The Eternal Hope – The Liberating Gospel

The Eternal Hope – The Liberating Gospel

Matthew 28:1-10 NIV

Jesus Has Risen

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Which Road Will You Take?


2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (KJV)

3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

Romans 12:2 (KJV)

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Titus 2:11-14 (KJV)

11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Eat, Pray, Strengthen


“When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins.”‭‭Luke‬ ‭22:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Eat, Pray & Strengthen one another in Christ! Jesus prepared his disciples for what was about to happen. He was eager to impart faith and strength to them because what they were about to witness would surely shake them to their core!

He disclosed that one of the friends would betray him and would suffer a miserable end. But then he turned to Peter and told him that he was about to fail big time! But that he would repent, recover and then strengthen others.

We can take Christ’s example and prepare those we minister to. As pastors and leaders we see far ahead of the rest. This godly insight helps us to prepare ourselves and others by building faith, strengthening and by giving hope!

Like in the time of Jesus death, burial and resurrection, we are living in a very dark day and it’s about to get worse. We have the opportunity to sit at the table to eat, pray, share insight, give hope and strengthen those that minister alongside of us. Let’s take advantage of these opportunities and strengthen one another in Christ!

A Leader With Humility -Liberating Gospels


Matthew 21:1-11 NIV

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
    ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
    and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna[b] to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]

“Hosanna[d] in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Judgement Is Turned away Backwards


Genesis 6:5-22 King James Version (KJV)

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

The Resolve To Remember – Liberating Passover


Deuteronomy 8:1-11 NIV

Do Not Forget the Lord

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 
a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

My Eyes Have Seen The Defeat Of My Adversaries


Psalm 92 NIV

1 It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,
2 proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
5 How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts!
6 Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
8 But you, Lord, are forever exalted.
9 For surely your enemies, Lord, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have exalted my horn[b] like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured on me.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Celebration Of Completion – Liberating Passover


Ezra 6:13-22 NIV

Completion and Dedication of the Temple

13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 

15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering[a] for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel. 

18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

The Passover

19 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover. 20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their relatives the priests and for themselves. 

21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the Lord, the God of Israel. 

22 For seven days they celebrated with joy the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because the Lord had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Checking For Worms – Roger Helle


ROGER’S REFLECTIONS: “Checking for Worms!”

For years when we lived in Omaha, I took great pride in having a well maintained lawn. We fertilized and watered it. We pulled weeds and the result was a beautiful green lawn. One summer I noticed a brown spot in my grass at it gradually sloped down to the sidewalk.

Assuming the problem was lack of water, I began to water that area more. The spot kept growing and I kept watering Finally, I got down on the ground before my yard floated away and pulled up a section of the grass. I discovered worms (actually they were grubs, but it’s my story) eating the roots!

You see, I was treating what I “thought” was the problem (dry grass). But the brown spots on the lawn was only a symptom of a deeper, root problem ( see how I did that, root problem ). The real problem was worms

! Sometimes life is like that. We spend so much time putting out fires in our jobs, school, home, marriage and raising children (who eventually became teenagers and nothing you can do to stop it!) and even in our churches. We become emotionally drained because we not getting to the root of the problem.

Sin is a root problem. It can manifest itself in many ways. For many of us, it’s easier to try to put out fires than to get to the root of the problem. Because confession is good for the soul, I have to confess I did that in my marriage for WAY too many years. Even after I was saved, and worse, in full time ministry!!!

While in many ways our marriage was good, it took me way too long to allow my wife to freely express herself. I was defensive because of insecurities in my heart I had never allowed God to heal. There were certain issues Shirley had to walk on egg shells around me.

My defensiveness was a symptom of a deeper heart issue. Fear of not being “enough.” Not being a perfect husband or father, or a leader!!!) I don’t know about you, but I find there are some lessons that the Lord taught me way back, that I need to be reminded of. The most important lesson is there are no perfect people! I will tell you that I have met several perfect people over the years.

They are NOT fun to be around! But that’s for another time. So if there are no perfect people, why do we spend so much time trying to be something we can never achieve? It will flat wear you out. Secondly, there is a verse we all need to have implanted in our soul.

I John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. ” Is that good news or what! It says He forgives ALL sins, not just some. So quit putting yourself on a self imposed exile because you thought your sin was beyond God’s ability to forgive! He hung the stars in the Heaven’s.

And YOUR problem is to big for Him? Get real. So this week, do a little examination of your heart. Make sure that you don’t have worms! But if you do, call upon the Lord who loves you and forgives you of every confessed sin.

One last suggestion. Don’t go worm hunting in someone else’s yard! Let God kill your worms and live a godly life to everyone around you! Your testimony will speak volumes!

Something to pray about!

Support For Needed Projects – Liberating Passover


Ezra 6:1-12 NIV

The Decree of Darius

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

Memorandum:

In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:

Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits[a] high and sixty cubits wide, with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.

 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.

Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.

Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:

Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, 

10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.

11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 

12 May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

What Gay Activists Refuse To Understand


Why do they hate us? It is from love that we proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ can set the captive free. It is from our own experience, as ex-gays, that we shout from the housetops that anyone who wants to repent of their sin can be forgiven and healed from those things that have been destroying their lives.

No one is forcing anyone to do anything! No one in the healing ministry or even in secular therapy is giving lobotomies or shock therapy to homosexuals or imprisoning them in conversion camps.

Those ideas are pure fiction invented by gay activists, who perhaps are subconsciously afraid that they might be living a lie. So they publicly employ scare tactics in order to hide from their own fears and to justify their ill-advised decision to remain as they are.

They certainly have the right to remain as they are, but they do not have the right to misrepresent and slander an entire group of individuals who only want to share the good news that has set them free from what is, overall, a very lonely and dangerous life.

Neither do such activists have the right to misrepresent the positive value of reparative therapy and Christian ministry for those who wish to leave the gay lifestyle, not only for the sake of their own emotional health, but for some, in order to respond to the call of Jesus to follow the moral teachings of Holy Scripture.

According to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, people were leaving the gay lifestyle 2,000 years ago in order to follow Christ. By now, ex-gays must number in the millions! I’m just one person out of 7 billion, and I have met thousands of them just in the last 30 years.

Why don’t gay activists want you to know that people can be healed of the traumas that created their broken impulses? Why do they rail against anyone who would point out such a thing, much less assail those who have experienced God’s readily available release from sin and brokenness?

Though it is common to find experiences of being bullied in the personal history of homosexuals, in our day, many of the bullied have become the bullies.

From the very beginning of research in the matter, science has unequivocally shown that the gay lifestyle is dangerous for those who practice it and that it is developmental in its cause rather than genetically determined.

After spending tens of millions of dollars trying to prove that gays are born that way, there remains zero evidence that such a claim is true and mountains of anecdotal (which is admissible in a court of law) and clinical evidence that it is the result of trauma, neglect, abuse and/or a host of other contributing causes.

Life expectancy among homosexuals is dramatically lower than the rest of the population, even in the areas of the world where homosexuality is the most accepted and celebrated.

They have significantly higher suicide rates, domestic violence rates, substance abuse rates, depression and other mental health issues and an extremely high incidence of disease and other medical problems.

In fact, an entire cottage industry has arisen in the medical field to address the plethora of diseases that have resulted from gay sexual practices, many of which are so perverse and damaging that they cannot even be named here.

Why would gay activists profess that homosexuals are just as happy and healthy as the rest of the population when such claims have been proven to be patently false by the world’s top experts in the fields of medicine (especially urology and proctology), biology, genetics, theology, psychology and sociology?

Even more puzzling, why do they try to shut the mouths of anyone who would point out that their emperor has no clothes? Don’t they care about their own population? Why do they lie to legislators and try to outlaw freedom of speech and religion for those who are honestly and lovingly trying to help them? It seems very much like the injured dog that snaps at those who are trying to help it.

For decades, gay activists have deliberately misrepresented therapy and ministry that has been designed to help those who wish to leave the gay lifestyle. In their effort to get judges and legislators to outlaw such aid, they have repeatedly misled lawmakers, professional guilds, theologians and private corporations.

Just one of the dozens of gay activist organizations takes in over $40 million each year, spends $11 million on salaries and a quarter million dollars to pay lobbyists to push their agenda in Congress. All of that is at risk if homosexuals are not born that way, if it becomes known that it is a very unhealthy lifestyle and if homosexuals can be healed of those experiences that helped cause their same-sex attractions.

You can read about California’s latest slate of anti-Christian bills here.

It’s all about the money. It’s all about the power. It’s all about very broken people lashing out against anyone who gets in their way.

Activists are taking advantage of the generous and honest impulses of people who want to do the right thing for those who struggle with homosexuality. They have become professionals at playing the victim, knowing that such well-intended people will always side with someone who has been a victim.

It’s called “emotional manipulation” and has been a well-known, published strategy of gay activism since the 1950s. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain this victim façade in the face of attempts to summarily silence anyone who speaks the truth in love to this very broken population.

Recently, activists have attempted to persuade California (La La Land) legislators to outlaw all professional therapy and ministry to homosexuals that is designed to help them find healing for their brokenness—erroneously referring to such help as “fraudulent schemes.”

This law would apply not only to therapists but also to ministers of the Gospel, as well as to any attempt to help the struggling homosexual via the media.

Already, California legislators have outlawed such help for minors. A mother whose child is threatening suicide as a result of sexual abuse by a homosexual, for example, cannot get help for resulting homosexual attractions. Children injured in this way, of their own volition, cannot even get help, even with the consent of their parents.

Why don’t gay activists want them to get help? Why don’t they want the truth to be known? Why do they want to outlaw freedom of speech and ministry to this very broken population?

As I’ve already mentioned, if it becomes known that homosexuals are not born that way and that their condition is not immutable, then the entire structure of deception that has been built over the years to convince the world that they are just as happy and healthy as everyone else will come crashing down.

If society responds accordingly to the real truth, gay activists will lose the political power, wealth and special rights they have obtained through decades of sophistry.

What is at stake here is the emotional and spiritual health of our children who are being sacrificed on the altar of denial, deception, money, power and political gain.

If you think you are doing the loving thing by supporting gay activism, you are wrong—very, very wrong. In reality, you are harming the very people you are trying to help. It’s time we stopped living in La La Land and did what is right for a change. 

David Kyle Foster is the CEO of Pure Passion Media.

I Don’t Need A Bucket List


I DON’T NEED A BUCKET LIST.

It would be different if the only time I had to enjoy was the “here and now”… but it isn’t. As one who is saved (regenerated, cleansed, forgiven) by Christ through faith in Him… I know the best is yet to come.

NEW HOME. No longer will I be a stranger and a pilgrim. I’ll be HOME, forever, in my Father’s house. Ultimately, I will dwell upon the promised new Earth in “the New Jerusalem”, with all its beauty and wonders — a restored creation no longer cursed by sin, with ever-expanding opportunities to serve God and my fellow-redeemed in satisfying harmony and joy. (2 Peter 3:13; John 11:25,26; 14:2; Luke 6:20-23; Rev 7:15; 21-22; Isa 60; 65:17b; Heb 11:13,14,16; Acts 3:21; Ps 37:9,11,29; Matt 5:5; Eph 2:7)

NEW BODY. I’m promised a new perfect body — like Christ’s resurrected body. I will have physical abilities and a mental capacity far beyond this earthly realm — I will no longer be limited by strength, energy, or time or resources. I will have a potential to serve God beyond all I’ve ever known. (Phil 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor 15:51-52)

NEW HORIZONS. I’m promised a place in Christ’s eternal unshakable kingdom, with talents and gifts (rewards of His grace) to use for His glory. What skills and abilities will I be given? Will I rule over a city? Or two, or three? Through what work and what assignments will I honor God? What will I be called to achieve or explore, invent, discover or develop? What will I build, craft, plant, compose or design? Where will I travel? Oh I can only imagine! (Heb 12:28; Matt 25:14-30; Rev 5:10; 22:5; 21:27)

NEW INTIMACY. I saved the best of the “far betters” for last. I will live in the presence of my King forever. Christ, the ᴊᴏʏ and ɢʟᴏʀʏ of heaven, ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴏᴍ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀs. I will look upon His face, revel in His beauty — and worship Him who alone is worthy — forever and ever. (Rev 22:3-4; 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2)

I don’t believe it’s wrong to enjoy life or to make a bucket list. For me, I know I won’t miss out on anything — for something far, far better has captured this old heart of mine. I hope it will begin to capture yours too.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Lord help us to make the most of our remaining time here — for Your honor and glory.

The Resources To Rebuild – Liberating Passover


Ezra 1:1-8, 11, 2:64 – 70 NIV

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 2:64-70 NIV

64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.

68 When they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics[a] of gold, 5,000 minas[b] of silver and 100 priestly garments.

70 The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

Expect Delays – We Can Make Our Plans But The Lord Determines Our Steps


*Expect Delays*

Are you kidding me ? I was already late. But the road sign ahead instructed me to adjust my expectations: “Expect Delays,” it announced. Traffic was slowing down. I had to laugh: I expect things to work on my ideal timeline; I don’t expect road construction.

On a spiritual level, few of us plan for crises that slow us down or reroute our lives. Yet, if I think about it, I can recall many times when circumstances redirected me — in big ways and small. Delays happen. King Solomon never saw a sign that said, “Expect Delays.”

But in Proverbs, he does contrast our plans with God’s providential guidance. He wrote : _“Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.”_ Solomon restates that idea, where he adds that _even though we “plan our course . . . the Lord establishes our steps.”_ In other words, we have ideas about what’s supposed to happen, but sometimes God has another path for us.

How do I lose track of this spiritual truth ? I make my plans, sometimes forgetting to ask Him what His plans are. I get frustrated when interruptions interfere. But in place of that worrying, we could, as Solomon teaches, “grow in simply trusting that God guides us, step-by-step, as we meditate to seek Him, await His leading, and – yes – allow Him to continually redirect us”. – Adam R. Holz_

I know not what the day may bring. Tomorrow waits unknown; But this I know, the changeless God, My Lord, is on His throne_. — Anon.*Our unknown future is safe in the hands of the all-knowing God. Trade anxiety for trust. God will guide your way.*

Stay Blessed My Friend

Hope For Justice – Justice and Adversity


Job 42:1-6 NIV

1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
    no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
    but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
    and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:10-17 NIV

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver[a] and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 

14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

To other countries I go as a Tourist, to India I come as a Pilgrim


After six full days of travel, Martin Luther King Jr. had finally arrived. He was met with wreaths of flowers and driven to a luxury hotel near the India Gate. He undoubtedly had jet lag, but before he could sleep it off, a news conference was set up in the lobby.

“To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim,” he told the two dozen reporters gathered there on Feb. 10, 1959.

They peppered him with questions. Was it true interracial marriage was illegal in the American South? Could nonviolent protest work in colonized Africa? Was he a vegetarian?

The Montgomery bus boycott three years earlier had been closely watched in Indian newspapers, particularly since King, as the young leader of the boycott, espoused the teachings of Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi. Now, he would be spending a month in India to learn more and pay homage to his hero.

King first learned about Gandhi as a seminary student in 1949, just a year after Gandhi had been assassinated. He soon wrote about Gandhi in his schoolwork as a person who “greatly reveal[s] the working of the Spirit of God.”

Six years later, after the arrest of Rosa Parks, King led the 381-day boycott that would make him famous. Of the nonviolent direct action technique, he said, “Christ showed us the way, and Gandhi in India showed it could work.”

The story of how Michael King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr.

King had always hoped to visit India, but the civil rights movement kept him too busy for years. Finally, in 1959, a trip was organized and co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and the Gandhi National Memorial Fund. His wife, Coretta Scott King, and biographer Lawrence D. Reddick joined him on the trip.

Everywhere they went, they were treated as honored guests, King later remembered. They had to turn down hundreds of invitations but still had a jam-packed schedule throughout their stays in New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

One of their first stops was to the samadhi, or cremation site, of Gandhi’s remains. King and his party laid a wreath of flowers; according to one observer, King was “deeply moved” and knelt to pray for a long time.

He met with India’s prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and vice president, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who had been close associates of Gandhi’s during India’s struggle for independence. Later, in her memoir, Coretta King said her husband compared it to “meeting George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison in a single day.”

King met with many of Gandhi’s friends and family, who gave him their blessing to continue spreading Gandhian teachings. He visited Buddhist and Hindu temples and with leaders of movements to redistribute land and eradicate the caste system.

He also gave lectures at several universities. In Bombay (now Mumbai), he had a particularly spirited discussion with African students who challenged him on whether nonviolence could be effective in the struggle against colonialism in Africa, according to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

“They felt that non-violent resistance could only work in a situation where the resisters had a potential ally in the conscience of the opponent,” King later said. “They, like many other students, tended to confuse passive resistance with non-resistance.”

Coretta joined King at many of these talks, and “the Indian people love to listen to the Negro spirituals,” King wrote later in Ebony magazine. “Therefore, Coretta ended up singing as much as I lectured.”

While in Bombay, King was also invited to stay at Gandhi’s private residence. He wrote in the guestbook, “To have the opportunity of sleeping in the house where Gandhiji slept is an experience that I will never forget.” (Adding “-ji” to a name signifies reverence.)

Toward the end of the trip, one of his guides observed “both the Kings (especially King himself) are JUST PLAIN EXHAUSTED.”

Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a deranged woman. At 29, he almost died.

King gave a final news conference and radio address on March 9, the night before their departure, telling listeners he was leaving India “more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.” (You can listen to the audio here.)

King had another news conference when he arrived back in New York City a few days later, but it doesn’t appear to have been well attended; neither The Washington Post nor the New York Times mentioned it.

Four days later, he returned to the pulpit for a Palm Sunday service. He preached to his congregants about Gandhi’s life and martyrdom, comparing him to Jesus and Abraham Lincoln. He told them — six years before the march from Selma to Montgomery — about the Salt March in 1930, when Gandhi led millions on a 218-mile nonviolent protest of an unjust law. Hundreds were beaten by British authorities and more than 60,000 arrested, but, “the British Empire knew, then, that this little man had mobilized the people of India to the point that they could never defeat them,” King said.

Jesus once said he had other sheep who “were not of this fold,” King reminded the congregants, before concluding, “It is one of the strange ironies of the modern world that the greatest Christian of the 20th century was not a member of the Christian church.”

Sweet Fruit From A Thorny Tree


Charles Haddon Spurgeon was no stranger to suffering. Known in his day as the “Prince of Preachers,” Spurgeon faced trials of various kinds throughout his life, some physical, some circumstantial, some internal and personal.

Such a man—one so saturated with Scripture and seasoned through suffering—has much wisdom to offer us. This is wisdom for everyone, because the question of suffering is not a question of if we will face it, but when. Suffering is one of life’s certainties, as is the good which God produces through it. We would therefore do well to listen to the Spurgeon as he offers counsel to prepare us for the suffering we will face.

In an article entitled “Sweet Fruit from a Thorny Tree,” Spurgeon provided insight from his own experience of suffering. He describes himself as one “who ha[s] of late been a prisoner of the Lord in the sick chamber.”[1] Yet his time in the figurative cell was not wasted, as he goes on to say that his experience of darkness and depression and difficulty has yielded good fruit. It is the fruit he wishes us to taste, so as to strengthen us to face the thorns.

1) “Pain Teaches Us Our Nothingness”

The first lesson Spurgeon learned from suffering and shared is that “pain teaches us our nothingness.”[2] When we’re healthy, it’s easy to think we have the world by the tail. When we’re strong and not facing the uncertainties of biopsies and tests, it’s tempting to enlarge our sense of self-sufficiency and self-esteem. When this happens, our inflated self-perception becomes unmoored from reality. According to Spurgeon, it is in the experience of limitation and weakness that we discover the truth about ourselves. “How,” he writes, “have I felt dwarfed and diminished by pain and depression!” He goes on to describe his experience: “The preacher to thousands could creep into a nutshell, and feel himself smaller than the worm which bored the tiny round hole by which he entered.”[3]

Most of us are far too great in our own estimation. Often, God chooses to use sickness and disappointment and heartache in order to confront us with our frailty. In other words, He must discipline us as a loving Father. And while the discipline is unpleasant, “it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

2) We Learn Where to Find Hope and Cast Our Cares

The second lesson from Spurgeon is that “heavy sickness and crushing pain shut out from us a thousand minor cares.”[4] Some forms of suffering leave us unable to tend to our normal affairs—life’s “minor cares”—forcing us to entrust to the Lord all the things we are helpless to do. We often experience this in our own lives and ministries, when we have been totally incapable of fulfilling our usual duties. What a gracious reminder to see that Jesus Christ is well able to take care of everything without our help! The experience of suffering reminds us of our reliance on God. Even the apostle Paul, himself well acquainted with sorrow, confessed that one divine purpose of his suffering “was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

The question of suffering is not a question of if we will face it, but when. Suffering is one of life’s certainties, as is the good which God produces through it.

Spurgeon says, “The reins drop from the driver’s hands, the ploughman forgets the furrow, the seed-basket hangs no longer on the sower’s arm.” In other words, nearly all of us eventually reach a point in life where we cannot do the tasks that we so often take for granted. And this experience, he says, cuts us “loose from earthly shores” and provides us with a dress rehearsal when our life’s work will end and we will be no more.[5] What an invaluable lesson that can be learned through no other means!

3) Pain Leads to Tenderness

Spurgeon also observes, “Pain, if sanctified, creates tenderness towards others.”[6] Without the grace of God, the pain, disappointment, heartache, sadness, and sickness we endure may simply harden our hearts and make us resentful. But when grace sanctifies our pain and sickness, our trial may become the occasion for our hearts softening and genuine sympathy prevailing. Indeed, we may be equipped through it such that “we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

The way Spurgeon puts it, suffering will open doors of ministry that would have otherwise remained closed to us: “The keys of men’s hearts hang up in the narrow chamber of suffering, and he who has not been there can scarcely know the art of opening the recesses of the soul.”[7]

4) The Old Is Seen in a New Light

Finally, sickness and other trials may cause us to become all the more focused and diligent when we have been favored—if we have been favored—to return to the place of our service. “Pain,” says Spurgeon, “has a tendency to make us grateful when health returns.”[8] The “wasted” months may lead to an economy of life wherein we’re more earnest, more careful, more prayerful, more dependent upon God, more passionately committed to doing the work of the Gospel than before we went in the chamber and found the keys hanging on the hook.

We do not know what kind of suffering we will face. But how encouraging it is to see the fruit God has produced through the suffering of His people! There are lessons in the school of suffering that we could not otherwise learn, and God Himself will walk with us through each trial. He has brought us thus far, “through many dangers, toils, and snares,”[9] and He will lead us home. The Lord Jesus—the Suffering Servant of Isaiah’s prophecy—was a man of sorrows, was acquainted with grief, and yet endured it for the joy set before Him (Isaiah 52–53). We now go through our sufferings in His footsteps, enduring no darkness that He has not endured before us and for us. And so our suffering will make us like Him—and that will be the sweetest fruit of all.

Baruch Hashem Adonai – Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord


Baruch Hashem Adonai (Lyrics – as sung by me. Please use headphones for better sound quality)

Who am I to be part of your people,
the ones that are called by your name,
could I be chosen as one of your own,
could it be that our blood is the same.

How can a stranger, a remnant of nations,
belong to the Royal line?
You showed your grace when the branches were broken
and I grafted into the vine,

Baruch Hashem Adonai,
Baruch Hashem Adonai,
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
Baruch Hashem Adonai.
Repeat

How could you show me such bountiful mercy
by taking the life of the Lamb,
your love is greater than I can imagine,
I bless you with all that I am.

Praise to you Jesus, the veil has been parted
and what once was secret is known,
now I can cry to you, Abba! my Father!
and praise you as one of your own!

Repeat twice

Speaking Truth To Power – Justice And Adversity


2 Samuel 12:1-9 NIV

Nathan Rebukes David

12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 

but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 

I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 

Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.


2 Samuel 12:13-15 NIV

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.