"Running From God" - Psalm 139:1-12

On Sunday I was honored to deliver the sermon. I have to tell you that the topic was not what I had originally planned. I had originally planned to do the message on John 11:35, "Jesus wept." It was going to be about how our Lord and Savior experienced all the emotions that we do. It was gonna be cool. I had always wanted to do a sermon on the shortest verse in the Bible. God had other plans.



Once again He showed me a very valuable lesson through my everyday life. As it turns out my knee is healed up enough to begin running. Being that I was a runner in my early adult life, I naturally reminisced to those experiences. Those memories were led to how running became a metaphor for my life experiences. That, then graduated to a spiritual metaphor. So my sermon became a testimonial sermon. So here's my story.



Running became a pattern for me, physically and emotionally. I was quick to bolt whenever difficulties confronted me. This ranged from not wanting to confront my own emotions as they pertained to my biological father all the way to avoiding consequences of my actions.



I became a beleiver at the age of 8. I quickly grasp the whole idea of being an active christian. My mother was convinced that I was destined for ministry when I led my third grade teacher, Ms. Stansbury, to the Lord. I remained a proactive believer well into my teens. But then something happened. I soon developed a desire for independence. I became a bit rebellious not only to my parents but also God. At the time I was dating (somewhat seriously) a wonderful, christian gal. Feeling a bit opressed by my faith I sought after a "worldly" girl. So April and I started seeing eachother. It wasn't long before my parents gave me the ultimatum; shape up or ship out. Two problems; I was hard-headed and broke. Running from God.



I entered boot camp in the early fall of 1985. I figured God didn't hang out in the military. In the military I met some "wonderful" people who showed me things I had never experienced before. I quickly was engulfed in a lifestyle that we referred to as "partying". In reality, it's getting high and drunk as often as possible. For those of you who have never partaken in such behavior, the drugs and alcohol aren't the issue. It's what those things do to your thought process. I engaged in activities that even I have a hard time believing. Things like messing around with Ouja boards (ask me about it). How about knocking on a door and having it answered by a 44 magnum pressed to my forehead. Running from God.



I eventually got into trouble and the U.S. Navy thought it best to remove me from those who were influencing me. So they removed me from my roomates and assigned me to a room with just one other guy. Since I had joined the Navy I had shared a room with anywhere from 5 to 80 other guys. This was going to be great. Turns out this guy was a believer. I don't mean your typical christian. I don't know what the apostle Peter looked like but I am certain he sounded just like my new roomie. Great! Running from God.



I took a discharge rather than deal with my new roomate. Back to the civilian world. I decided that I was going to live an independent life. I wasn't going to let anybody dictate my activities.

I suppose the desire for independence is what drove me into rebellion. Then April reentered my life. Running from God.



April was safe for me. She didn't seem to have any interest in religion. She adored me. And let's face it, she's hot. We married in February 1989. A year later 364 days later Aaron was born. I don't know what happens to women when they become mothers but it is quite miraculous. All of the sudden April had questions, spiritual in nature. She eventually talked me into taking her to a Bible study. Looking back, if I was avoiding God, why would I take my unsaved wife to a Greg Laurie study? Oh yeah, you guessed it. She went and got herself saved. It was only one study and it wasn't all that good, go figure. Running from God.



Must leave. Cannot afford to have my wife anywhere near that church. Where? Where? Wyoming! God ain't there. Heck, He hadn't finished creating it yet. Must of forgot about it. I'll be safe there...



Walt worked at the cement plant with me. Walt was a black man married to a white woman in southeast Wyoming. That limits your social options. He and I connected. Nice guy, former NFL running back with the Dallas Cowboys. We had a lot in common. Then he had to ruin everything. He through down the gospel to me. He didn't do a very good job and I told him so, even gave him a couple of pointers (the last of which was to leave me alone). Running from God.

We moved back to California but an hour and a half away from that church. Safe. We adjusted well to our new surroundings. We became active in our community (PTA, athletics, even coaching youth sports) and made friends. April, aparently was not in tune with my agenda because she made friends with a neighbor lady who sang on the worship team at the local baptist church. April went without me once and loved it. Figures! She told me all about it. She said that I should go with her and check it out. No problem! I already knew the baptist were weird. I would go and point out all their errors and put an end to this. Running from God.

After the service, I was angry with April. She had obviously spoken to the pastor and told him all about me prior to his message. I mean it was blatantly directed towards me. Later on that week I confronted the pastor with my accusation. Turns out he didn't even know who April was. No more running from God.

Psalm 139:1-12 tells us a few things regarding our relationship with God. For one, He knows all about us. He knows our thoughts, intents, goals, methods and even our words before we do or say them. Much less, He knows us more intimately than we can even conceive. The scripture says that we cannot attain even the understanding of how intimately He knows us. Secondly, it says that He is always there. In the good times and the bad. In the light and in the dark. Verse 7 rhetorically asks, "Where can I hide from your Spirit, where can I flee from your presence?" Answer, you can't. Once you give your life to Him, you are His. He will never leave you. Matthew 28:20 says that Christ will never leave you nor forsake you. There are two reasons why He won't leave you or forsake you. First, He loves you. Second, you are His. So, if you've been running from, avoiding or rebelling against God give up. Surrender. If you are His then every time you run from Him you will run into Him. He won't give up so save yourself the trouble and surrender.

"The Message of the Five Angels" - Revelation Chapter 14:6-20

This week's study was, once again, fabulous! I really commend all of you on your participation in the topic. You guys make this class both fun and educational.

The topic of discussion was the messages of the five angels of Revelation 14:6-20. Once again we followed the proper guidelines of interpreting escatological scripture. First, we identified the setting (place and time). Then we identified the characters involved. And finally, we interpreted the declarations (prophesies, warnings, announcements) and the time frames in which they must take place.

The setting in this passage is in heaven at the mid-point of the seven year tribulation. We can determine this by the transition between verse 5 and verse 6. John did not make a transition in either location or time. Therefore, we won't either. We can then assume all is as it was in the last passage.

The characters involved are John the writer, five angels as messengers, an angel to distribute the judgement of God, a group of faithful martyred saints, the recipients of God's judgement and "One like the Son of Man". We have already identified John as the writer. The five angels are, without doubt, heavenly due to their origin (heaven) and their proclamations (righteous). The angel that distributes God's judgement is also heavenly based on his obedience. The saints are easily identified. The recipients of God's judgement would be those who do not heed the warnings of the five angels. The only real challenge identifying a character came in this "One like the Son of Man". Although, we were quick to unanimously determine that He is Jesus Christ. For one, this is a common reference to the Messiah throughout scripture. Secondly, the act of reaping is just only for the sower. And thirdly, He's wearing a crown (hint, hint).





The passage can be broken down by it's events. The first event is the proclamation of the first angel. This angel carries the everlasting gospel. Angel number one additionaly declares that the inhabitants of the earth are required to "fear God", "give Him glory" and "worship Him". This, in context, has both consequence and reward. The consequence being the events of verses 19 & 20. The reward coming in verses 12, 13 & 16.





Event number two is the prophesy of the second angel. This angel declares that the ruling world religion (Babylon) is "fallen". This could refer to the literal city. The destruction of the literal city will occur in chapter 18. The Babylon of this chapter, taken in context with the events of chapter 13 (a proclamation by the "false prophet" that all shall worship the "Beast" and the image of the "Beast" (Anti-Christ), is no longer significant. There will be no need for a one-world religion when the earth will be host to a resurrected messiah (Anti-Christ). Why participate in worship services when one can worship their god face to face?

Event number three comes in the form of a warning delivered by angel number three. The angel simply states that all worshippers of the "Beast" and those who receive his mark will get a full taste of God's wrath. Again, there are rewards and consequences (verses 12, 13, 16, 19 & 20). The forth event is very rewarding to the saint. Verses 12 & 13 deal directly with the obedient and faithful "Great Tribulation" saints. Although verse 12 tells us that these will most certainly die, they will also be rewarded for their obedience to God and their faith of Jesus. Verse 13 reveals through a "voice from heaven" that these are "blessed" and they will receive rest and their works shall be their legacy. The "voice from heaven" is revealed as the Spirit. How cool is it that in just two short verses all members of the triune God recognize the faithful coming out of the most turbulent time in history? From my perspective it is beyond cool.

The next event is actually a more descriptive version of the last. Verses 14-16 declare to us that the death of the saints is actually the Lord reaping His harvest. It is in these verses that the one "like the Son of Man" uses a sharp sickle to reap the harvest. This indicates that this will not be a comfortable thing. There will be no physical comfort for those that will be harvested, but spiritually they can take comfort in the previous verses. It is this commentators opinion that the Lord's reaping of the earth will practically eliminate believers from the earth by the end of the tribulation.

The last event won't be comfortable for anybody still remaining on the earth. It is the pouring out of God's wrath through the last half of the tribulation, culminating with the battle of Armegedon. The fierceness of this battle is described by the result. That result being the Valley of Megido being filled 5-6 feet high in blood. That valley is roughly 180 miles long by one and a half miles wide. All the blood will be of those that rebelled against the One and Only God. It is interesting that an angel shall pronounce this judgement and another will administer it.

Be on the right side. God bless and I'll see you next week.

"Another 144,000?"

This week we looked at Revelation 14:1-5. If you weren't able to be there you missed out on some great discussion. The topic of the passage was 144,000 dedicated believers. We discussed the identity of this special group of believers. We also discussed the source and motives of their "blamelessness".



In order to properly identify these 144,000 we must first determine the setting. Then we begin to look at the characteristics mentioned in the passage and compare them to characteristics of previously studied passages.



The setting is quite obviously in heaven. We can determine this by the presence of the Lamb (v.1). Since our messiah has not yet returned to earth (mid-point of 7 year tribulational period) as well as the fact that they "sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders" (v. 3) we can safely say that the setting is on Mt. Zion (v.1) in the City of God in heaven. The time frame of the setting can be determined by the continuance of circumstances from chapters 12 and 13 as well as the verses following and warning the inhabitants of the earth of God's impending judgement.



Identifying these 144,000 proved to be a bit tricky. We compared what we know about the 144,000 witnesses addressed in chapter 7 to the characteristics of this chapter 14 group. First, the chapter 7 group is undoubtedly Jewish. There will be 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. There is no mention of Israel or any of the tribes in the chapter 14 passage. The chapter 7 group will be marked with the name of God on their foreheads. The group in chapter 14 have both the name of Christ and the Father sealed on their foreheads. However, the KJV and NKJV do not include Christ. Then there is the fact of the chapter 14 group being "purchased from the earth" (v. 3) and "purchase from among men" (v. 4). The phrases "from the earth" and "from among men" are predominantly used in regards to gentiles. Whereas, "of" or "from your fathers", a lineage or a mention of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob refers to people of Jewish heritage. In addition, verse 3 says that they "sang a new song". With all these factors considered, we can presume that this group of 144,000 are not the same group that is found in chapter 7. We can also presume that this new group is atleast predominantly gentile.

We had fun discussing and debating these conclusions but I do not wish that the debates be the focus of the study. It is my desire that the real focus be on the behavior of these 144,000. These are not some people playing some Christian game. They are the real McCoy. Dedicated and genuine believers that set themselves aside, made true sacrifices and obeyed their Lord in order to honor Him. Oh, how I aspire to do the same. Don't you?

Do you want to be blessed? Go back and read the text again and pay close attention to the way they lived their lives. You will feel completely unworthy but atleast you will have lots of company.

God Bless You All!