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ftpthemovement · 4 years

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Comfort or calling? Stop stalling it’s time to ride.

God doesn’t place a calling in your heart and not give you the ability to see it through. Are you choosing comfort or your calling?

Last week I was seeking God to inquire him about a word he gave me a few months ago revolving around FTP. Most people don’t know, but we are closing in on the last few months of our lease here in Kennesaw, and the word he gave me was in reference to what the furture would hold for us. When I asked, I wasnt given a direct answer, so I expressed a lack of assurance to close friends and members of FTP. Since the inception of FTP, God has always given a clear vision of what was to come, and this was the first time where there wasn’t a direct clear cut direction or instruction on what we were supposed to be doing. So I went walking in solitude spending time with God and he began to speak to me.

Often times when God talks to me the most, Its during these times where I’m walking with him in a remote location free from distractions and any input, or out side interference. On this particular day, God placed it on my heart that it was time to uproot myself from Kennesaw Georgia, and move to Las Vegas Nevada to do his will. Cause you know, that’s super normal and all 😂

At first I felt very worried because it’s moving across the nation to a place I don’t know, surrounded by people I also don’t know, to places I’ve never been before in my life. Automatically, my first inclination is to worry. Yet God choose to remind me of a word he sent me around a year ago, when he said, “I’m bringing a raging river to dry sands.” I quickly remembered that I used to walk around a repeat it daily, often times I still do; but I never really understood it until recently. On September 6th, I saw the post come up on Facebook, Circa Sept 6, 2019. Exactly a year later, God was reaffirming his word from exackty year ago, and it lined up perfectly with the message he had just given me! Guess you would have to be there to know the full gravity of the situation, but let’s just say it was all the confirmation I would ever need.

But, in the process of such a massive transition, you obviously have to iron out a few wrinkles with such an undertaking. So, I immediately reached out to Alex and Jordan, who are very close brothers and members of FTP to ask them what they thought. Amazingly enough, they not only supported it, but they felt lead to deployed there as well! Talk about faith in action! I really don’t think you could ask for more than that. God says go, thier answer figuratively speaking was, “Say when.” It’s literally the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Obviously all of our intentions are there, but this is when the opposition likes to creep in. See, technically we are still here until the lease is up. We have to manage to somehow raise funding, continue expanding discipleship, and elect overseers to continue our work here in Georgia, while we expand to the west as God has instructed. In the middle we could come up with a number of excuses, fears, doubt, insecurities, distractions, and opposing opportunities in the process. Hence why the topic up top is, “Are you choosing your comfort, or your calling?”

Up until yesterday when I would think about the transition I would start asking questions that I think any sane, logical, rational person would ask. Stuff like, “Where are we going to stay?” “Are we shutting down the businesses we run?” “How do we all manage to uproot multiple families and make it work?” “Where will we work, etc.“ “Where will the resources come from to help make the transition happen?”

Now, everything isn’t complete, but the Lord has already answered about 90% of these questions, and in the coming months we are going to reveal the plan God has placed in motion, and we hope that you share in the vision and take the opportunity in helping be apart of Gods work! But, for now this is where God calls his followers to have faith, and to be prepared to put that faith in action by trusting that he will create the way to see it to completion!

Sounds tough, and it is! Yet, he specifically reminded me of one answer he gave that changed the complete trajectory of all of my thoughts. A question so imperative, that it shifted everything Ive ever known when it comes to following God. What’s that question you might ask?

The question was, “If I choose to stay and not go, would you be mad at me?”

Even reading the question as I’m writing it, it sounds loaded. But in the loving grace that only my Heavenly Father could answer in, I got a peaceful “No.” So, God is calling me to go do his will, but if I don’t go, he won’t be mad at me? Hmm..... I felt a prompting in my spirit to ask God another question. “If I don’t go, can I be just as successful here doing your will as I would be there?” He gracefully and calmly replied, “No.”

“So, if I go I’ll be more successful than if I stay, why wouldn’t I go?” I had a lot of answers to that question. It’s probably one the easiest list I could ever come up with. Because of job security, comfort, and fear. Because of being rooted in what I’ve grown accustom to on a daily basis. All of the things I take for granted that would simply disappear if i choose to be obedient. If you really think about it for awhile there’s sooo much stuff that I could list, and go on and on about. As I sat there and thought about every excuse in the book, God blessed me with a wave of insight that came crashing down on me, saturating me with love, insight, revelation and understanding. If you made it this far, stick around because I’m about to share it with you.

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

God showed that I can be saved, be doing good works, and still be far outside of his intended will for my life....

Listen.... It’s the times that God asks for obedience, yet we choose to shrink back from it. You might understand examples like, “God telling you to say something to someone, but your scared to do it so you shrink back. Or, you know you should have done something in a particular situation but looking back would have handled it a million different ways, but froze up. All those are good examples, but imagine that times 100 million, it’s that deep of a revelation.

What God revealed is that often time we will ask Him questions, and he will answer them in accordance to the condition of our hearts. Re read that slow 5 times and meditate on it.

Jesus often times does similar in scripture, by answering people’s questions with a question first, to reveal the motive of there hearts. What God was showing me was that when we ask him questions, we often times ask out of good intentions, but it’s filtered through our intended desires. We ask with intentions on receiving what we want the response to be. Let’s slow it down cause it’s really heavy. It means we aren’t really seeking his will, but instead, we are seeking what we want his will to align with it.

This means when asking God, we can have all the best intentions in the world of serving God, but when we ask him for something, we are asking it for self, and he graciously and lovingly gives us the desires of our hearts. But if your hearts will, even though being good, isn’t what’s God wants for your life, is it a life worth living? It may appear to be good, you claim it’s for his kingdom, but if it’s not the mission he’s called you to....?

Walk with me bro...

How many of you have seen visions in your head from God, or felt a prompting in your heart to expand in ways you can’t even fathom, but then you quickly rationalize every excuse of why it can’t happen for you, and you write it off as a day dream How many times have you asked God for something but if it doesn’t happen how you wanted it to, or expected it to, you start questioning if you have unresolved sin, or if you did something not pleasing to God. How many of you reading this are weighed down by your past decisions in life, and they hauntingly become the excuses of your future?

God literally loves you enough, to bless you, save you, bring you into heaven, and you still not have lived the life he had intended for you. Most people I’ve met say, “Well everything happens for a reason, and God allowed x______ to happen to learn from it, so I don’t consider it a mistake. Yet they refuse to take ownership of truthfully considering if they were choosing their will or his!

God meets you where you are, when you turn to him, then He gives you beauty for your ashes. Things happen because you choose his way or your way, second by second day by day. When you’re on track and fully submitted to his will, you will live how he wants you to live. When you choose your will, and realize what you’re doing is wrong, he meets you where you are at. When you turn from your way, (aka repentance) Thats when he puts you back on the right path.

When you take ownership you realize, you can’t be focused on fear and faith at the same time. You’re going to choose one or the other daily. Several times God gives orders in scripture, man choose his own way, and he meets them where they are at. It’s literally the whole entire book. Man chooses flesh, God sets them straight, repeat. God tells Isreal do this, they don’t do it, they repent, he blesses them. You think he wanted them to mess up? No! He wants to bless them, but just as we do, we pursue our own ways, and then ask God to bless them.

Long segway, but I hope it was useful. Point is, how many times have you been given a vision, or felt the feeling and didn’t act? In my experience, JUST MY PERSONAL experience, everything God calls me to do, is wildly uncomfortable, and he always places me in a positions that my faith is required to go further than my flesh has ever been capable of. Meaning, God gives me visions that I cannot complete on my own, that I have to overcome fear, walk in faith, and be wildly dependent on him to complete the mission. Period.

So, what calling has you placed on your heart that you haven’t been listening to? Are you so far past having them that you don’t even ask God anymore? Are you just focused on, watch over my family, help me make it through this work day, get a decent spot at the mall, next promotion, and don’t let me get stuck in traffic?

Or is it, God you know what I’m going through, if you would just give me a sign, I’ll do whatever you tell me? But, then you don’t read the Bible enough to realize, he’s already given you the sign, your mission, purpose and calling, and you would just rather wait on magic to drop from the sky, settling for comfort and complacent over sacrifice and obedience?

Come on bro!! Excuses are void in the kingdom of heaven, act like you knew! Don’t be the guy who gets so far off path that you say you believe, but don’t seek Gods will daily, so you walk around professing God, but living nothing like what he’s called you to live. You’re better than that.

So, what’s the answer to this ridiculously long blog?

Fully submit yourself to Gods will daily, no matter how crazy it may seem to others. Use me as an example if you need to. If you know me, I’m not the trophy boy for exceptional Christian. I’m what most churches would call a heretic, a false profit, or lost in sin. Yet, all I eat sleep and breathe is doing Gods will daily. My point is, people will always have an opinion, even the people who thought they were closest to God, killed his son, and the prophets who came before him! Christ rebelled against their man made religion, called them a brood of vipers, prob some more stuff, and then went on to reveal love, care, generosity, forgiveness, and compassion! A little different example than what they had set. He goes on to show mercy trumps sacrifice, and forgiveness and love conquers all. He literally displayed the example of what it means to be his disciple for all to see, when he picked up his cross, took on the sin of judging hypocrites, and said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do!”

Yet in this world, being a true disciple is a stumbling block for most religious people. It’s the very ones who claim to know him the most, that continuously persecute his elect. So, if you don’t look like mans religious church, and you don’t look like the world, you might just find that your walking on the narrow path with Jesus, that he himself said very few will find.

So don’t choose the ways of the world and they will hate you. Don’t seek to align yourself with mans religious customs and narrow viewpoint, they will hate you too.

For they fear what they don’t know, and kill what they can’t understand. Blind guides, full of judgment, an outward display of selfish insecurity, masquerading itself as righteousness. They’ve been judging themselves their whole life, because it is all they’ve known to do. Some past judgment on the world, others understand the word enough that they don’t pass judgment on the world, but comprehend the word enough to pass judgment on the church. Yet when they do so its a perversion, because they do not know love, so they lack the truth. They themselves can’t even look in the mirror and love themselves, so they cannot rightly ever loves others! When they look in the mirror they see sin and not their savior. So they outwardly reflect their shortcomings onto others. Claiming to be free, yet they tie a burdensome yoke onto others that they themself cannot carry, because they have skeletons they cannot bury. Depraved bunch in high positions, appearing to be Shepard’s, but they are like chaff in the wind, being thrown to and fro, judgment to judgment. If the words I speak aren’t from God himself, then let this day be held in account for all to see, so that the motives of my heart be displayed for all to bear witness.

Take the time to seek his will, and you to will find yourself on a similar path. But in this walk of righteousness remember, God won’t place a calling in your heart and not give you the ability to see it through. You just have to have the courage to bring it to fruition.

So in closing, are you choosing comfort or your calling? Search your heart man of GOD, the end has yet to come. Will you have the courage to follow his will? Fear is for the fire lake, be bold and courageous, you’ve been called to go and spread the good news of the gospel, baptize in the name of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit! You have been commissioned!

Stop looking for the approval of man, and rest assure in your approval and right standing in God through Christ, who sacrificed everything for you to be set free! Let God himself be the only judge you consider in your pursuit of his calling. Go to where the pastors don’t preach, and where the teachers won’t teach. Go be a light in dark in the dark, a city on a hill for all to see. Stop settling for tradition, and go complete Gods mission! May his spirit rage inside of you, calling you to relentless actions of faith, being bold as to laugh in the face of fear, and courageously walk out your destiny. God be with you always even until the end of this age. Don’t do, be. because you already are.

From the front lines, -ES

#ftpthemovement #eliasstrategos

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sandersstudies · 5 years

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Could you talk a bit about the Catholic side of things? I was raised Lutheran so I guess I never see a difference because I never paid attention

Sure! I’ll touch on a couple of major things, but this is by no means a comprehensive list. Warning, this post is long and, obviously, talks about religion a lot. I’ll be adding tags momentarily, but let me know if additional tags are needed.

Oh, and notice to all local assholes: I’m not here to play a game of apologetics. This anon was very polite in their request, and I love responding to polite anons, but if you bust into my inbox sealioning or looking for a debate you’ll be promptly deleted, thanks.

Biblical interpretation - Most Protestant Christians believe that the interpretation of the Bible is highly personal, whereas Catholicism has dogma/catechism which comes from the catholic tradition, councils, the Holy See, etc. etc. While Catholics do have freedom to find what the Bible means for them, the Catholic church has an official stance on many issues including homosexuality which are included in our catechism (that is, the book that declares what it is we believe. Other Catholic-specific things like the body and soul assumption of Mary, veneration of saints, and resurrection of the physical body are included in this book). For the curious, the section on homosexuality begins in paragraph 2357 of the catechism and essentially says that “the number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible…They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.” Okay, so that’s GREAT. Gay and bi people exist, be nice to them, don’t discriminate against then, they’re still God’s children. HOWEVER, the catechism also says, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity.” That is, the act of homosexual sex is still a sin. So’ saying “God still loves you if you’re gay!” is…well, sort of woven into the fabric of our religion, but it doesn’t change the fact that by the word of our religion… to have gay sex is still a sin. So positivity that tries to put a different “spin” on Biblical homosexuality (”but Jesus blessed a gay couple!” “but this part about men lying together is actually linguistically vague!”) also kind of has less meaning for us because that doesn’t change the word of our church. Some Protestants really don’t like this: I get it. You feel like we’re just marching lockstep under the pope or something. It requires a much more big-picture look at Catholic vs. Protestant beliefs to really “get” this idea, and this post is long enough as it is.

Purgatory - So I know “Gays go to Purgatory” is really not a catchy slogan for your average hate-preaching homophobe, but it’s important to note that Purgatory is a central conceit of the catholic faith. Basically, instead of “good/faithful person -> heaven; bad/unfaithful person -> hell,” Catholicism claims that because nothing impure can enter the kingdom of heaven, purgatory is the “final purification.” It’s frequently described as a cleansing fire, and a place of both suffering and joy. We have to truly repent of our sins and be made clean, BUT it’s an exciting place because hey, it’s basically the lobby of heaven. The catechism (paragraph 1030 for those interested) says that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” go to purgatory to be made holy. Purgatory prevents us from entering heaven with our earthly biases, grudges, and angers, and lets us be made pure. It is “entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (that is, hell). (Unrelated but this is why Catholicism really emphasizes prayer FOR THE DEAD. We have to pray for them so they can stay strong, remember God’s love, and overcome the trials of the final purification.) A lot of Christian positivity (of any kind, not just LGBT) speaks of the afterlife as a heaven/hell binary without considering the dogma of purgatory for Catholics. Some Protestants don’t like this either, because “well, Jesus already died for our sins so…why should I have to suffer for them?” Remember, though, it’s a final cleansing. It’s to heal, not to punish. Kids hate taking baths or medicine, but their parents make them because it’s good for them.

“Faith alone” - One of the reasons Martin Luther broke away from the catholic church was because of the use of indulgences. Indulgences were preached about at the time, but were not official catholic dogma, and essentially claimed that monetary donations would result in reduced suffering in purgatory (see above). Luther (rightfully) said no, that’s not really how God’s love works, but went a step too far and began to really emphasize faith or even “faith alone” over actions. Depending on how much emphasis you put on faith, it’s possible for a Protestant to claim “well, your faith is what really matters, not your actions. It’s okay to do xyz as long as you have true faith in God.” The Catholic church places much more emphasis on action, which leads to our more pronounced history of Reconciliation/Confession (the use/significance of which varies in Protestant denominations). It’s not really in the teaching of our church for a catholic to say “it’s okay to do xyz (read: have gay sex, a gender correction, etc.) as long as you have true faith in God.”

And I’d like to clarify that I’m in no way putting down the Christian LGBT positivity that exists - it’s so important for young queer people who are connected to their faith or are feeling excluded by their religious community - it’s just a personal frustration of mine that a lot of it is inherently Protestant or is Protestant-centric.

#religion #catholicism #long post

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curtklingermanposts · 2 years

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Back in the Saddle

Why Return to the Saddle?

When a rider gets thrown from his horse, generally the first thing he does is get back in the saddle; otherwise, he may never ride again due to fear. When things don’t go to plan, some quit, because they’re afraid to fail again. Here’s a little secret about failure: it only becomes failure if you quit. Yes, mistakes happen, but as we well know, they can serve as lessons on which to build. Those who endure to the end, win. Think long game, especially when it comes to your spiritual journey.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.

It is important to not allow fear to drive you. “What if my horse throws me again?” What if it doesn’t? By eliminating the “what if” conversation, you eliminate a lot of anxiety. Should you be tempted to say, “what if,” in relation to fear, tell yourself: “There’s no such thing as what if!”

Staying in the Saddle is not the Equivalent of Perfection

Even some of the best riders have been thrown from their horses. Does that make them bad riders? Of course not. Mistakes and events beyond their control happen. It’s easy to discount all the times they stayed in the saddle, after being thrown. This is especially true for the perfectionist. Never forget your victories, particularly when there’s a hiccup. Remember, when you put unrealistic expectations on yourself, you may be heading toward becoming self-centered. It’s all about you at that point.

Why would you expect perfection? Would that be a form of pride? Is your worth dependent on perfection? Is it really about looking good, so others with accept you? Or perhaps, that’s the only way you can accept yourself. If that is your struggle, where did you learn to think that way? Was perfection a requirement for affection while you were growing up? Time to connect to God’s love.

Taking personal responsibility and doing things with excellence is a good thing. However, that’s not where perfection may be found. It is found in Jesus. Spiritually speaking, perfection is found in position. What does that mean for us? In simple terms, Jesus gave us the victory, which means we don’t have to gain it for ourselves. It means being confident in the One Who lives in us, and that He is worthy of our success. Honestly, you are more perfect when you admit weakness. It’s when His grace takes over the reins.

2 Corinthians 12:9 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.

God is able to put You Back in the Saddle

Christianity 101 states, that if we blow it, God is able to restore us. If your horse throws you, He is able to put you back in the saddle. If you succumbed to the flesh, it doesn’t mean you’re finished. God’s kindness leads us to repentance (see Romans 2:4).

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He is able to Keep You in the Saddle

Here’s a true confidence-booster: God is able to keep you in the saddle. You don’t have to fear falling. By staying humble before Him, you’ll find He is always there to hold you up.

Jude 1:24-25 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Remember, He is ever merciful, which means when you cry out to Him, He is there to hold you up.

Psalm 94:18 If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up.

www.perfectfaith.org

#PerfectFaith.

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dfroza · 3 years

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the beginning of another book

and the spreading of the True message of grace into the earth.

along with the closing chapter of another book that begins with this line:

“And so we come to the end of this musing over life. My advice to you is to remember your Creator, God”

and ends with this:

There is no end to writing books, and excessive study only exhausts the body. And, when all is said and done, here is the last word: worship in reverence the one True God, and keep His commands, for this is what God expects of every person. For God will judge every action—including everything done in secret—whether it be good or evil.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 1st chapter of the book of Acts:

To a lover of God, Theophilus: In my first book, I recounted the events of Jesus’ life—His actions, His teachings— from the beginning of His life until He was taken up into heaven. After His great suffering and vindication, He showed His apostles that He was alive—appearing to them repeatedly over a period of 40 days, giving them many convincing proofs of His resurrection. As before, He spoke constantly of the kingdom of God. During these appearances, He had instructed His chosen messengers through the Holy Spirit, prohibiting them from leaving Jerusalem, but rather requiring them to wait there until they received what He called “the promise of the Father.”

Jesus: This is what you heard Me teach— that just as John ritually cleansed people with water through baptism, so you will be washed with the Holy Spirit very soon.

When they had gathered just outside Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives, they asked Jesus,

Disciples: Is now the time, Lord—the time when You will reestablish Your kingdom in our land of Israel?

Jesus: The Father, on His own authority, has determined the ages and epochs of history, but you have not been given this knowledge. Here’s the knowledge you need: you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be My witnesses, first here in Jerusalem, then beyond to Judea and Samaria, and finally to the farthest places on earth.

As He finished this commission, He began to rise from the ground before their eyes until the clouds obscured Him from their vision. As they strained to get one last glimpse of Him going into heaven, the Lord’s emissaries realized two men in white robes were standing among them.

Two Men: You Galileans, why are you standing here staring up into the sky? This Jesus who is leaving you and ascending to heaven will return in the same way you see Him departing.

Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem—their short journey from the Mount of Olives was an acceptable Sabbath Day’s walk.

Back in the city, they went to the room where they were staying—a second-floor room. This whole group devoted themselves to constant prayer with one accord: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the Zealot), Judas (son of James), a number of women including Mary (Jesus’ mother), and some of Jesus’ brothers.

As the disciples prayed, Peter stood among the group of about 120 people and made this proposal:

Peter: My friends, everything in the Hebrew Scriptures had to be fulfilled, including what the Holy Spirit foretold through David about Judas. As you know, Judas was one of us and participated in our ministry until he guided the authorities to arrest Jesus. (He was paid handsomely for his betrayal, and he bought a field with the blood money. But he died on that land—falling so that his abdomen burst and his internal organs gushed out. News of this death spread to everyone in Jerusalem, so Judas’s property is known as Hakeldama, which means “field of blood.”) In this way, one of David’s psalms was fulfilled: “May their camps be bleak, with not one left in any tent.” But the psalms also include these words: “Let his position of oversight be given to another.” So we need to determine his replacement from among the men who have been with us during all of the Lord Jesus’ travels among us— from His baptism by John until His ascension. We need someone to join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.

The group put forward two men: Joseph (who was also known as Barsabbas or Justus) and Matthias.

Disciples: Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Make it clear to us which of these two is Your choice to take on this ministry as Your apostle, replacing Judas who went his own way to his own destination.

Then they drew lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, so he was added to the eleven apostles to reconstitute the twelve.

The Book of Acts, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 12th and closing chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes:

Teacher: And so we come to the end of this musing over life. My advice to you is to remember your Creator, God, while you are young: before life gets hard and the injustice of old age comes upon you—before the years arrive when pleasure feels far out of reach— before the sun and light and the moon and stars fade to darkness and before cloud-covered skies return after the rain. Remember Him before the arms and legs of the keeper of the house begin to tremble—before the strong grow uneasy and bent over with age—before toothless gums aren’t able to chew food and eyes grow dim. Remember Him before the doors are shut in the streets and hearing fails and everyday sounds fade away—before the slightest sound of a bird’s chirp awakens the sleeping but the song itself has fallen silent. People will be afraid of falling from heights and terrifying obstacles in the streets. Realize that hair turns white like the blossoms on the almond tree, one becomes slow and large like a gluttonous grasshopper, and even caper berries no longer stimulate desire. In the end, all must go to our eternal home while there are mourners in the streets. So before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is shattered: before the earthen jar is smashed at the spring and the wheel at the well is broken—before the dust returns to the earth that gave it and the spirit-breath returns to God who breathed it, let us remember our Creator. Life is fleeting; it just slips through your fingers. All vanishes like mist.

Not only did the teacher attain wisdom by careful observation, study, and setting out many proverbs, but he was also generous with his knowledge and eagerly shared it with people. The teacher also searched for just the right words to bring hope and encouragement, and he wrote honestly about truth and the realities of life.

The words of the wise are like goads; the collected sayings of the masters are like the nail-tipped sticks used to drive the sheep, given by one Shepherd.

So be warned, my child, of anything else that might be said! There is no end to writing books, and excessive study only exhausts the body. And, when all is said and done, here is the last word: worship in reverence the one True God, and keep His commands, for this is what God expects of every person. For God will judge every action—including everything done in secret—whether it be good or evil.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for monday, may 31 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons that looks to the courage of the heart placed in spiritual truth:

Our Torah reading for this week, Shelach Lekha (שלח־לך), recounts how Moses sent twelve spies from the desert region of Kadesh into the land of Canaan to search it out and give a report of its condition. The spies returned 40 days later extolling the land, saying that was indeed fruitful and zevat chalav u’devash (זבת חלב ודבשׁ), “flowing with milk and honey.” However, ten of the spies also gave a discouraging report, indicating their lack of confidence that the people could conquer the land. Only Joshua (יהושע) and Caleb (כלב) kept faith in God's promise. Upon hearing the report of the ten spies, however, the people rebelled and cried out to return to Egypt. Angered by their lack of faith, God sought to destroy the people, but Moses interceded on their behalf. The LORD then decreed to lengthen the Israelites’ wandering in the desert to 40 years -- one year for each day the spies were in the land -- until all of the faithless over the age of 20 would die in the desert, except for Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who kept faith with the LORD. After hearing the judgment of God, a group of remorseful Israelites decided to “repent” by taking matters into their own hands. Without either the “Ark of the Covenant of the LORD” or Moses’ leadership, they presumptuously decided to storm a mountain on the border of land but were decisively routed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.

If last week's Torah might be called "sefer kvetch" (the book of complaint), this week's Torah reveals the fateful outcome... The people’s lapse of faith in God's power serves as a profound and very sober warning, and indeed is a primary warning regarding the dreadful sin of unbelief in the New Testament (see Heb. 3:7-4:11). Indeed, Jewish tradition states that the decree that “none of the men who had seen my glorious Presence and my signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert will see the land that I swore to give to their fathers” (Num. 14:22-23) was given on the Ninth of Av (i.e., Tishah B’Av), and was prophetic of the destruction of the Temple and the worldwide exile of the people from the Promised Land. The sin of unbelief may rightly be regarded as the “unpardonable sin” of the Torah...

The tragedy of the sin at Kadesh ultimately has a happy resolution, however, since the LORD is never thwarted by man’s sin and weaknesses. After the 38 years of exile were complete, Moses’ faithful successor Joshua sent a second spying expedition to the promised land, though this time God led the spies to a prostitute named Rahab (רחב), a direct ancestor of Yeshua the Messiah, who later identified her faith in the LORD’s victory by displaying the scarlet cord (i.e., chut ha’sheni: חוט השׁני) during the fall of Jericho (Joshua 2). Rahab was the (grand)mother of Boaz, who later married Ruth, the great grandmother of King David. May God likewise give us courage to walk in the power of His promises, even if our present circumstances seem daunting. May the LORD clothe each of us with the "spirit of David" to stand before all the giants of the land who defy the LORD and His power. [Hebrew for Christians]

5.30.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

May 31, 2021

God's Memorial Day

“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (Exodus 3:15)

It is surely a good thing that Americans have designated an annual Memorial Day in which we call to remembrance the great sacrifices of those before us who fought and suffered (and often died) to form our nation and preserve its freedom. Without them we would not be here today, and we need to remember them.

It is even more important, however, to remember the God of our fathers, our true Author of liberty. He has established His own memorial, wanting us to remember not only our ancient spiritual forefathers, but also His own great name, Jehovah. “The LORD God” in our text verse is Jehovah Elohim. The sense of God’s announcement to Moses was that “Jehovah” was the name of the God of Abraham, and in fact, the name of the Creator of the world. Jehovah is the redemptive name of God, while “Elohim” is His name as omnipotent Creator.

We must always remember this, He says. The word “memorial” is used here for the first time in the Bible and thus is very significant. We should remember Him as Creator every seventh day when we devote a day to rest and worship (Exodus 20:8, 11). But there is also another day to remember the Lord for His work of redemption. When He became man, dying to save us from our sins, He established a memorial supper, saying: “This do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Thus, when we observe each weekly Lord’s day, and also whenever we partake of the Lord’s supper, we are really observing a special Memorial Day in His honor, remembering His great name “unto all generations.” HMM

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