Have Mercy

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24 NAS95)

 

The holiness of God longs for his children to be holy. When we call on that great name of Jesus he starts working a good work in us to bring us to glory. This work in us fights the against the flesh. The flesh can not please God.

 

Knowing the flesh is unable to honor God causes the conflict that has saints trying to please God and not giving in to the sinful man. When this becomes so overwhelming when we try to do this on our own, that is when we cry for help. The cry is who will set me free from this body of death?

 

Feeling this desperate need for God's mercy puts you in the place God wants you to be. When you know you need God and God alone then you are open to receive his grace and mercy that saves you from death. Turn your life over to God and see Jesus as the only one who can set you free from the slave of sin and the death it brings.

 

 

By: Samuel Duren

 

God May Turn

""Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish."" (Jonah 3:9 NAS95)

When faced with our own wickedness, we have two choices. Turn from this and to God or continue down this path and perish. Jonah knows this and therefore said, "You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity" (Jonah 4:2).

Knowing a compassionate God means that he is slow to anger with the rebellion in our life and the wickedness in our heart. God loves showing his mercy to those who seek his face. Repenting from sin leads to understanding God's good and perfect will for all who call on his name. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 6:23). 

God's gift is free to those who desire to receive this great gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Turn from the sin in your life and to the God of righteousness who knows the plans he has for you. God knows what is best for you and will work his will out in your favor for his Glory in Christ Jesus.

God desires that man not perish but repent and have life. God is able to withdraw your just punishment and show mercy and his awesome grace so you will not perish but have everlasting life.

All Scripture from New American Standard Bible 1995 Update Version.

Faint Not

"While I was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple" (Jonah 2:7 NAS95).

In times of strength it is good to know the Lord. When things are well it is good practice to know how to go to the Lord in prayer and seek his will. The saying you play how you practice is good to apply here. Everyday practice of a Christian's life should involve crying out to the Lord and praying. 

Jonah rejected the Lord and went after his own way. Isaiah says, "All of us like sheep have gone astray" (Isa. 53:6). The grace and the mercy of God moves on his children's behalf. God sees the darkness of our sin and the lost state we are in and he still desires to hear our cry. These desperate cries make into his holy temple into his presence. Jesus as out mediator presents our plea before the Lord and the Lord hears our cry.

The Lord is mighty to save. While we are weak and faint and all one has is a desperate cry. This cry does not fall on deaf ears or someone unable to respond to the call. God is able to respond and save all who call on the name of the Lord(Romans 10:13). 

Therefore remember how the Lord delivered you from your sin sickness and repent. Do not go back to that position of weakness you once were. Now walk in the newness and the strength that God gives you through Jesus Christ. All because of the Great love of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Turn To Me...

Turn To Me...

""Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." (Isa 45:22 NAS95)

God will save all who call on His name. Turn to Me and be saved God tells Israel. Many problems in our life are from us turning away from God and seeking other things to make our life better. God alone is who brings true joy, peace and love. God has promised his people a land filled with milk and honey and free from trouble. God told them they would be the head and not the tail (Deut. 28:13).""The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, (Deut 28:13 NAS95)."

They only needed to listen to the commandments of the Lord their God. They were to observe them carefully. God simply asked them to follow his instructions for their life. God created them to inhabit the earth (see Isa. 45:18) and he was willing to show them how to live in the land he has promised them. God's promise is true and he will hold to his word. 

The issue is for us to hold on to his word as the Israelites were to hold on to his word. God's word calls us to obedience and to serve a Holy God. He is Holy and desires for his people to be Holy as he is Holy. To be holy is to be in his presence and serving him with a sincere heart. We can only serve the Lord with pure hearts. A pure heart is a heart turned to God with repentance and humility.

Turn now and face the Lord and let him lift you up from your broken part of your life. He is able to make you whole and you are only whole in him. Come who are troubled in life and find your rest in Him. In the Lord you can find your rest. Turn to the Lord and be saved. There is no other who can save you but the Lord."[F]or "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED"" (Rom 10:13 NAS95). 

Zion Baptist

zionbaptist@zionbcpeoria.com

"Building a Better Community"

Zion Baptist Church

323 Mlk Jr. Dr 

Peoria, IL 61605

wk (309) 676-4828

www.zionbcpeoria.com

I Am The Light

The background:  

  The text in focus comes up after John 7:40–52 (where the Pharisees and Sadducees are doubting Jesus words and him as the Messiah) and John 7:53-8:12 the account of the woman caught in adultery. Because most texts do not have this account originally in the text, does not discredit this account but helps build the context of the Jesus speaking after the Feast of Tabernacles in the synagogue. Therefore the possible understanding is this teaching of Jesus is further done to explain even more of who He is the one from God to deliver the Israelites that would come after Moses as the true Light.

    The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, or Ingathering (Lev 23:33-43) began five days after the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:34; Deut 16:13) and lasted seven days. It marked the completion of the harvest and historically commemorated the wanderings in the wilderness. During this festival people lived in booths and tents (tabernacles) in Jerusalem to remind them of how their forefathers wandered in the wilderness and lived in booths.

    When in the wilderness the Israelites were in total darkness in the light they did not know the way to go. They had to follow the Lord to the promise land. The Lord was their light so that they would no walk in darkness. When night did come God lead them in a pillar of fire then during the day God lead them being a cloud by day. "The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night" (Exodus 13:21 NAS95).

(Jesus says who he is and what our response should be to the reality of who he is.)

 First Jesus says :I am the Light (His Revelation)

          Jesus Second metaphorical I am Statement. Each of the "I Am" statements followed by nominative implies that Jesus provides eternal life and a life fulfilled only through him.

         Jesus says, "I am the Light." This is a very profound saying in the symbolic use of the light and the relations the light has with the Lord of Israel!

    When God is revealing how he created the heavens and the earth he speaks of how he created light and called light good. Take note that nowhere is it recorded that he called the darkness good, but he called the separation of light from darkness good. "God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness." (Gen 1:4 NAS95) This shows that from the beginning light dwelling with darkness is not good. Or as we see in 1 John "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:6–7 NAS95). Or How Paul points out that this kind of fellowship is not of God when he says "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness" (2 Cor 6:14 NAS95)?

    This shows that God from the beginning dwells in light and does not fellowship with darkness because he is light. Psalm 104:2 talks how God is covered with light like a cloak. The Psalmist says of the word of God in Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

    In this dark world there is a great promise of walking in this great light. Isaiah 9:2 says, "The people who walk in darkness, will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." Therefore as children who "...were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light" (Eph. 5:8). This is because "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;" (1 Pet 2:9 NAS95). Therefore one has to make a decision on the message that is given. "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all" (1 John1:5). The light gives direction to those who follow and therefore are not lost. As it says in 1 Thess. 5:4-6 those in darkness do not know what is to come because they are lost and not enlightened to the will of the Lord.

(Respond to the call of Jesus will provide change.)

Second Jesus call us to follow him (Our Response is to follow)

1.    Our Response to who he is will lead us to follows Him  -

    Following Christ implies surrender of your will and desires to do exactly what the leader does. Jesus says follow me I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17), follow me he says in calling other disciples (John 1:43; Luke 9:23, 59) be my disciples he states if you serve him you will follow him (John 12:26), to list a few examples of Jesus calling us to follow him. Jesus as a leader goes before his followers as their light to fight off all that will come against them and protects them as the Lord of light.

 

Third Our Reaction to the Response - We Will not walk in darkness

    To walk in darkness is to reject the light and embrace sin and wickedness. Jesus says "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. John 12:26 "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:25–26 NAS95).

         The Father honors us when we reject the darkness of the world and choose living in the light. The revelation of Jesus is the Light shows the direction we shall go. Walking in the light following after Jesus brings shows the change that is happening in our life.

         Jesus calls us to be transformed and live in him to accept the light and reject the darkness. The darkness does not comprehend the light (John1:5). The loving of darkness because the deeds are evil (John 3:19). The shift from darkness can only happen with the shedding of light.

(Which leads to our new reality and understanding of our life in Christ)

 

Fourth Our New Reality - We will have the Light of life

    Following the Light leads to having the Light of life. In other words Jesus will show us how to have life by following the Light. The giver of life does what he can do best and give us life.

    The light of the world is not a universal statement for being the Light to all but to those who follow him is walking in the Light. Jesus is the True Light to those who follow him and who receive the light of life by believing in him. If you are not following him then you are in the dark left open for the devourer to attack and destroy with no protection and no life.

         Walking in pitch darkness is embracing the darkness (sin and death) and rejecting the Light of Life who is Jesus the Christ. Ephesians 5:8 instructs us to walk in the Light who is Jesus our light as children of the light.

         Following Christ leads us to not walking in darkness but having life and light. When we have this we are able to say

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread (Ps 27:1 NAS95)?

         Then you are able to understand when the Lord spoke the prophet Isaiah saying:

""No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory. Isa 60:20 "Your sun will no longer set, Nor will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be over. Isa 60:21 "Then all your people will be righteous; They will possess the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified. Isa 60:22 "The smallest one will become a clan, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time"" (Isa 60:19–22 NAS95).

         You will face life knowing you are following the Light whom shall you fear. You will be at peace with yourself knowing you live in the light not in darkness. Not concern with sin guilt weighing you down to be open for the enemy's attacks. You will instead be walking in the promise that God has given you in Jesus who is leading us to the promise land. This is because you are Walking in the Light of God!

 

The Lord require...

"He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Mic 6:8 NAS95)

What the Lord requires of you. What the Lord ask is good because he is good. The commands for living are do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly before your God. 

This emphasizes your devoted life to God when he says your God. This shows that there should be personal relationship with God the Father with his children. Being in God's presence demands a life that is acceptable to God. Being in God is liberty, because where the Lord is Spirit and where the Spirit is there is liberty (2 Cor. 3:17).

Therefore do justice that is what is right and honest.

Love Kindness for the Lord our God is full of loving kindness.

Walk humbly for God apposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Following these instructions embodies the precepts God has given summarized in these statements. God desires holiness from his people and you to should desire holiness from yourself to please our great God.

You are our Father...

 

"But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand." (Isa 64:8 NAS95)

 

            Do you see the Lord as your Father? God defines Father and shows us how He is the example of fatherhood. As the Father it puts the children in a subordinate role open for the Father's instructions.

 

The potter guides the clay into the shape the potter desires. So much more our Father guides us through His word and Spirit to be who He has designed us to be. If we do not meet our purpose it is our fault, not the potter's. "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands' '' (Isa 45:9)?

 

            Do not argue with the Father but simply submit and say, "You are the Potter and I am the clay. Mold me, Father, in your fashion." God showed us when He formed Adam that He knows how to form His creation to do His good and perfect will. As clay we are in a weaken state that need to be shaped and then put through the fire.

 

            Know this that if God will take you to the fire He will also bring you out! Let the Father, the Shepherd and Potter be Lord and you be His child. The goodness of God will see you through. No matter how hot it gets He will mold you to stand the fire and be a precious masterpiece. You are a work of His hand to do great and wonderful things.

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