Bible Study on Psalm 91 ( Safety and Security )

Do you want to live in a place of safety and security? If the answer is yes, then Psalm 91 has a message for you. It is a beautiful and rich Psalm filled with assurances of God's protection and provision. God's provisions are available to each one of us who diligently seek Him. Please join me in the study of Psalm 91 as we go through the entire Psalm verse by verse.

Verse 1 - 

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Here we learn that it is possible for us to actually enter the secret place of God Almighty Himself - not only can we enter but we are to "dwell" here in the shadow of Almighty God. The word dwell means to live or to abide, it is our home. How infinitely humbling to hear these words - You and I can live with God our Heavenly Father safely in His shadow. His shadow is a place of protection, safety and comfort. It is home - our eternal home in heaven but it is also ours here and now while we live here on earth.

Verse 2 - 

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

We must put our hope and trust in the Lord - not in ourselves or in money, our jobs or possessions, friends, family or even in doctors. The Lord alone is our refuge and strength. We must put our full trust and confidence in Him. Lay down our burdens at His feet and allow Him to work through our situations.

Verse 3 -
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Who will help me? The answer is the Lord God Almighty - He will help me, He will deliver me from the traps of the devil and from the troubles that surround me. A simple explanation for the snare of the fowler and noisome pestilences are our ordinary troubles and diseases that come to us. We trust in God to help us. He sees us in our situation and He is available to come to our aid at all times. We need to come to Him humbly in repentance and faith and not doubt Him even if things do not play out the way we would like them to.

Verse 4 -
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
This verse reminds me of how a mother hen will cover her baby chicks with her wings and feathers. A mother hen will shield her little ones while they sleep and rest and also from any form of danger. Just as a mother hen watches out for her chicks and calls them to the safety of the shelter of her wings so also and even more our Heavenly Father will shield us. We are safe under His wings. He calls us out of danger and as we come to Him, He will "cover" us. Our Heavenly Father cares for us with such incredible love and mercy. God is 100% truth, He only tells the truth, and the Word of God which we find in the Bible is 100% truth.

Verse 5 - 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
We are not to be afraid of any evil in the night nor in the daytime. God is watching over us because we are His children.

Verse 6 -  
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

We are not to be afraid of the troubles that come to our lives. This could be sickness, loss of a job or relationship, death of a loved one, barrenness, crop failure, or weather related destruction. God is there with us and He will go with us through our hardships. He never leaves us - He is always there. We need to seek Him in our good times and in our hardships.

Verse 7 & 8 -
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
These two verses are hard to comprehend. We know that these verses cannot mean that we will never experience hardships because every one of us does. Christians do experience crises and bad things do happen. So we have to take an eternal perspective on this. Many people will say that the worst thing that can happen is death. Well for those of us who know Christ as our Savior, we know that death is actually only a door - a door that leads us out of this temporary state to our eternal destination. We leave this earth and we enter eternity through the door of death. If we are still alive here when Jesus comes back to earth, then of course we will not need to die. We will be changed and receive our eternal bodies so who knows - depending on when Jesus returns some of us will not need to die. When the non-Christian dies, their eternal destination is separation from our Heavenly Father. This is a place called hell. None of us needs to end up in hell because through faith in Jesus we can be saved to eternal heaven. Jesus died in my place and in your place on the cross. He took our sin upon himself and paid for it all there on the cross. He died and rose again and ascended up to Heaven. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Verse 9 -
  Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
Our dwelling place is with the Lord. He is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. We look forward to our eternal home with the Lord Jesus in Heaven.

Verse 10-
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
We are secure in the Lord. No evil or harm will ever come to us without the Lord knowing about it and having His hand on the controls. What ever He allows into our lives He is also able and willing to help us with. He will never leave us alone in our situations. He loves us dearly. We are His children if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior.

Verse 11 & 12 -  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

These two verses are so very precious. God our Heavenly Father has assigned some angels to take care of us. The angel carries me in his hand. I have a guardian angel whose duty it is to protect me and to keep me as I go about my day. Wow! that is really good news!

Verse 13 - 
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Here the lion, the adder, the dragon represent evil that we encounter in our lives. We encounter evil almost daily as we go about our daily lives. Godless people all around us are doing godless things and though we do not want any part of what they are doing, we live in the same world and therefore see and hear things that are very upsetting to the Christian heart. But we are encouraged here in this verse to "trample it under our feet". We must be careful to put evil away from us. Abstain from every form of evil. With the Lord as our Protector, He guards our hearts that the evil all around us does not cause us to stumble and fall into sin.

Verse 14 -
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
The Lord sees and knows those who are His own and those who truly love Him. The Lord says that those who are His own, He will set on high. What does it mean to know His Name? - It means to have an intimate relationship with the Lord, we live in His Presence while we are here on earth.

Verse 15 -
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
We are to call on the Lord. Pray, pray and pray some more. The Lord promises to answer us when we call on Him. He promises to be with us in our troubles and to deliver us. Those are sweet words to ponder for me today! He also promises to honour us as we call on Him. I believe this means that He will stay true to His Word and His promises and will not let us down. We can put our full trust in the Lord. He will make things right and those of us who do put our trust in Him will be rewarded in eternity.

Verse 16 -
With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
As we live in obedience to the Lord, He will bless us. In Him is life abundant. We live with hope in our hearts. We rest assured that this life is not all there is - we are on a journey to that heavenly kingdom where there is perfect peace and happiness for all eternity.

God Bless.

91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Bible Study from Matthew 24

Bible study on Matthew 24:1-44
 I want us to look at Matthew 24 to see what we can expect as the end of the world draws closer. We need to watch and be prepared as Jesus instructs us to in Matthew 24 verse 42  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

In Matthew 24 it is recorded that the disciples come to Jesus and ask him "what will be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" That is exactly our questions today.

I have posted Matthew 24:1-44 at the bottom of our study for your easy reference.

So first off as Jesus answers these questions He tells us to be careful to not be deceived. Jesus says many will come and pretend to be Jesus and thereby deceive many people by this deception. Notice that Jesus uses the word "many" - many will come pretending to be Christ and many will fall for it and be deceived. In order to not be deceived we need to be very familiar with the genuine. That is why it is so very important to stay ever so close to the Lord in prayer and in Bible reading and in our devotion to Him. He can and will keep us in the truth and prevent us being deceived as we put our full trust and weight upon Him.

Next Jesus tells us to be on the lookout for wars and rumours of wars. We are not to be troubled or afraid as we see the countries threatening each other - this only tells us that Jesus is coming soon!! Today there are many threats of war around us - Syria is threatening Israel, North Korea is threatening the US and others, Iran is threatening Israel and so on it goes. So today we do see wars and rumours of wars in reality. BUT Jesus says the end is not yet!!

Jesus tells us that we will see famines, pestilence and earthquakes in various places.  Famines are such as droughts and floods - things that cause the food supply to diminish. Pestilence are diseases and viruses that cause illnesses and disease often spread by birds and animals, but would also include cancer etc.  And then also earthquakes - the earth quaking and shaking. Jesus says these are the beginnings of sorrows -  sorrows that will increase in intensity and frequency just as the labor pains of a mother giving birth to a child. 

Next we learn that we must be ready to endure persecution due to our faith in the Lord Jesus. Jesus says that the love of many will grow cold and even family members will betray one another. This is very sad but we need to realize and accept the fact that some of us who are Christians will actually be imprisoned and put to death for our faith. This seems unreal to many of us in such a time as ours but we also know from history that this has happened before and so we need to set our hearts on Jesus now. We need to make the decision that no matter how tough things get, we will not deny our faith. If we must give our life for the Lord, we can rest assured that we will be safe in the arms of Jesus in life and in death. " absent from the body is present with the Lord".

Next we learn that the gospel must first be preached to the entire world before the end of the world is here. I believe I have heard that this has been fulfilled already. Through internet, TV and radio the gospel has gone out to the whole world. As Christians we have been sent out to spread the gospel to the entire world!

Next Jesus goes on to talk about the "abomination of desolation". A prelude phase of this was fulfilled when Antiochus IV desecrated the temple in Jerusalem and set up an idol in it and in 70 AD when Titus destroyed Jerusalem and set up an idol to mock the Jews.  A similar event will occur again as the end of the world draws near when the antichrist enters the temple and sets himself up as god there. 
Jesus tells us that these will be horrific times of tribulation. Verse 21 tells us that then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. So we can see hard times will come upon this earth before the end of the world is finally here.

Again and again Jesus stresses the fact that there will be many false prophets and false christs as it also says again in verse  24 - For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that ifit were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. We should take these warnings to heart and be on the alert for false teachers and people in high places who claim to be able to fix every problem.

Jesus says " Behold I have told you before." Jesus tells us these things in advance so that we can be watchful!

So what will it look like when the end is here and Jesus returns? Verse 27 has our answer - 
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

We have all seen lightening flash across the sky... so also will the appearing of Jesus be.
Verses 29 and 30 describe the scene : The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light and the stars will fall - no one will miss seeing this happen!! Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Jesus brings a word of warning to each of us in verses 42 and 44. We are to be alert and watching for his return - verse 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. and verse 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

We do not know the day or hour when Jesus Christ will return and when the end of the world will be here but we can see that day is getting ever closer. What we need to do is to make sure we are walking with the Lord daily, and that we not allow the world and its pleasures to be a distraction to our faith. Be faithful to the Lord in your own personal life and in witnessing to the lost whenever you can. Keep looking up - The King is coming!!

Matthew 24:1-44  
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

⁶ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

²⁵ Behold, I have told you before.

²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

²⁷ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

²⁸ For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³² Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

³³ So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

³⁴ Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

³⁵ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

³⁶ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹ And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

⁴⁰ Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴¹ Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴² Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

⁴³ But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

⁴⁴ Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

The Good Shepherd of Psalm 23

Are you alone? or maybe the real question is - Do you feel alone? Many times we feel alone in our situations even though there are people all around us. The truth is that a Christian is never alone. The Lord our Shepherd is always with us, drawing us close to Himself, watching over us and taking care of us.
Lets take a look at Psalm 23 again and let it soak into our spirit.


Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


The Lord is my Shepherd...I shall not want....He leads me and provides for me. He is with me - I am not alone.
He leads me in paths of righteousness - He leads me in the path He has chosen for my life - a life surrendered to Him. We find God's will for our lives in His Word. God's Word is the light for our path.
God leads us by His Spirit - He directs us in the study of His Word, the Bible. Hard circumstances grow us in the path of righteousness. The struggles in our life create in us the need to turn to the Lord and to call upon Him and trust in Him to hold us.
For His Name's sake - Did you know that God has a reputation? It is His will for us that we live true to His Name and through this we bring glory to His Name! It pleases the Father that we bring glory to His Name.
In our own lives, we need to be proclaiming the authority that God has in our lives. We need to live out our faith. Fly the flag at the top of the flagpole by standing up for truth and righteousness. There is victory in Jesus!
We may find ourselves in a bad circumstance - but regardless of what happens we must trust in the Lord. Show Him that you love Him by trusting Him today.
Embrace your trial, stand up for truth and righteousness - for His Name's sake - today is your opportunity to stand for Him!
Eternity is just around the corner....in a few short months or years we will all stand before the Lord - Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Does The Good Shepherd care?

 Have you ever felt alone and abandoned in your troubles and it seems as if God is not taking care of your situation? You ask - If He is the Good Shepherd, why does He seem distant from me in my struggles. I want to share some insights with you that I learned from a Bible school student named Travis who spoke on this topic. A concussion due to a mountain biking accident and  the struggle to recover from it left him feeling some abandonment from the Lord. He reminded us that Jesus went through  more abandonment ( betrayal and loss of loved ones, suffering on the cross) than any of us will ever experience. The Lord cares for us as it says in  Matthew 6:26 - Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 

Travis proceeded to read the text from John 10 : 1-21 ( posted at the bottom) .
He discussed  the job of shepherding and what it involved. It is a 24/7 job, not glamorous, sheep are defenseless and unintelligent and need a constant protector. A shepherd must have a genuine love for the sheep, protecting them from danger with his own life being at stake. At night a shepherd would bring the sheep into an enclosed area. The shepherd would physically lie down in the doorway and guard the door and the sheep with his own life. verse 7 - Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep

Three Reasons Jesus is that Shepherd:
1) He Cares and Knows us intimately - knows everything about us, knows us better than we know ourselves, loves us like His sons, knows us by name. A shepherd knows his sheep by name, not just as a number in a herd, he knows when and where he got each sheep.

2) He Protects the Flock - He guards the lives of the sheep with His own life, will stay and fight for his own sheep while a hired hand would leave the sheep when he fears for his own life. A hired hand would flee in a dangerous situation thinking he could get another job elsewhere.
 verse 13 -The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

3) He Provides - Jesus gives us what we need. Sheep need water, food and safety. We are needy, and a lost people whom Jesus came to save. Why would we die in sin when we can come to Jesus? Sin separated us from God  but through Christ we can be brought back to God into relationship with Him again. Jesus gave His life for us for that purpose.

Analogy of the mother Octopus: The mother octopus will find a safe place to lay her eggs. She will not leave the eggs for anything, not for food, not for water, but stays by the eggs the entire time to care for them and protect them from danger.  By the time the day draws near for the eggs to hatch, a mother octopus will be weakened to the point that she dies. She is devoted to those eggs and she gives up her life up for the life of her children. The  first meal the baby octopus will eat is the remains of his mother.  So also Jesus loves, guards and protects us as His children and He gave us His life so that we may have life to the full. 
verse 11 -  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep


Please take the time to read John 10:1-21, as there we can see "How Great our Good Shepherd" really is

John 10 : 1-21
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
² But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
³ To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
⁴ And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
⁵ And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
⁶ This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
⁷ Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
⁸ All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
⁹ I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
¹⁰ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

¹² But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
¹³ The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
¹⁵ As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
¹⁶ And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
¹⁷ Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
¹⁸ No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
¹⁹ There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
²⁰ And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?²¹ Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

Easter Message from Billy Graham - Fear Not!

Fear Not. Bear Witness. Receive Power.

taken from :  http://billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=9237

March 1, 2013

By Billy Graham

I like to go to old cemeteries in various parts of the world. When we wander through a graveyard and look at the tombstones or go to a church and examine the old monuments, we see one heading on most of them: “Here lies … ” Then follow the person’s name, date of death and perhaps some praise of the qualities of the deceased.

But how different would be the epitaph on the tomb of Jesus! It would neither be written in gold nor cut in stone. It was spoken by the mouth of an angel and is the exact opposite of what is engraved on other tombs: “He is not here; for He is risen” (Matthew 28:6).

The most important events in human history were the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. … If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17).

In reading about the early church, we find the central theme of the early Christian witness to the world was the fact that Jesus Christ, who was crucified, had been raised from the dead.

Today we usually hear a sermon on the resurrection every Easter, but that is about the only time. However, in the preaching of the apostles, the cross and the resurrection were constant themes. The cross and the resurrection were linked together; they are supposed to be linked. Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless. Apart from the resurrection, the cross is a tragedy and a defeat.

If the bones of Jesus lie decayed in a grave, then there is no Good News, and the world is still in darkness. Life has no meaning at all. The New Testament then becomes a myth and Christianity is a fable—and millions of people, living and dead, are victims of a gigantic hoax.

However, the New Testament teaches that Christ is indeed risen from the dead. The greatest and most thrilling fact of human history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Just before Easter we normally concentrate our thinking on Christ and the cross. We remember the words He spoke as He met His bitter death for our salvation. As we celebrate Good Friday, the seven phrases from the cross are in our minds. We try to understand and to fathom the experiences of our Lord as He went to His death.

I do not know who first gathered those seven phrases from the four different Gospels and put them together for a Good Friday meditation. What astonishes me, though, is that few people seem to have made a similar collection of the words that our Lord spoke to His followers after the resurrection. What a great thing it would be if, after our Good Friday meditation on what the crucified Lord said, we would turn to what the risen Lord said!

After His resurrection, Jesus visited ordinary places and spoke to ordinary people. He came to some in a garden, to two on the road to Emmaus, to others at the lakeside. He met a group in the Upper Room and others on a hilltop. He shared their meals and their walks. He came to them when they were working and when they were waiting. He came to them when they were afraid and when they were hopeful, when they were doubting and when they were certain. He came to ordinary people just like you and me.
There are three things that Jesus said after His resurrection.

First, He said, “Fear not.” Certainly our world needs to hear that message from the resurrected Christ. He said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (Matthew 28:10).

He came to the Eleven on another occasion and said, “Peace to you” (Luke 24:36). This was more than the conventional salute of those days; it was the assurance of the deep peace Jesus had promised them at the Last Supper. He then asked, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38). His words, repeated again and again, were, “Fear not” and “Do not be afraid.”

And why not? The answer is simple. It is because He lives! They no longer need to fear death or disaster. They could be assured that just as Jesus triumphed, they, too, would triumph. They could be confident that God’s purposes were not thwarted and that He Himself was with them always, unto the end of the world. The disciples could look forward to the fact that they, too, would be resurrected.

Today, in our world filled with its dangers, hate and war, the words of the Lord Jesus are more relevant than ever before. Once again He comes to those who love Him and says, “Fear not.”

That is the message He would give to people in parts of the world where there is turmoil and strife—or into our own hearts and lives, our families or whatever we are connected with that may be undergoing turmoil, strife and tension.

The second thing that Jesus said to His disciples was, “Bear witness” (Cf. Acts 1:8). He came to the disciples as they cowered behind locked doors in the Upper Room. When He had challenged their fears and quieted them, He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).

He came to them on a hilltop in Galilee and said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19).

And His final words before He departed from them, as Luke records them in The Acts of the Apostles, were: “You shall be witnesses to me … to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Jesus was telling them that they could not know Him to be alive without also wanting to proclaim that news to others. He sent them out, through the locked doors and down from the hilltop, into all the world with the Gospel.

There should never be any doubt in the mind of any Christian that the Lord has given us an order. To fail to heed this command is deliberate disobedience and sin. We are told to go to the entire world with the Gospel.

The Bible says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me … to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This command is all-inclusive; it embraces evangelism in all possible circumstances.

If there were no other reason for going to the end of the earth proclaiming the Gospel and winning souls, the command of Christ would be enough.

That is why we go from city to city preaching the Gospel: because Christ commanded it. This is not an option. It is something that we have been commanded by Jesus to do. We are ambassadors under authority.

I am convinced that if we really believed that men and women are lost apart from Jesus Christ, it would become a burning incentive to evangelize with a zeal and a passion that we are in danger of losing.

The third thing that Jesus said was “receive power” (Acts 1:8). The Apostle John told how Jesus came to them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).

Luke tells us that Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). That was enough—more than enough—for any contingency and for every emergency that the disciples would ever face.

Certainly the church today needs God’s spiritual power. Too often we try to do the work of the Kingdom of God in our own strength. We use the wrong kinds of weapons.
The greatest need in the church at this hour is not organizational union. Our greatest need is for the church to be baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit and to go out proclaiming the Gospel everywhere on every continent. What the church so desperately needs cannot be organized or promoted by human means.

The two symbols of Pentecost are wind and fire. Both of these speak to us of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in revival. The meaning of the Hebrew word translated revive in the Old Testament is “to recover, to restore, to return.” The Greek word translated revive in the New Testament means “to stir up or rekindle a fire that is slowly dying.”

Even the members of the early church needed fresh renewings. In chapter 2 of Acts we learn that in the Upper Room the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. Yet in chapter 4 we read of their being filled again: “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

It is my prayer that we might witness in our generation a mighty spiritual awakening. There are evidences that it is taking place right now in many parts of the world.

May these words of the resurrected Christ—“Fear not,” “Bear witness” and “Receive power”—burn in our hearts today as they burned in the hearts of the disciples so many years ago. I pray that this thrilling knowledge will sink deep into our hearts, that Christ is indeed alive and that He is coming back to this Earth again someday.




 ©1994 BGEA

Easter - The Promise of God Fulfilled

One super great character of God is that he knows the end of things before the beginning even happens. He knows what we will need and His promises stand for all time. In the very  beginning when God created all things, he created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden to live. In the first couple of chapters in the book of Genesis the story unfolds of the creation and how God tells Adam and Eve they can eat of any trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:17 -But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. But in chapter 3 of Genesis, satan disguised as a snake ( notice that satan always disguises himself and lies but pretends to represent truth) he comes to Eve and tempts her to eat of the fruit of that tree and she falls to satan's temptation, eats the fruit and also gives to Adam and he eats. That is the first sin and ever since then the relationship that God had intended for us to have with Him has been broken. God is holy. Sin cannot dwell in His presence and therefore sin has to be dealt with. God knew this would happen to Adam and Eve and He had a plan in place ( even from before the beginning of time) to restore them and us  to Himself again. So in Genesis 3:14 &15 God has a word for satan and He promises us the Savior. -And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:  
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 
 Throughout the Old Testament God remembers His promise to send a Savior who will die for us and provide a way of salvation for us. One such passage is found in Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  and that of course was fulfilled when Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. God also fortold of Jesus's death and ressurection and He has kept all his promises there too. Psalm 22 is a good description of the crucifixion of Jesus. For example Psalm 22:1 and also verse 18. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring ...They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
 In the gospels we find the complete story of the death and ressurection of Jesus our Savior.
The fulfillment of the promises and prophecy of God is sure. It's not a matter of maybe God will do what He has said - we can depend on Him to keep his Word 100%.  We are waiting now for God to fulfill His promise that Jesus will return to earth again in His second coming. We do not know when He is coming but we do know for sure that He is coming back.  Revelation 22: 12 and 13 says And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
So this Easter I want to remember Jesus that He came as a baby born of the virgin Mary, He is the promised Messiah that God sent to die on the cross for us to redeem us back to Himself. Jesus  rose from the dead on the third day and ascended to Heaven.  Now we wait for His return for us His children and so we shall forever be with the LORD!

Happy Easter!!

The Book of Isaiah - Did you know??

Did you know that the Old Testament book of Isaiah has a lot of similarities to the Bible as a whole. Some have went as far as to say that the book of Isaiah is a mini - Bible. Why would they make that connection? In this study we want to explore the similarities between the Bible and the Old Testament book of Isaiah.

First of all let's think about the message of each as a whole:
The Bible tells us that God is holy. All glory belongs to the Lord God and He displays that glory by judging sin and saving each one who calls on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
The book of Isaiah has the same message. God is holy. He is glorified when He judges sin and people are redeemed to Himself.

Secondly, There are 66 books in the Bible.
There are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah.

Thirdly, The Bible begins in the Old Testament with the story of sin entering this world and ends with the New Testament where the story of salvation through Jesus Christ is told.
The Book of Isaiah tells of Israel's rebellion against God and ends with the predictions of its restoration.

Fourthly: The Bible has two sections - There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. The Old Testament describes our lost condition and our need of a Saviour. The New Testament tells of God providing our Saviour Jesus Christ and His death on the cross and resurrection. It describes our need of repentance and invites us to come to Jesus for salvation through faith in His finished work on the cross.
The book of Isaiah has two sections - Section 1 includes Chapters 1- 39  where Isaiah delivered his message of condemnation to the Israelites, pronouncing judgement on their idolatrous and immoral way of life.
Section 2 includes Chapters 40 - 66 where Isaiah explains that Israel's captivity is due to the disciplinary action that God is taking towards them. Isaiah encourages the people to rid themselves of their idolatry, self righteousness and greed.

Fifthly, Both the Bible and the Book of Isaiah stress God's righteousness, His holiness, His justice, His compassion, love and grace.

The Little Boat - a story of salvation

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Back in my Sundayschool days I was told a story that sticks in my mind to this very day. It is a story about a boy and his boat. That Sunday so many years ago, I remember the preacher came downstairs to the Sundayschool area to tell this story. You may have heard it told before as it is an analogy of salvation.

The Boy and his Little Boat                                               
There once was a boy who made his own little toy wooden boat. Day in and day out he worked on it carefully and lovingly carving it to be just the little boat he had imagined. He painted it a beautiful brown taking extra care with the various colors for trimming, and set it on the window sill to dry. The next day the little boy took his little boat out to sail it on the river. He admired it, how beautiful it was!,  and he watched it floating on the water. The boat began to drift farthur and farther away from shore and soon it was out of his reach. His precious boat was gone and this made him very sad. Would he ever see the little boat again? The little boat was always on his mind. Every day as he walked along he wondered if this would be the day he would find his little boat on the shore. He knew he would do whatever it would take to get it back home again.   One day while walking down the street, to his surprise and delight, he noticed his  little boat in the storeshop window. He went in to ask the storekeeper about the boat. Though the little boy had made the boat, the storekeeper insisted he would have to pay the full price for the boat if he wanted to take it home. The boy realized it would take everything he had, his every last penny. Was he willing to pay the price? Yes! The boy ran home and got all his money, every last cent, and paid the storekeeper the full price for the boat. The boy was overjoyed and said to his little boat - "You are mine, twice over. - First I made you and now I bought you though it cost me everything I had. You are forever mine."
The End.

We can plainly see that in this story, you and I are the little brown boat. God created each of us with his own special care - just the way He wanted us to be.
We set sail in our journey called life, and each of us have drifted through sin and have become lost from our Creator - our loving Heavenly Father. Each of us need to be saved and that is what Jesus did on the cross. He gave up His all - His everything to buy us back ( that is to redeem us ) to Himself. Now we are His "Twice Over" if we accept Him into our heart as Savior and Lord.

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Prayer to receive Christ as Saviour:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, ( lost just like the little boat). Thank-you that you gave yourself to redeem me back to the Father in Heaven. I believe you died for my sins on the cross and rose from the dead. Help me now to repent of my sin, I turn from it. Cleanse me from sin. I ask youto come into my heart and my life and be my Saviour and Lord of my life. Thank- you Jesus for saving me. Amen

Grace To Forgive Others

2 Corinthians 12: 8-9 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Forgiving the person or persons who hurt us deeply is hard work - it is a process and takes time. I say this from personal experience. Some time ago I wrote a blog post discussing forgiveness  - link to the post here - http://sharingthefaith-northernsparrow.blogspot.ca/2012/06/forgiveness.html

If you are like me and have been working forgiveness through your mind and focusing on getting it to completion, you will agree that as much as you want forgiveness toward that person to be complete, you feel inadequate in getting it done and in the depths of your heart you wonder if there is more "forgiving" to do in order to feel that completeness in your heart.

Since I have been in process of forgiving for a few years now, and I really want it to be complete, God has been gracious to me and revealed to me that I need His grace to do the rest of the work in my heart. I have come a long way but I am weak - He is my strength and He assures me that I can leave it to Him to complete the work of forgiving my offender in my heart and I cannot reach that point without His intervention of grace in my heart. With His grace He covers my weakness with His strength. Then in Him and through Him I am made complete. 

In my mind I see giving forgiveness as giving a gift to a person. I want to give the gift ( with my whole heart I want to give this person this gift) but the gift is not ready to give until it is wrapped in beautiful gift wrap. Grace is that gift wrap which provides completeness to the gift that I am giving that is I am extending forgiveness.

After the Lord had revealed this lesson in grace to me, He affirmed it to me again through the teaching of one of my radio Bible teachers. I praise the Lord for this! The radio Bible teacher said that sometimes the sin done against us by our friend (or whoever the offender might be ) is so huge that forgiveness is not humanly possible. The pain from a deep hurt can resemble post traumatic stress disorder with similiar symptoms ( nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, sadness, fear, loneliness). It is at such a time that we need Jesus to help us and He will! Jesus experienced extreme betrayal and from the cross and in Luke 23: 34 it says Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. When the pain is so huge, Jesus comes and takes over and carries the pain for us. He does the work of forgiveness through me in a miraculous way. Every time the pain surfaces and reoccurs in our heart we must turn to the Lord in prayer again and again and leave ourpain and hurt with the Lord.  His grace is sufficient for me.
1 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
It is so important to be able to forgive completely since to live with these burdens of pain and hurt in our hearts are dangerous to our own health. Jesus wants to take all of our burdens and anxieties and replace it with His peace. He is the Healer of our broken hearts. In Luke 4:18 Jesus says - he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
Lets remember to constantly bring our cares to the Lord in prayer.
Phillipians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

What a friend we have in Jesus!

Forgiveness - What it is and what it is not...

Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

The topic of forgiveness probably raises more questions than answers. There are two sides to the coin of forgiveness. That is, on one side we need to be forgiven of the wrongs that we have done and on the other side is that we need to forgive those who have done wrong to us. Jesus commanded us to forgive as He has forgiven us.
 Matthew 6: 14-15 says For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 In this study I want to focus on forgiving others.

What is forgiveness really and what does it look like?

 If we were to honestly share about life, we would probably all say that we have been able to forgive many people for small offenses and hurts over the years and we do not even think about those issues any more. BUT most likely many of us also have had one or more big things that have happened to us, some one has seriously hurt, betrayed and offended us, a "dealbreaker" type of offense, and that is the where the question of forgiveness becomes the issue. As much as we would like to be able to live life again as if this event had never happened, we cannot and because we know we will never be able to entirely get beyond it, we feel like forgiveness is incomplete.

Sometimes when you watch the news and some terrible tragic event has occured, you will hear the victim's family say - "we want justice". It is within all of us to want justice to happen - " do the crime, do the time" is how we feel. But we also know that in many cases, even though a criminal is put behind bars for life, the hearts of the victims and the victim's family remain broken and in the case where a death has occured, the life of that loved one is gone and cannot be restored no matter how many years the criminal spends behind bars. Even with a verbal apology or a financial settlement, the heart remains sad and broken. So what is the answer?

 Part of the answer is that God, the character of God demands justice. As human beings, we are created in the image of God and that is part of why we want justice. Even a small child knows when "it's not fair!" So God is a God of justice and we can see what that justice required in that Jesus the only begotten Son of God ( the second part of the Trinity ) had to die to pay for our sin in order to redeem us to the Father. God required that kind of a sacrifice. We see it in Hebrews 9: 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

I have heard many sermons preached on forgiveness and I believe that it has helped me to get a better understanding of what forgiveness looks like.

First of all, it does not mean that we forget. Even God doesn't forget - He simply chooses not to remember. To place the expectation on yourself that when you forget, then you will have forgiven is just not going to work. If a life changing betrayal and offense has occured, forgetting is not about to happen.

Secondly, Time will not heal the wound that has been created. To just think that we can stuff our problems in the closet or under the rug is not going to work. I saw this happen to a friend who was abused as a child. Years later when she got the courage to confront the man who abused her, he denied all wrong doing. Nothing was done to solve the brokenness and the whole issue got stuffed away again. We wonder what the final outcome of such will be when God's books are finally opened. Sometimes we may also think that if we busy our minds with all sorts of pleasures and do fun stuff and just not think about the problem any more, that somehow that equals forgiveness. I can tell you that also does not work either.

Thirdly, forgiveness does not mean that we are okay with what happened or that we are no longer sad or heartbroken about what happened. Nor does it mean that we are willing to allow the person who hurt us to hurt us again. It is okay to put up some boundaries and defenses in order to protect ourselves from such an offense happening again. In the old Testament in the story of Joseph, we see how he tested his brothers to see if they had changed and if they were truly repentant before he would allow his heart to be touched by them again.

Fourthly, Forgiveness also does not mean that there should be no legal consequences for criminal actions. God has put the authorities in place for the purpose of punishing criminals. The problem is that what God counts as a sin and wrong doing is often not seen as a criminal offense in the justice system of our country. An example would be drunkenness, abortion or the breaking of the marriage covenant through an affair etc.

Fifth, there is no point in waiting for the person who offended you come to make things right - to start treating you better or to apologize in such a way that it seems sincere enough that you feel better. The offender is not capable of realizing the degree of hurt that he/she has afflicted on you. The offense or betrayal that has occured is bigger than words. It will take consistant heartfelt restoration work on the part of the offender for you to ever begin to trust again and to start feeling better. We know from the story of Zacchaeus that he offered to pay back 4 times what he had stolen from people. In Luke 19:8 Zacchaeus says - if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

If something life changing has occured, only God's Hand can heal.
I believe forgiveness is a decision that I make. A decision that I personally will not punish the person who betrayed or offended me nor will I pay him/her back for what was done. I will leave all that to God. Vengance is mine says the Lord, I will repay. I decide that I will allow God to be in control of the justice part of what has happened. I come to the realization that it is not my place to do what God says is His part to play. I decide that I will choose to treat that person with kindness knowing that it is to God that account must be given. God is the only One who truely knows all the details of the situation. He is a God of holiness and righteousness and He alone knows what is just, right and fair. With my limited understanding, I am not able to determine the appropriate consequences to make a just and fair call. To get to this place in one's heart after a serious hurt has occured is a process and it takes time to work these thoughts through our minds and get God's perspective on the situation. It is very freeing to realize that God will deal with the persons who hurt us. God will do it in His own time. We do not know if it will happen here on the earth or if it will have eternal consequences but we leave that determination entirely in God's control. We must entrust ourselves to Him and believe that He is faithful to do what His Word declares.
Romans 12: 18-20 is a very important passage to remember:
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Once we have come to the realization, that God will do the justice part, then we can begin to focus on HEALING. The Lord Jesus is the healer of our broken hearts. Psalm 147:3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He will fill the emptyness with His love and care. The more we are hurting and reaching out to Him, the more He is reaching down to meet our needs. In His love, He is longing to be involved in our healing. Daily, moment by moment, we can keep bringing our brokenness before Him and the healing we experience in this way is a direct miracle from the Hand of God! In Luke 4:18, Jesus says The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised

It seems to me that many times the Christian community and churches will put a huge focus on restoring the person who has commited the offense and will leave the victims to suffer and get through their brokenness more or less on their own. Somehow they think that if the offender ( whether it be through alcholism, drugs, sexual problems, money issues etc) they think that if the offender just doesn't offend again, then the problems have been dealt with. I do not agree with this. The hurts that have occured to the victims and other family members is huge and much more compassion needs to be displayed towards the victims and family members.

There is so much more that could be written regarding forgiveness. If anyone reading this has a good insight to add or a comment, please feel free to leave your comments. May God's healing touch be real in your life as you experience the healing touch of the Master's Hand! For further study on forgiveness, I recommend contacting James MacDonald from Walk in the Word ministries.