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Gen. 6:6-8 -The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The LORD said, " I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. NASU
Are you able to mentally accomplish this type of forgetting?
When your heart is grieving because of what you have done, own it. Openly confess to those who are your friends. Confess it to anyone who will listen. If no one will listen confess to God because He is always listening. Let Him know you feel like He did after creation of mankind, sorry for that which you have done.
This is known as "stinking thinking" when all you do is think about that which you can't change. They say that when a quarterback throws an interception that he must forget about it. He must put it behind him and get himself mentally ready to come back out on that field again and play like it never happened.
God was going to start over and His plan included Noah. Sometimes we need to start over and start over with new people. These new people will be people willing to listen to God's Word. Noah listened to God and found himself building an ark which I am sure looked like a fairly crazy thing to be doing. When you partner with God you may find yourself doing some outlandish things, but partner with Him anyways. It will be the best thing you have ever done. Think About These: There are two kinds of fools: those who can't change their opinions and those who won't. We should forgive and then forget what we have forgiven. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Ecclesiastes 8:14 - There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. NIV
Solomon has been known as the wisest man that has ever lived and he penned down the words above for us. Righteous men get what the wicked deserve and wicked men get what the righteous deserve. This proves that you don't always reap what you sow. If this world were perfect then we would reap what we sow. The world, however, isn't perfect and therefore we will not always reap what we sow. I remember teaching my children when they were young, Life Lesson 101: Life Isn't Fair and don't expect it to be fair or you will be rudely awakened one day.
A man who never sinned and yet, He was crucified because of evil men. Here is what Peter had to say about Jesus years after His death: "…since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:21-24 Jesus left us an example to follow according to Peter. We will have no deceit in our mouths, we will not revile against those who revile against us and while we are suffering we will not use our mouths to spew out threats or vulgarities. What we will be doing is entrusting ourselves into the hands of God, the righteous judge. The next time we suffer at the hands of unjust men and women we will be in control of our body, mind, and spirit. We will not use our mouths to spew out profanities, slander or condemnations. We will look to the One who judges righteously.
Genesis 50:20 - "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result,..." Sometimes in life, we have to endure the evil done to us by wicked people. In Joseph's situation, it was his own brothers. So in life, if your enemies, co-workers or family members inflict some of life's injustices upon you, look to the One who judges righteously. Think About This: When God allows a burden to be placed upon you, He will put His arms under you to help you carry it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 4:24-27 - And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." NASU
He goes back to His home town of Nazareth and enters the synagogue. There He reads from the book of Isaiah. When He is finished reading, He informs them this prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled in their hearing it. He is truthfully telling them He is the Messiah, the Christ or the Anointed One. We know they didn't believe Him because He quotes their response, "…Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." They have heard about His miracles in Capernaum, but they want to see some personally before they are going to believe in Him. It is going to take more than Jesus reading scripture and saying, "This is now fulfilled…" for them to become believers that He is the Messiah.
His second reference is II Kings 5 where the Prophet of God, Elisha, heals a Gentile Captain of the hated Syrian Army from his leprosy. What enrages the people of Nazareth is Jesus' comparison and conclusion. He informs them that there were many widows in Israel during the 3 1/2 years of famine, but God never sent any of His prophets to help them. Then Jesus steps it up a notch when He said, "There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." This had to anger them severely. You want to talk about being stabbed in the heart with the truth. God helped the Captain of the Hated Syrian Army, but He never healed one Israelite who had leprosy. Yes, that would have to sting. I have had people tell me they don't believe Jesus would ever hurt anyone's feelings. I always think they can't be talking about the same Jesus I know. Because the One I know who was and is the Son of God, would hurt your feelings if you were living the wrong way.
They were so enraged by His comments they literally want to kill Him. I guess you could say, "Jesus really angered those people." If you want to anger people tell them the truth. Think On These: The man who follows the crowd will never be followed by the crowd. Truth often hurts, but it's the lie that leaves the scars. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Mark 1:5 - And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River,... NASB
As I was reading this morning's verse about John the Baptist baptizing in the Jordan River it occurred to me that I will be doing this same thing or at least that is the plan. I have had numerous people ask me to baptize them while we are there in the Jordan River. Some people want to imitate the people John baptized over 2000 years ago in the Jordan River. This will allow me to imitate John the Baptist. He baptized in the Jordan so will I get to baptize people in the Jordan. Although, he didn't get to baptize for the remission of their sins and for the person to receive the Holy Spirit as I will be doing. I will be immersing people like John, but today's baptism has greater significance. I immerse people today according to what was said in Acts 2:38. The people I baptize will receive the promise of their sins being forgiven and the Holy Spirit coming to dwell with in them.
Jesus wasn't dead when John was baptizing. Jesus and John both lived in what is known as the Old Testament or Old Covenant, but Jesus has been dead for close to 2,000 years. Once He died His New Will or New Covenant came into existence. It is like your will (assuming you have one) when does it become active? The answer is when you die. If you want to change your will as long as you are a live and of a sound mind you may change it. Once you die your will can not be changed. Jesus has died and now His will has become unchangeable.
In this life it is always good to be ourselves. Be who we are. When you read the Bible we are told to imitate some and not to imitate others. Heb 13:7 - Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. We are to imitate the faithful lives of those who lead us to Christ. On the other hand we are not to imitate people who are evil according to the apostle John. 3 John 11 - Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. As you walk through life today, this week and this year if you are going to imitate anyone let's imitate those who are imitating Jesus Christ. Here is how the apostle Paul said it in I Corin. 11:1 - Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. As we read God's Word and learn how Jesus lived while He was here on earth. We can imitate no one greater than to imitate Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Think About These: People seldom improve when they have no model to follow except themselves. The largest room in the world is the room for improvement. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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