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| December 13, 2006 Re-Visited
1 Samuel [The Lord Calls Samuel]
Background v.1 The word of the Lord was rare those days and there weren't many visions.
v. 4, 6, 8 The Lord calls Samuel, but Samuel did not yet know the Lord nor pick up on God's frequency. The Lord was calling the "boy" Samuel, one with wonder and much expectancy.
v. 10 Samuel was willing to honor/respect the advice of his elder & ultimately heed to the voice of the Lord.
v. 2 "One night.." - This was all at night! When all was still & quiet, sometimes the Lord will keep us up.
The Lord revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word.
v. 19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up & it was the Lord who let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground.
Remember the Word!
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| December 12, 2006 Re-Visited
1 Samuel C.2
v.11 - Samuel ministered before the Lord.
v.18 - Samuel was ministering before the Lord. (that's emphasis!)
v.21 - Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
v.26 - And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.
Doesn't this remind you of One called Jesus? It says of Jesus in Luke 2:52 that He grew up in the presence of the Father - that Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. Jesus says in John 12:26 "My Father will honor the one who serves me."
v.35 - I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always."
(From today Dec. 6, 2007) Yesterday, my buddy at AACF made some closing exhortations to the students to minister to the Father's heart during this break. He said the most important thing is to love God.
As I look and re-visit the story of Samuel and how he ministered and was ministering before the Lord, I'm struck to the heart. Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord and like Jesus, he too grew in stature and in favor with God and men. As we look to the Old Testament with Samuel, we're directed to Jesus and His example. How He ministered perfectly to the Father's heart. That's who we get to look to!
He's trustworthy. If you try to follow His example, you know it's always good and perfect. It's not faulty, flimsy, nor corrupt in the slightest way. He's reliable and He won't let you down.
Though I fail to live perfectly like Christ did, am glad that through grace I can continue to press on - like the song we sang at AACF last night, "You're grace has found me just as I am, empty handed but alive in your hands. We're singing Majesty!" If you've been down like me, remember that we can get up again because Jesus has us in His hands. We're secure and we can get back to doing what we used to do, love God. Let's make our prayer to be among those raised as those faithful servants, who will do what is in the Father's heart and mind and to once again minster/serve Jesus - just as Jesus said in the book of John, "My Father will honor the one who serves me." Finally, if you're pondering this question, "Where's the presence of the Lord?" Remember, because Samuel grew up ministering before the Lord he also grew up in the presence of the Lord. So the words of Jesus in the book of John chapter 12 verse 26 are solidified when he says, "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." So whether you wash one another's feet, pick up the bill at Carl's Jr. when it hurts, wash the dishes for your parents, make an encouraging comment to your bother or sister, go the extra mile - know that you're serving Jesus and being blessed. I love you guys!
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| December 10, 2006 Re-Visited
This comes from my notes from the 2nd message on "Peace" by Nick Taylor, a pastor at RockHarbor church.
- Peace is the living Christ in you, having free reign to do as He pleases.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as
the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.
John 14:27
Jesus is our peace which is given through the essence of His Spirit, a Being, a Person we communicate with. Sometimes the spiritual disciplines take the place of or cause us to bypass "the person" - whether its Christ or your wife - in order to get an "experience" so to speak. It's "quick fix stuff". Let us not allow spiritual practices merely make us better people - which is futile & self-righteous without Christ - but let us allow them to lead us to Jesus.
Check out these verses Isaiah 9:1-7 9(*v.4&7); Micah 5:2-5...contrast these with...Isaiah 8:14-15; Zechariah 13:7-9.
Also check out John 14:27; John 16:33; Matthew 10:34-35.
My coming Jesus is not going to bring "externally" the peace the world sees, but this "internal" peace that the Prince of Peace ushers us into. There will be that external peace & harmony one day...but this internal peace is vital now. This world's peace to us is when everything is okay & nothing is going wrong externally.
Jesus' peace --> Gives stability, security, strength, wisdom, understanding, safety - even in the midst of all hell breaking loose.
"Shalom" - peace --> more accurately or descriptively means "completeness" & "fulfillment". It changes our perspective and viewpoint.
Jesus' peace is not a feeling nor an idea we can learn or understand --> It's actually 'living", its actually Jesus Himself. "Peace" doesn't come from - Christian attitude, obedience, nor Bible knowledge - they're good, but they should "lead us to peace." We can even practice these things and realize we still don't have this peace. It's hopefully to go to the place where I know the nuances of Jesus' personality. --> Then we speak less (hence, 1 mouth) & listen more (hence, 2 ears). Our expectation of God change, and when we have that peace we can be "peacemakers" even when our lives & things around us are falling apart. Peace is a change agent, it comes as you come face to face with the Prince of Peace!
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| December 3, 2006 Re-Visited
Judges 13
"The Birth of Samson"
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD
delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
Even in the midst of the evil done in God's eyes, He has plans to deliver them out of the hands of the oppressor into freedom in Christ. A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used
on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from
birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of
the Philistines."
Judges 13:2-5
The "angel of the Lord", as the Scripture indicates appears to Manoah's wife to give her instructions, the blessing & gift that she will be able to conceive a child. --> The thing that sticks out is the Lord utilizes the most unlikely candidate for his purposes. He goes through the seemingly impossible circumstances (Manoah's wife was sterile!) that transcend the realm of our so called reality & makes the impossible reality, and let's those "called" to take part - to journey along in God's will/plan and desire for all people & at the same time receiving such awesome blessing. Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to
me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him
where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now
then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything
unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the
day of his death.' "
Judges 13:6-7
The Lord doesn't just appear as plain, dull & normal... but as "AWE-SOME". When He appears we are left in "awe" & amazement and we are compelled to tell others. Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God
you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to
be born."
Judges 13:8
Here we witness Manoah's character. How? Because he knows that he doesn't have it all together, he knows he's not a "know it all" type of dude & comes to God in possibly 2-postures: "humility" and/or "fear". He simply begs the Lord to help & teach him "how to", that is, how to raise up His Samson.
God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while
she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"
Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?"
"I am," he said. Judges 13:9-11
The Lord hears and responds to us as we further inquire of him, as we seek & humbly ask of him...He will not only "appear" in awesomeness, but also "reveal" Himself, as the great "I Am" (Exodus 3:14) So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"
The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any
wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do
everything I have commanded her."
Judges 13:12-14
The Lord has already told Manoah's wife what she must do & Manoah's wife already told Manoah what she must do (v.7), & here the Lord directly reminds/tells Manoah, not what He must do, but what she must do. And even more than that, the Lord says "She must do everything I have commanded her." The Lord desires that we obey everything that He has commanded us (Matthew 28:18-10 & John 14:15) and if we loved him, we would obey His commands. --> However, in the midst of this, Manoah has the responsibility to see to it that his wife keeps the Lord's commands - encouraging his, providing an example for her by not eating of the vine, drinking fermented drink or wine, and not eating anything unclean - and leading her in the way of the Lord. Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you." The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not
eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to
the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD. Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?" He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."
Judges 14:15-18
We see here that Manoah has a limited view of God - a small one. And his tendency is to treat him like anyone else, but God cannot be confined to that. --> God's response is one that is firm and reaffirms who He says He is. God's response isn't rejecting or even condemning Manoah for his question and misunderstanding, but one of understanding, openness, receiving. God gave Manoah an answer to his questions by revealing who He is - "too big for your understanding"...He's not saying I'm the big man on campus too big for your, He's saying your mind won't comprehend so just trust me. And He's not saying "you can't do this or you can't do that for me," He's saying, "you can't do that because it won't please me, but do this instead and it will." Ephesians 5:10 says, "Find out what pleases the Lord."
Then Manoah took a young
goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to
the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife
watched: As the flame
blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended
in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to
the ground. When the
angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife,
Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD.
Judges 13:19-21
So Manoah did as the Lord said, and the Lord did an amazing thing --> And this was the couples response, they fell with their faces to the ground to this awesome God...so as Manoah was obedient in this step, the Lord gave Manoah understanding of who He was, as he realized it was the angel of the LORD. "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not
have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor
shown us all these things or now told us this." Judges 13:22-23
Here Manoah realizes the great holiness and magnitude of God & fear of death strikes Manoah into great emotion and ecstatic behavior --> Man, Manoah knew he was a sinner and knew he wouldn't be able to withstand the purity and power of God to himself, he knew he fell short...But quickly thereafter, Manoah's wife reassured him that Romans 8:28,31 - that God works for the good of all those that love Him and have been called according to His purposes - AND, that they were called, Romans 1:6 by the Lord...How quickly he forgets and how quickly she remembers. Let's encourage each other to remember what the Lord has shown us and told us... The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13:24-25
Here, we recount and witness the fulfillment, the proven faithfulness of God's word empowered by the stirring of the Holy Spirit. AMEN!
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