Management by God's Leading

Philippians 3:13-14,20-21 (MSG)

13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus. 14 I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

20 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting for the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, 21, who will transform our earthly bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

What will your next year look like in your God walk?

1.      What changes will you make from last year?

2.      What will be your goals?

3.      What steps will you take to accomplish your goals?

4.      Do any of your goals include the participation of someone else?

5.      What resources will you need?

6.       How will you handle challenges?

7.      How will you ensure you stay on track?

8.      How often will you do these checks?

9.      Should you do a monthly report showing progress and need for improvement?

10. Will you have an accountability partner?

11. How often do you check in with your accountability partner?

12. What will ensure you manage by objective over management by crisis?

13. How will you plan your long-term walk?

14. At the end of the year, what have you learned? How have you grown?

15. How will you avoid doing your goals under your own power instead of under God's power and leadership?

What will your long-term plan look like?

1.     Where do you see yourself five years from now?
2.      How are you preparing for Jesus's return?
3.       How will your long-range plan affect your friends and family?
4.       What is your long-range plan for spiritual growth?
5.       How would things change for you if you saw yourself as an alien in a far-off land returning home to your country of citizenship, which would be heaven?
6.       How would you prepare to end your time here on earth? 

Query: What is the Point?

 

A famous and beloved person had been gone for a long time.  He sent the same letter to all his friends and family, telling them a bit about himself and that he was planning to return. Of those who received the letter, responses varied. There were even those who were convinced that he had already returned in 1914. Then there came ones who tried to make a doctrine out of his coming back. They all read this same letter, but came to quite different conclusions:

Several said the letter said he was coming next week. Some, using the same letter, said next month, and some were convinced his coming would be next year. A few thought it would be in five years, and others not at all. Who was right? They all read the same letter. What was the point of the letter? All these people were fighting over and trying to create a doctrine over their interpretation of the letter. Is that what the letter writer wanted? Suddenly, the focus had become on when he was coming and less and less about who was coming. They had turned a glorious meeting with the long-gone person they professed to love into something about themselves, for all they could see was him taking them out of an uncomfortable situation, avoiding extreme judgment, or possibly looking for some kind of reward. In other words, what did they get out of it? They were not even excited about seeing the person. If a bride, hearing that her bridegroom was coming, instead of watching for him, gets caught up with other things, how does that show others and him how much she loves him? Oh, wait, that's right, the church is the bride of Christ. Getting caught up in various rapture theories misses the point.

The Point is: Jesus is coming back!!

Thoughts: Decreeing and Declaring

 To decree something is to issue a formal and authoritative order that has the force of law. Decreeing and declaring do not make your prayer more powerful; they are based on misinterpretations of scriptures, and these misinterpretations overstate the authority Christ gives us and are rooted in our will, not God's. Decreeing and declaring are speaking a command or authoritative order with the idea of causing something to come into existence.

Romans 4:17 is one of the verses that those who believe in decree and declaring quote. This verse refers to an attribute of God in that Abraham believed God, who calls those things which are not as though they were. Those who believe in decreeing and declaring think that they can speak things into existence based on this verse.

Job 22:28 is another verse that they base their belief on. "Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established". This is actually spoken by Eliphaz, who was rebuked by God for his words.

Ps. 2:7 states "I will declare the decree the Lord has said" or, as the NIV says, "I will proclaim the decree of the Lord". Here, the author was repeating what God said.

What is the biblical precedent for decreeing and declaring? Decreeing and declaring are similar to the positive confession movement. Asking for something from God or decreeing it may be presumptuous.

Decreeing and declaring have similarities to magical incantations. Abracadabra (I create as I speak) in Aramaic or in Hebrew, "it came to pass as it was spoken". This is the concept that our words have the power to literally cause things to happen. This originates from Gnostic teaching and is foundational to New Age, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christian Science. It is a form of divination and witchcraft.  Isn't abracadabra similar to "you have what you say"? This is a phrase that witchcraft uses.

Wasn't Satan asking Jesus to decree when he told him to turn the stones into bread? 

Do we need to ask if this is an instance of mind over matter or visualization? If so, we are looking at New Age or Christian Science ideas.

The idea of speaking something into existence says that we have the same creative power as God. Where does that leave us when we should be asking in the will of God? The Word of Faith movement teaches decreeing and declaring. They also claim to be "little gods".

Unfortunately, there are times when those who subscribe to decreeing and declaring find that what they decree or declare does not come to pass. The excuse they will be given by others within the movement is that they lack faith. To have someone tell you that you do not have enough faith can be damaging to your belief in God. 

There are a few questions we need to ask:

1. Are we trying to be God?
2. Are we trusting God or are we trusting in something else, like the words we speak?
3. Does this remove the sovereignty of God?
4. Who is in control here?
5. If we were to go to a king and try to order him around, how do you think he would respond? Why would God respond any differently?
6. Could we be considered presumptuous or even arrogant here?
7. Could this come across as an attempt to bully God?

Thoughts: Unforgiveness

 * Sarcasm is a result of hidden anger; it is a type of striking out at the world for perceived injustices. Unforgiveness can and does have an impact.

* Unforgiveness creates a tie or cable between you and the other individual. With this link, the other person has the power to influence every aspect of your life. This influence is not always noticeable to you, but you have actually placed yourself in a position of vulnerability to the unforgiving person.

* We need to realize that with Jesus' death and resurrection, we are forgiven and loved. Whether we accept the forgiveness in love is up to us. God loves and forgives us no matter what. It's not what we do but what He did that determines the love and forgiveness. Yes, we can disappoint him and walk away from him, but he will never walk away from us. Peter saw and experienced a depth of forgiveness and love that I'm sure was difficult for him to comprehend. He denied Jesus, yet Jesus enfolded him.

* Rejection is one of the most difficult feelings to overcome. Hatred and love are black or white. Rejection is a pushing away by one party, with the other party unclear as to why or what they have done to warrant snobbery. Rejection is cruel and most often is selfish. It presupposes that another does not quite attain the standard we have established, and the resulting failure to measure up results in ostracism

. To know that one is hated or loved sets firm foundations; rejection has movable boundaries. There is no definite rationale given. A person who has experienced rejection more than once in varying intensities fears it and strives to protect themselves from it. Unfortunately, the protective walls serve to keep others at a distance, exacerbating the feelings of rejection. One can choose to build walls or not accept rejection, for rejection must be claimed as one's own before it can affect one's life. Some of us claim rejection when, in actuality, there is none, but because of our perceptions, it becomes, in fact, to us reality. The best way to handle rejection and other hurts we may have is to set the wheels of forgiveness in motion, not to let the other person off the hook, per se, but let ourselves off the hook. Get on with life. There will be other things to counter, and to better handle them, we need to be unencumbered. Backpacking gets hard enough without adding stones to the pack.

* Thought for the day: I refuse to allow you to tell me how to feel, because you are having a bad day. It is my responsibility to become the sunshine through your dark and cloudy sky.

Joshua 7 Aachen's Sin

 

·         God was angry with all Israel, not just Aachen.

·         Joshua sent spies to spy out AI. Quote: he did not inquire of God.

·         The spies told Joshua it would be an easy route. You only need to send a couple of thousand men. The army was routed, and 36 died.

·         How many times do we think we can handle something without God's help and end up failing?

·         Should we ever tell God, “ we've got this”?

·         After the failed battle, Joshua went to talk to God.

o   Joshua was on his face before God all day. The elders joined him.

o   Joshua complained to God.

o   Note: God let them be on their faces all day and did not respond until after Joshua had his say, which blamed God.

o   God's response was to say, “Get up, this is Israel's fault, not mine”. They disobeyed, and I am out of here unless you get this straightened out. Now, consecrate the people and in the morning have the people present themselves by tribe, then clan, then family, then man. The guilty one and his stuff will be destroyed by fire.

o   Aachen was the man chosen.

§  He took a robe, 200 shekels of silver, and 50 shekels worth of gold.

§  I wonder if Aachen thought he would be OK if he admitted to what he had done.

§  What Aachen did affected his sons, daughters, the stuff he stole, his cattle, donkeys, sheep, tent, and everything else he had.

§  He and everything he owned were stone and burnt up.

o   Why do you think it was not just Aachen that experienced the punishment?

§  Was the punishment just?

§  Why do you think the punishment was so extreme?

§  Why did Aachen steal the stuff even though he knew God said not to?

§  Why was it important for the Israelites to follow God's orders?

§  What do you think would have been the result if they had not punished Aachen the way God wanted them to?

§  What do you think Aachen was thinking as it was narrowed down to him?

§  Aachen could have turned himself in anytime before they got to him, but didn't. Why do you think he waited?

§  What kinds of things can happen in our lives when we try to hide our sins?

§  How do you think a King's wife and children felt?

§  How or who do you think our sin might affect?

§  Was it fair for God to punish all Israel for the sin of 1?

§  How might we apply this concept to the Church of today?

·         A new recruit told his DI that the reason he joined the Marine Corps was to find his purpose to which the DI responded, The Marine Corps has the purpose; you have an assignment.

Joshua 6-Jericho

 

·         All of Israel's actions commanded by God were a mockery of a ritual or pageant of the Canaanites.

·         What happened at Jericho was possibly related to the marriage festival of the “divine” king, or as part of an annual fertility festival which occurred about the time of the overthrow of Jericho.

·         At that time, the king was considered to be a God and a priest.

·         This king was referred to as “son of God”.

·         Jericho was named for the male moon God Yerech; the female shamash (sun God) was his consort. Later, their names were changed to Baal and Ashtaroth.

·         Why did God tell them to destroy everything?

o   Immorality is the first reason. The Canaanite religion was sex in all its perversions.

o   The second reason would be the sacrifice of children.

o   And the third reason would be their carnality, sodomy, and religious prostitution.

·         There is a legend of Keret.

o   This legend is a story of a king who had a dream about having a son. It provides A feast for all the people and sets out on an expedition. On his expedition, the men of war would be first, the people, then the trumpeters; all are warned to keep silent until the last day. This was over six days, with the climax on the 7th.

o   Parallels:

§ Both the celebration of the Passover and the Canaanite ritual were held at approximately the same time.

§  Israel held a great feast called the Passover.

§  The Jews began to March one time a day for six days and seven times on the 7th day.

§  All kept quiet until the last moment.

·         Jericho was the lowest and oldest town on earth at that time. Above Jericho is the traditional point where Jesus was tempted.

·         Jericho is known as the city of giants. It was inhabited by giants called gibborim.

·         The walls fell outward.

·         There is a theory that some from Jericho escaped to Africa and the Berbers are their descendants.

·         This was the spiritual battle.

·         Sin was a moon God. He had several names, one of them being Yarech, and he was depicted by the Crescent moon or by a bull.

·         Sinai was a sacred mountain to Sin.

·         At Jericho, Yahweh kept the sun from setting for an extended time to keep the moon god (Sin)out of the sky.

·         Jericho was the first city with walls. It was built about 9000 BC, about 800 feet below sea level. Jericho covered about 10 acres. If you were to walk around the 10 acres, you would cover about half a mile, and seven times around would take you approximately 3 1/2 miles. It was destroyed in 1550 BC.

·         Jericho in the New Testament

o   Tradition says John the Baptist baptized Jesus here.

o   This is where Zachias climbed the tree.

o   Near Jericho is where Jesus heals 2 blind men.

o   There were two Jerichos in Jesus' time

§  The ancient city was occupied by Jews.

§  The new city, 2 miles away, is occupied by Gentiles.

o   Jericho was mentioned in the story of the Good Samaritan.

·         Jericho in the Old Testament.

o   Jericho contained a school of prophets.

o   It was the residence of Elisha.

o   Jericho was part of the land given to the tribe of Benjamin.

o   Near Jericho is where Elisha healed the spring of waters, and near it was where Elijah went up into the worldwind.