Advent
1, Matthew 13:31-33 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will
not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the
angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert;
for you do not know when the time will come."
Each year, we are
first reminded at this time: "Embrace God's Promises," "Test the
spirits, because not every spirit is of God," and finally "Keep Alert."
We do this by absorbing and meditating on God's Word, in the power of
the Holy Spirit. This is "Old School," but it has endured while fads
and fantasies have faded, misled and ended in disaster for all that
embrace them.
One-Year
Bible 11/25/11-"Then the king ordered . . . bring . . . young men
without physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of
learning, well-informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in
the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and the literature
of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:3-4)."
This is the old formula for
the true annihilation of a people and its culture. Take the best and
the brightest and scrub their brains with the culture and ideology of
the oppressor. Take the ones their people look up to and use them to
hoodwink and bamboozle the rest.
One
Year Bible, 11/21/11-Now listen you rich people, . . . . the wages you
failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against
you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord
Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You
have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter (James 5:1-5)
Occasionally God intervenes in history, because the stench
of some human behavior is so over the top, God chooses not to wait for
“the day of the Lord” to execute justice. The final judgment of the
wicked has been delayed, God being so full of love, “not willing that
any should perish” and “full of compassion and mercy.” But finally God
says, “Enough!” Also there are natural, man-made, legal and social
consequences for those whose idolatry includes a putting profits and
gain before the well-being of people.
One
Year Bible for 11/20/11-"You do not have because you do not ask God.
When you ask you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that
you may spend what you get on your pleasures. . . . Anyone who chooses
to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:2c-4)."
In his letter, James was addressing the fighting and quarreling going on in the church (surprise!). Jealousy of
others. He wrote "some even killed out of wanting what someone else
had." All that we are and
have comes from God. We were created to be spiritual beings. The
material world we live in is not reality, it is a physical substitute
where we are challenged to learn divine spiritual lessons as our souls
progress in the life God has for us. The words from James are there to
correct our thinking regarding our "needs" and how they are to be
supplied.
The
One Year Bible reading for 11/11/11-Hebrews 11:1-8. "Now faith is being
sure . . . certain . . . not seeing. Without faith it is impossible to
please God, ... anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and
that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Abraham,...
though he did not know where he was going, . . . made his home . . .
like a stranger in a foreign country. . . .
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose
architect and builder is God." The challenge to believe, to trust
unconditionally, to follow where God directs and go where God sends is
an awesome one--but on 11/11/11 it is available to all of us. Unless
God builds through us by faith, no matter how smart, how politically
correct, how just, how magnificent, all we do is futile and vain and
accomplishes nothing.
In this week's readings from the "One Year Bible"
(Lamentations-Ezekiel) God is angry and giving Israel over to its
enemies.
Question: Who is God so angry with?
Answer: "You
have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps
of bread. By lying to my people who listen to lies, you have killed
those who should not have died . . . . (Ezek. 13:19))." God's
anger is directed to those religious leaders who "sell out" and tell
people what they want to hear, according to "Idols set up in their
hearts." The Word of God is truth that demolishes our false idols, our
false sense of peace in the face of suffering and oppression all around
us, our illusions that through some "spiritualized hokus-pokus 'goody
two shoes' prosperity formula" or guru we are blessed by God.
God wants all who long for God's new spiritually-enriched world to
"preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2)," (not the "rhema word" or the
"new-age" word, all figments of a materialistic (interpreting
wisdom-spiritual promises as material gain), middle-class focused,
oppression-blind mindset, the illusion and idolatry of our "profits and
things before people and prophets" culture. Those who would be faithful
to God and God's vision for the human race face great challenge in
these times. In our time, we want to hear anything that feeds our egos
and our desire to consume, and hate anything that suggests life is more
than desire and consumption.
"For the time will come when
human beings will not put up with actual truth from God, but Instead, to
suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of
teachers and seers who are ready to teach and preach and prophesy what
they want to hear (paraphrased from Greek text, 2 Tim. 4:3-5)." The
"spirit of the age" or our times, is not necessarily the "Spirit of
God." For those of us who claim to represent God and give spiritual
direction to others, heed the warnings from the prophet Ezekiel.
One
Year Bible for 11/02/11-“But we do not have a high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our weaknesses, but . . . who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are—yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).”
Jesus was without sin. He did not fail God in is incarnations. Those
who believe incarnation is not possible without sin are in error. They
miss the miracle of God that is in Christ, and contradict
God’s Word. The author of Hebrews tells us in verses 4:1-8, that
Joshua did not fail in his incarnation. He preached God’s message
clearly. The writer concludes, “Those who heard the message did not
combine it with faith.” No excuses. We can be God’s complete miracles
and lead others to full transformation.
We need to seek God's
perfection, God's completion, learning every lesson of Love and sharing
it with others as our souls travel through this life in preparation for
the next. Even this message will have to be received in faith or NOT.
For those who believe, no proof is necessary.
For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”
Stuart Chase
