"Today This Scripture is Fulfilled"

"And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'" (Luke 4:21)

 

Every day brings, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  This is the vast reach of the Scriptures.  Every day throughout human history something has been, "fulfilled in your hearing."  We only miss it when we are not listening.  The current unceasing attacks on the Jews, The Land of Israel, and the Global Church are just a few examples of, "Scripture...fulfilled in your hearing."  What are you hearing today?

 

Jesus' claim in our text is that He Himself is the fulfillment of the Isaiah passage from which He read.  Jesus said that the prophet was not speaking of Himself or Israel as a nation or the Jewish People.  He was speaking of Jesus, "the Coming One."  In John 5 Jesus told the Jews that the Scriptures, "testify of Me," another way of stating our text, "today this Scripture is fulfilled...."  The Scriptures speak of Jesus Christ, point to Jesus Christ, and reveal the, "mind of Christ," viz., the purposes of the Godhead.  A person who claims to know Jesus Christ, yet does not give himself to the Scriptures, is a person who then must create a "Jesus" of his own comfort, his own will, his own religion.  He will eventually be deceived by the media, politicians, and charlatan ministries. 

 

Jesus said to religious leaders, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?"  A, "mistaken," life is a life without, "The Word of God," Jesus Christ, revealed in, "the Words of God," the Scriptures.  There is only one way to avoid a, "mistaken," life, a life which accepts the bombardment of opinions of the media, politicians, and those around us------ "Know the Scriptures," and the reality that in Jesus Christ there is always a, "today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."     

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You that each day is a, "fulfilled in your hearing," day.  Amen.

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* Over the weekend I will be sending an update on our Berlin/Eastern Europe, Jerusalem, Washington, DC missions for the coming year.

* Don't miss the best article on Islam I have read in years @:

    www.apf327.blogspot.com

 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

How Would You Like to, "Stay Fresh and Green"?

(Read how Fox News commentator has it wrong on Islam at: www.apf327.blogspot.com)
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"The righteous will flourish...they will grow..; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green...." (From Psalm 92:12-14, NIV)

I am so very thankful for a Christ-Centered heritage.  Few people can say that their primary mentoring in the things of Jesus Christ was in their natural family.  Yet my progenitors in the flesh were also my progenitors in, "the faith of Jesus."  They flourished and grew in Jesus Christ, because they were, "planted in the house of the LORD [Jesus Christ]."  They, "still [bore] fruit in old age," because they stayed, "fresh and green," in Jesus Christ.  They stayed open to all Jesus had for them.  I never experienced a, "Well, don't bother me with that; I have already learned everything, and have a maturity way beyond you."  While this attitude is rampant in modern Christendom, I thank our Lord that my heritage is not of such people.  They stayed, "fresh and green," to the end of their sojourn on this planet. 

Some who read this are quite young and are not thinking much about, "in old age."  The older one gets, however, the more, "in old age," looms before us.  What will, "in old age," bring for you and me---- a shriveled up tree with no leaves, no fruit, or a tree which, "will stay fresh and green?"  This is only possible by running the race, "looking unto Jesus," not "looking unto" your "ministry," your spirituality, your one-up-man-ship on others.  "They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green," is only possible in a moment by moment life in Jesus Christ, full of His Words, full of the Holy Spirit, walking in Father's will and purpose. 

I read recently in Micah, "All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God [Father, Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit] for ever and ever."  There is so much to draw you and me away from walking, "in the name of the LORD our God;"  temptation lurks in every corner of our day.  But the promise of our text is so refreshing to me today.  I don't have to "retire," be "put on a shelf."  There is a freshness in Jesus Christ which no amount of time on a beautiful mountain lake, a sunset beach, or anything else which is fleeting can bring.  "The righteous," those who are surrendered to Jesus Christ, "will flourish.., they will grow," and, "still bear fruit in old age,..stay fresh and green."     

Father, in Jesus' Name, only You can keep me, "fresh and green."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

"I am Devoted to You," Lord Jesus

"Guard my life, for I am devoted to You.  You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You." (Psalm 86:2, NIV)

Yesterday I drove in rain, very heavy at times, all day.  I walked in the rain with my trusty "Berlin" umbrella.  I prayed in the House Gallery (the Senate Gallery was not open).  I prayed in the Supreme Court Building, in the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building, and the Cannon House Office Building, and prayed outside the White House.  I did all of this because, "I am devoted to [Jesus Christ]," and because I am, "Your servant who trusts in you."  Any other "reasons" are merely peripheral.  Now this may not endear me to some, but if you or I do anything in life for any other reason than, "for I am devoted to You," the Living Triune God, two things---- either we will give up and quit, or we will simply be serving some inordinate need in us just to do good, a "good" which is not born of love for and commitment to Jesus Christ, the, "love," described in 1 Corinthians 13, but of a "do-good" love from of a fallen human nature, which just, well, has to do something.

This time in DC, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that I am a "son of His Presence."  Everywhere I went I brought the presence of the Blessed Trinity.  Now the religious will say, "Well, God is everywhere all the time."  But there is a difference in "presence."  The difference is similar to His "presence" with you before you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.  He was with you, but not in you.  "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right/power/authority to become children of God..."  The word translated, "right, power, authority," means "power of choice, leave or permission, the liberty of doing as one pleases, the ability or strength with which one is endued, the right to exercise power" (Vine's).  Everywhere a Follower of Jesus Christ goes, there is an accompanying, "right," the authority of God which brought us into His Family, His Kingdom.  I am still studying this, but it is a fearful and sobering commission.  Pray that we come to understand the full implication!

Wherever the Church has gone today and will go as, "ambassadors for Christ," there is a, "right/authority/power" which accompanies us.  You and I as members of His Church do not save people from their sins, or secure them a place in Heaven.  But no one really knows what we do bring when we, as people "of His Presence, "bring" Jesus Christ into those situations.  Continue to go forth today as David said in our text, "for I am devoted to You,..who trusts in you.  You are my God"---------------- who knows what can happen?!?

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to never forget that I as a part of Your Church am a "son of Your Presence."
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

What Is It About Jesus' Love?

"Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow.  I am weary with my crying...." (Psalm 69:1-3a)

Our text from yesterday's Psalm reading particularly spoke to me because of some situations in an local church with which I shared in yesterday's Sunday meeting.  Sarah and I have known the pastor and his wife for nearly 40 years, and they are some of the most caring people we have ever known.  They are as was said of Jesus, "And the common people heard Him gladly."  Hurting people are drawn to them, and they have many people in their congregation who have never had the chance I had, viz., good, loving parents, Lovers of Jesus, serving Him all their lives, just simply no greater role models anywhere.  Yet some of these whom society cast off have come to a church family which is a description of the writing on the American Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free."  Some of their stories are heartbreaking.  As we prayed for some of the people after the service, I could almost hear David's cry coming from the depths of their beings, "Save me, O God!...I sink in deep mire....I am weary with my crying." 

Such folk are around you and me every day, yes, every day.  We can judge them, disdain them, find them even repulsive, yet such were you and I when our Lord Jesus Christ knocked at our heart's door.  Maybe outwardly we appeared differently, good "backgrounds," upstanding, respected members of our community, but inside we were, "full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness."  Yet in spite of our miserable condition, "Jesus came and He spoke my name."  He came in such grace as Paul described to the Roman Church, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  You and I could not do anything to earn such wondrous love, no amount of acts of penance, sorrow, or amends could save us.  But Jesus did not wait for us to get "worthy," as we count worthiness.  It is a classic picture of contrast, our miserable, self-serving, lost and hurting pain------ His unending mercy, compassion, forgiveness and love. 
          "Out of the ivory palaces into a world of woe

           Only His great eternal love, made my Savior go."

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to observe more today.  Amen.
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Read of the New US Congress' Commitment to Israel @: www.apf327.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2