"Do you know that joy? Some persons think that there is great joy in material possessions, but things in themselves do not satisfy. Others think that there is joy in worldly fame, achievement, or pleasure, but these goals are relatively unrewarding. They satisfy at best for a short time. Real joy comes in being able to say to Jesus Christ, "Here I am, Lord, use me," and then finding that out of His grace He is able to use you to bring others into a saving relationship to Himself."
~ James Montgomery Boice, (Th.D. was a reformed theologian, Bible teacher, and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death)

"...thanks to the indwelling sin that comes to us courtesy of Adam (as if you or I could have done any better), deep-rooted sin issues are tragically common, even among Christian men. What do we do when we have an issue we cannot beat? Don't you have one? Perhaps it is anger, envy, pride, laziness, or lust and pornography? Can we just will ourselves to Christ-likeness? No! We are simply too weak and sin is too strong. We lack the power to rise above our flesh on our own-even as believers, and even with the Word of God in our hearts. So what can we do once we have admitted we are slaves to a particular sin? As God's beloved children through faith in Christ, we can turn to the Lord in prayer. That is what I finally did.
"Lord, I know that you desire me to quit using tobacco,' I prayed. "But I lack the power to do so. In the name of Christ, would you deliver me from this addiction? Would you please weaken my evil desires and give me strength to resist for good? Would you set me free once and for all so I can be more like Jesus?"
 This is how we should pray with respect to all of sin's bondage in our hearts. Prayer like this is an essential means of grace for our deliverance from sin and our growth in Christ-likeness. ~ Richard D. Phillips (The Masculine Mandate)

We cry out for justice when someone has wronged us. Maybe not verbally, but in our thinking we probably do at times, certainly our children do. Maybe you heard a rumor that someone said something negative about you and you don't believe it to be true. Possibly someone overcharged you, or your server mishandles your order. Possibly, you score low on an assignment that you poured yourself into and fully expected a higher grade and your inner man wants to give your professor a piece of your mind! What about when you sinfully argue with your spouse or children and some things are said that are pretty hurtful. However it may play out in your situation, we so often expect things to be fair and we become indignant when they are not. Philemon was wronged by his slave Onesimus, yet the Apostle Paul is asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus. In some upcoming posts, we'll look into this situation and see how it plays out with Paul, Philemon and Onesimus and we'll apply it to our lives.

   I may be alone in the 'reformed' camp when I say this but, I get goosebumps when I watch "The Prince of Egypt" with my kids. I think I enjoy it more than the kiddos. I have watched it alone I like it so much. The music, with the sweeping cartoon imagery and landscapes, Val Kilmer as Moses and Ralph Fiennes as Rameses...wow! Sandra Bullock as Miriam and Jeff Goldblum as Aaron? The cast is great and everything just pulls together for a fantastic retelling of the Exodus! The telling is a semi-historical drama and is an adaption of "The Book of Exodus." Of course there are some liberties taken as far as what happened each moment of the day and they seem to take a detour from the way the Scriptures indicate how Moses murdered a man. But again, overall an excellent piece of work! But did it actually happen? Many of us grew up watching Charlton Heston's "The Ten Commandments" which was released in 1956. This film also included a powerful performance by Yul Brynner as Rameses. It includes Moses pleading with his former adopted brother and God sending 10 different plagues culminating with the death of all firstborn Egyptian children, royalty not excluded. When Rameses firstborn is found dead, he releases the Hebrew slaves and allows Moses to lead them out of Exile. Of course you know the rest of the story. Not to be redundant but I think it's okay on a  small level to ask, "did this all really happen?" Did Moses really lead 2-3 MILLION people across deep parts of the Red Sea and then through miles and miles of desert and wilderness? The Scriptures indicate that it did. Obviously I'm not an archeologist or biblical history expert (if I was this blog would probably look a lot different), but in my limited research and study of others findings, there are those who would suggest that the Exodus never took place, or at least if it did it was on a much smaller scale. The various reasoning for these conclusions are things such as, no historical evidence that slaves ever existed in Egypt, no recorded evidence in Egyptian findings (and the Egyptians are known to have kept very detailed records of happenings and events during their dynasties) of various plagues ever hitting Egypt, little to no evidence of a million people traveling through the desert and wilderness of that area. Some have indicated that if the Israelites escaped Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, it had to have been at one of the more shallow points on the Sea, which still would be up to 750 deep and consist of deep ravines and cliffs and jagged rocks, virtually impossible to cross with a million people or more consisting of children, older people, and animals and belongings. Things such as this have brought some to believe that the story of Moses is not true. But why would the writers of Exodus make this all up? Was it a hoax? Is it a grand fictional story to convince us to believe in the wonders of God? Another side to all this is that in my very limited research, there is little to no evidence that the Exodus did not happen. So the theory can be reversed. Actually, I uncovered more evidence that it did happen that that it did not. This thought that I am proposing can be said for all biblical accounts, the story of Samson, the Battle for Jericho, the great flood and Noah's ark, etc. But that's what makes our faith so beautiful isn't it? It's faith. We don't have all the answers. God in his grace will allow humankind to uncover various answers and various pieces of evidence but we'll never know each detail for sure this side of heaven. But we have faith that it's true. We have faith that God designed it all with us in mind and His ultimate glorification.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus ~ Matthew 21:1-11

           

Jerusalem…the city of the great king, the center of Israel’s religious life, and hope for a savior. Jerusalem is where Jesus came to have his coronation, to have His triumphal entry, just like every other earthly king before Him. This is also where Jesus came to culminate 30 years of obscurity and 3 plus years of ministry. It all ends here. He came to begin the last week of His life and He would never leave Jerusalem.

            The overall theme and message of the book of Matthew is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of David, and the long-predicted Messiah. When we arrive at chapter 21, we arrive at Jerusalem. Now for a long time God’s people the Israelites had been expecting a Savior, a Messiah, a King. He came but not like most people thought He would. Some were looking for a Samson type of dude who was like an Old Testament, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with long hair and a donkey’s jawbone for a weapon. Others were looking for a man like King David who was skilled in leadership like many modern day CEO’s, Governors, or military men. But instead this humble, poorly dressed, quiet man comes riding in on a donkey’s colt walking on a bunch of branches. Can you picture it? This is not how we would expect a king to enter his reign, but this is exactly how Jesus did it. See Samson, David, and others, though they were great men and very talented in leadership and strength, could not provide permanent rest and peace to their people. No, it required the death of a perfect God willing to take the form of a humble servant and be the last rather than the first, ultimately taking on the punishment for our sin and rebellion against God, punishment that we should have been given (Philippians 2:5-11).

            Verse 9 tells us that the crowds who went before Him and that followed him into Jerusalem were shouting in praise “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Then verses 10-11 tell us that when they arrived the people in Jerusalem were asking, “Who is this?” And the crowds responded, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth, of Galilee.”
            These crowds were excited to be shouting out the name of Jesus Christ! We wouldn’t necessarily do it like that today but we should be excited about the work of Christ in our lives and through His church. I hope you are excited about the triumphal entry of Christ into your heart and life just as these crowds were. It’s easy to get hyped up about what we love right? Think about the things that have been brought into your life that you love…music, cars, TV’s, movies, books, computers, sports, family, and friends, or whatever. It’s okay to enjoy and even love those things but do your treasure and worship them more than Jesus Christ? It’s interesting to note that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Monday, which is traditionally the day the Jews hunted the lamb that they would sacrifice to God. But this Monday, the true and final lamb arrived who offered himself up as a final sacrifice to God on our behalf for our good and God’s glorification.

Implications:

1. Does your life reveal that Jesus has or has not entered your life similar to what He did that Monday in Jerusalem? Do you treasure Christ and His Gospel in the minutes and hours of your day-to-day life? Do you recognize that His coronation at Jerusalem was for the true future King? Does your life reveal that He is the one you worship?

2. In Matthew 9:10-12, 13b Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Do you see yourself as among the spiritually sick? Do you see yourself as a Christian who desperately needs to grow in sanctification or do you believe that you’re going to be ok just the way you are? How does this show itself in how you interact with your family? With members of your church? With non-Christians? Does it produce humility and love for others, seeing them as fellow strugglers in need of Christ?

3. Are you looking to Jesus for material blessings such as making this earthly life easier, money, power, etc? Maybe you’re looking to Christ’s mysterious entry into your life as a get out of hell free ticket?

4. Christ’s coming is so much more than salvation. It’s finding joy in obedience to His commands and living like Him through all of life. Have you accepted Christ into your heart and life? If so, do you share the Gospel with your friends, co-workers, and family through your actions and your words?

Reading through old copies of The Journal of Biblical Counseling. It's a valuable resource if you've never tapped into it. In an article by Tedd Tripp titled "Dazzle Your Teen" he say's, "Our teenagers go into the world every single day to find things to marvel at. They are on the lookout to be impressed by something. They love to be dazzled by things in their surroundings. But not only our teens, we were all made to be dazzled. We're made to stand back and gape, to wonder and be overwhelmed by the glory and goodness and greatness of God. We're uniquely designed to respond to this awesome glory with worship, adoration, reverence, and being awestruck with God's glory. We're made for worship. What happens when people who are instinctively and compulsively worshipers fail to worship God? We simply worship something else in His place. We get impressed by things, people, and experiences in creation. We get dazzled by idols. But the glory of God is displayed through the things that God has made. People - teens included - are without excuse when they exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:19-21). They honor, praise, and marvel at created things rather than the Creator. They (and we) worship idols instead of the one true God."

"Right teaching about the gospel, in turn, requires a right understanding not only about God but also about humanity. If a church's teaching depicts people as merely spiritually sick, not spiritually dead, the gospel has been distorted. If congregants are regarded as consumers rightly expectant of a spiritual upgrade, not as rebels before a holy judge, then the gospel has probably been forgotten. Such churches build community around something other than the gospel. Any unity they experience is a unity based on a false message." Mark Dever