..::[
BAM! ]::..
you know, it's funny how God works. i have been kind of lazy with this blog as of late and at the same time wondering if anybody ever actually read this thing or payed attention to anything i ever say. as it turns out, they do. my webstats say i get hundreds of hits per months. but, just as i was wondering if anybody read, because there were never any comments really, i get smacked in the face with a call to arms. i got called out on my own website!
but, i understand where he is coming from. Ephesians 5:1-5 says,
"1Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3....let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks."
maybe there is a little too much idle chatter going on on this site, but there have also been much encouragement and "church chatter" as well. but, as i do claim myself to be a man of God, a follower of Christ, i should share a bit more and bring a bit more serious talk to the table. so...... i'm going to do some collecting and answer the call. search myself for my convictions and find what my passion is.
as many of you who have read this site from the beginning and who know me personally, know that i am a man of strong belief of the Truth and have recently had my fire lit to grow my faith and not be a mediocre christian. i guess that i need to do more thought writing on this blog. more thought writing but no less of the other stuff, because that is my personality.
i love the Lord and am in awe of the great things that He does. just this past sunday, He spoke to me in church. the message was on the Israelites and there journey to the promised land. this has been in progress for a couple weeks now and this particular message was on "the thing behind the thing behind the thing" meaning, in Joshua, Joshua was told by God in chapter 5:1-10 to circumcise the nation of Israel again because all of the men who were born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. that was the thing. the thing behind that was the covenant that it represented. the promise that God would deliver to Israel the land that he promised to them through Abraham. the pastor then talked about what a covenant really was.
the word is derived from a word that means "cut". when two people made a covenant they then took animals, oxen, rams, birds, and gutted them. they slaughtered these animals, cut them right down the middle and tore them apart into two separate pieces. the pieces were then layed out opposite of each other and all of the mess, the stinking entrails, the bloody intestines, the fat was strewn out inbetween and made a blood path. the two parties of the covenant then walked the blood path thus saying that "may this happen to me, may my life be taken from me if i ever break this covenant."
and this is the thing behind the thing behind the thing. God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised him that he would bless him and make a great nation out of his descendants and would deliver the promised land to this nation. of course, like most biblical characters, Abraham is like 'are you serious? how will i know this?' and is not sure about this promise. to show him, God says in Genesis 15:9 "He said to him, 'Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.'?” Abraham brings these and God tells him to split them in two and put the pieces opposite each other, He's getting ready to make a covenant with Abraham.
now how is Abraham, a human full of faults who will surelyfalterr going to be able to live up to a covenant with the Most Holy God, King of All Creation? well, Abraham falls into a deep sleep and as the sun goes down the Lord appeared as a smoking fire pot with a flaming torch and passed between the two halves. He passed between the halves. not Abraham. only God. God was saying that he took all responsibility for the outcome of the covenant. if Abraham failed God would pay for it.
this correlates directly to us today in Jesus. Jesus is that payment. his blood was shed for our failure. he was payment for our broken covenant with God. and you know what really hit me? it was the thought that God had this conversation with Jesus.
"Jesus, son, I have something that I need you to do. I have created this creature man, and he has sinned. You know me, and I cannot be close associated with sin. Yet, I want this man to be with me here in Eternity. This is where you come in Jesus. You are going to go the earth and live with man. You are to tell them of Me but they won't listen. They will still sin. They will beat you, spit on you, mock you, whip you, kick you, stab you, nail you by the hands and feet to a tree and leave you to die. Jesus, I'm sorry, but I can't help you then, you are on your own. All the sin of the world, all of the evil things that man has done and will ever do will be on your shoulders, but this is the purpose that I have for you. You will die on that tree as an everlasting sacrifice for their sins. Do not worry, three days later I will raise you up and you will come back to sit at My right hand. I love man so much that I am sending you to do this. I want him to be here in our family. I'm sending you to die so that Andy King can be with Me in eternity."
this crushed me as i held the body and the blood. from the beginning of time, God knew that all of this history had to take place, this whole story had to unfold so that I could be saved. please take this conversation and put your name in it. close your eyes and re-live this Divine conversation in your mind. i felt like God reached down from His throne and put His hand on my shoulder to say, "I love you. I made you for Me. You are special in My eyes and I can't wait for you to be here with Me."
may you be filled with the Holy Spirit and may God touch your life like He touched mine.
Col 3:23
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