Be Prepared For His Arrival Matthew 24:26-31 Matthew 26:64 Mark 13:26-33 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Daniel 7:13-14 Revelation 1:7-8 12.30.20

 

BE PREPARED FOR HIS ARRIVAL

BREAD

²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. ²⁹ Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ ³⁰ At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”  Matthew 24:26-31 (NIV)

 

Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Matthew 26:64 (NIV)

 

²⁶ “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. ²⁸ Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰ I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.  ³² No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.”  Mark 13:26-33 (NIV)

 

¹³ Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV)

¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”  Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV)

⁷ Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.  ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Revelation 1:7-8 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

 

“Though we now see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, we hold the certainty of the hope of glory in our hearts.  And what does that entail?  As believers, we are presently objects of Divine approval and blessedness because of the blood of Jesus and His righteousness and we presently possess this glory in spirit by the Holy Spirit.  One day – either upon Jesus’ return or our death – we will be transformed outwardly as well into this glorified beautiful condition.  It is a state into which one is accorded the fullest enjoyment of the admiration of God as objects of His highest regard and praise and further the enjoyment of fullness, satisfaction, joy, righteousness and ceaseless delight.  It encompasses outward splendor, grandeur, pomp, elegance, magnificence, beauty, excellence of appearance, impressiveness, brilliance, illustriousness and eminence (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids).  Therefore, encourage one another with these words!”  BHY

“Resurrection is every moment when we grasp hope and let go of despair.  Resurrection waits for us on the other side of death. On the other side of fear. On the other side of the great, flying leap into the unknown. Resurrection is our return to life.  Resurrection is our homecoming.”   Christie Purifoy

“His love letter forever silences any doubts: “His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7 NEB).  He means to rename us—to return us to our true names, our truest selves. He means to heal our soul holes. From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, God’s secret purpose in everything— our return to our full glory.”  Ann Voskamp

“Before the fall of Rome, the Romans were given to gluttony, immorality, and drunkenness.  They dug their grave with their teeth, killed themselves by illicit indulgence, and embalmed themselves with alcohol.  It is said that, at their sumptuous banquets, men would rush to the windows, eject the contents of their stomachs, and then return to the table for further indulgence.  No individual or nation given to drunkenness and gluttony can expect the blessing of God.  Rome fell because she overstuffed her body and starved her soul.  Such gluttony is a perversion of a natural, God-given appetite.  The gratification of our fleshly appetites is not to receive first importance in our lives.  When we cater to the appetites of the flesh we become guilty of the sin of gluttony.”   Billy Graham

“All of us are waiting for something. It might be a spouse or a baby. It might be healing or a home. Regardless of what we're waiting for, it's easy to feel discontent when things aren't going as planned and our dreams are delayed- especially when questions of ‘Why?’ and ‘How long?' remain unanswered. God uses seasons of waiting to teach us patience and make us more like himself. But sanctification is not the only purpose God has in mind. When we wait faithfully with unmet longings, we become a powerful picture of the bride of Christ waiting for the day when he returns and God's kingdom reigns.”   Betsy Childs Howard

“Faith is active toward God.  Love is active toward other people.  Hope is active toward our expectation of the Lord’s return.  Faith must work.  Love must labor.  Hope must endure.”   Michael Youssef

“Beware when the cross and the empty tomb cannot compete with March Madness and The Masters.  See the cross. See who was hanging there, why he had to die, and why he couldn’t stay dead. Sin is worse than we think. The good news is better than you imagine. Jesus lived. Jesus died. Jesus lives again. Christ arose. Christ reigns. Christ will return. We have sinned. We will die. We can live again. Let us not tire of singing the same old songs. Let us not be bored in preaching the same good news. And let us never grow weary of the old rugged cross.”  Kevin DeYoung

“The distinguishing mark of a Christian is his confidence in the love of Christ, and the yielding of his affections to Christ in return.”  Charles H. Spurgeon   

“I will honor My Word, and I will honor those who give My Word the sacred preeminence it deserves.  My Word shall never return void.  It shall accomplish My purposes.”   Frances J. Roberts 

“Be struck with reverence for the greatness of God and the authority of His Word, and yield your spirit to it.”  Jeremiah Burroughes

“And so William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, John Paton, Amy Carmichael, Mary Slessor, Samuel and Amy Zwemer, and thousands of unknown others built hospitals, devised written languages, established schools, fought human trafficking, protected the most marginalized, and made economic opportunity possible. And these pioneers of the kingdom often marked the trails they blazed for Christ with their own graves.  It is not surprising that people who have rejected Christ would reject his messengers and dishonor them, but it is surprising when Christians who don’t know or value their family’s story join in.  In these quick, crowded years of our vapor-life, we dare not glory in ourselves, our skin color, our group, or our political party. Rather, we glory in the cross-centered message of the gospel, through which Jesus takes hopeless, lost sinners bound in all the superlatives of despair — blind, thirsty, deaf, and dying — and extends to them a stunning offer of life, freedom, peace, and a place at the King’s table forever.  To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).  This gospel saves and binds together all sorts of unlikely people with the cords of unbroken and unbreakable grace. In Christ Jesus, ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). Neither Croat nor Bosnian, neither Serb nor American, neither Black nor White nor Hispanic, neither Republican nor Democrat.  When I think of that world, the world our risen, returning King is preparing — one filled with his people redeemed from every race and every place — I hear echoes of Louis Armstrong singing in that winter war zone long ago: ‘Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.’”  Tim Keesee

HEART SAVOR

• ·         No one knows but the Father the hour and day when Jesus will return but we are all called to be prepared for His coming.  Be on guard.  Be alert. 
• ·         Christ’s dominion will not pass away and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
• ·         God uses our seasons of waiting to teach us patience and make us more like Jesus.

 

 

 

The Wantonness Of Wandering In A Trackless Waste Psalms 107:39-40 Jeremiah 7:9-11 Romans 1:21-25 Ephesians 4:17-19 Psalms 107:4-9 Jeremiah 29:11-14 Isaiah 30:21 Proverbs 3:5-6 2 Samuel 22:31 12.28.20

 

THE WANTONNESS OF WANDERING IN A TRACKLESS WASTE

BREAD

³⁹ Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow; ⁴⁰ he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste.  Psalms 107:39-40 (NIV)

 

⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’--safe to do all these detestable things? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching!’ declares the LORD.”   Jeremiah 7:9-11 (NIV)

 

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.  Romans 1:21-25 (NIV)

 

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.   Ephesians 4:17-19 (NIV)

 

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.  ⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. ⁷ He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. ⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, ⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.  Psalms 107:4-9 (NIV)

¹¹ “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV)

 

²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”  Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

 

 

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

 

³¹ “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”  2 Samuel 22:31 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

 

“Because I love you, I’m asking you to guard your heart from anyone or anything that can steal you away from Me. Remember, My love, this world offers a counterfeit Life that will never fulfill you. What I create for you will satisfy your soul; what the enemy offers will satisfy your flesh for a while. However, in the end the world’s way leads to destruction. If your heart wanders and you are not equipped with My Word, you will be unable to discern the difference between real faith and counterfeit religion.”   Sheri Rose Shepherd

“If you love someone, will you want to make him miserable?  Will you go out of your way to punish him if he doesn’t do exactly what you tell him to?  No, of course not – not if you really love him.  The same is true with God.  God loves you, and because He loves you, He cares what happens to you.  He loves you too much to let you wander aimlessly through life, without meaning or purpose.  The Bible says, ‘You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy’ (Psalms 16:11).  Covet God’s will for your life more than anything else.  To know God’s will – and to do it – is life’s greatest joy.”   Billy Graham

“Jesus gave all His followers – not just a few - the immense privileged duty of the ministry of reconciliation.  He sent us to proclaim the Good News – with both our actions and words - that through His blood we no longer need remain alienated from God and even each other – wallowing in the filth of our sins, lacking significance, always coming up wanting.  His desire is for all to be turned back from our miserably sad point of departure – which we were all born into excepting Adam and Eve – to walk again in the garden, so to speak, in the cool of the day; to commune with Him; to be filled with the fullness and completeness that He alone gives and to experience the life that is truly life.  God greatly desires to bring back the lost wanderer to the former state of harmony that our original parents were privy to and He confoundly uses people like me and you to accomplish this great work.  That’s actually what the word reconcile means in Scripture – ‘to bring back to a former state of harmony.’  Christ’s blood reconciled us allowing those who would believe in Him the changing back to that time of no variance.  That amazing Truth is to be shared and not hoarded and He calls all of His followers to be faithful to the task.”   BHY 

“Christians should be distinct from the world in how we live.  Yet we all have cause to sing, ‘Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love’.  But even when the Christian stumbles, as we all do this side of glory, we are not content to make peace with belittling God.  We do not settle at home in our sin.  ‘We’re all human’ is not our excuse.  We are not satisfied to wander from our Savior.  When we fall, we will roll to our knees, plead for grace’s pardon and power, get up, and continue on our way.”    Greg Morse   

 

“We judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences.  If we could do the same we would be perfectly of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.”  John Newton            

 

“Watch, therefore, over this unsteady heart of mine, O Thou Keeper of Israel; that as soon as it begins to wander from Thee, I may be alarmed to flee from sin as from a serpent.  Give me grace to look upon every hour as my last; so that being ever wisely upon my guard I may meet Thee with joy when my time is run out, whenever it shall please Thee to call me hence.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

 

HEART SAVOR

 

• ·         Don’t waste your life in the cesspool of debauched living – it will get you nowhere fast and will always come up wanting.  Nothing but Christ fully satisfies the human soul.  Nothing.  It is much better to learn this truth in a classroom rather than on a field trip.  
• ·         God has prepared a way for each one of us and we are the losers if we do not walk in it.  His will is good and pleasing and perfect albeit often extraordinarily hard.  It is the way of abundance.  Seek it.
• ·         His way is perfect, His Word flawless and He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.  You can trust Him with your life.   

 

 

 

The Glory Of Weakness Isaiah 53:2-12 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 Romans 8:26-27 1 Corinthians 1:25 Zechariah 4:6 12.25.20

 

    THE GLORY OF WEAKNESS

BREAD

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. ⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.   Isaiah 53:2-12 (NIV)

 

²⁶ Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.  1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NIV)

 

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

 

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (NIV)

 

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.  Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)

 

²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.  1 Corinthians 1:25 (NIV)

 

⁶ So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

“Jesus is the One who shows us the paradoxical route to meaning in a chaotic and hostile world.  It’s the paradox of the gospel: Strength is found in weakness. Control is found in dependency. Power is found in surrender….God uses the frustrations of this life and the hurt of relationships to compel us to look beyond what we can control to the God who controls all things in order to woo us to himself. As we move from control to surrender, we move from chasing the wind under the sun to embracing God above it.”  Dan Allender

“Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.”    Oswald Chambers

“Our strength is discovered in our dependency upon the One Who spoke the world into being and Who loves us with an everlasting love.  It is His all sufficient power and not our weak strength we are to lean upon.  The horse is made ready for battle but victory rests with the Lord.”  BHY

 

“When God is our strength, it is strength indeed; when our strength is our own, it is only weakness.”   St. Augustine

 

“A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness.  When God’s warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, ‘I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory’, defeat is not far distant.  God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength.  He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for ‘it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts’.  They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and their armour stained with disgrace.  Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service.  That which man doth, unaided by divine strength, God can never own.  The mere fruits of the earth He casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love.  God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out the granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat……Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.”   C. H. Spurgeon  

“Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee…..Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress.  The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye.”   Charles H. Spurgeon 

“The entertaining of any worldly lust, and indulgence of any known willful sin, is an accursed thing, by which we are deprived of the power of God, and cannot stand before our enemies.  Behold, therefore the severity of God, and be more earnest.  Make all haste to flee from the lust of the world, especially from the lust of the eye, which is the love of money.  Examine thyself closely in other things, and whatever sinful lust harbors in thy breast, be faithful to put it off, and flee from it, else you must not wonder at your being so weak in spirit.  He that does not resist the sinful motions of his heart, will very easily give a loose to his hands and tongue; but he that immediately subdues the inward corruptions, will certainly be preserved from their breaking out in any sinful actions.  O Lord, deliver me from all accursed things, and keep my heart always under thy closest inspection and discipline.  Amen.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

 

“God often chooses to shake the earth through our weakness to demonstrate it is not from our strength that He draws rather from His own invincible might.”  BHY

“All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.”   Hudson Taylor

“In all the acts of the Christian’s life, whether it be the act of consecrating one’s self to Christ, or the act of daily prayer, or the act of constant submission, or preaching the gospel, or ministering to the necessities of the poor, or comforting the desponding, in all these the Christian finds his weakness and his powerlessness, unless he is clothed about with the Spirit of God.”   C. H. Spurgeon

“The martyrs shook the powers of darkness with the irresistible power of weakness.”   John Milton

“Gideon was a very insecure man. He was insecure about his tribe, his clan. He was insecure about his own place in his family. Gideon expressed total inadequacy and lacked qualifications.  But God specializes in these situations. He loves to take inadequate, weak, insecure people and transform them to serve His purpose. God does not have difficulty using the weak and the insecure; He has difficulty using the proud and the arrogant.”   Michael Youssef

“The leaders God chooses are often more broken than strong… more damaged than whole… more troubled than secure. God’s greatest leaders do not rise up from a bed of roses; they rise from beds of nails. I have come to realize that God’s most effective leaders don’t rise to power in spite of their weakness; they lead with power because of their weakness.”   Joni Eareckson Tada

“How the weak have been used for the good of the church!  Christ did not choose eloquent orators, or men of authority in the courts of kings and emperors, but twelve poor labourers, and fishermen.  This is the most ridiculous course that can be imagined, in appearance, for such a design.  And yet, in how short a time was the gospel spread in all the kingdoms of the world!  John Flavel

HEART SAVOR

• ·         God chooses the foolish things to shame the wise.
• ·         Christians have this treasure in our “jars of clay” to show that this all-surpassing power is from Him and not us. 
• ·         Our strength is mere weakness in His sight.

 

 

An Unlikely Route To Glory Isaiah 53:10-12 Isaiah 61:1-7 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 10:42-45 1 Peter 5:6-7 12.23.20

 

AN UNLIKEY ROUTE TO GLORY

BREAD

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:10-12 (NIV)

 

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, ² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, ³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. ⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. ⁵ Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. ⁶ And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. ⁷ Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.  Isaiah 61:1-7 (NIV)

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

 

⁴² Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”   Mark 10:42-45 (NIV)

 

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.   1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV)

BUTTER

 

“We are promised glory — if we will suffer with him as it says in Romans 8:17. The way up is down. The way forward is backward. The way to success is through divinely appointed setbacks. They will always look and feel like failure.”   John Piper

“When Naomi arrived in Bethlehem after her sorrowful sojourn in Moab, she could not see a harvest from her tears. It all looked like a tragedy; like ‘vanity and striving after wind’ (Ecclesiastes 1:14).  That’s how it looked. That’s how it felt. But that’s not how it was.  In reality, all of the ups and downs in Naomi’s life—the famine, the move to Moab, the deaths of Elimelech, Mahlon, and Chilion, Ruth’s loyalty, Naomi’s return at barley harvest, Boaz, and the kinsman who chose not to redeem Ruth—all of these events played parts in God’s plan to redeem millions and weave a Moabite into the royal, Messianic bloodline.  The bigger story of redemption was far bigger than they imagined. Even though they were in the middle of the story, none of them could see it from their vantage point.  We must remember this perspective in our times of desolation, grief and loss.  How things appear to us, and how they actually are, are rarely the same.  Sometimes it looks and feels like the Almighty is dealing “very bitterly” with us, when all the while He is doing us and many others more good than we could have imagined.  God’s purposes in the lives of His children are always gracious. Always.  If they don’t look like it, don’t trust your perceptions.  Trust God’s promises.  He is always fulfilling His promises.”   Jon Bloom

“All God’s ways are loving even if we cannot readily discern that with our eyes of flesh.  None of us can see the entire picture yet God makes known from the beginning from ancient times what is yet to come.  His purposes will stand and He will do all that He pleases.  He is a good and loving and faithful God Who only allows what is best for every heir of mercy.  We can trust Him with our lives.”   BHY

 

“‘Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?  Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?  Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’  And in that moment God met me with the comfort of His Word….Here in one verse of Scripture, God answers Job’s questions regarding suffering, with His own question. And not just one question. Three questions in two verses. In fact, reading Job 38:1-42:6, God actually asks Job more than seventy questions! The questions were given not to answer the mystery of Job's suffering nor to vindicate God Himself. They were intended to help Job realize that God's ways are higher than man’s ways and that He is worthy of complete trust even in the most desperate of circumstances.  Even Jesus when he was dying on the cross asked, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ We don't know why. But if you know the ‘Who,’ it makes the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’ less overwhelming.  When we don't know the ‘Why?’ go back to what we do know. We know God is sovereign; God is wise; and that He loves us. Trust Him.”  Donna Evans

“Even though we may be in a rush to see God's purposes fulfilled in our lives, He is not. We may feel like our current season of life is a waste, but God wastes nothing. God is certainly not the author of evil, but He is so gracious that He will transform dismal circumstances into opportunities for blessing. By the time Joseph was reunited with his brothers, he had realized this Truth: ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’ (Genesis 50:20).”   Michael Yousef

“When your perceptions tell you something different than God’s promises, always, always, always trust God’s promises over your perceptions.”  Jon Bloom

“We must not look at things in their confused state, but in the outcome.  Look upon Joseph in prison, and here is a horrible scandal.  Where is God’s providence watching over the poor your man?  O but now look at him next to Pharaoh!  Consider Lazarus at the rich man’s door, and there is a scandal, but then look at him in Abraham’s bosom.  Consider Christ arraigned before Pilate and crucified; here is a great scandal, but stay awhile.  See Him at the right hand of God ruling, and all principalities and powers subjected under His feet.  Thus the Word teaches us not to look upon things only in the present, but to see the outcome when God directs all things to a sweet end.”  Richard Sibbes   

HEART SAVOR 

·         God’s thoughts are not our thoughts nor His ways our ways – they are so far above them – as far as the heavens are above the earth.  His will for our lives is good and pleasing and perfect though often extraordinarily difficult.  Don’t kick against His best because you are blinded to what His hand is doing.  He is up to something good not the least of which is conforming us into the image of His Son.

·         The way up is down.   

·         We are to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand that He may lift us up in due time.