February 19, 2024 -- Deuteronomy 33:29a -- God's shield of help and sword of triumph

Happy are you, O Israel!
Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD
the shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Deuteronomy 33:29a ESV

Notice that the LORD our God is both a protector—He is the shield of help for His people—and He is the conqueror—with the sword of your triumph. So, are you staying safe behind the shield of God? A shield is not helpful if the one meant to be protected by it runs out from under its sheltering protection and plays with the enemy. A sword of triumph works God’s righteousness for Him; be warned, however, beloved of God, that you remain captives in the train of Christ, submitted to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you do not run over to the enemy camp and so be fodder for His sword.

Who is Israel? Well, in Christ Jesus, non-Jewish people who believe in Jesus, are grafted in. It is the wonder and blessing that was promised long ago, in the Old Testament. Many nations would come to the Light of Jesus (Isaiah 60). So Jewish people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and non-Jewish people who believe, are united under Jesus the Head of the Body.

How are you doing? Are you careful to observe the battle lines and staying under the shield of Christ and near the sword of our Father’s victory? Are you toying with sins and destructive behaviours so that you are now facing the onslaught of the world and the Devil and this without any protection? Return to the LORD, He is your shield and your sword of triumph.

There is none like God, O Jeshurun (O righteous people who belong to the LORD);
He rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in His majesty.
The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath are His everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:26-27
Blessed are You, Triune God, for the victory You have granted us in Jesus Christ. Blessed are You, LORD of Triumph, for the sealing of Your Holy Spirit Who guards the believer in the way of our glorious God. Amen.

https://youtu.be/D3xlq2L0hcs?si=pSBgpXOyzUbnuHsQ “Victory in Jesus” Guy Penrod

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 18, 2024 -- Acts 17:10-12 -- The Only Sign is the Word: Fav from Feb 18. 23

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
Acts 17:10-12 ESV

Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ notice what the Bereans did not do and compare it to what they did. They did not seek signs. They did not seek spiritual insight without consulting the Old Testament. They did not demand healings and miracles before believing. By way of contrast: they did use their minds. They did open the Old Testament and prove the words of Paul and Silas and confirmed the truth of Jesus and His salvific work. The Old Testament points the believer to Jesus Christ and His sacrificial work.

Hebrews 1 reminds believers that in the Old Testament times the Father spoke through the prophets. However, in the New Testament, the final and best word is Jesus. Those who walked with Him and knew Him and saw His miracles recorded the New Testament. After that signs and miracles and prophetic utterances ceased. It is the word of God that directs believers. It is the prayerful examination of the Bible that directs the lives of believers.

One reads in Deuteronomy “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this Law” (Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV). God has taught us His will. It is found in the Law and in Jesus’ summary of the Law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-39). As it was then for the Bereans, so it is today for us, if we want to know what God would have us do we must prayerfully research the Bible, know it, learn it, delight in it. And by it the Lord will guide our path.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
   on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
   and forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, 
   but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and glory,
   forever and ever. Amen.

https://youtu.be/6VBBpZrPixw?si=-ns_cOo_LRK1jp_-
"At the Name of Jesus" The ZOE Group

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 16, 2024 -- Mark 13:37 -- Who will save your soul? A Jewel of a question

And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Mark 13:37 ESV

What a strange command. When read in isolation from the context, it is stranger still. In context however it makes sense. Jesus is asking His followers if they will remain awake, alive to Him and true to His word. The Bible is filled with warnings for the people of God to stay true to God and to avoid backsliding and neglecting the great salvation that is yours. Way back in the Old Testament, while Moses was still with the people of God, having led them for eighty years (!), he gave his farewell address. He knew he was about to die and he urgently commanded the people to stay true to the LORD their God. Under the inspiration of God, Moses declared “For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!” (Deuteronomy 31:27).

Within a few decades of Jesus’ death, Paul wrote to the Hebrews and warned them: “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1). It is harder to stay anchored to Jesus and keep His commandments than it is to allow oneself to drift with the currents of popular culture and the tides of peers who pressure you to go along in their degenerate ways.

How can anyone do it? How can anyone stay awake and ready to serve Jesus when there are so many pressures pushing and pulling against him? That is a critical question.

1. Jesus Himself knows the inclination of His people to wander and stray. He tells Peter “I have prayed for you”. What a glorious promise. As soon as you know you are drifting from all that is holy confess this to Jesus and know He is already praying

2. When Jesus rose from the dead, on that first Resurrection Sunday, He met with His disciples and said “Receive the Holy Spirit”. The Spirit of God lives in every believer. It is the Spirit of God Who helps the believer turn from sin and drifting and return to Jesus.

3. Jesus is called the “Captain of their salvation” in Hebrews 2:10 (prosaically He is called the Founder of their Salvation in the ESV). Jesus is commanding His people to stay away because He Himself guards them, standing over them and defending them in their weakness.

Father in heaven, we tremble before You! For You are the Living God—enduring forever. Your Kingdom will never be destroyed and of Your dominion there shall be no end. The Living God delivers and rescues, He works signs and wonders in heaven and earth. As You Father saved Daniel from the power of the lions and David from the hand of all his enemies and Peter from the chains of his guilt at betraying Jesus through the power of His reconciling blood, so You continue to be our rescue story. Spirit of God, keep us from straying. Spirit of the Living God, by the Bible, through the counsel of Christian friends and based on Jesus’ prayers on our behalf, bring us back into ever deeper relationship with Jesus. Amen.

(Opening part of the prayer is based on Daniel 6:26-27)

https://youtu.be/3rT8Re1EIQc?si=D4ZqZsUkQx8Qzmdt Casting Crowns “Who Am I?”

February 15, 2024 -- Mark 10:17-22 -- Jesus and the Rich Young Man - a living lesson

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 10:17-22 ESV

You’re likely thinking to yourself, what would I do in this situation? You might wonder if you are as rich as this Rich Young Man (RYM). You might be wondering if this command applies to you. Here are a couple of points to ponder.

Jesus left the splendours of heaven. He was born in a barn. He had no home. His family thought He was crazy. Jesus is doing precisely what he commanded the RYM to do. He proved it is enough to have treasures in heaven and be content as a wanderer here on earth.

You also might want to consider the fact that the RYM claimed to have kept all the commands since his youth. The goal is to love not the commandments themselves, but by keeping them to set one’s heart and affections on the Living God. So the RYM's reaction to Jesus proved his true loyalty was not to God the Father but set on his treasures.

Finally, to follow Jesus Christ requires one to be prepared to surrender all, or any one thing, any possession to Him at His request. Whatever we have here on earth we keep  in trust for His service. This includes our life. For Jesus Himself was that obedient to His Father. When He was required to lay down His life, He did. Jesus did not require of the RYM anything which He Himself was not prepared to do. How? This by the power of the Holy Spirit Who lived in Jesus’ humanity. The Spirit given to Him without measure (John 3:34). Those who are in Christ are also given the Holy Spirit.

O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer

https://youtu.be/Pr2RG-xR2lA?si=O-_Sg3wralho_eq2 “Prince of Peace” Celtic Worship

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 14, 2024 -- Proverbs 14:14 -- Is your love faithful and faithfully expressed?

The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,
    and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
Proverbs 14:14 ESV

So many men will be lined up to buy flowers today, or candies, or jewelry for their significant other. They might be surprised at the recipient’s response—why today? What are you aiming at? What are you apologizing for? Seriously, just because it is Valentine’s Day you suddenly think you need to do this? The gift intended to be a sign of love (let’s be honest, for many of show of lusty intentions) is immediately questioned. The action of gift-giving is so out of character that the recipient is not sure of the motivation.

So too for a man in his walk with God. Are you consistent in prayers and Bible reading? Not because God demands it. Not because you are required to do so, but because it is part of your character, part of the beauty and joy of walking in relationship with the Living God. Are you faithful in going to church, where His word is proclaimed and His love for You is declared? He has demonstrated His steadfast love in this, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). One who is lax in his expressions of love towards God is a backslider. Such a man is himself confused by his intermittent expressions of devotion to God while on the other hand he is regularly expressing his selfish desires as he lives his egocentric way of life

Meanwhile, the man who is good, as is defined by God—who walks humbly, is contrite (quick to confess his faults and sins) and trembles at God’s word, (Isaiah 66:2)—will regularly express his joyful devotion to God in thanksgiving for the accomplished, reconciling work of Jesus. It is a pattern of living that continually bears the spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Faithful Father in heaven, Your word is so penetratingly accurate, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). Therefore Your love is extravagant beyond comprehension. You do not leave the wicked in the sludge of their sins, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith (Romans 3:23-25). Mighty Spirit, move us to be faithful and consistent in our service to Jesus Christ so that our lives are lived as an offering of praise to our Heavenly Father. Amen.

https://youtu.be/KLTu1xv2-Us?si=Z54Ndl8wxTALvlLm “Oh, the Deep Love”

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 13, 2024 -- Mark 8:27-30 -- Who or What is Bigger than the Superbowl?

27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
Mark 8:27-30 ESV

This is the biggest question of your whole life and the answer you give changes everything. The question is: “Who do you say Jesus is?” Answering this question is crucial. It is more important than “what am I going to do when I grow up”. More important than “who will I marry”. More important than “what will I do when I retire”.

Crowds followed Jesus. They were looking for a miracle worker. A healer. A provider of free bread and fish. He was a bigger hit in His day than the Superbowl is today. His actions then went viral, more so than any modern half time performance. People talked about Him for days. And then they didn’t.

That is the point. Is Jesus an event? Is He something fascinating, entertainment like a Superbowl, but He doesn’t really change your life, your behavior, your words, your thoughts, your attitudes? Jesus directly asked His disciples "Who do you say I am? Peter answered “You are the Christ”. That is, You are sent from God and anointed to accomplish His work”. That answer changes everything. Who is Jesus to you? A curiosity? Does He change everything? Where you spend eternity depends on the answer you give. How you live right now depends on how you answer Jesus’ question.

Father in heaven, thank You for the gift of Jesus—Your Son, our Savior. Thank You that in Him a man may lose all possessions and ego, honour and reputation, but when Jesus returns in glory with all His holy ones gain life everlasting . Thank You Father in heaven, for the powerful gift of Your Spirit Who teaches a man to understand that Jesus is worth it all. He truly is the Desire of all Nations and Him for Whom it makes sense to follow, denying one’s lusts and ambitions and ego, and taking up the cross—that is, witnessing to everyone about Him for Your glory Father, no matter the cost. Amen

https://youtu.be/FcD9uhRC3Ew?si=hJ5tUOQv8BpuO1j2 “Go Light Your World” Fountainview Academy

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 12, 2024 -- Philippians 1:21 -- Life and Death

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1:21 ESV

While preparing for a recent sermon I heard a minister mention the previous centuries past practice of some Christians, which I found bizarre. It is called memento mori. That Latin phrased is translated to “remember you have to die”. So, as a reminder of their inevitable death some Christians would keep a skull on their study desk. The 17th century puritan Thomas Smith is one such person. There is a well-known self-portrait of him at his desk with his hand on a human skull. Why on earth do this?

It was a reminder that all men must die. It is a reminder that all the pleasures of this world, all its pains, all its temptations and all its glories will soon fade away. The Judgment Seat awaits all people. Whatever can be described as truly lasting, all that is reliable treasure is found in Christ alone. That is why the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians noting for him to live is Christ—the pleasures of this world can not hold a candle to Him. Death is not terrifying to Paul, nor to any believer. Christ his Savior has by His life, death, and resurrection opened the way for Paul, and for all believers, so that their death and burial is the entryway to God. The result is that believers have confidence they will enter the Presence of the Father in heaven. This entry into heaven is based on the accomplished work of Jesus.

Such confidence is demonstrated in the life of the believer by his growing dedication to and zeal for Jesus. Such confident hope in Jesus bears fruit in the life of the believer so that the things of this world lose much of their appeal. The Word of God and times spent in prayer are not a burden, but are instead experienced as life-giving, joy-affirming, and hope renewing activities. The believer sees through the things that this world celebrates and idolizes. A Christian can scarcely watch the movies, events, and the prized things of this world because he knows they are merely funeral processions, highly decorated, but those involved in them are unaware that for all their finery their destination is the grave and judgment before God Who is holy. Memento mori—remember you have to die.

Blessed are You, O God our Father. Thank You for the grace and peace which flow to believers based on the accomplished work of our Lord Jesus Christ—Who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to Your will, O Father. To You, Father, with the Son and the Holy Spirit be glory forever and ever. Amen.

https://youtu.be/JbgG0Monvd8?si=oaRCqV4V5HP10yFZ “In Christ Alone” Michael W. Smith

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 10, 2024 -- Matthew 5:17-18 -- Why keep the Old Testament Law?

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Matthew 5:17-18 ESV

Do Christians still have to keep the Law? I thought that was Old Testament stuff? Today’s passage is clear. Believers are commanded to keep the Law. Jesus Himself is reaffirming that in today's passage. It is by His perfect Law-keeping Jesus proves He is completely righteous, without sin so He is the only human ever Who can be the One Sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world.

Okay, for Jesus, it makes sense to keep the Law, and believers are blessed because He kept it perfectly. Do Christians keep the Law in order to make God happy or by it to somehow add to their salvation? To answer that you need to know why there is a Law at all? The purpose of the Law, in the Garden of Eden, was to guide Adam and Eve in their relationship with the Living God. They failed. They deserved death, the punishment of God. Instead, God withheld His immediate punishment, pouring out all His wrath on His Own Son, Jesus. For believers the Law is designed to help one walk in communion with God. Since God is your Father in Jesus Christ, the question can be asked: “how can I please my Father in heaven?” The Law and the Prophets (that is a short-hand for the whole Old Testament) point out how a believer walks in fellowship, in deep and true relationship, with the God of Heaven and Earth.

The Law has a purpose—it will be accomplished unto the glory of God. One day, when Jesus Christ returns, those who have been guided and instructed in the Law of God by the Spirit of God, kept in the Spirit’s power for obedience to Christ, will be free from sin and guilt, so that they will spend eternity in the blessed, joyful, wondrous presence of God. At the Judgment Seat of the Almighty, sinners and Lawbreakers who refused the work of Jesus will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire in hell. Believers, who by the righteousness of Christ have been given His righteousness, will look and realize how the Law of God was their guide and instructor in joy and all blessedness.

MY DEAR LORD
I depend wholly on You,
wean me from all other dependences.
You are my all, You overrule all and delight in me.
You are the foundation of goodness,
how can I distrust You?
How be anxious about what happens to me?
In the light of Your preciousness the world
and all its enjoyments are infinitely poor:
I value the favour of men no more than pebbles.
Amid the blessings I receive from You 
may I never lose the heart of a stranger.
May I love You, my Benefactor, in all my benefits,
not forgetting that my greatest danger arises from my advantages.
Produce in me self-despair that will make Jesus precious to me,
delightful in all His offices, pleasurable in all His ways,
and may I love His commands as well as His promises.
Help me to discern between true and false love,
the one consisting of supreme love to You, the other not,
the former uniting Your glory and man’s happiness
that they may become one common interest,
the latter disjointing and separating them both,
seeking the latter with neglect of the former.
Teach me that genuine love is different in kind
from that wrought by rational arguments or the motive of self-interest,
that such love is a pleasing passion
affording joy to the mind where it is.
Grant me grace to distinguish between the genuine and the false,
and to rest in You Who is all love.

Prayer from Valley of Vision

https://youtu.be/h-wYZLd_FIk?si=XIUKDIu3t2XjYhQS “Awake My Soul” Phillips, Craig, and Dean

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 9, 2024 -- Proverbs 28:1 -- Bold as a Lion

The wicked flee when no one pursues,
    but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Proverbs 28:1 ESV

Recently I was driving with two friends in the car with me. I saw a jogger and quoted the first phrase of this Proverb—to be fair, I paraphrased it. “The wicked run when no one is chasing him”, that was my paraphrase. Immediately one of the guys said, that’s not in the Bible. Well, it is. But it means something completely different than a mocking of joggers and runners.

This is a precious verse to me. Let me explain. After a car accident I became afraid of many things. I was afraid to drive the highway. I was afraid to drive over long or large bridges. I was anxious in crowds. Fears began to crowd into more and more of my life, affecting work, social times, intimacy, friendships. I would flee—though no one was chasing me. Unfounded fears began to dog my every step. It was a very dark period of my life.

It became a time of intense praying. For a few years I prayed that God would relieve my anxieties and fears. Thanks be to God He answered these prayers. I remember very clearly the first, cautious attempt to drive a long distance on the highway. I can’t say I was bold as a lion, but the LORD had, in HIs grace, removed my fear and I needed to walk in the newfound freedom. Eventually I was able to take a job as a driver for a car rental company, driving highways as part of my job. Today I drive 3,000 plus kilometers a month for work. Surely God has rescued me and given me holy boldness.

When a man discovers the strength of Jesus Christ, His whole life, demeanor, and attitude changes. He is bold as a lion. He is bold in prayer, asking for friends and coworkers to become Christians. He is bold in telling them about the resurrection power of Jesus, which has conquered one’s old life and old fears, and brings a holy boldness. It is the Spirit of God Who seals this to the heart of the believer. As you read, believers can be shaken and bowled over, but in Christ, there is a renewal of strength. God raises up counselors and Christian friends, prayer warriors and pastors, so that a believer can find the help necessary to bring renewed confidence in God through the redeeming work of Jesus and this by the power of the Spirit. Such episodes of descending into fears remind the believer it is totally God and His mercy, which lifts one from fear and death and hell, and places him in the arms of Sovereign love.

There is no one, no thing, no god like you, O God of Glory, Who rides through the heavens to bring help to His helpless people, Who rides through the skies in His majesty! Ah teach us once again, the promise that You, Eternal God, are the dwelling place of Your people and underneath the believer are Your everlasting arms. You will thrust out the enemy before Your people. Happy and blessed are you, O believer! Who is like you—a people saved by the LORD, shielded by the Spirit, with the sword of Jesus’ triumph in your hand. Amen.

(prayer based on the words of Deuteronomy 33:26-29)

https://youtu.be/IeaDNylMvuo?si=NZ0D2seEClnvwRoG Aaron Shust “Even in my old age”

February 7, 2024 -- Hebrews 12:28-29 -- Getting off the Treadmill

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV

Ever heard of the hedonic treadmill? It is a theory that what makes us happy can only make us happy for a little while and then we go back to our set point of happiness. For example, you might hear your favorite song on your play list. You hit repeat. You might still enjoy it a third time, but what happens if it is played fifty times in a row? You might think “I never, ever, want to hear that song again”. Those who take drugs or alcohol become like hamsters on a wheel. The faster they go, the more exhausted they become, and they never get anywhere. Where once a bit of a chemical made you happy, soon you’ll need more and more and your exhausted brain and body can’t process it but you still crave more in order to get the same high you had before.

Paul is writing to a people who were looking backwards. They were focused on the old ways of Jewish practices. They had hoped what they used to do might now bring greater happiness and peace. They were going in the wrong direction. All the practices of the Old Testament were all pointing forward to Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate fulfilment of God’s plans and promises. In Him, there is joy unspeakable full of glory (I Peter 1:8). 

The worship of God is not like a treadmill, or a hamster wheel, because the more one knows about God, the more there is to explore, to know, to love, to respond to with awe and praise. He is a consuming fire—He is infinite in His wisdom, infinite in His glory, infinite in His being. The more we explore, there more there is to know. So worship is not a treadmill, or a stationary experience, it is a journey that leads us onwards and forwards our whole life through. Knowing Jesus Christ, and His perfect obedience and faithful love is enough to fill a whole life-time of contemplation. The Holy Spirit takes the things of God and the Word of God and sets them ablaze for us so that it is with reverence and awe that we approach the Majestic High King of Heaven offering our praise, ourselves, our contrition, our humble adoration. The more we yield to Him, the greater is our desire to know Him and submit. The greater our submission and love, the greater is the pull to know Him and adore Him. It is proper hedonism—pursuing God with all we have, all we are and with all our mind.

Mighty God, Who brings peace to His people through Jesus Christ—the Great Shepherd of the sheep—equip us by Your Spirit so that we can respond to Your steadfast love. Work in us what is pleasing to You, so that we can offer to You acceptable worship, with reverence and awe that never grows old, or boring, or cold. Amen.

https://youtu.be/u0a1Pq9avbg?si=X3dmj5lOHq0hEMq_ O Worship the King

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 6, 2024 -- Psalm 92:1-3 -- Name that Tune

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High;
to declare Your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
Psalm 92:1-3 ESV

“Well, it’s one for the money, two for the show”. Can you guess the song? Can you guess the singer? (Blue Suede Shoes, Elvis). Well, it was originally written and performed by Carl Perkin, but Elvis covered it a year later. (Of course it has been covered by other singer and that phrase is also used in other songs.) What is the point? Well, with a couple of words you can begin singing a whole song. For more contemporary audiences, here’s another example, “Hello, it’s me”. (If you guessed “Hello” Adele, 2015 you’d be right on the money lol).

What is the point? The music playing in the background of stores, what we laughingly call “elevator music” or “muzak” has a really big influence on you. The music blaring at your work-site is not leading you closer to God. Words penetrate your thoughts and become brain worms weaving in and out of your consciousness. This is happening more than you even realize, until you play "I can name that tune in four words or three notes". These songs on the various music stations are not bringing glory to God. The musical accompaniment is meant to drive a wedge between you and God.

So, it is good to give thanks to the LORD—morning, noon and night. It is appropriate that musical selections are skillfully written—both the words and the tunes—so that believers hum and sing praises to God their King through-out the day and night. There are many songs that based on the bible, so that in hearing them one begins to know the Bible and more importantly, to sing praises to Him Who is the Most High God. These songs are reminders of His steadfast love. These are songs that lift the soul from the pit of despair and the gloomy contemplations of one’s troubles and bring the believers to the place where the believer sees the beauty of the Father through the work of Jesus—the One Sacrifice who has reconciled you to Him—and the work of the Holy Spirit Who seals this to your mind and heart.

It is an interesting question. If you should happen to get dementia and the songs you’ve stored up in your heart break out on your lips, because your filters are all but gone—what will you singing? “I’m on the highway to” (I can’t bring myself to write the rest, no doubt many of your know it already). Here’s the contrast “The LORD’s my Shepherd”.

For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
    at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

5 How great are your works, O Lord!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though the wicked sprout like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8     but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
    for behold, your enemies shall perish;
    all evildoers shall be scattered.

5 How great are your works, O Lord!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
Today's prayer is Psalm 92:4-9 with the repetition of verse 5 ESV

https://youtu.be/OoojA0cLPWY?si=zU_UT9q3MvKexaba “Psalm 23” Shane and Shane

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 5, 2024 -- II Corinthians 5:17 -- Official Portrait

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
II Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Don’t know about you, but my cell phone, computer and some social media sites scrolling along various sites I visit have non-stop newsfeeds. Headlines on various topics are designed to catch your attention. This morning one of the top ones on my phone was a headline to the effect that some Australians are eagerly awaiting a new official portrait of King Charles III, one year after his ascension to the throne. It got me thinking about this text from the Bible. You might wonder about the link, but I ask you, just follow me on this, it will make sense.

When a new British Monarch ascends the throne, he gets an official portrait made and it is sent to official offices, like post offices, court houses, police stations, schools, universities, government offices through out the realm. When King Charles III has his official portrait made, it will go to such offices through out the United Kingdom, to his distant realms and territories, as well as to Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia. The point is, citizens of these lands will know who the king is, what he looks like, and portraiture will also give the careful observers a sense of what the king is like. One of the last official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II showed her wearing the regal sapphire tiara with the matching sapphire necklace which has equally large stones surrounded with diamonds. Shows her wealth. There was the order of the insignia of Canada pinned to her shoulder (displaying her right to rule Canada) and the order of military merit (reminding the historically informed of her dedicated service in World War II). She was in an ivory gown. Pointing to her purity in dedicated service and her dignity for office.

Dear family in our Lord Jesus Christ—God has His portrait clearly displayed in heaven. Jesus Christ, the Victor, the One Who has overcome sin, death, hell and the grave. His throne is the Eternal Throne and before Him saints and angels cry out in shouts of dedication, love, and awe-filled devotion. Our Father in heaven has proudly sent out official portraits of His Son, these portraits are living. The portraits are Christians who are His new creation. Believers bear the mark of Jesus Christ, which is the Holy Spirit living within. By the Spirit’s presence and power Christians have renewed in them the image of God—true holiness, true righteousness (Ephesians 4:24) and true knowledge (Colossians 3:10). Christians live to please God their Father, even as a loving son on earth loves to please the father who is his hero. The fruit of such active obedience becomes obvious as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control ripen within and are expressed in every aspect of the believer's life. We are posted in His official buildings—churches. However, as we leave worship we are living portraits, going out into all the world, showing people the beauty of the One, True King.

Beautiful Savior, You are the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by You all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through You and for You, Jesus. And You are before all things, and in You all things hold together. You are the Head of the Body, that is, the Church. In the strength of the Holy Spirit we bless You Jesus and bring to You our praise and worship that through You, the Father will be honoured and blessed and glorified. Spirit of the Living God, clean us, from the inside out, that we may ever more fully reflect the image of Jesus unto the glory of God and this so that many people will be drawn into the Kingdom of the One, True, High King of Eternal Splendor. Amen.

https://youtu.be/px-eU1QjQiU?si=ScYzD2D_Ad3bJUjN Psalm 51

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 3, 2024 -- Proverbs 3:25-27 -- The LORD is Your Confidence

Do not be afraid of sudden terror
    or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
26 for the LORD will be your confidence
    and will keep your foot from being caught.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to do it.
Proverbs 3:25-27 ESV

Recently I saw news headlines that the E.U. and the World Economic Forum founder and the WHO Director-General were all leading their respective organizations efforts at making plans for Disease X. That is some unknown virus or disease which might devastate humanity. Of course people are always devouring news about the latest virus, or snow-bomb, or financial disaster, or climate change, or (well, you fill in the blank). Notice in the first verse that sudden terrors will be predicted, though they may or may not happen. In contrast the ruin of the wicked is assured. There is no question that the doomsayers will themselves be thrown down. The downfall of the wicked should not surprise the Christian, instead it should leave him in no doubt of God's rule over all things.

For terrors real, imagined, impending or occurring, the second verse give reassurance which is beyond all measure comforting: for the LORD will be your confidence. Humanity is not improving—look at the greed, the wars, the research to find newer, more lethal viruses for warfare, the plans for M.A.I.D.’s expansion—though that is currently slowed in Canada, it is not off the books! Your confidence is fixed on the LORD. When you see His Name all in capitals it refers to Exodus 3:15, where the LORD assures Moses, and all the subsequent generations, that He Is, He Was, He Will Be. Nothing surprises God. Nothing is beyond Him. He has the ability to guard His people, save His people in Christ, and direct the course of history. The great confidence of the Christian is the saving work of God.

Notice the impact that should have. So many people have funds for a rainy day. The problem is that such funds can become for them a prized hoard that never gets used. When there are needs and crisis all around, the ones who have the LORD as their confidence can freely give. The LORD will provide (that is Genesis 22:14). So ask yourself, are you using your wealth, your time and your abilities to bless the people around you so that in your generosity they see the LORD is your confidence? The LORD's got this, He can provide, He does give His children exactly what is needed so that their faith grows and their submitted obedience to Him can flourish.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.

https://youtu.be/G2uPU-NY-sc?si=nDCp-v1EG-TFxjXw (The Lord’s Prayer - It’s Yours)

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

February 2, 2024 -- Proverbs 1:24-31 -- True Fandom

Because I have called and you refused to listen,
    have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25 because you have ignored all my counsel
    and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
    I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm
    and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
    when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
    they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
    and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30 would have none of my counsel
    and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
    and have their fill of their own devices.
Proverbs 1:24-31 ESV

Yesterday I was listening to a preacher who noted that a man died. His coworkers at the office, who knew he was not a Christian, nor were any of them Christians themselves, commented, “Well, at least he’s in a better place”. No, according to the Bible you can count on the fact that those who do not believe in God do not go to a better place. Jesus described Hell as the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28). It is a place where the consuming worm never dies and the fires of torment never go out (Mark 9:48).

Is God unjust in sending people to Hell? Look again at the text today. God the Father has sent all kinds of proofs of His willingness to hear people who are here, on earth. He will send His help to those who are in all kinds of distress. The greatest evidence of His wisdom is Jesus Christ—yet people refused to hear His call or accept His invitation to obedience. His hands are stretched out inviting weary sinners to come home to Him. Those who continuously refuse Him will “eat the fruit of their way”—that is, the natural consequences of refusing the LORD of Heaven and Earth will ruin them and their own sinful ways will destroy them.

Many people believe this is just “Old Testament angry-God”. Not so. In the New Testament Jesus spoke of the terrors of Hell for those who refuse Him. The Book of the Revelation shows Jesus as the Faithful and True One, riding on the horse of judgment “From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations (Revelation 19:15). Now is the Day of Salvation. Now is the opportunity for people to fear the LORD God. Those Who appropriately fear Him will find all their other fears subjected to Him and He will by His Spirit rule the hearts of those who believe. The Holy Spirit will direct the the hearts, lives and hands of believers in wisdom. It is work to turn away from the prevalent sins of this age and keep directing one’s steps in the way of the Living God.

Believers worship the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit—aware that in Jesus they are rescued from Hellfire and torment. But the more they look to Him the more He changes. Let me explain. Those who look to Him see Him as the Glorious Captain of Salvation. He is the Hero of Salvation. He is the Rescue Story of those who trust Him. People have soccer idols and hockey heroes, on an infinitely grander scale, Jesus is the Glorious Champion, the Hero bar-none. Those who recognize Him as such, give Him all their fandom praise!

Faithful Father in heaven, thank You for the instruction of wisdom and the teaching You give through Jesus Christ and His Word. Thank You for the patient repetitive invitation to receive from You guidance which guards the way of the wise from all the wiles of evil. We confess how easily we fall back in step with our former wicked ways and how readily we forget our pledges to serve You. Father in heaven, direct us by Your Spirit to the way of wisdom and the paths of obedience and the life of surrender to the Son, in Whom You bless believers with all joy, life, and true satisfaction. Let our lives so shine for You that many will be drawn to Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/W5EUvOnQr4Y?si=ADfgCs-nmuxUSaV4 “His Mercy Is More”

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 31, 2024 -- Matthew 5:14-15 -- Shine for Jesus!

People loved by the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit: Sh’ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

One of my friends complained: “Every time I truly give myself 100% over to God and try to serve Jesus, it seems the Devil doubles down and makes things miserable for me”. Can you relate? I sure can. The trouble for me in my life is how often I am content with 90% obedience, perhaps slightly more, often far less. So the lack of surrender of that last 10% of my life to God means I am holding on to things I want. I am holding onto things which by twisting justifications I think don’t matter to God…though I clearly know they do matter. I just want what I want.

When a life is illuminated by Jesus Christ, then all the areas of sin and strongholds of the enemy are clearly seen. The Spirit then works in you to purge what is sinful, eliminate what is holding you back and enable you to tear down the strongholds of the Devil and sin. If I am truly honest, it is not even that the Devil has to be added into the equation. My own sinful heart is often so wicked and warped that I am always inclined to follow my own sin rather than the light of Christ.

This is precisely why a Christian who conscientiously and consistently obeys Jesus, confessing his sin and fighting against the old temptations and lusts and habits of his nature is so striking to the people around him. His peers are always looking for a chink in his armor and imperfections in his walk so that they don’t have to worry about their own compromises, sins, and the party-house the Devil has set up in their lives. However, a man or a woman who consistently shines the light of Jesus Christ is truly an inspiration to the people around him. Even the acknowledgement of one’s sin and the willingness to turn from it and confess his sins to God is something the world doesn’t understand.

You life shines before all men because you talk to Jesus. Your life is a blinding brilliance when you go to church, when you take time out of your day to talk to God. In fact each time you turn away from your own willful desires and follow Jesus the people around you take note. It is so unusual in our world. The Father is glorified by your joy in Him. The people who hope, secretly wanting there to be something bigger, some grand purpose in life, will see what you are doing and give glory to God the Father as they follow you in your submission to Jesus. A life lived full on for Jesus will face resistance from many around him, but will also cause others to go to him and say, "what you got, I want it!"

O God my Father, thank You that in Jesus I have recognized the poverty of my own life and spirit and by confessing this find fullness of life in Christ. Thank You that mourning over sin has given me greater comfort in Jesus Christ than I ever could have imagined. Thank You, Father in heaven, for the righteousness that is mine in Christ sealed to me by Your Spirit, so that I have a pure heart and a deep desire to remain pure for Jesus. Thank You, Glorious Father that the purity of Jesus and the His Light shining out from me means I will see You, Triune God, now by faith and soon through-out eternity! Amen.

https://youtu.be/m8y3IKarEVY?si=hOQ4f-n9otoL9m6S “Shine” Newsboys

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 30, 2024 -- Revelation 22:21 -- The grace of Jesus

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation 22:21 ESV

Pictured at the very end of the Revelation of John is the glory of heaven. The river of the water of life will flow from the throne of God and the Lamb. What glories will result as this precious flood nurtures the tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations. God Himself will be the Light of His people and the light of the city.

Then chapter 22 gives the final summary—evil doers, despite the glories to come and the anticipated splendour, will still do evil and the filthy will still be filthy. What is amazing is that those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life are those whose deeds and works were evil and filthy. It is the Lamb Himself, Who has been slain, Whose blood has been spilled so that the formerly evil and filthy are now reconciled to God. Believers who read these words know they are unworthy. They know their deeds. They know their past and would be shamed, thoroughly humiliated and looking for rocks to fall on them if their lives would be broadcast to the world. What makes the difference between those who are evil and filthy and those formerly filthy and evil whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life?

It is the grace of the Lord Jesus. Men and women who see the extent of their evil and filthiness and cry out to Jesus, help me! Clean me! Make me pure within! Interestingly, it is by the Spirit of God that men and women realize their wretched condition. It is the Spirit of God, the same Spirit poured out by the Father and the Son upon the people, so that men and women crying out and appealing to the grace of Jesus will be marked with the grace of Jesus Christ—His atoning blood—this Spirit makes men and women long to be completely changed inside and out.

It is the grace of the Lord Jesus—He Who is fully God and fully man—Who in obedience to His Father’s decree uttered before the creation of the world left His place at the Father’s right hand and the deep throne-room fellowship with the Holy Spirit in order to take on flesh and blood so that He could be our Redeemer and King.

It is the grace of the Lord Jesus sealed to us by the Holy Spirit, His grace that leads us to ever deeper anticipation of healing here on earth and the final healing and the full restoration of our God-designed humanity in heaven. It is His grace, which will cover us through-out eternity, so that beholding Him face to face our hearts rejoice, forever, in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Father in heaven how great and faithful is Your love for Your people. Thank You for the great grace of Jesus Christ. Spirit of the Living God, Deposit Guaranteeing our eternal inheritance in Christ, move us to declare the love of our Father which is so magnificently revealed in the grace of the Lord Jesus, to declare this love to friends and family, neighbours and coworkers. Spirit of the Living God refresh missionaries and evangelists this day so that they will witness to Jesus to the glory of the Father. Oh Triune God, gather men and women from the North and the South, the East and the West, fill up to full measure of those whom You have chosen for glory and bring to each one Your holy healing. Amen.

https://youtu.be/HsCp5LG_zNE?si=br5zccZj-D7IqtpY “Amazing Grace” Celtic Women

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 27, 2024 -- Revelation 7:9-12 -- What are you worshiping? Come on be honest. You are giving yourself to something.

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 7:9-12 ESV

One of the strangest things Christians do (and there are, to the watching eyes of the world lots of strange things) is to gather for worship. They dress up in nice clothes. They prepare for times of worship by praying for the preacher, praying that their own hearts will be open to the message to be preached. They join together single and married, young and old, whole families as well. Why?

It is what people were created to do. Humanity will worship. It will be sports or booze—maybe both. It will be video games or gossip. It will be anger or lust. Sins overtake people especially if they do not having the over-arching glorious vision of the One, True God. If men do not worship the God of Splendor Who alone lives in unapproachable light they will choose things that are inanimate, things that will kill them, things that are unworthy of consideration and give their time, abilities and money to that. Or, having known the Father by the work of Jesus the Son, in the power of the Spirit all people will rise, will shout, now on earth and one day in the unimaginable sumptuous resplendence of heaven, “Salvation belongs to our God, Who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

It is the delight of the Christian to worship God. Even in times of calamity and strife. Men know the wars, earthquakes, violence against the believers, great sins—all these things are birth pains which point to the coming of the New Heavens and the New Earth. People of this world see the hardships and evils (which are multiplied by their own wickedness) and rather than repenting before God, gnaw of their tongues and curse the God of heaven (Revelation 16:10-11). Not so believers. The hardships of this life, the pincer tactics of the Devil and his vile hosts are exposed as ultimately futile. Jesus has overcome the world, the Devil, and death itself. In view of this, the Christian all the more delights to worship.

Worship builds fellowship, camaraderie. Believers know they are not alone. When Christians gather and worship the Living God, Who is holy and true, their hearts are encouraged, their souls look to Him, minds are prepared for the battles that face them. Christians are not alone. First and foremost, the Spirit of the Living God lives in every believer so that it is sweeter to trust in Jesus than have all the world’s treasures. Jesus is the treasure beyond all calculation. Second, believers like soldiers in the army, have each other’s back. Soldiers encourage one another, remind each other of the righteousness of the cause. In the case of Christians, there is no great cause, no stronger or nobler reason for fighting than to lift high the Name of Jesus.

Finally, worship builds anticipation for what will soon be. Eternity will not be boring. If men can be stirred by hockey arenas, if women can shout and get excited by packed concerts, and these things will soon fade away, imagine how much greater, better, more lasting it will be to join the people who have lived in every age and generation and then to participate in the concert of the ages?! Worship reminds you that this life is fleeting, passing more quickly than you can even keep track of, but oh, you were built for eternity in the presence of our God and Glorious King. So, each day presents a stark choice: refuse to worship the Amazing, Great, and Almighty God. You will be gnawing off your tongues in favour of the trinkets and baubles of this world aware that one day the judgment that leads to everlasting hell awaits you. OR decide today to join the thronging worshipers and bless the LORD God, the Lamb on the Throne and this by the power of the Spirit. You will be tuning your attitude, voice, and whole self for the beauty and worship of eternity.

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear, O Lord,
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
    All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Revelation 15:3b-4 ESV

https://youtu.be/_irIeaAWVyw?si=2EinY119h4bYQwo6 We Shall Behold Him

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 26, 2024 -- Psalm 139:13-16 -- Why are you valuable?

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

13 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16 ESV

Why are people valuable? Why is every life precious? Each one is made in the image of God. Each person who was ever conceived had a start of life by the design of our Heavenly Father. What tenderness you find in our passage today—He knit us together. He knows all our days. When a society loses this fundamental truth, then life becomes shockingly disposable.

Medical assistance in dying (M.A.I.D.) has reached such a fevered pitch that in 2023 up to 7% of all deaths in Quebec were by M.A.I.D. In February of 2023 a bill was passed by the North Dakota State House stating people are superior to animals and inanimate objects. Why is this necessary? Think about it, people are sheltering dogs and cats and killing people. It has been reported that in the United States when a test for the markers of Down’s Syndrome are administered on a preborn child, the consequence is that to up 90% of the children thought to be Down’s babies were aborted. Dr, Jean Bethke Elshtain, author and professor of Social and Political Ethics, comments “^I worry that, in the name of reason, we may be eliminating whole categories of human beings”.

Fears expressed more than a decade ago by Elshtain, and in the previous century by C.S. Lewis, are proving valid. Veterans are being offered M.A.I.D. Homeless individuals. Our country aborts a over 70,000 babies a year. Senior citizens are being offered M.A.I.D. How much it echoes Nazi Germany! Then the regime carried out experiments on babies and those with dwarfism. The stated goal was the elimination of the Jewish people. In Nazi Germany it was the logical consequences of social Darwinism. In Canada and the United States today, the elimination of whole categories of people, of human beings, is considered acceptable—again, you are seeing the logical consequences of social Darwinism. Life is not valuable. And as it is acceptable to destroy one category of people, soon, it will be others. The culture of death is a hunger that is never satisfied.

Dear family and friends in our Lord Jesus Christ you are valuable. People--old and young, sick and healthy, housed or homeless, mentally ill or on the spectrum of normal, all are valuable, not because of what we can or can not contribute in our world. Our worth comes from the fact that we are made in God’s image. We are precious to Him. He sent His Son Jesus to reconcile us to Himself and sealed the relationship by the powerful presence of His Holy Spirit. This is the gift conferred to believers by faith. When a man or a woman knows he is God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which He prepared in advance for him to do, then the dignity of whole categories of people is once again restored. Pray for Christian revival to sweep across our land.

O God, Father in heaven, how precious to me are Your thoughts! How vast is the sum of them! If I were to count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

https://youtu.be/05jKxv8ApuI?si=Bc-4f1FbzQjLoQy5 “My Worth is Not in What I Own”

^J. Elshtain, “Who are We? C.S. Lewis and the Question of Man. Socrates in the City. Ed. E. Metaxas, Toronto: Penguin Group. 2011, page 138

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 24, 2024 -- Revelation 5:11-14 -- True, Regal Power

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Revelation 5:11-14 ESV

On Saturday May 6, 2023 tens upon tens of millions of people all around the world watched live, or later recordings of, the coronation of King Charles III. There were stirring hymns and regal music and shouts. It was pageantry with all its attendant pomp. At the end of it all, King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla have a throne without power, bound by the dictates of the UK Parliament and this aging couple will go the way of all flesh. They will die.

In sharp contrast, the people of the Great King of Heaven, look to the splendor of heaven, where Jesus, the Lamb of God that was slain, is honoured and adored as the King of kings and LORD of lords Who does, did, and will reign forever. There is no sense in which Christianity is boring. We are taken up in wonder at our new citizenship—those who have by faith in Christ a passport for the New Heavens and the New Earth where death will be no more. Then sin and the Devil and even death itself are utterly vanquished and thrown into eternal hell.

Dear people of God, perhaps the Christian faith seems boring to you? Let me suggest it is because you are considering a truncated, shriveled, mocked view of Christianity. One that is paraded before you as it is portrayed by its enemies and adversaries. Yet what have the enemies of Christ to offer? A world where the drug crisis is growing by the hour. A world where governments put their citizens to death with abortions, and ever expanding definitions where M.A.I.D. is an option. Homeless is a crisis in our affluent land—more and more cities are crushed by it. Fear of climate change. Fear of death. Fear of other nations. Fear of war. Fear rules so many areas of life. All these ills are caused by sinful people who rule as if they have a solution but who are, in fact, ruled by fears.

By way of sharp, insightful contrast, the psalmist writes: “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer” (Psalm 45:1 NIV). One day, all the heavens and the earth will be swept away. There will be the New Heavens and the New Earth where God the Father because of the reconciling work of Jesus will live among His people. Our cloudy and foggy brains now barely can conceive the majesty, wonders, splendour, beauty, holiness and you can see language breaks down to adequately explain or depict what it to be.

Dear family in Christ, do not give up hope. The world and its troubles will soon pass away. The troubles and pains and griefs we see today are rooted in the evils which reside in the hearts of men. Jesus Christ has, by His cross, conquered sin and death and hell and their attendant shames. By the Spirit of God, contemplate what is yet to be. Hope in Christ brightens the eyes of faith so that the glorious future that is in store motivates the heart to pray now and the hands to work now for the glory of our All-Powerful King, Jesus!

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of Your Kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.^
King of Glory, rule in our hearts by Your Spirit so that our eyes made alive by faith in Jesus see things as they are and as they will be. Spirit of God strengthen us for the battle of prayer so that we will not sink into hopeless lethargy. Spirit of Truth, speak to us through the Word of God so that the radiance of our King will fill our vision and our words, His effulgence will motive our works and our aspirations. Amen.

^Psalm 45:6-7 ESV

https://youtu.be/C_2cnqvoMFE?si=OCZwoLc0uKACCLDO “By the Sea of Crystal”

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.

January 22, 2024 -- Ephesians 6:4 -- Godliness and manliness

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4 ESV

In our society today fathers get a bad rap. Think of TV shows and sitcoms, how the father seems to be dumb and his children know all the answers. Fatherless households are considered normal, with no regard for the spiritual order which the LORD our God laid down in Genesis.

Consider the words of Dr. Paul Vitz, senior scholar at the Institute for Psychological Sciences, New York.
…at the center of the crisis in the family is a crisis of what
it is to be a father. We’ve lost this understanding of the
capstone, in my judgment of what it is to be a man, because
I think all men are called to be fathers. Now, I don’t
necessarily means they are called to be biological fathers.
I mean that they’re called to be fathers to at least some
of the younger people in their life.
If you’re going to take away one message from my talk,
it is this: You fathers are of great importance in forming
the religious attitude of your children. As we have seen,
many an atheist was damaged by negative personal
relationships, especially with a father or a father figure.
In summary I think, all this evidence should be a call
to men to rediscover what fatherhood is about. It is
about helping other people, leading them in a self-
sacrificing way. Yes, it’s about self-sacrifice. That’s the
only way you earn genuine respect, and when do that,
the public responds. The wife responds. The children
respond.
After 9/11, one of the reasons we responded so
positively to the firemen and their deaths was that we
saw self-sacrifice by manly men who weren’t in it for
the money, weren’t in it like the CEO who needs
more than enough money to work for his company
They weren’t in it for themselves. That is why all
these jaded New Yorkers on 9/11 stood and applauded
when the firemen went by.
Dr. Paul Vitz, “The Importance of Fatherhood” Socrates in the City Conversations on “Life,
God, and Other Small Topics” Ed. Eric Metaxas. Toronto: Penguin Group; 2011. pages 83 & 96.

Dear brothers and fathers heed the call of God on your life. Act like men who notice the yearning need younger boys and teens and young men around you have for men who will mentor them, training them to walk in godly manliness. How are your words and your actions leading them to know Jesus Christ? How are you denying yourself, and your desires, and your sports and gaming, so that the next generation and the one after that are rising up and blessing the Lord our God?

What a privilege it is, O God, to call You Father! Thank You for our elder brother, Jesus Christ, in Whom is all manliness and self-sacrifice. Thank You for the work of Your Spirit, by Whom men receive the instruction of Scripture, grow in Christ-likeness, and live as godly men impacting the people around them for the honour and glory of the Triune God. Amen.

https://youtu.be/bQsX8tl9W5Q?si=jU7qg9lmS1f2HWlp Stuart Townend “O Church Arise”

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