Sunday, April 26, 2009

Masquerades of Light and Righteousness

2Cor 11 14&15 ...... for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
What a shocker this morning, this was the sermon verses. I had never given thought to Satan's servants masquerading as servants of righteousness.

How do we detect the Angel of light and these masquerading servants of righteousness?

Anything that hints of kill, steal or destroy has the devils mucky prints all over it! What we need to do is, be aware of our actions. How our actions portray or encourage these three traits are the "Tells" of Hell. As we search for wisdom in how we live, God will reveal the deeper issues of our lives on that He wants to clean up.

Other preventative measures we can take are:
Gal 5:22-26 By inspecting the fruit of the Spirit...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control......Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other".

2 Corinthians 11:3 Being led away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ".

Romans 5:21 The work of grace reigning in righteousness

"just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". Are our thoughts filled with Christ like anger at the wrong in the world and filled with compassion toward those who have no idea that hell is on their tail and moulding them accordingly? Do we tell them of God's forgiveness and mercy?

We are directed in Eph4 :27 "do not give the devil a foothold" Are we striving to figure what this means on a daily interaction basis for us?

Rev 12 "For the accuser of our brothers,who accuses them before our God day and night,has been hurled down. They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb and
by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death". (i.e. devotion)

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation.... Jesus knew what we needed to be praying on a daily basis!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Confessions of Faith 2

Peter and Martha were asked these two questions and both responded with the same confession of faith "You are the Christ of God"
Luke 9:20 Peter & Jn 11:27 Martha
These two questions are worth remembering:
"Who do you say that I am?"
"Do you believe this?"


What is our confession of faith today?
Jehovah - The Self-Existent One; The I AM
Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 43:13, John 8:58, Revelation 1:8
El Elyon - God Most High Sovereign;
Psalm 91:1, Isaiah 14:14, Daniel 4:34-35; Genesis 14:18-22
Immanuel - God is With Us;
Isaiah 7:14 8:8-10, Matthew 1:23, Romans 8:31
Jehovah Mekaddishken - The Lord Who Sanctifies You; Leviticus 20:7-8, Psalm 119:1, Matthew 5:8, 2 Timothy 2:19-22, 1 John 1:7
El Roi - The God Who Sees;
Ezekiel 11:5, Hebrews 4:13, Genesis 16:13, Psalm 139:1-12
Jehovah Nissi - The Lord My Banner;
Exodus 17:8-16, Psalm 60:12, Isaiah 25:8, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
EL - The Strong One;
Exodus 15:1-18, Numbers 23:22, Deuteronomy 7:9, Mark 15:34
Kanna - Jealous God;
Exodus 20:5, 34:14, Isaiah 9:7, Zechariah 1:14, 8:2, John 2:13-17
Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is There;
Genesis 28:15, Psalm 121, Ezekiel 48:35, Hebrews 13:5
Jehovah Jireh - The Lord will Provide;
Genesis 22:1-14, Matthew 6:11, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8
El Shaddai - God Almighty, The All Sufficient; Genesis 17:1, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Ephesians 3:20, Jude 1:24
Adonai - Lord and Master;
Isaiah 6:1-8, Genesis 12:1-2, John 13:13-14, Philippians 2:10-11
Jehovah Rohi - The Lord My Shepherd;
Psalm 23, Isaiah 40:11, John 10:11, 1 Peter 2:25
Abba - Daddy, Loving Heavenly Father;
Jeremiah 31:3, Romans 8:15, 1 John 3:1, Matthew 6:9-13, Hebrews 12:5-9, Luke 11:11-13
Jehovah Sabaoth - Lord of Hosts;
1 John 4:4, Colossians 2:14-15, Luke 10:19, 2 Chronicles 20, Psalm 46:7, 91:13
Jehovah Rapha - The Lord Your Healer;
Exodus 15:22-27, Psalm 103:3-4, 147:3, Isaiah 53:5, Hosea 14:4-9, Matthew 9:35
Melekh - King;
1 Samuel 12:12, Malachi 1:14, John 18:37, 1 Timothy 1:17, Revelation 19:16
Yahweh - YHWH - Jehovah
El Olam - The Everlasting God;
Genesis 21:33, Psalm 90:2, Daniel 7:14
Elohim - God the Creator;
Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 40:28, Psalm 139:14, Colossians 1:16-17, Hebrews 11:10
Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness; Jeremiah 23:1-6, Isaiah 61:10, 63:1-5, Zechariah 3:1-5, Romans 9:14
Jehovah Shalom - The Lord is Peace; Judges 6:1-24, Isaiah 26:3-4, John 14:27, Philippians 4:7
El Elohe Yisrael - God, the God of Israel;
Genesis 33:20, Exodus 5:1, Psalm 68:8, Luke 1:68

Monday, April 13, 2009

Confessions of Faith 1

Peter and Martha made the same Confession of Faith "You are the Christ of God".Luke 9:20 & Jn 11:27.In Peters confession,Jesus asks Peter "Who do you say I am?" and Jesus uses his answer to tell his disciples about his death and says "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
8 days later we are told of the transfiguration of Jesus with Elijah and Moses with the onlooker disciples Peter, James and John.

Jn 11:25- 27 With Martha, Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ,[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

Jesus told the disciples of his impending death with Peter and shows them the resurrection with rising Lazarus from the dead.

Two questions to remember:
"Who do you say that I am?"
"Do you believe this?"
What is our confession of faith today?

Side Note: Being dead for four days was significant for the Jewish people. They believed that the dead persons spirit remains until the third day. So Lazarus needed to stay dead for four days for superstition sake, so that they could believe in a resurrection! I wonder how many times God uses our superstitious beliefs to help us get onto the road of faith?