Today I would like to take a look at Philippians 4:8-9. "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy==meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these and the God of peace will be with you.
Have you ever taken the things you like to do, or the music that is on your ipod, etc; and ran it by this sort of, well, check-list so to speak? Is it True? Noble? Pure? Lovely? Of good report? Is there any virtue in these things? How often do we ask ourselves this question? Well, I don't know about you, but for me, not very often. What do we meditate on? Let me back up a step, what does the word meditate really mean? I like the first definition on dictionary.com - To engage in thought or contemplation; to reflect - So, what are our thoughts engaged in? What do we reflect on? Colossians 3:1-2 "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." OK, so what if these things on our minds aren't the best, what do we do with them. Let's skip ahead to verse 5 "Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." We are told to put them to death. Now, this doesn't mean, try our absolute hardest not to do them, and then just give in when we don't feel like working at it. This verse tells us to put them to death. Let me put it this way, it is like when there is an old worn out dangerous path. On the trail there are signs saying Do not Enter. Instead of just putting up signs saying don't do it, we are supposed to, just get rid of the trial, so there is no possible way to get back on it. Now, I'm not saying that it's going to happen just like that, in the blink of an eye, it is something to work at. Right now I am reading the book: A Sinners Guide to Holiness, by John Chapman, here are two quotes from it that really touched my heart - "If at any time or in any circumstance the thing or activity gets in the way of growing like Christ, it is , at that time, or in that circumstance. to be discarded." "Make sure that the good is not robbing you of the best." Even if we are doing something that is fun, or even "good", it can still be robbing of us of our holiness. Have we ever thought about that before?
Let me end with another verse and another quote, the quote being from the same book as above. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is not longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
"The more I grow like Jesus, the more successful I am. The less like Jesus i am the more I have failed in life. It has little to do with how much money I make, what my career is, how the family is. In the end, the real thing in life is "Are we holy as God is holy?""
Please, brothers and sisters in Christ, start meditating on THESE THINGS; today.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Monday, 10 May 2010
Noah and his BIG Boat
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be Noah? I certainly have. Now, before I really start going, I would just like to put this into perspective. First off, starting in Genesis 6:5 and going through verse 7, we see that Man was continually wicked. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." Ouch! God was SORRY that He had made them. That does not present a very good situation.
Now, Here we go. Verses 8 and 9 "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." So, at least here we find some good news, that there is one man who is blameless before God.
Now, we might be starting to think, "well, it can't be too hard to have faith like that, all we need to do is walk with God, even if others go astray." But, here is where the unbelievable stuff starts happening. Picture this. You are in Noah's position, and you have been alive for 500 years, and the Lord tells you to go build this big, not not big, HUGE boat. Now the bible says that the Ark is supposed to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Now, back in Noah's time there was only one form of a cubit; that was the same when he got off the ark, however, no one knows exactly how long this was. After Noah, a cubit was typically the distance from your elbow, to your fingertips. Anyways, we will approximate and say around 18 inches. Now if you do the math, here is the size in feet. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. What do you suppose Noah would have been thinking? OH, one more thing, IT HAD NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! So, the Lord tells Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high because he was going to send a flood. It has never rained before, and you haven't seen water on the land before. Put yourself in Noah's position, what would you be thinking? Ah, now I bet that would be a little bit difficult to believe, don't you think? But, if we read verse 22"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." And yet Noah still did it. Now this only half of it. It took Noah approximately 100 years to build the ark. Wouldn't you and I get tired of building an ark that big, for 100 years, and we still haven't seen any water on the land yet? Now, 7 days away from the rain to start falling, and God tells Noah in chapter 7 verse 4 "for after seven more days, I will send RAIN on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." Now he hears from God that it's going to rain in seven days. May I remind you that IT HAS NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! But still, verse 5 " Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him." Noah does it anyway. Now that is what I call an awesome faith. But this isn't the end, not yet.
While Noah is building this huge boat, what do you think his neighbor's are thinking? I mean, they haven't ever seen water on the land either. They haven't seen it rain. I bet they were giving Noah a VERY hard time about his big boat. But still, he did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Now picture this, where do you suppose all those animals would come from? Suppose God had told you 7 more days and I will bring rain, and you still don't have any animals. What would you be thinking? You are supposed to have two of every kind of animal, and you look around you, and maybe, just maybe you see a couple birds. I bet by this time you and I are getting pretty worried, and are maybe starting to consider giving up on the whole thing. Verse 6 on through 9 "Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah." AH, there went into the ark TO NOAH... They came to him. Doesn't that just blow your mind away. Let us remember that always God has a plan.
Now the rain starts falling(that must have been an incredible sight to see it for the first time after being around for a LONG time), the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, that would be a lot of rain. WE read in verse 12 "The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." Now, you are in this huge boat, with all the animals, how much work do you suppose it would have been to feed and take care of all of the animals. for forty days, with nothing to look outside to but rain falling, falling, falling. Now, if you skip ahead to verse 24 - "The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days." Now instead of looking outside and watching the rain fall, the rain may, or may not be gone, or might be gone from time to time, but there is water everywhere, no matter how far you look, or where you look, all you see is water. 150 days, nothing but water. It would seem like a pretty hopeless situation. But, 8:1 "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." But God remembered Noah. Isn't that great, it may seem hopeless for you, you stuck on this huge boat, with a whole ton of animals, there may even have been plenty of quarreling between family members. But, God remembers you. verse 3 - "and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased." Now you know how the rest of it goes, the ark lands on top of Mount Ararat, Noah sends out a raven, who you never see again, then a dove, who comes back with nothing, I don't know about you, but I would be pretty disappointed, then the dove again (after seven days), who comes back with an olive branch. Can you imagine the celebration that they must have had, there is actually land somewhere out there. But, it only gets better from here. After another 7 days you send out the dove again, but she finds a place to hunker down. We read in verse 13 "Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up." That must have been felt so great to look out and after 150 days of nothing but water, you see dry ground. verses 15-20 Then God spoke to Noah, saying "Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." what a great response from Noah, he doesn't just decide to neglect worshiping his creator, he offers sacrifices on an altar that he built. Verse 21 - The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account o f man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done." skipping ahead to chapter 9 verses 11-16 - "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now if I were in Noah's place, that would be wonderful "music to my ears". After I had seen all that, I didn't have to worry, it would never happen again. Not that Noah would have had to worry about what would happen to him, simply because the Lord takes care of his people. 1 Peter 5:7 "cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."
Wow, no wonder Noah is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11. Isn't that an amazing story, not only of Noah's amazing faith, but of God's amazing power, and the knowledge that no matter how hopeless things may seem, God is always there for us; no matter what.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:20-25
Now, Here we go. Verses 8 and 9 "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." So, at least here we find some good news, that there is one man who is blameless before God.
Now, we might be starting to think, "well, it can't be too hard to have faith like that, all we need to do is walk with God, even if others go astray." But, here is where the unbelievable stuff starts happening. Picture this. You are in Noah's position, and you have been alive for 500 years, and the Lord tells you to go build this big, not not big, HUGE boat. Now the bible says that the Ark is supposed to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Now, back in Noah's time there was only one form of a cubit; that was the same when he got off the ark, however, no one knows exactly how long this was. After Noah, a cubit was typically the distance from your elbow, to your fingertips. Anyways, we will approximate and say around 18 inches. Now if you do the math, here is the size in feet. 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. What do you suppose Noah would have been thinking? OH, one more thing, IT HAD NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! So, the Lord tells Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high because he was going to send a flood. It has never rained before, and you haven't seen water on the land before. Put yourself in Noah's position, what would you be thinking? Ah, now I bet that would be a little bit difficult to believe, don't you think? But, if we read verse 22"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." And yet Noah still did it. Now this only half of it. It took Noah approximately 100 years to build the ark. Wouldn't you and I get tired of building an ark that big, for 100 years, and we still haven't seen any water on the land yet? Now, 7 days away from the rain to start falling, and God tells Noah in chapter 7 verse 4 "for after seven more days, I will send RAIN on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made." Now he hears from God that it's going to rain in seven days. May I remind you that IT HAS NEVER RAINED BEFORE!!!!! But still, verse 5 " Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him." Noah does it anyway. Now that is what I call an awesome faith. But this isn't the end, not yet.
While Noah is building this huge boat, what do you think his neighbor's are thinking? I mean, they haven't ever seen water on the land either. They haven't seen it rain. I bet they were giving Noah a VERY hard time about his big boat. But still, he did everything that the Lord commanded him.
Now picture this, where do you suppose all those animals would come from? Suppose God had told you 7 more days and I will bring rain, and you still don't have any animals. What would you be thinking? You are supposed to have two of every kind of animal, and you look around you, and maybe, just maybe you see a couple birds. I bet by this time you and I are getting pretty worried, and are maybe starting to consider giving up on the whole thing. Verse 6 on through 9 "Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah." AH, there went into the ark TO NOAH... They came to him. Doesn't that just blow your mind away. Let us remember that always God has a plan.
Now the rain starts falling(that must have been an incredible sight to see it for the first time after being around for a LONG time), the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, that would be a lot of rain. WE read in verse 12 "The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights." Now, you are in this huge boat, with all the animals, how much work do you suppose it would have been to feed and take care of all of the animals. for forty days, with nothing to look outside to but rain falling, falling, falling. Now, if you skip ahead to verse 24 - "The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days." Now instead of looking outside and watching the rain fall, the rain may, or may not be gone, or might be gone from time to time, but there is water everywhere, no matter how far you look, or where you look, all you see is water. 150 days, nothing but water. It would seem like a pretty hopeless situation. But, 8:1 "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." But God remembered Noah. Isn't that great, it may seem hopeless for you, you stuck on this huge boat, with a whole ton of animals, there may even have been plenty of quarreling between family members. But, God remembers you. verse 3 - "and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased." Now you know how the rest of it goes, the ark lands on top of Mount Ararat, Noah sends out a raven, who you never see again, then a dove, who comes back with nothing, I don't know about you, but I would be pretty disappointed, then the dove again (after seven days), who comes back with an olive branch. Can you imagine the celebration that they must have had, there is actually land somewhere out there. But, it only gets better from here. After another 7 days you send out the dove again, but she finds a place to hunker down. We read in verse 13 "Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up." That must have been felt so great to look out and after 150 days of nothing but water, you see dry ground. verses 15-20 Then God spoke to Noah, saying "Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar." what a great response from Noah, he doesn't just decide to neglect worshiping his creator, he offers sacrifices on an altar that he built. Verse 21 - The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account o f man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done." skipping ahead to chapter 9 verses 11-16 - "I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." Now if I were in Noah's place, that would be wonderful "music to my ears". After I had seen all that, I didn't have to worry, it would never happen again. Not that Noah would have had to worry about what would happen to him, simply because the Lord takes care of his people. 1 Peter 5:7 "cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you."
Wow, no wonder Noah is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11. Isn't that an amazing story, not only of Noah's amazing faith, but of God's amazing power, and the knowledge that no matter how hopeless things may seem, God is always there for us; no matter what.
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with exceeding joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:20-25
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