Something Greater

The Story of Deborah and Jael, Part One What if this story were made into a movie? If the Book of Judges were a movie, this would surely be part of the trailer: Judges, Chapter Two: (Judges 2:1, 11-15, 16-19) God chose a people and gave them a promise God's people abandoned him God raised up champions and leaders to rescue his people Judges Chapter Four: Verses 1-3: Twenty years of cruel oppression Verses 4-7: God raised up Deborah, "The Bee", "The Woman of Splendor", to be a judge Verses 14-16: Deborah led an army to victory, killing 10,000 cruel, oppressive enemies Verses 17-20: Jael, "The Wild Goat", faced a dilemma: Sisera - friend or foe? Verses 21-22: Jael makes her choice Judges Chapter Five: Deborah sings A mother wails in anguish What are the lessons learned from this story? God desires that we fully rely upon what he says God desires that we fully love what God loves, and hate what God hates God desires that ...

A Devout Life: Part 5 The Source of Righteousness According to 1 Timothy 6:11, righteousness depends upon five sincere, heartfelt, and intentional expressions of the heart, mind and body: Wonder Faith Love Steadiness Courtesy If Paul uses these five expressions to define godly righteousness, and our lives are to live in a manner that is "equitable", to what or to whom are our lives to be equal? What or Whom forms the standards, or the degrees, by which we are to express righteousness? Upon What or Whom does righteousness depend? I'm charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn't give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don't slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He'll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He's the only one death can't touch, his light so bright no one can...

A Devout Life: Part 4 "Right-ness" is not Righteousness I use the word, "right-ness" to refer to my own personal filter of life, my own sense of what competence or success means. "Right-ness" is wrong, I believe. Instead, I should pursue "Righteousness". But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life — a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, and courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:11-12 MSG) Rather than pursuing a life built upon standards of my own creation, standards which compare myself to others, real or imagined, standards of "right-ness", Paul would have me pursue a life built upon God's standards: "righteousness". RIGHTEOUS: dikaiosyne "dik-ah-yos-OO-nay" (equity of character or act; Christian justification);...

A Devout Life: Part 3 That Which Threatens We entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless... (1 Timothy 6:7-8 MSG) What are the negative forces that threaten our contentment and satisfaction in life? Paul focuses on money, or the lack of money: PENNILESS: oudeis "oo-DICE" (not even one, none, nobody, nothing); from oude (no however, neither, nor, not even) and heis (one); from ou (no or not) and de (but, and) Paul is speaking to people who fear being penniless, or being without any source of gaining wealth in the form of money, valuable property, influence or security. For these people, money is the only sure way to guarantee such poverty. Money is only a measure of one's wealth. Money is a way to quantify the value of our time, strength, influence and property. Paul reminds us that we are born with nothing of our own making. At the moment of birth our time, strength, influence and property has little physical, measureable value. Any personal...

A Devout Life: Part 2 Wealth of Devotion A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough. (1 Timothy 6:6-8 MSG) Paul describes "wealth" as something other than money, property or power over others. For Paul, a devout life is the "rich simplicity of being yourself before God". The English Standard Version translates this verse a bit differently: "Godliness with contentment is great gain." CONTENTMENT: autarkeia "ow-TAR-ki-ah (self-satisfaction, contentedness or competence); from autarkes (self-complacent or contented); from autos (self, through the idea of a baffling or backward wind) and arkeo (to ward off, to avail, or to be satisfactory, through the idea of raising a barrier) This "simplicity of being yourself before God", or "godly cont...

A Devout Life: Part 1 The Sufficiency of a Simple Life A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough. (1 Timothy 6:6-8 MSG) What is a "devout" life? DEVOUT: eusebeia "yoo-SEB-i-ah" (piety; specially the gospel scheme); from eusebes (well-reverent or pious); from eu (good or well) and sebo (to revere or adore) "Devout" at its root means to revere or adore, to feel deep respect or admiration for something, to love and respect someone deeply. The Greek root word is translated as "devout", "religious", or "worship". A devout life, then, means a life lived reverently towards God, deeply respectful for His character and work, enjoying and adoring Him as Creator, Master, Savior, Companion, and Lover. Paul is challenging an epidemic ...

John 18: Jesus Knows, Jesus Keeps, Jesus Controls Too many times my days seem like a blur of tension, expecting something to be difficult or disappointing, struggling with things that are difficult and disappointing, or looking back with resentment at things that were difficult and disappointing. In other words, I often act as if I am living alone, with no guidance or support from heaven. I act as if I know little about God as Creator and Father. I stress out as if Jesus were not my Lord, and as if I had no divine Helper. I act as if I'm ignorant. From this passage we can see how false those emotions are, and we can draw three big ideas about Jesus: Jesus knows everything that will happen, and all that belongs to him he keeps, and he controls all events. Big Idea #1: Jesus knows all that will happen. John 18:4 (ESV) Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” KNOWING: oida "OY-da" (to see, li...