KNOWING GOD

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Believers are usually pretty comfortable with revering God for his immortality, power, and perfection, and so we should be. He is the Creator, in whom we live and move and have our being. He is the Great I Am. But our connection with God will always be unfolding. If a person only focuses on the immensity of God, and on reverence for him, they will know little intimacy. If a person understands the great freedom we are promised in Christ but knows no reverence, they will be without foundation, To walk closely with God, we must be ever journeying, getting to know facet after facet of the divine nature. It is madness to think of him as less complex, less finely calibrated than ourselves.

God has sovereignly chosen to make himself vulnerable, in that he experiences difficult and negative emotions, along with great joy and delight, in response to earthly events.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7

Divine regret is a difficult concept, as it challenges our understanding of infallibility. We relate regret to either poor choices, bad luck, or lack of knowledge – ‘If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it.’ But God was fully cognizant of every one of his actions and choices, and still found himself regretting some of them. For God to feel regret, he must therefore be vulnerable to our choices. Free will must actually be free, and poor choices on our part can cause divine pain. The Lord gets upset and frustrated, just as He is pleased and delighted by us in turn. The only way I can make sense of this vulnerability is as a deliberate, sovereign choice. The Lord of All could have placed himself above such feelings, but instead, he chose a version of creation in which the choices of his children affect him.

We can see the breadth of God’s emotions at work in the life of Jesus. What do you make of the following passage?

‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’ Matthew 23:37

Compassion, for example, drove him to acts of kindness and mercy, such as healing the sick.

‘And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.’” Matthew 14:14

Jesus knew ordinary, everyday emotions too, such as pleasure and friendship. There was a particular disciple he was closer to than any other, on a human level. John is referred to as ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’ on several occasions and was depicted leaning back on Jesus’ chest at the last supper to ask him a question. On the cross, Jesus charged this same disciple with looking after his mother, and his mother with looking after this disciple.

“When Jesus, therefore, saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.’” John 19:26-27

How human! How relatable! On the day of his death, he was concerned about those he was leaving behind, providing for their emotional needs by calling them, mother and son. How dear, how important, this must have been to Jesus, at that moment.

There was no time when the emotions of God were stretched like they were in the Garden of Gethsemane.

‘And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ Luke 22:41-44

At that moment Jesus was a man in torment, able to prevent his own suffering but choosing to embrace it anyway. He was desperate to escape the agony of the cross – not just the physical pain, but the spiritual horror of becoming all human brokenness, for our sake – and yet he bowed his head. This total mastery of self serves as a supreme example to us. If Jesus were not a deeply emotional person, mastery might have been easier, but being torn up inside and still submitting to God? That is staggering, to me, what about you?

Adapted from an article by Duncan Edward Pile, October 27th, 2021 “Hold Me Closer Cosmic Dancer” http://www.patheos.com

GOD IS REACHING MUSLIMS BY DREAMS

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Report by Jack Wellman in Christian Crier (www.patheos.com): God is reaching Muslims by dreams.

In the last couple of years, dozens and dozens of men and women have reached out to us to ask what their dreams might mean. Recently, many of these have been Muslims who dreamt about Jesus, and now they want to know more about Him. In most Muslim countries you can lose your life for having a Bible or witnessing for Christ, so God is sending His Spirit and implants dreams in some to draw them to Himself.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:44

It should be noted that some of this was fulfilled in the New Testament church where several people had visions that were sent by God, so it’s nothing new if someone who is not a believer has a dream about Jesus, and then comes to faith by means of it. And, from my experience, it is happening with increasing frequency. They have a dream or several dreams…some have had visions; then they contact someone to find out more about Jesus; and finally, they hear from Scripture about Christ. As we see in the New Testament church, it takes the Spirit of God, with the Word of God, given by a person of God, to birth a child of God.

Dreams and Visions

Over the last 2 years, we’ve received dozens and dozens of reports and received messages where Muslims have had dreams or visions of Jesus. Here are a couple of actual messages received this year, but I have changed their names to protect their identity for obvious reasons. One message came from Abdullah who lives in Iran, which is one of the most closed nations in the world, and perhaps one of the most hostile toward Christianity. Abdullah wrote:

“Greetings, I’m a Qurani Muslim, in Iran. I respect Christianity, I read the Old Testament for many years…however, I had a dream last night and it’s really strange, I dreamt of me in the desert alone and I was starving. A long walk alone and I found someone with plenty of food and drinks but I couldn’t reach him because he was surrounded by many people. But they let me pass and called me “lucky” I didn’t understand but they were pointing at my chest, when I take a look at what they were pointing at, I found a very huge cross tattoo in my chest. And I felt so happy and warm inside, and I had this feeling like I wasn’t Muslim in that dream So my question is, “can someone in Christianity feel like that in his sleep? And what does it mean?”

I am no interpreter of dreams. That is a God-given ability because “interpretations belong to God” (Genesis 40:8, 41:16; Daniel 2:28), but this man’s dream sounded like Jesus was calling Abdullah to Himself, with the cross on his chest, and a special feeling inside. Possibly the food and drinks were sources about the Bread of Life and the Living Water that made him into a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and why he didn’t feel like a Muslim in the dream. The tattooed cross on his chest…and over his heart, may represent that new birth (John 3:3-7), or God’s given him a new heart…not a heart of stone, but of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). Again, I am no interpreter of dreams and don’t have that God-given gift, but some of the things in this dream seem to point to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is Calling

One of the most fascinating experiences in dealing with people who contact us is former atheists and Muslims who hated everything there is about Christianity, so how could God reach such people? It is apparent that sometimes it is by dreams. The Apostle Paul went from being the destroyer of the church to a missionary, planting churches, so God can change any human heart He desires (Proverbs 21:1). Even the most unlikely (in our eyes), God may use dreams when no human witness is available or bold enough to witness for Christ, and so we received a message from Muhammad (not his real name). He wrote: 

“My name is Muhammad. I live in Qatar. I wanted to know why I was having a dream about Jesus. He stood in a boat and waved to me to come to Him. I looked for dreams and visions on the Internet and found one. Then, I asked a man on a website (WCWTK) what this dream of Jesus means. He told me it could be from God and that he is calling me to Jesus. I wanted to believe but had fear, but after knowing why Jesus came, I wanted Him and He is my Savior now. He loves me so I do not practice Islam anymore. Now, I want Jesus alone. I know this dream was from Him, so thank you to your website, I know Jesus more and why He called me…and why the cross.” 

This man put his trust in Christ after contacting us several times, but even though we may have helped him discover Who Jesus is, it was God Who saved this man. Just like Saul who tried to destroy and kill Christians, he became a believer and was willing to risk his life for the church.

Conclusion

God is still using dreams and visions to reach those who cannot otherwise be reached. I’ve only included two examples of these dreams today, but these are very much like the rest of them. In fact, there are some things that show up in almost every one of these dreams…Jesus of course and a desire to know more about Him, the cross, and a feeling of peace, warmth, and love. God will move heaven and earth to ensure that anyone who is seeking Him, can find Him. Jesus is calling people from every tongue, tribe, nation, and people…and calling them to Himself to be a people who were not once a people, but now are the children of God (1 Pet 2:10). Like Abdullah respected Christianity, we need to respect other people’s religions and respect the people themselves. These are among those whom God is calling…a veritable multi-colored patchwork quilt. If God is calling someone to Christ, then nothing can stop this call…not hostile nations or people, not time or distances, and in some cases, not even a lack of a witness. God is God and He can do as He pleases, and nothing is too hard for the God-of-the-impossible.

FOCUS ON GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU

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God’s love for you is unchanging He loves you regardless of your love for Him. If we focus on achieving love rather than receiving love, we have the gospel backward.

Thank goodness we have examples like Peter who when Jesus was arrested, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Unfortunately, Peter’s passion to defend Jesus when he was present was not evident when Jesus was not present and his own life was threatened. He would soon learn the painful lesson that his love for Jesus was imperfect.

Jesus warned the disciples that each of them would abandon Him. Despite the warning, Peter stood in strong opposition. “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” (Matthew 26:33). Peter’s overconfidence in his love for God at this moment is striking. He felt that his love for Jesus was unflappable.

Paul once said, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Romans 12:3

On the night that Jesus stood on trial with the Sanhedrin, a girl approached Peter and insisted that he was one of the disciples. This was followed by several other people who made the same accusation. In each case, Peter vehemently denied knowing Jesus. “I don’t know the man!” he pushed back (Matthew 26:72). Finally, Peter realized that his resolve to love Jesus had failed miserably. He broke down in tears at the realisation.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

This must have been a tough lesson for Peter, but it also represented the start of an exciting new season. We must all reach the point where we understand our ability to love God is limited to human strength. The believer’s ability to love has been initiated, developed, and strengthened by God; therefore, we must place our confidence securely in the love of Christ. John the apostle said it best: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The message of the gospel has always been God’s love for humanity, not the other way around.

The moral of the story is simple. We can’t love without first being loved. We are merely conduits of God’s love to the world. Therefore, we must learn Peter’s lesson so that we place no confidence in our love for God. We must rest firmly in God’s love for us. The message of the gospel is clear. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19), not the other way around.

Extracted from the article “Be Confident in God’s Love for You (Not the Other Way Around)’ by Robert Wachter, January 27, 2022 (www.patheos.com)

THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF LOVE

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The Bible reveals that the essence of God Himself is equated with love, meaning quite simply that genuine love is not known apart from God.

Paul reveals the ultimate expression of God’s love in these verses.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Romans 8:35

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

Our God has not only expressed His love for us verbally but expressed it in action in a profound way. The Father by sending His Son. The Son by taking on mortality and dying for us. The Spirit by coming to indwell each believer to enable us to live the Christian life. In perfect Trinitarian unity the Godhead expresses His love for us.

EXTENT OF GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE

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“For our sake, He (Our Heavenly Father made Him (Jesus Christ, the Son) who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

What an amazing Scripture that reveals the extent of God’s love for the creature He made in His image, us.

We know from God’s Word that God knew before “The Fall” when sin entered the world through our disobedience, that His Son would need to pay the price, “die in our place“, to restore us back into a right relationship with our Holy God. Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34

Paul says, God chose us before the foundation of the world, He predestined us for adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus sacrifice on the Cross.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

Events in God’s world do not unfold by chance, nor are the events a reactionary action from God. He causes them to come to be. Scripture simply unfolds this as an incontrovertible and uncontroversial thing. God is depicted as the One who not only intervenes as He sees fit, but Scripture attributes all actions to God’s predetermined plan.

One of the clearest examples of this is in Genesis 50:20, the verse summarizing the narrative of Joseph and his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” In other words: all of the evils Joseph endured through the hand of others was not simply repurposed for good, but ultimately brought about by God Himself as good.

It meant the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers, being sold into slavery, Potiphar’s false imprisonment of him, the cup-bearer forgetting of Joseph’s correct interpretation, and then his subsequent delivery from prison, appointment to a position of prominence, and his shrewd planning for the widespread famine to come—was all ordained by God to keep many people alive, not the least of which being the nation of Israel. God’s covenant faithfulness to Abraham is on full display in His preservation of the Israelites.

The gospels speak candidly to those who are blinded by God so that they cannot be saved (Matt. 13:14; Mk. 4:12, 6:52; Jn. 12:39-40). The epistles likewise have no shame expressing that God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and harden whom He will harden—and there is no charge of injustice against God in His sovereign right to choose whom He desires (Rom. 9, 11:7, 11:25).

This theme is picked up clearly elsewhere as well (Ps. 69:28; Lk. 10:20; Eph. 1:3-12; Rev. 3:5, 17:8). Yet it is likewise seen in the fact that God appointed vast swaths of people to come to faith in the early church (Acts 13:48, 15:17-18). We find similar echoes of God’s sovereignty in those whom He has established as authorities on earth (Dan. 2:21; Jn. 19:11; Rom. 13:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13-14). We see that Scripture unabashedly affirms that God appoints our sufferings, trials, and more.

The Bible simply unfolds this principle (Doctrine of Grace), not a theme of controversy, but one of worship. To put that in the simplest terms possible: the compendium of Scripture’s teachings lends itself to be understood through God’s active decree and interference with all of history, including the will of man. In this, He is not passively permitting things to pass, looking with foresight as to what possible choices may come, nor is He reacting to the choices of men. Rather, He ordains whatsoever comes to pass and He does so for His purposes and good pleasure. This is what Scripture teaches it is not necessarily what we want to accept.

I like Grayson Gilbert came to this position by reading Scripture. Grayson wrote the article “How I Became a Calvinist: By Reading the Bible” Jan. 15 2021 http://www.patheos .com. Much of the above was taken from his article.

DEATH IN ADAM, ALIVE IN CHRIST

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“Sin came into the world, through one man (Adam) and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

God’s love conquers all: “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

We may not like this crucial truth about God and sin, but we live in a universe that has been corrupted by the effects of the curse placed upon creation by God the Creator, due to the disobedience of the first man, Adam. Death is an intrusion upon God’s creation due to sin. 

Satan, the Prince of this world, has blinded the world to the reality of this truth with the lie of EVOLUTION and there is no God. The truth of Noah’s worldwide flood and God’s judgement of mankind has also been removed from history with the lie of EVOLUTION.

In Genesis 1:31 God’s word tells us, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” In the Genesis creation narrative, we see the Hebrew word for good used six times, and then the author summarises the entirety of creation by using a term for “very good”, to drive home the point that no evil or death is found anywhere in all of creation! Here, we find a major theological truth; you cannot have death before the fall of Adam!

What amazing love, God the Father sent His son, Jesus, to pay the penalty of our sin so that we can be restored into a right relationship with our Him, but only if we are prepared to acknowledge and repent of our sin and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. If we do, God the Father then sends the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer to be comforter, counsellor and teacher so we are capable of living the Christian life.

Jesus reversed the curse by his perfect obedience, taking upon himself the due penalty of sin, which is death, for all who believe in him. Jesus faced the ultimate fiery trial of death, and he was the only man who didn’t deserve it, as he was perfectly obedient to the Father and totally righteous, without sin. This is grace in fullness, and amazing love!

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. Christianity is the only basis for true love, trust and compassion. The Bible tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9. Once believers are saved by grace from sin, the process of sanctification occurs, the Holy Spirit takes control of our hearts, and we die to the flesh and are reborn by the Spirit of God. We are now able to fully understand what love is. We are able, though not perfectly, to have compassion, and serve others out of gratitude for what Christ has done for us. This is why we can heed the command of Christ in Matthew 5:44–45 to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

People who claim to be atheists, to be consistent with their beliefs, would have a nihilistic worldview. They could never truly know the love or compassion imparted by the Spirit of God. What took place recently at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas , when a church family gathered in a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was massacred by Devin Patrick Kelley, is a horrible tragedy performed by someone who was living out his worldview.

BIBLICAL LOVE REPROVES ANYTHING CONTRARY TO GOD’S LAW

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Biblical love involves reproving that which is contrary to God’s law. Love speaks the truth even when it is unpalatable. Love corrects and rebukes; and the willingness to rebuke false doctrine is even listed as one of the qualifications required for eldership! (cf. Titus 1:9) Love hates all that is contrary to good. And since love itself is defined as an attribute of God Himself (cf. 1 John 4:8: God is love), anything that contradicts His teachings and commandments is unloving. Consistent with this definition of biblical love, those who promote homosexuality and transgenderism in the name of ‘love’ are actually unloving. Likewise, one of the most loving things a Christian can do is to warn others of God’s coming wrath (Romans 1:18, 24–27) and to call them to repentance.

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:5-6

Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are available to every person who repents of sin and trusts in Christ alone as Saviour, Lord, and supreme treasure. We deny that the Lord’s arm is too short to save or that any sinner is beyond his reach”.6 Or as the Apostle Paul taught:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, … nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, …will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)

Paul includes homosexual behaviour as a serious sin. But Christians—including those who were guilty of that—are transformed. They are no longer slaves to sin, but have been forgiven, made a new creation by the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is our counsellor, our comforter and teacher. As we submit to the will of God, He will renew our mind, and give us a mind that seeks after the things of God. We are not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We are no longer to walk as unbelievers do, in the futility of their minds, and who are darkened in their understanding due to their hardness of hearts, and who have given themselves over to sensuality (cf. Ephesians 4:17–19). Instead, we are called to conform our values and our thoughts to the Word of God—to put off our old self, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds in true righteousness and holiness (cf. Ephesians 4:22-24); being renewed in knowledge after the image of our Creator (cf. Colossians 3:10). We are not to engage in hermeneutical gymnastics, twisting the Word of God to fit our agenda. Instead, we are to approach Scripture with humility, submitting our entire lives, mind, and even moral values to God’s word.