Article by Matt Carver

For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us…Isaiah 33:22

In light of the recent wrestlings on the part of our governing authorities to find anything to agree on besides animosity toward each other, I thought it would be a good time to encourage us with the beautiful promise given above.  The message of Isaiah 33:22 is that God is in character and will be in position all that our best political systems attempts to be.  Therefore we look forward to a hope for politics.

How does this verse display that?  Consider the three characteristics given to God that are referenced in this passage.  They match exactly what, in the United States, we would call the three branches of government: the judicial (he is judge), the legislative (he is lawgiver), and the executive (he is King).  To see why this is such an incredible statement, let’s consider why these three branches exist.  Patrick Henry gives us an answer: “Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power.”  The abuse of power is an undeniable fact, it is a historical fact, it is a present observable fact, and it is a fact that was stated long ago in the Bible.

Consider what Peter implies in 1 Peter 5:1-3 concerning the abuse of power: “So I exhort the elders among you … shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”  If the abuse of power is an effect of man’s sinfulness in a spiritual position, how much more in a political position?  Our forefathers, fleeing from the tyranny prompted by the abuse of power, and having an understanding of man’s depravity that arose from a culture saturated with Christian ideals, anticipated man’s abuse of power with a system in which power might be checked by other power.  In other words, ours is a system of wrestling—one power with another.  That’s why we observe that, in a world of corrupt people, the best systems are those that infuse into them the wisdom of accountability—A church has multiple elders, families have two parents, and businesses have at least three people on their board of directors.  In the light of this, then, when we turn on the news and see one branch (Trump) bickering with another (Pelosi), its not a total surprise, it is the way it is suppose to work—to a degree.  But we would all agree that our system is not ideal!  What are we left with then?  Is resigned to a state of continual political bickering?  Is there a hope for politics?

Yes—in the Lord!  Considering the passage above, who must this God of ours be that He would say that He Himself can carry on his shoulders the entire weight of the three branches of government?  This verse implies three things about the character of our God’s reign that will never be true of politics until he rules over the world: unity, transparency, and benevolence.  First it tells us that He is not divided within Himself as our current political structure must inevitably be.  There are no wrestlings within God concerning what is right or wrong, therefore there is no division of power necessary.  He is righteous from beginning to end: in judgment as Judge, in writing the law as Lawgiver, and in administering the law as King.  Thus He displays a unity that we will never see in current politics until He reigns.  Second, this passage also implies that in God, all that makes man have to divide up his government—the abuse of power, is absent.  God will never lie for the sake of selfish gain, He will never say one thing and then contradict himself, there is no shadow of turning with Him, He is what He is, behind closed doors and in the open square.  Thus he displays a transparency and a consistency that we will never see in current politics until he reigns.  Finally, this passage declares that He is benevolent, which means He will never abuse His people to bolster His own power, but rather His concern will always be to act on behalf His people.  This we see in the very last part of the verse, “He will save us.”  When He rules he will do so to serve and to save.  Therefore he displays a benevolence that we will never see in current politics until He reigns.  …”and the government will be on his shoulders…”

Until then politics will be a war of wrestlings between Presidents and Representatives, Republicans and Democrats, the Supreme Court and the Congress.  There will continue to be complaints of lack of transparency in impeachment proceedings, questions of the wisdom of foreign policies, abuse of financial power to curb the success of certain dis-liked institutions, questionable applications of constiutional statements, a bunch of bickering, and a general sense that politicians, while saying they care for their constituents, really just care for their agenda. BUT…that’s all simply because God hasn’t come to rule yet.  “Behold I am coming…”

Therefore for the Christian alone is there hope in politics.

Testimony: by West Miller

God’s Word tells us the He has put eternity in all of our hearts.  We know internally that ‘something’ has both been around forever and lasts forever.  We can’t quite put our finger on it because it’s above our understanding, like so many things are concerning the God we worship.

Suicide seems to be on the rise these days.  Primarily young men and women losing their will to go on living for reasons only they can define. My younger brother John used to tell me jokingly (though not really that funny) that I’ve had experiences that others, for lesser reasons, have taken their lives over.  I suppose that was meant to make me feel better about my circumstances.  Granted, I have indeed had circumstances that were difficult to get over, to say the least.  My poor brother ended up taking his life in 2008.  My other younger brother is no where to be found.

All three of us grew up in the military and we are all also military veterans.  I was drafted right out of Oceanside High four months after graduating.  The Vietnam War was hot and heavy at the time.  After getting my notice I ran down and joined the Navy and chose my rate before going in as a Hospital Corpsman (f I were to go to Vietnam it would be in that capacity.)  It turned out that I ended up staying stateside, more of a second responder than a first responder in the combat zone.  At the time the Philadelphia Naval Hospital had turned into the largest orthopedic hospital on the planet due to all the wounded men—primarily with one, two, or all limbs missing—that advancing technology was able to save.  In WWII and Korea these same men would not have made it.  This is when I really got a glimpse of one’s ‘will to live’.  These individuals were my age, and yes, many were losing the will to carry-on.  I wrestled with this from the age of 18 to 21.  I did not know the Lord as of yet and so very much struggled with how to encourage my peers to want to live on when they could not see much of a life in front of them.  I understood their perspective and also myself related somewhat to their mindset.

It IS an absolute miracle that our Lord and Savior has instilled in us this will to live. But, I believe with all my heart that, unless we discover and adhere to the calling of the Holy Spirit, recognizing that ONLY in Christ Jesus is there life, that the will to live can fail us.  I discovered this truth after I did my time in the Navy, still very lost and confused and questioning if there was a life worth living or pursuing.  Well the answer was given for me when I did surrender my life over to Christ.  Even though there were some backsliding years, I have never lost that ‘will to live’ thing since then.  God created us for a reason.  I believe that reason is to live and fellowship and worship Him.

Today I live with multiple health issues, very serious ones, which, for most walking through this life without the Lord, would be a death sentence. And yet, as it stands, despite those issues, I have a reason to live; I have a strong ‘will to live’ and I thank God for that.  I have, and you have, an eternity that we can look forward to despite whatever life hands us in the interim.  Hallelujah!  We have no reason for our souls to be downcast.  The ‘world’ would say that I have every reason to be depressed enough to not want to live.  And yet I have every reason, in this temporary place – TO LIVE!  MAY GOD BLESS – LIVE FOR JESUS!  SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS!

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;  that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.”

Proverbs 18:14 “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit?”

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

By: Matthew Carver

Psalm 110

V1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!….

V4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Often when we have a prior commitment to not like another person or a group of people, we take great effort to avoid taking a good solid look at any evidence that would change our opinion.  The result is a caricature of that person, a straw man, a shadow of what the person is really like.  This caricature exists until the unexpected moment when they or a representative of that group bursts our bubble and does something outside our preconcieved critical box.  We are then forced to admit that we only had a single faceted perspective of that person.  And so one country dehumanizes another during war time, only to discover later that they might relate a lot with those people, or every politician is judged as a sell-out until we discover one making principled decisions.  And in just the same way the world looks at Jesus and, not wanting to take a good solid look, caricatures him into one extreme or another.  They say “he is too soft and gentle and wishy washy with love.”  Or “he is too exclusive and extreme, hateful and even dangerous.”

Without doubt the most striking aspect of the passages cited above is that, in taking an unbiased look at Jesus, it presents him as the perfect combination of polar opposites—King and Priest.  This means he will always be bursting our bubble, and doing something surprising to us.  Neither kingliness or priestliness as characteristics appeal immediately to the modern mind, not understanding in our society either Kings or priests.  However, to the one who captures the true feelings that would be appropriate toward these two titles, Jesus becomes the perfect combination of equal opposites, and therefore the only adequate object of our worship.

So what does this mean for us?  How can we best approach our King Priest in his multifaceted goodness?  Consider some of the applications below:

Are you tempted to do evil?  Then you need a righteous King to lead you into righteousness.

Have you done evil?  Then you need a priest to present a sacrifice that causes your conscience to be purified.

Are you currently rebellious?  You need a King to submit to.

Are you suffering and needy?  You need a priest to satisfy your need.

Are you uplifted in you heart? You need a King great enough to humble your pride.

Are you depressed in your heart?  You need a Priest low enough to lift you to joy.

Are you facing some battles? Let your King give you power.

Are you weakened from battles? Let your priest refresh you.

Does the love of God seem weak, soft, or boring? God must become King to you so that you can worship him in majesty.

Does the greatness of God seem condemning, dark, and distant?  God must become Priest to you so that you can draw near with confidence of acceptance.

Are you in need of correction?  Your King has sufficient power to do that for you.

Will he destroy you in correction? No for your priest intercedes for you with his blood.

Have you been wronged?  Your King will judge, but your priest stands forgiving you so that you can forgive.

Do you struggle to have hope that the world can be redeemed and made right?  As King he can and as priest he is willing.

Our society doesn’t understand either the King or the priest.  Those of the world think they’re the kings and so therefore think they don’t need a priest.  But they are left uninspired, un-lead, unloved, and with guilt on their conscience.  We have our God who is for us all that we need him to be, and He is revealed in Christ: our King-Priest.

Article by Bobby Narcy

“Five minutes inside eternity…I believe everyone of us will have wished that we’d have sacrificed more, prayed more, loved more, sweated more, grieved more, wept more!”

– Leonard Ravenhill

Can you imagine entering into the glorious throne and seeing the seraphim, cherubim, angels, the elders and an innumerable host worshipping The Almighty in all his holy awesomeness…and to think He has a plan that involves me. Wow, how I bear witness to the Ravenhill’s conviction in me. How many times has Holy God wanted to glorify His Son and Himself using my life to this date. But, I was to consumed with my selfish ambitions and flesh. My devotion to “other things” is the underlying reason. Oh to know the times, oh so many times I did my own thing, and yet those same character traits are still present in my life. Do I not sacrifice, love, sweat, grieve, weep and yes even pray to get my will done? Is it not because my devotion lies elsewhere than for the King of kings and Lord of lords? Oh, that I will wish less then, and cry out and ask more now.

I was reminded of Revelation 21:4 (The whole vision of this chapter is incredibly awesome and mind boggling to imagine), “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away…”

I believe that the majority of my tears on that day will be due to my lack of surrender to what God wanted to do in all circumstances in my life. The chapter that precedes the one cited above is very sobering.  A great white throne judgement where men will be judged according to their works! Whoever’s name is not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire! They will be tortured forever with the devil the beast and the false prophet!  Is my purpose now to allow God to use me to compel the lost to come and be reconciled? Will I not ask now to sacrifice, love, sweat, grieve, weep and pray more? I must say I am relieved for the ultimate outcome of our common salvation and that my tears will be wiped away. However, do I dare try to escape His revelation here—to not yield to the sanctifying work He died and rose to do in me? For the glory of the Father and His great name sake!

Galatians 2:20 comes alive to me here, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

I praise God we have today to surrender, sacrifice, pray, love, sweat, grieve and weep more! To abide with our Lord and to seek to do His will.

Lord, please forgive me for being so self-willed and self-seeking and not heavenly minded. I do repent and I want to present myself to You a living sacrifice. Father not my will, but your will be done. Revive me for Your name sake and not mine. Live Your life in me my King!

One in Him!

Article by Matt Carver

And he said to them, “Where is your faith?”  Luke 8:25

We must learn never to make any excuse for ourselves that gives us a justification to panic.  Jesus relentlessly demanded faith at all times from his disciples.  The beautiful conclusion that can be deduced from this truth is that, with Christ, there really never is a true reason not to have a faith that manifests itself practically in not panicking.  “But we are in the face of death!” So were the disciples, and Jesus still rebuked them and asked “where is your faith?”  “But we are professional fishermen and we know storms, and there was no getting out of this one.”  That’s right as far as it is reasoned without Jesus, but with Jesus present the rebuke still comes to us just as strongly.  And if there is always a reason to have faith in any circumstance, the implication is that there is always a reason to rest, like Jesus, amidst any storm.

We must always comfort ourselves, not with possible outcomes to our circumstances, but with the attitude that Jesus himself takes toward our circumstances.  If our reasoning goes toward our desired outcome, and our heart gets set on it, immediately our panicky mind will work its way back toward the “how” that will lead to that outcome.  Our thoughts will therefore be on the oars, or the sail, or blaming those around us for not doing their job.  Ultimately we will set ourselves right up against Jesus, humanistically making our worry the measure of the situation, rebuking Him for not being worried enough!  “Master, we are perishing…” as if Jesus didn’t care, or didn’t know.  The strength to rest in the midst of storms comes not from playing out certain outcomes, but from measuring the situation according to the fact of Jesus resting.  That he is resting means there must be no true reason to be afraid.

Jesus disciples even knew the outcome — “let us go across to the other side of the lake,”  and yet still panicked.  Jesus might want you to make it through a particular trial, he might will for your marriage to be restored or your family member to be at peace with you, but even that knowledge is not enough to sustain the human heart from panic while the marriage falls apart or while the tension is occurring at that family party.  The rest comes from looking to Jesus in his rest NOW.  Jesus, asleep on the boat, was sending his disciples a message—“This is my attitude toward all that you are afraid of, therefore it ought to be yours too.”  Jesus was not just sleeping, he was leading them in rest.

What might Jesus have wanted them to actually do?  What would a faith-filled response have looked like to which Jesus might have congratulated them, “well done, you have shown much faith?”  It would sound very spiritual to say, “lay down with Jesus in the boat.”  But I think that a very impractical and improbable answer.  What would he have wanted?  For them to wake him up right away, at first sign of trouble, and ask him to give them his rest before they do anything.  A mature Christian is not one who rows and rows with his own strength until finally the trouble seems unconquerable, but rather one who wakes up Jesus at the first sign of trouble.  So often we are rowing in storms thinking that we are heroic victims paying the price to really help God when in fact we are only victims of our pride for waiting so long to wake Jesus up!  Wake him up with faith!  Cry out with confidence!  Beat your chest in humility!  Shake yourself from the dust of faithlessness!  If there is any fear may it be fear to face any trouble on our own.  Call upon him in a day of trouble and he will answer you and you will glorify him.

Now put yourself into Jesus’ place.  In his rest he bore criticism—The disciples essentially rebuked him for his rest.  For the man of faith who leads others in faith there will always be those critics trying to shake you from your slumber. “They are threatening to close the church down if we preach such and such a message, wake up and do something!”  If we respond with panic, panic will spread like a forest fire.  Once in a tense moment, after trying to work through a difficult situation, I was driving my car nervously drumming my fingers.  My wife has learned that this is what I do when I am internally panicking.  After 5 minutes or so of silent drumming she reached over and grabbed my hands and stopped me—and it struck me.  Perhaps those whom I am leading are panicking because I am panicking.  I still have not learned to lead in rest like Christ because I am still internally trying to wake Christ up that he may join me in my panic.  Perhaps I need Jesus’ rebuke, “where is your faith.”  May the Lord close down our churches, shut down our businesses, and kill us off before we are shaken out of the conviction to measure every situation according to Jesus’ rest.