their animals or donkeys, you know. Three days, shuffling through the desert. Abraham, who knows what’s going through his mind. What’s God, what He’s saying? Is He going to raise him from the dead? Did I hear that right? You know, who knows what’s going through his head. And he finally gets there and he says to the servants on the bottom of the mountain. He says, “You guys stay here.” and he took the wood, and he took the fire and he gave it to Isaac to carry. Because he’s already over a hundred years old, you know. And they make their way all the way up the mountain. And you remember this part, and you remember this part where those of you who read this… You remember the part what Isaac says to him? “Dad, I have the fire, I have the wood. But where’s the offering? Where is the animal to offer?” And Abraham’s just like, “The Lord will provide, son, the Lord will provide…” And he gets up there, all the way up there, and you have this chilling moment. The famous painting called the Akedah, where he binds Isaac. And in this one horrible moment, Abraham lifts that knife, and he says to God, “I choose you.” Over everyone and everything else. This is the first human in history that says, I choose you absolutely and completely over everything else, everyone else, even my beloved son, I commit him to you. I give him to you. You are God. I am Your person, I trust completely. This is the ultimate trust ball. There’s no going back. He’s got the knife, he’s lifting it, he’s going to kill his son. And of course, we know God sends an angel to stop it. And says, “Now I know.” That he would be faithful, now he knows, right? And in this one instant, this one chilling just like, what emotions do you throw at it. I mean, horror, love, you know, everything. All at once. Abraham shows to God what human beings are capable of. That there are some human beings out there, that will reciprocate the excessive love that God wants to give to us. That there are some humans, and what would God’s heart – what did it feel like in this moment when Abraham says, “Alright!” God says, “He really does love me more than anyone else. He really does, not just in word, in deed.” That’s why Abraham is awesome. He showed God true commitment and true love. And he initiated what would become a special relationship between God and people. And so we have this contrast before us, right? On the top of the line, we have Adam and Eve. They started out with paradise. They had everything to them. Just don’t eat this one tree over there, it’s poisonous, it’ll kill you. And then at the bottom, you have Abraham and Sarah who struggled. She’s barren. They’re out of their country. He gets circumcised. He’s told to kill his son. And this is such a beautiful contrast, because Adam and Eve, what did they do? They throw it all away they flush it down the toilet, what did Abraham and Sarah do? No, we choose you God. We believe the promise, we believe the covenant. We commit our entire lives, and the lives of our children, which is our most valuable connection in the world. We commit it all to you and we choose you God.

God wants a family. From the beginning, the scripture we find echoes of God’s desire of the ages. You see, you find this phrase over and over in the scriptures, especially when times are tough like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. During those books, especially. Where God says, I will be your God, and you will be my people. Because that’s what God’s dream is. That’s what God – He wants a family. He’s a Father who wants a family. And when we look at how He set it up in the beginning that tells us what he wanted. And when we look at His dealings later on, it confirms it. And I love this how in Revelation 21, we see what God gets in the end.

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

Isn’t that just beautiful? This is what He wants, He wants to be with us, He wants to be like a Father. He wants to be with us, He wants us to be His people, and He wants to dwell here. God can’t dwell on earth right now the way things are at. But in the end, once it’s all cleaned up and Jesus comes back and does the job that he’s commissioned to do, then God Himself will live here with us.

Rev 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be {any} death; there will no longer be {any} mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

That’s what God wants, He wants a family, He doesn’t want any of this suffering, and He wants people that love Him, that are going to let Him wipe away all the tears. They’re going to let Him do what He wants to do.

Rev 21:5 ¶ And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

Rev 21:6 Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

Rev 21:7 "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

Rev 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part {will be} in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Could the contrast be any clearer that we have a choice? You can either be with God, and He will be our God, and we will be His child. Or we can cling to these other things, the cowardliness, the unbelief, murder, lying. All these other things. We can cling to that, and then – You want to do in Adam and Eve’s way? He’ll let you. What did Adam and Eve say, “God I know you said that we were supposed to do this, but you know what, we’re going to do this instead. We’re going to go over here because we can handle things. I can handle my own life, I don’t need some dusty old book to tell me what to do. I’m smart, I have the internet, I have my friends, I have Facebook.” Come on… “It’s a book.” As if like, it’s like a book, because it’s a book, it’s bad or something. You know? God gave us a book so we’d know what to do. So we know the story. So that we know His heart for us. So we can do that. But in the end, it’s death. He doesn’t owe us anything. In the end, it’s death. And that’s our way to choose. But, if we want to be with God, if we really trust Him, He’s really a Father, that He will be a God to us if we want to enter into that covenant, then He welcomes us with open arms.

So, we have a choice, we can choose one way or the other.

(PICTURE ON VIDEO)

I like this picture here, it’s a picture of two paths. And on the left there, a nice smooth path, you know, it doesn’t look that bad, you know? Soft on the feet, there’s nothing in the road, there’s no weeds, there’s no roots no speed bumps. Then on this other side over here, what do we have. Man that’s nasty, right? Look at all those roots, and as you go up, you realize, shoot, that’s uphill. You see that? That’s uphill. Yeah, that’s tough! That’s the way it is. You have to choose one or the other. You could choose like, Jesus said, the broadway that many find. I mean, look at that, you’re going along the road. What are you going to do. You’re going to just keep going along the road, right? You’re not going to look to the side and be like, “Oh a root path. Right? A root path. No, you’re going to do that, you’re going to keep going. But that’s what the gospel is. It’s telling you, “Look, there is this other path, yeah it has roots, but it leads to life, and the other one leads to death, and you’re crazy if you’re going to stay in the highway. You’re crazy, it looks like it’s going up, but then there’s a hill there and it’s death. And it’s the length that burns with fire kind of death. I mean, you don’t want to go that way. You know, then you have this other way that you know, if you want to be with God and be with His people, and be with the family of God, you got to walk up the roots. You know? And it’s hard and it’s narrow and sometimes we need to grab hands with each other because we stumble. You know? But the idea is that we stay on that path.

Which path will you choose? You know, Jesus, Jesus did this path, he went up the root path, he’s like sprinted that path. He’s like dodged every single little thing, he never fell. Jesus never fell, he went all the way up at maximum speed and finished the course. Jesus is awesome, right? He does that, and now God’s saying to us, “Look, he did it, he probably cut away the branches and everything else” – I don’t know how far to go with this analogy – “Now you do it, you choose it, you go that way and I’ll help you.” God gives us the spirit to help us so it’s not on our own strengths, so we have help, and we have the family of God to help us. And the question is not, “Is my life going to be easier if I choose to be with God?” No, that’s not the question, I can already tell you that, it’s probably going to be harder. You know, in some ways, maybe it’s easier. If you stop lying to people, you know maybe they could trust you that’d be easier. You know, but like other things, it might be harder. It might be harder, sometimes, you know, doing the right thing, it’s harder, isn’t it? But you know what, that’s not why we do it. We do it because we recognize that God is worthy, He is worthy to have a family, that’s what He wants, and we’re the people that are saying, “Look, I want to be with You, God. I want to be with You, and I’ll sacrifice whatever it takes. But I just want to be with You because You deserve it, You’re worthy and I love You.” You know, it’s got to be a love thing.

Matt 12:46 ¶ While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.

Matt 12:47 Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."

Matt 12:48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"

Matt 12:49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!

Matt 12:50 "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."

So simple, you want to be in the family of God and not just wear the bracelet that says “Family of God.” Whether blue or red that says Family of God on it. You want to actually be in the family of God. Jesus tells us what to do. Super simple, you want to be Jesus’ brother, you want to be His sister, do the will of Father in heaven. Do what God wants. Right? Because then you’re part of the family, that’s all Jesus did.

source: Kuya Joel

Monday, June 9, 2014

MY FATHER'S HOUSE

DEUTERONOMY 12:5

5 Sa halip, hanapin ninyo ang lugar na pipiliin ni Yahweh sa lupain ng isa sa inyong mga lipi; doon lamang niya ipahahayag ang kanyang pangalan at iyon ang ituturing niyang tahanan.

I CHRONICLES 17:1,9-15

1 Nang si Haring David ay nakatira na sa kanyang palasyo, sinabi niya kay Propeta Natan, "Ang tahanan ko'y yari sa sedar, samantalang nasa isang tolda lamang ang Kaban ng Tipan ni Yahweh." 9 Bibigyan ko ang Israel ng sariling lupain at hindi na sila pahihirapan ni gagambalain man ng masasamang tao, 10 gaya ng nangyari sa kanila nang unang maglagay ako ng mga hukom sa aking bayang Israel. Papasukuin kong lahat ang iyong mga kaaway at patatatagin ko ang iyong angkan. 11 Pagkamatay mo, isa sa mga anak mong lalaki ang hahalili sa iyo bilang hari, at patatatagin ko ang kanyang kaharian. 12 Siya ang magtatayo ng aking templo at magiging walang katapusan ang kanyang paghahari. 13 Ako'y kanyang magiging ama at siya'y aking magiging anak. Hindi magbabago ang aking pag-ibig sa kanya, di tulad ng ginawa ko sa sinundan mo. 14 Siya ang pamamahalain ko sa aking bayan at kaharian habang panahon. Mananatili magpakailanman ang kanyang trono.' " 15 Sinabi ni Natan kay David ang lahat nang narinig at nakita niya sa pangitain.

Note: In verse 10

10 At naging anak ni Chus si Nimrod: siya ang nagpasimulang naging makapangyarihan sa lupa.

I CHRONICLES 21:24-26

24 Ngunit sinabi ni David kay Ornan, "Hindi! Ibibigay ko sa iyo ang eksaktong bayad. Hindi ako maghahandog kay Yahweh ng bagay na hindi akin at ng anumang walang halaga." 25 Kaya't binili ni David kay Ornan ang lugar na iyon sa halagang animnaraang pirasong ginto. 26 Nagtayo siya roon ng altar para kay Yahweh at nagdala ng handog na susunugin at handog pangkapayapaan. Nanalangin siya kay Yahweh at sumagot naman si Yahweh sa pamamagitan ng apoy buhat sa langit upang sunugin ang mga handog sa ibabaw ng altar.

I CHRONICLES 22:1,5

1 Sinabi ni David, "Dito itatayo ang Templo ng Panginoong Yahweh. Dito rin ilalagay ang altar ng mga susunuging handog para sa Israel." 5 Sinabi ni David, "Napakabata pa ng anak kong si Solomon at wala pa siyang karanasan. Dahil dito'y ihahanda ko ang lahat ng kailangan sa ipatatayo niyang Templo ni Yahweh. Kailangang ito'y walang kasingganda upang ito'y matanyag at hahangaan ng buong daigdig." Naghanda nga si David ng napakaraming kagamitan bago pa siya namatay.

I CHRONICLES 29:3,9-19

3 Hindi lang iyan, pati na ang sarili kong pilak at ginto ay inilaan ko na rin sa gawaing ito, sapagkat kasiyahan kong magkaroon ng Templo ang aking Diyos. 9 Masayang-masaya ang mga tao sa kanilang mga kusang-loob na panghandog kay Yahweh, at labis din itong ikinatuwa ni Haring David. 10 Sa harapan ng mga tao'y tuwang-tuwa si David na nagpuri kay Yahweh. Sinabi niya, "Purihin kayo magpakailanman, Yahweh, ang Diyos ni Israel na aming ama. 11 Sa inyo ang kadakilaan, ang kapangyarihan, ang karangalan at ang pagtatagumpay sapagkat inyo ang lahat ng nasa langit at nasa lupa. Sa inyo ang kaharian at kayo ang dakila sa lahat. 12 Sa inyo nagmumula ang kayamanan at ang karangalan at kayo ang naghahari sa lahat. Taglay ninyo ang kapangyarihan at kadakilaan, at kayo ang nagbibigay ng lakas at kapangyarihan sa lahat. 13 Pinasasalamatan namin kayo, O Diyos, at pinupuri ang inyong maluwalhating pangalan. 14 "Ngunit sino ako at ang bayang ito? Buong puso kaming nagkakaloob sapagkat ang lahat ng ito ay galing sa inyo at ibinabalik lamang namin. 15 Tulad ng aming mga ninuno, kami nga'y mga dayuhan at naglalakbay lamang. Ang buhay namin sa daigdig na ito ay parang anino at pansamantala lamang. 16 O Yahweh na aming Diyos, ang lahat ng kayamanang ito na aming ibinigay para ipagpagawa ng inyong tahanan ay sa inyo rin nagmula. 17 Alam kong sinasaliksik ninyo ang puso ng bawat tao, at natutuwa kayo sa mga matuwid. O Diyos, buong puso kong ipinagkakaloob sa inyo ang lahat ng ito. Nasaksihan ko rin ang buong puso at may kagalakang pagkakaloob ng inyong bayan na narito ngayon. 18 Yahweh, Diyos nina Abraham, Isaac at Jacob na aming mga ninuno, panatilihin ninyo sa isipan ng inyong bayan ang mga layuning ito, at akayin ninyo silang palapit sa inyo. 19 Tulungan ninyo ang anak kong si Solomon na maging tapat sa pagsunod sa inyong mga utos at tuntunin upang maitayo niya ang Templong aking pinaghandaan."

II CHRONICLES 6:18-35

18 "Subalit maaari po bang manirahan sa lupa ang Diyos? Kung ang langit, ang kataas-taasang langit, ay hindi sapat na maging tahanan ninyo, ito pa kayang hamak na Templong aking itinayo? 19 Gayunman, pakinggan po ninyo Yahweh, aking Diyos, ang panalangin at pagsusumamo ng inyong lingkod. 20 Huwag ninyong iwaglit sa inyong paningin araw-gabi ang Templong ito, yamang ipinangako ninyong dito sasambahin ang inyong pangalan. Pakinggan sana ninyo ako kapag ako'y humarap sa Templong ito at nananalangin. 21 "Pakinggan po ninyo ang inyong lingkod at ang inyong bayan tuwing kami'y mananalangin na nakaharap sa lugar na ito. Pakinggan ninyo kami mula sa langit na inyong tahanan at sana'y patawarin ninyo kami. 22 "Sakaling magkasala ang isang tao sa kanyang kapwa at siya'y panumpain sa harap ng inyong altar sa Templong ito, 23 pakinggan po ninyo siya, Yahweh, buhat sa langit. Kayo ang humatol sa inyong mga lingkod. Parusahan ninyo ang nagkasala ayon sa bigat ng kanyang kasalanan at pagpalain ang walang sala. 24 "Sakaling ang inyong bayang Israel ay matalo ng kaaway dahil sa kanilang pagkakasala sa inyo, sa sandaling sila'y magbalik-loob sa inyo, kumilala ng inyong kapangyarihan, nanalangin at nagsumamo sa inyo sa Templong ito, 25 pakinggan po ninyo sila mula diyan sa langit. Patawarin po ninyo ang inyong bayan at ibalik ninyo sila sa lupaing inyong ibinigay sa kanilang mga ninuno. 26 "Kapag pinigil ninyo ang ulan sapagkat nagkasala sa inyo ang inyong bayang Israel, at kung sila'y manalangin sa Templong ito, magpuri sa inyong pangalan at magsisi sa kanilang kasalanan at kilalaning iyon ang dahilan ng inyong pagpaparusa, 27 pakinggan po ninyo sila mula sa langit. Patawarin ninyo ang inyong mga lingkod, ang inyong bayang Israel. Ituro ninyo sa kanila ang landas na dapat nilang tahakin. Papatakin na ninyo ang ulan sa lupaing ipinamana ninyo sa inyong bayan. 28 "Kapag nagkaroon ng taggutom at salot sa lupain, kung malanta at matuyo ang mga halaman, kung ang mga ito'y salantain ng higad at balang, at kung ang alinman sa kanilang mga lunsod ay makubkob ng kaaway, kung lumaganap ang sakit at salot, 29 sa sandaling ang inyong bayang Israel o sinuman sa kanila ay magsisi at iunat ang mga kamay na nananalangin paharap sa lugar na ito upang tumawag at magmakaawa sa iyo, 30 pakinggan ninyo sila mula sa langit na inyong trono at patawarin ninyo sila. Ibigay ninyo sa bawat isa ang nararapat sa kanyang mga gawa, sapagkat kayo lamang ang nakakaalam ng nilalaman ng puso ng tao. 31 Sa ganoon, mananatili silang may takot sa inyo habang sila'y nabubuhay dito sa lupaing ibinigay ninyo sa aming mga ninuno. 32 Idinadalangin ko rin ang dayuhang mula sa malayong lugar at hindi kabilang sa inyong bayang Israel na magsasadya sa Templong ito upang manalangin sapagkat nabalitaan ang inyong dakilang pangalan at kapangyarihan. 33 Pakinggan ninyo siya mula sa langit na inyong trono at ipagkaloob ninyo sa kanya ang kanyang hinihiling. Sa ganoon, kikilalanin ng lahat ng tao sa daigdig ang inyong pangalan. At tulad ng Israel, malalaman nila na kayo ay sinasamba sa Templong ito. 34 "Kapag ang inyong bayan ay nakipagdigma laban sa kanilang mga kaaway bilang pagsunod sa inyong utos, at sila'y nanalangin na nakaharap sa lunsod na ito na inyong pinili at sa Templong aking ipinatayo upang dito'y sambahin kayo, 35 pakinggan po ninyo sila mula sa langit. Pagtagumpayin ninyo sila.

EZEKIEL 6:8

8 Iniuutos ko ring tumulong kayo sa gawaing ito. Ang lahat ng gastos dito ay kunin ninyo sa kabang-yaman ng kaharian na mula sa mga buwis ng Kanluran-ng-Eufrates. Dapat na bayaran agad ng husto ang mga taong ito upang hindi maantala ang gawain.

ISAIAH 28:16,17

16 Ito ngayon ang sinasabi ng Panginoong Yahweh:"Naglalagay ako sa Zion ng batong- panulukan, subok, mahalaga, at matatag na pundasyon;'Ang magtiwala rito'y hindi mapapahiya.' 17 Gagawin kong panukat ang katarungan,at pamantayan ang katuwiran; wawasakin ng bagyoat aanurin ng baha ang lahat ng silungan ng kasinungalingan.

JOHN 2:13-22

13 Malapit na ang Paskwa ng mga Judio kaya't pumunta si Jesus sa Jerusalem. 14 Nakita niya sa Templo ang mga nagtitinda ng mga baka, tupa at kalapati, at ang mga namamalit ng salapi. 15 Kumuha siya ng lubid at ginawa iyong panghagupit, at ipinagtabuyan niyang palabas ang mga nagtitinda, pati na ang mga baka at tupa. Isinabog niya ang salapi ng mga namamalit ng pera at ipinagtataob ang kanilang mga mesa. 16 Pinagsabihan niya ang mga nagtitinda ng kalapati, Alisin ninyo rito ang mga iyan! Huwag ninyong gawing palengke ang bahay ng aking Ama! 17 Naalala ng kanyang mga alagad ang sinasabi sa kasulatan, Ang malasakit ko sa iyong tahanan, matinding-matindi sa aking kalooban. 18 Dahil dito'y tinanong siya ng mga pinuno ng Judio, Anong himala ang maipapakita mo upang patunayang may karapatan kang gawin ito? 19 Sumagot si Jesus, Gibain ninyo ang Templong ito, at sa loob ng tatlong araw ay muli ko itong itatayo. 20 Sinabi ng mga pinuno ng Judio, Apatnapu't anim na taong ginawa ang Templong ito, at itatayo mo sa loob lamang ng tatlong araw? 21 Ngunit ang templong tinutukoy ni Jesus ay ang kanyang katawan. 22 Kaya't nang siya'y muling mabuhay, naalala ng kanyang mga alagad na sinabi niya ito, at lalo silang naniwala sa kasulatan at sa mga itinuro ni Jesus.

MATTHEW 21:12,13,23,31,42-46

12 Pumasok si Jesus sa Templo at ipinagtabuyan niyang palabas ang mga nagbibili at namimili roon. Ipinagtataob niya ang mga mesa ng mga namamalit ng salapi at ang mga upuan ng mga nagtitinda ng kalapati. 13 Sinabi niya, "Sinasabi sa Kasulatan, 'Ang aking tahanan ay tatawaging bahay-dalanginan.' Ngunit ginawa ninyo itong lungga ng mga magnanakaw." 23 Pumasok si Jesus sa Templo. Habang siya'y nagtuturo doon, lumapit sa kanya ang mga punong pari at ang mga pinuno ng bayan, at siya'y tinanong, "Ano ang karapatan mong gumawa ng mga bagay na ito? Sino ang nagbigay sa iyo ng karapatang gumawa nito?" 31 Sino sa dalawa ang sumunod sa kalooban ng kanyang ama?" "Ang nakatatanda po," sagot nila. Sinabi sa kanila ni Jesus, "Tandaan ninyo: ang mga maniningil ng buwis at ang mga bayarang babae ay nauuna pa sa inyong pasakop sa paghahari ng Diyos. 42 Nagpatuloy si Jesus, "Hindi pa ba ninyo nababasa ang talatang ito sa Kasulatan? 'Ang batong itinakwil ng mga tagapagtayo ng bahay ang siyang naging batong-panulukan. Ginawa ito ng Panginoon, at ito'y kahanga-hangang pagmasdan!' 43 "Kaya nga sinasabi ko sa inyo, ang kaharian ng Diyos ay kukunin sa inyo at ibibigay sa mga taong tapat na maglilingkod sa kanya. 44 Ang bumagsak sa batong ito ay magkakadurug-durog at ang mabagsakan nito'y magkakaluray-luray." 45 Narinig ng mga punong pari at ng mga Pariseo ang mga talinhaga ni Jesus at naunawaan nilang sila ang pinapatamaan niya. 46 Siya'y dadakpin sana nila ngunit natakot sila sa mga tao, sapagkat kinikilala ng mga ito na si Jesus ay isang propeta.

I CORINTHIAN 3:16,17

16 Hindi baga ninyo nalalaman na kayo'y templo ng Dios, at ang Espiritu ng Dios ay nananahan sa inyo? 17Kung gibain ng sinoman ang templo ng Dios, siya'y igigiba ng Dios; sapagka't ang templo ng Dios ay banal, na ang templong ito ay kayo.

EPHESIAN 2:19-22

19 Kaya nga hindi na kayo mga taga ibang lupa at mga manglalakbay, kundi kayo'y mga kababayan na kasama ng mga banal, at sangbahayan ng Dios, 20 Na mga itinatayo sa ibabaw ng kinasasaligan ng mga apostol at ng mga propeta, na si Cristo Jesus din ang pangulong bato sa panulok; 21Na sa kaniya'y ang buong gusali, na nakalapat na mabuti, ay lumalago upang maging isang templong banal sa Panginoon; 22Na sa kaniya'y itinayo naman kayo upang maging tahanan ng Dios sa Espiritu.

1 PETER 2:4, 5-8

4 Sa isang manang di nasisira, at walang dungis, at hindi kumukupas, na inilaan sa langit para sa inyo, 5 Na sa kapangyarihan ng Dios ay iniingatan sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya sa ikaliligtas na nahanda upang ihayag sa huling panahon. 6 Na ito ang inyong totoong ikinagagalak, bagama't ngayo'y sa sangdaling panahon, kung kailangan, ay pinalumbay kayo sa muli't muling pagsubok, 7 Upang ang pagsubok sa inyong pananampalataya na lalong mahalaga kay sa ginto na nasisira bagama't ito'y sinusubok sa pamamagitan ng apoy, ay masumpungan sa ikapupuri at ikaluluwalhati at ikararangal sa pagpapakahayag ni Jesucristo:
8 Na hindi ninyo nakita ay inyong iniibig; na bagama't ngayon ay hindi ninyo siya nakikita, gayon ma'y inyong sinasampalatayanan, na kayo'y nangagagalak na totoo na may galak na di masayod at puspos ng kaluwalhatian: