Psalm 23: Declarations & Assurances for Life

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23, NKJV)

I have been reading through the Psalms for my morning devotion. I absolutely love Psalm 23. It is one of my most favorites passages in Scripture. As I was reflecting upon it, I was invigorated to worship. I unquestionably believe Psalm 23 is a must scripture memory for every Christian. It is jam-packed with declarations and assurances about God as our Shepherd and us as His sheep. You get 8 actions and assurances about God as our Shepherd that benefit us as His sheep, and 5 additional assurances for us as His sheep.

The 8...

1. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures” (v2a) = He provides us with all we need.


2. “He leads me beside the still waters” (v2b) = He sustains us by way of peace not turmoil.


3. “He restores my soul” (v3a) = He wholly replenishes us.


4. “He leads me in the paths of righteousness” (v3b) = He hand walks us in righteous living for His glory.


5. “You are with me” (v4c) = He goes with us, everywhere, every season; never leaves nor forsakes us.


6. “Your rod and staff...comfort me” (v4d) = He protects and disciplines us for our good.


7. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (v5a) = He sets up His blessings for us, even in the midst of our adversities.


8. “You anoint my head with oil” (v5b) = He overflows us with His blessedness.

The 5...

1. “The LORD is my shepherd” (v1a) = It is part of God's character to shepherd His children (i.e. those who believe in Jesus Christ). He cannot not shepherd us in these ways.


2. “I shall not want” (v1b) = We will never experience true lack because God is our Shepherd. He cannot deny Himself, and He is all-satisfying.


3. “I will fear no evil” (v4b) = We have nothing to ever be afraid of because our Shepherd is always with us. Always!


4. “goodness and mercy shall follow me...” (v6a) = The goodness and mercy of God is always pursuing us, everyday. Everyday and always!


5. “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v6b) = We will never not be in God's presence because His presence now lives within us through the Holy Spirit.

Is this not thoroughly encouraging? What declarations! What assurances we have! This Psalm, 6 verses long, is loaded with so much truth that we can feast on it for a lifetime. In stormy seasons of life it is a great reminder of our Shepherd and the comfort for us as His sheep. In the sunny seasons of life it is a great encouragement to pursue our Shepherd with all vigor, and also motivation to go find His lost sheep and bring them back into this fold.

Be grateful! Be encouraged! Be empowered! Be exuberant! Be worshipful! The LORD is your Shepherd!

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*Philip Keller wrote a fantastic little book on Psalm 23 entitled, “A Shepherds Look at Psalm 23”. A must for every Christian's library.

4/11/2017

From Chance to Choice

We've heard the sayings,

“She get it from her momma.”
“He’s just like his daddy.”
“The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree”?

Is there any truth to these sayings? Does our gene pool determine who we will become in life or is there a bigger picture? I believe there is truth in these statements. And the Bible agrees. There is a bigger picture, and if we have a proper perspective the truth we can learn from these sayings can help us in seeing our utter need for Jesus, in seeing our need for deeper soul transformation, and in releasing us from the bondage of our past.

Our Gene Pool

Our gene pool (which is a complete set of genes called a genome) is all within our cells. In each cell is a complete set of instructions or pre-stored information. This information completely describes a human being. So, biologically speaking on a molecular level, your gene pool does predetermine some things about you as a person pre-birth (e.g. hair color, eye color, skin color, sex [our sexual orientation is determined pre-birth according to what sex we are born as; same-sex/homosexuality is a sexual preference/choice not an orientation/determined], height, our nose, our ears, etc). So we can see from our gene pool that you do get some things from your momma and you are in ways just like your daddy. But it goes deeper than your parents. Your biology is not by chance, but by God (Ps. 139:13-15).

Is It All Because of Our Genes?

Is who we are all because of our genes? No. Our genes do not predetermine who we the person will become in life (e.g. promiscuous, homosexual, hateful, racist, prejudice, conceited, or reserved, kind, helpful, hard-working, analytical, romantic, etc). Our genes do not predetermine this. Who we become in life is a combination of 

(1)our own choices (decisions that we make––the good, the bad, the ugly), 
(2)our family of origin (i.e. how we were raised, our family environment growing up, and the family examples we saw growing up), 
(3)the environment we lived around growing up (neighborhood, school, friends, etc), 
(4)sin (both ours and others), and last but not least 
(5)God (Ps. 139:16).

It is these five things that play the largest part in who a person becomes, whether in the negative sense or the positive.

So we can see that there is no chance in who you are. You are who you are by bio-molecular choice, yours and others choices, and God's choice. And each of these choices has an ultimate destination in God's sovereign plan.

The Bigger Picture

"And He {God} made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] {i.e. Adam/one biological and spiritual gene pool} all nations {Gr. ethnos--peoples} of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes), so that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:26-27, AMP, with my added emphasis)

We've all gone through what we've gone through, both good and bad, to detour us to Jesus. And who we are in the grand scheme of things is either a child of Adam or a child of God. We don't have to do anything to become a child of Adam. We are already Adam's offspring, born from his seed (biological and spiritual gene pool), and thus his sin and it's penalty is imputed (legally and rightfully charged/billed) onto us (Rom. 5:12). This is who we are without Christ. However, if we follow God's detour in our life and come to Jesus and become born-again, we're then born of Jesus's seed (spiritual gene pool) and His righteousness is imputed onto us. In Adam we are not free to become anything other than a child of Adam, or as Paul says in Ephesians 2:3, a child of God's wrath. Regardless to how great, horrible, or somewhere in-between of an upbringing you've had, life you've lived, choices you've made, and so on, in Adam there is no freedom. You are pre-set as a sinner and accounted for sin's penalty. That is your lot in life. But in Christ we are free (Gal. 4:21-31) to become something new (2Cor. 5:17), healed and whole, and something so much greater than we can imagine (Eph. 3:20-21)! 

"Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete." (2Cor. 1:20-22, Msg) 

This becoming something new is called regeneration, and this becoming something so much greater than we can imagine is called sanctification. In Christ we do not have to remain the same! We can become so much more! Life is not about what we can obtain or achieve or how much pleasure we can experience or becoming famous, rich, or someone of significance. Life is about either being sin's puppet and paying sin's penalty, or becoming like the God who left His throne and came to earth and put on this fragile flesh and gave His life to redeem us from sin and its penalty. Life is about either fostering and nurturing characteristics and values to no avail. Or, life is about fostering and nurturing characteristics and values towards us being a demonstration of Jesus in a lost and hurting world so He can heal, restore, and transform our lives first and then through us more lives like ours, and also receiving an eternal reward––the reward being our God saying to us "Well done, thy good and faithful servant". This is what life is about becoming or else you have missed out on true life, and true life more abundantly.

Your Choice

Who you become in life is not by chance but who you choose to become, and who you become in life will reflect to whom you belong to, sin or Jesus, bondage or promise.

"When he [Jesus] died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living." (Rom. 6:10-18, NLT)

1/3/12

Exodus: Depart From Your "Egypt" Or Remain In Bondage

Exodus is not just the second book in the Bible. Exodus is the title of the historical event of the Hebrew people leaving Egypt on the strength of God’s coming out party. God was about to add onto His earthly resume with this historical and supernatural event. The exodus from Egypt for the children of Israel is a parallel for everyone God rescues from sin and bondage, or in other words everyone God rescues from “their Egypt”. The reason I entitled this EXODUS: DEPART FROM YOUR "EGYPT" OR REMAIN IN BONDAGE is, as we will see when we go through the Word, that God wanted the Israelite’s obedience to flow from the gratitude and thankfulness of His rescuing them from their place of bondage—–Egypt. Thus, God kept reminding them of their exodus. And the same is true for us. We have to daily remind ourselves that God delivered us from our Egypt and calls us to not be conformed again to the way we lived and thought in our old life, but be transformed and become holy as He is holy; or remain in bondage—–which is the very thing we cried out for Him to rescue us from—–and then die in the wilderness, not the promise land, but die in the wilderness ungrateful and deceived.

Let’s look at some passages that explain this for us:
Ex. 1:13-14—While sin presents itself as fun and something not to be missed, truthfully, sin is just like the Egyptians in this passage. Sin makes us serve its desires with harshness, and makes our emotional, psychological, and physical lives bitter with hard bondage.
Ex. 2:23—We are the same. We cry out to God to rescue, save, and deliver us because of our bondage, whatever that bondage may be.
Ex. 6:5-7—This is our salvation. This is exactly what God does for us through Jesus Christ, He brings us out from under the burden of sin and bondage.
Ex. 19:3-6—As I said, God kept reminding them of their exodus so that their obedience would flow from the gratitude and thankfulness of His rescuing them from their place of bondage. This is also true for us.
Ex. 20:1-2—Again, God kept reminding them of their exodus so that their obedience would flow from the gratitude and thankfulness of His rescuing them from their place of bondage. I keep repeating this because it's the sole purpose for me sharing this.

Remember what your bondage to sin was like. Remember how cruel and deceitful sin is. Remember how you groaned in your private time for someone to save you. Remember that God was the only One who saw and heard your groanings and responded with His Son’s death on a cross to pay for your eternal punishment for your sin and your deliverance from your present Egypt. I cried out to God from a jail cell. He heard my cry and saved me in jail. Remember yours.

Does your life show God how grateful and thankful you are for what He’s done for you? Because if not, you’re telling God, like the children of Israel did, “I rather go back to Egypt and die in the bondage I cried out for You to deliver me from.” And if you continue to live like this, God will do you just like He did the children of Israel: you will die in the wilderness and not enter His promise land.

I’ll close with this passage:
"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2Cor. 5:14-15, NIV)

Live your life no longer for yourself or sin; but live your life for Him who died for you, delivered you, and conquered the grave for you! Either depart from your Egypt (by following God's way) or remain in bondage (by following your own desires, rules, understanding, etc). Your choice! Choose wisely people.

A Defense for the Hope: Does God Exist?

Somewhere around 6,000 years ago someone declared, from a personal encounter, there is only one true Higher Power/Supreme Being– also known as, GOD. This declaration of theirs they passed on to the generations after them and told them to do the same, and it has gone on until this present day in time.
     From this point in history on people have made it a life endeavor attempting to prove this age old claim to be false. Now some will say that this age old claim was made from an assumption taken from independent reasoning. With this said, we can now see from the studies of certain things like *Astronomy, *Cosmology, and *Biology that those centuries ago who declared God exists aren't looney; which in turn means the burden of proof is truly on those who oppose this claim to not simply show reasonable doubt but “foolproof” doubt. Yet, if one who accepts the existence of God can show even an ounce of solid, concrete evidence for it the case against it, no matter how sophisticated it may be, is no more. For who can truly prove that something doesn’t exist if there is even one shred of solid evidence that says it does?
     Here are three things I believe is solid and simple evidence for the existence of God.

The Universe
Scientists say, by way of their “Big Bang Theory”, that the universe has always existed, originating in a coalition of energy: gravity, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. Well, using their theory, energy––an effect and also a cause, but in this case an effect because of its four manifestations––cannot exist (come to be, occur) without the direct result of some other “cause” (action). In order for this such “cause” (i.e. action by somebody or something else) to create/cause this such “effect” (i.e. energy [and eventually matter] that makes up this immeasurable universe), this such “cause” would have to be something absolute––the origin/starting point of all “CAUSE”, something that always was, is, and will be. Otherwise, this universe remains an effect (a state) of energy (and eventually matter) without a sufficient “cause” (action by some “thing” completely separate from the “effect”), and that’s scientifically impossible. In all of the efforts to explain the “Big Bang” (the origin of the universe aside from a Higher Power), it still doesn’t and will never be able account for how the “Big” was provided for the “Bang” to take place.

The Earth
Earth is too perfectly placed within this galaxy. Any closer to the sun it would be too hot for life and any further away it be too cold for life, and it’s not blocked by the Asteroid Belt having a perfect view to view the rest of the universe. It's too perfectly suited for the different kinds of life forms on it to be an accident, chance, or luck. The percentage of that happening is in the billions times billionth percentile. Again, this is far too scientifically improbable to explain with certainty without some Higher/Supreme Power causing it.

Humankind
Evolution? Scientists from the same field aren’t all on the same page with evolution. (Scientists from the same field aren’t all on the same page on a lot of things, but that’s for another discussion). Scientists can only tell us educated guesses (empirical claims) not precise, absolute facts. They theorize from pictures of space, equations, certain species, and so forth of how life on earth came to be. (The same is to be said for their explanation for the universe and earth as well). For example, stories and reenactments from ages ago where we do not have anything credible or tangible to support them are fictitious and speculative not absolute or necessarily true. So the stories and reenactments we read and watch about dinosaurs, life ten’s of thousands to millions and billions of years ago, and so on, have no such support for how they are being told or described. Thus they are speculative not definite. They cannot tell us from a first person position only a third person position, and a third person position is not solid enough to be accepted as first-hand facts (in this case); which is exactly why they’re still called theories and not absolutes. Therefore, there is no “fail-safe” scientific way to explain the existence of humankind except for a Higher/Supreme Power; that is, atleast starting the process of “evolving” or something of the sorts. Again, humankind is such an “effect”, like that of the universe or the position of earth within the galaxy, that it needs such a “cause”.


Conclusion
I read somewhere, “People claim to not believe in God because it is “not scientific” or “because there is no proof.”” Yet, we can see that not believing in a Higher Power is actually what is “not scientific”. These three alone give ample enough evidence that there is a God out there who atleast is the cause for the universe, the positioning of and the situating of life on earth, and then humankind; as well as reasonable doubt on the allegation that there is no existence of God. It’s after acknowledging the existence of a Higher Power that we have to ask the question of, does this Higher Power want something to do with us, or did it start it all and leaves it to it’s own devices? This is where I believe some of the different faiths/beliefs come from, trying to answer this question. Nonetheless, the reality of the existence of God is much more credible than that of those who adamantly disagree. Even well-known, non-Christian scientists agree. Renowned astrophysicist and evolutionist Stephen Hawking said,

“The universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: Either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn’t combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn’t form the heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop and so on.”*

And again he said,

“It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.”*

Even Charles Darwin himself said,

“The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God … I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the mind still craves to know whence it came, and how it arose.”*

There’s an old saying I like to close with, “A fool says in his heart, there is no God.”* And that’s because you’d have to be a fool to not see the evidence of the existence of a Higher/Supreme Power, or dim-witted enough to cover ones eyes and say, “I don’t see anything.”


Here's a link to another site that shares a lot of information on this same topic:
http://www.bcrevolution.ca/collapse_of_evolution.htm
_________________________________________________________________

*1 - Astronomy is the scientific study of the universe, especially of the motions, positions, sizes, composition, and behavior of celestial objects.
*2 - Cosmology is the scientific study of the origin and structure of the universe.
*3 - Biology is the science that deals with all forms of life, including their classification, physiology, chemistry, and interactions.
*4, 5, 6 - One Heartbeat Away, Mark Cahill. Retrieved from http://audio.markcahill.org/Heartbeat.pdf, pg. 22, 24, 25.
*7 - Psalms 53:1

2009

From a son to his father

During the ending of September beginning of October my father was hospitalized. At that time no one knew exactly the extent how bad his sickness was. Maybe a day after being hospitalized he called, and we talked. My father and I don't talk about God. So this was a prime opportunity to share the Gospel with him, and when I did it was more subliminally than directly. When I got off the phone my wife said I should've took that opportunity and really told him how I felt. I said I would pray for boldness for the next time God gives me an opportunity to talk with him like that. Well, the next day he got worse. They quarantined him. I immediately felt burdened. I said, "If something happens to him and I never tell him how much I love him and how much Jesus loves him, I won't be able to forgive myself. I already lost a younger cousin to suicide and had many chances to share Jesus and never did. This time I'm not blowing it." So I went to the computer and wrote a letter. I thought about mailing it, then I sensed the Spirit telling me to call him and read it to him. We had a good talk. And since then, I've noticed little changes in how he wants to be around me and my family more. Praise God for the power of His love.

Just yesterday I was told one of my Bible study brothers lost his father. This made me think. If you have someone in your life that you care about who doesn't know Jesus. Don't wait any longer. Tell them how much you love them and how much Jesus loves them. Time is of the essence!

Here is the letter I wrote. Who knows who else God may use it to bless.
"I love you pops, and I wanted you to know that it is going to hurt me when your time comes to leave this earth. But it's going to hurt evermore to know that I won't see you in heaven because you don't believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and through His death those who believe in Him are forgiven and accepted into God's family forever. I'd rather have you'd be sick and stuff but know the state of your soul and eternity is secure, than to have you well and then one day die and your soul and eternity is doomed. It's on this fact that I am not concerned about grandma's or granddaddy's health and time here, because I know I will see them again in heaven. It's on this fact that I am not concerned about my mother's health and time here, because I know I will see her again in heaven. But I cannot say the same for you, and that sincerely concerns and hurts me. I love you. I want to know that my father has witnessed what Jesus has done in his son's life, the change that Jesus and only Jesus has performed in your son's life, and then in your son's family. You have witnessed this first-hand. It's all because Jesus has saved my soul and has given me access to His power to live a life that pleases, honors, and glorifies Him. And I choose to take hold of His power and live in this way because I want to show Him how grateful I am and how much I love Him for all that He has done for me: saving my soul, delivering me from jail when I was straight-up guilty, delivering me from my many addictions––my sex addiction, drug addiction, control addiction, rage addiction, and so on––restoring my marriage, blessing me with 2 children who shouldn't even have made it out the womb, reconciling my relationship with my mother, and numerous numerous of other things. This is all because of Jesus Christ. I went from being and living one way, to being and living a whole other way.

I know you think all religions and beliefs believe in the same God or point to the same God, but they don't. I have personally researched just about every religion, and each belief has major differences in what they believe, and they all will tell you they don't believe in the same God. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindu's, Ba'ha's, Mystical religions, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Wiccans, Universalist, Buddhist, and the many others, all have fundamental differences. And since we're all different and yet we all claim to be the "TRUTH", we all can't be right. One of these is right which will automatically make the others false. So right there we see that they all don't point to the same God or believe in the same God. What separates Jesus Christ from all of the others is that the "god" the rest claim to believe in have no proof or evidence in their "god" actually being the one true God. But Jesus Christ has strong evidence for Him being the one true God. We have historic evidence that Jesus lived, performed miracles, claimed to be God, died on a cross, rose from the dead, and the people who have truly encountered Jesus haven't been the same since. No other belief has more proof for the guarantee of what they claim, except for Jesus Christ. I am a living witness to the reality of Jesus, grandma and granddaddy are living witnesses to the reality of Jesus, and the many other family members of ours are living witnesses to the reality of Jesus. Jesus Christ is not like the others. He stands alone.

I know you also think people who claim to be Christians are hypocrites. You said you know people who don't believe and live better than some of those who you know who do claim to believe. Well, one, not everyone one who claims to believe in Jesus actually belongs to Jesus. Second, even those who have been truly saved and changed by Jesus are all still human; so we all still make mistakes. None of us are perfect, nor do we claim to be perfect, nor do we try to be perfect. We live like I said before, choosing to take hold of His power and live in a way that shows Him how grateful we are and how much we love Him for all that He has done for us.

I am sharing all of this with you so you won't think believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is some blind leap with no logic or evidence. Believing in Jesus is just the opposite. There is logic, and most importantly, there is evidence. And the greatest evidence Jesus provides is the truly changed lives of those who truly believe in Him as Lord and Savior. Again, your son pops is a living witness of the truth of Jesus being who He says He is. And as your son, I am asking you to do what I did. Believe that He died to pay your penalty from God for your sins, that He rose to show and prove He has power over death and can give those who believe in Him eternal life after death, and then believe in Him as your personal Lord and Savior. And just like I did and am still doing let Jesus show you how much He loves you, has a better life for you, and will give you His power to change and live for Him. But most of all, He secures your eternal future, pops. No other religion or belief can be certain of their eternal future, only those who believe in Jesus. With Jesus you will no longer have to be concerned with what is going to happen to you when you die, and neither will I or your parents.

I know I probably poured a lot on you. But after Sherman died suddenly, and I had just spoke to him and then he was heavy on my heart later and I never talked to him like I'm talking to you now, it would literally crush me if you died since no one is promised tomorrow and I never told you how much I love you and how much I want you to know that Jesus loves you, gave His life for you, and He wants to be the Savoir of your soul and Lord of your life. Especially in your current condition, I couldn't go another day knowing I have never just straight-up told you that. So I have and now you know where I stand, and I hope you take my concerns seriously and let Jesus into your heart pops. And if you want to know how to do that, let me know. I love you, pops. I'm done."

2008

Showstopper

After reading through Scripture and noting some of the stories in the Old Testament (e.g. Ruth, Esther, Nehemiah, etc), and the tapestry of both the Old and New Testaments, I developed a notion. I sometimes look at life, during certain situations, like a stage play. The present circumstance(s) is the plot, we and any others involved are the supporting characters, and God is the main character.

As we face whatever the situation may be, we always come to a point where we realize, "There is nothing I can do with this, it's out of my hands to control". It's at this point where God drops this reality, "This is My part of the play. Everyone clear the stage, it's time for the Star to take over the show." And thus, in whatever situation we're facing, we are to step aside––by not getting anymore involved or further dabbling with the issue––and allow God to be God––let His glory (magnificence, brilliance, awesomeness) be put on exhibition for all to see, so He and only He can get all the credit and praise.

This real life illustration should relieve us in those situations from constantly trying to figure out something to do, force something, or be concerned about screwing it up, and place it in God's hands for Him to work it out––which is just what He always does, work it out! If and when He wants us to get involved again, He'll usher us out on the stage to play whatever part we have left. Until then, we let God perform the show/take care of that situation.

2007