Where Does Help Come From?

Vol 3 No 13 THEO'S DEVOS

Psalm 20:2 May he send you help from his sanctuary

As we have seen before, the concept of 'sanctuary' is a very important one to grasp and one that has been lost over the years. There was a time when churches were considered sanctuaries and you were literally safe, even from the law, if you could make it inside one. Today, unfortunately, many of our churches are not safe; even for members from other members and the church itself. Sunday can be a dangerous day for those who go to church but are not prepared to fit in. Admittedly things have gotten lots better from when I was young and the church had something to say about just about everything we did or how we dressed. The problem is not all the churches fault of course. The way the world plays with sin makes it difficult for the church to stand against sin and still make everyone feel comfortable, something it is not called to do.

However, the real problem is that we still look to the church building for sanctuary and miss the point of scripture. In the Old Testament the sanctuary was a place and you went into the sanctuary to find safety and God. In the New Testament things have dramatically changed. For those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, their bodies have become the sanctuary of God. He lives in you and no longer does He live in buildings made of concrete and steel. However, there is another place where God lives. He lives in the words of scripture. He enlivens them and transforms them into more than a mere book or words on a printed page. It is from this haven that David says our help comes from. When we combine our bodies and mind with the scriptures by reading, studying and meditating on them, we bring ourselves into a sanctuary from which help can come.

Unfortunately, when we neglect the scriptures and expect that God will fill our minds with much needed help, we may be very disappointed. God has given us the Bible for a purpose. It leads you to God, it shines a light on the path we should walk, it corrects us when we stray from the path and it gives us instructions on how to stay on the path. Without the scriptures we would have no idea how to get to God or how to serve Him.

Today, we need help. I don't think anyone would deny that. From our individual lives to the halls of Congress we need help from someone or somewhere. Now the Bible is not going to tell us how to solve the mess that we are in specifically but it does give us principles to follow that, had we been following them, we could have avoided the mess in the first place. We continue to think that we can solve all of our problems on our own and that we, in our human minds, have the resources to overcome anything. This has never been true and history is the story of humans trying to solve their own problems only to see them go from bad to worse. Oh, sometimes they get better for a season but then we slip right back into the same problems again. It can be so bad that countries have fallen and economies have collapsed because men, and women, have neglected the teaching of God in His word.

Remember that all you see is not all there is. We live, surrounded by a spiritual world. When Jesus was in the Garden and prayed, an angel appeared to him. That angel was there all the time but appeared to Jesus in order to let us know the truth of the first sentence in this paragraph. We can see into that spiritual world through the pages of the Bible and it is from that world our help will come. When you read the Bible, you touch that world and, when you follow the teachings of the Bible, and pray to the God of the Bible, help is on the way. Let's be sure to stay close to God by reading His word and following His guidance. That will be a key to our survival, not only on a personal level but for our country as well. More than ever, we need God in our lives.

May He bless you today as you follow Him.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Psalm 20:1-9

QUICK QUESTION: When you are about to face a challenge, how do you prepare?

1. How was the King in a hard place?

2. What was the response of the people?
   
   

3. What can you learn about God from these verses?
   
   

4. What is the best way to get ready for challenges?
   
   

5. When is the best time to pray for help in challenges?

REFLECTION: Does anyone in your group face a challenge this week? Could you take a few minutes to pray for that/those challenges today?

A HEART'S CRY

Vol 3 No 12 THEO'S DEVOS

Psalm 139:19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!  Get out of my life, you murderers!

Our verse for today seems out of place in the context of God's Word and yet, while reading the Psalms, we see references like this from the Psalmist more than once. These words are very good examples of the fact that not everything you read in the Bible is to be taken as appropriate action for us. If these words were standard fare for followers of God then we would have a problem when comparing them to Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” How do we clear up this situation?

The answer is simple. Understand that the men of the Old Testament were not any different than the men, 'guys.' of the New Testament. They were people just like you and I and God allowed them to speak their mind in the midst of Holy Scripture so that we could understand that they understood us and had the same feelings we have. When you read the Bible you are reading a book that is one hundred percent in touch with what you feel and face everyday.

These words could easily express the feelings of those men and women who were devastated by the Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff who ripped even his friends off for 820 million dollars. Some were left with nothing. And how about those who worked hard for companies, helping them to be successful, only to have their jobs sent overseas. The company I worked for, Semperian, who served GM, closed the call center here in Eugene and put 297 workers on the street May 1^st. That meant 297 less jobs and 297 more workers looking for jobs. I talked to a business two weeks ago and found that they were closing their doors in three days and another who had just laid off 18 people that day. We hear of top executives taking millions of dollars in bonuses while the company is declaring billions in loss. These kinds of things cause people to do disparate things and it gets worse and worse.

The things that the writer's of scripture ask for is not always in line with the will of God. Quite often their cry is that of the human, natural heart, which cannot always be trusted. They honestly call for what they think should be done out of frustration and human misunderstanding. They, as we, can not see the beginning from the end. They can't see behind the walls of history. They only see what we see, the mortal plain where eliminating the problem seems to be the best solution. “Destroy the wicked.” That is a simple way to right the wrongs. The problem is that it is not even in line with the teaching Old Testament.. “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself.” states Leviticus 19:18. The Psalmist misses God's point and goes for the easy way out.

The problem that he faces, as do we in moments of unclear thinking, is that God does in fact hate the sin and the cry rightly acknowledges that. What it misses is that God loves the sinner and desires to turn them around, not eliminate them. This is why the psalmist ends the Psalm with these words: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. ²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23,24 He knows, as we should, that our thinking is flawed. We often run on emotion and need the mind of God to step in and save the day. We are not thinking too clearly these days. Many are fearful and even those in power do not know for certain if what they are doing will fix the mess we are in right now. But God knows the correct path and will guide us if we will simply pay attention. While reading God's word and praying to Him, be careful to let Him decide the way you should go.

Do not fear. Trust in Him. It may not be easy but it is sure.

May God bless you today.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Psalm 139:1-24

QUICK QUESTION: What troubles you most about today's headlines?

1. What did God think of David?
   
   

2. What did David think about God and himself?
   
   

3. What knowledge did David think was too hard for him to understand?
   
   

4. What does this Psalm teach about God?
   
   

5. After reading this Psalm, what do you think we should think about ourselves and God?
   
   

6. Why should you be careful about the things you ask for in prayer?

REFLECTION: Is there something that you may want to reconsider in your prayer life?

Your Own Traditions

Vol 3 No THEO'S DEVOS

Mark 7:8 For you ignore God’s specific laws and substitute your own traditions.

I doubt if there is anything that drives me crazier than Christians who hang onto traditions as if they were doctrines. The problem is so wide spread and so problematic that most of us have no idea we are caught up in them. You can usually tell when a tradition is being touched by the ire that it causes in the people who are affected. Let me give you some very real illustrations.

There is a church where, in the front of the congregation, there is a huge Bible on display on the table where the communion elements are placed once a month. The table needed to be moved in order to put on a play around Christmas time and one of the deacons declared that the Holy Bible was being removed from the center of our church as though we had decided that it was no longer the Word of God.

And that brings up another situation. How does your church celebrate communion. Do you go forward to receive the bread and grape juice (oh or should it be wine)? Or do the ushers pass the bread and the cup? Who resides over communion? The pastor? A deacon? An elder? How often do you celebrate communion? Once a week? Once a month? If the leaders of the church decided to change the way communion was done, would it create a firestorm? All the above are traditions and are not a biblical prescriptions for communion. Any of them can be done without violating biblical text.

Here is the recipe for disaster. If you do something one time it usually won't cause a problem. If you do it twice it becomes a trend but, if you do it three times in a row, the same way, it can become a tradition that you will find very hard to change. Many will begin to think that the way you do whatever it is you do, is the way God meant for it to be done. People may forgive another church for doing it differently but not you. Oh no. It is easier than you think to raise a tradition to the level of a doctrine. We teach our people as much by the way we do things as by what we say. Church leaders should be very careful to explain that something is a tradition so the people do not get confused. We are very adamant about teaching doctrine but seem to forget the power of example.

This can be extremely important. Most Christian fathers would never think to celebrate communion with his family because he isn't ordained let alone a single Mom with her two children but there is nothing in scripture that says the one officiating communion has to be an ordained person, or even a man. It is our traditions that cause us to think that way and Jesus put his foot right on that way of thinking.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are a believer/priest. Man or woman, young or old, a believer/priest. Please don't let the 'clergy' rob you of your position. You may not lead a church but you have those around you who need your leadership. Life will come at you and twist you mind making you think that you are not a leader, that you are simply a follower and not much of one at that. But that is just Satan trying to nullify your testimony. It is what we mentioned last week. You think that you have to be a John or Peter in order to lead someone for the Lord. But those guys were just like you. Read about Peter and then tell me that he was something special. Listen carefully: the only thing special about the people of the Bible was the impact of God in their lives. And that same God lives in you.

Traditions can be wonderful and many of them need not change but the reason some traditions can be so deadly is that they stand in the way of true biblical teaching and that always comes at a great price. Someone gets hurt. Something is sacrificed on the altar of tradition. “We never did it that way before” has stymied more church growth than any lack of funds ever has. I challenge you to look through your life and ask yourself if there is anything that you do, or don't do, simply because it has become a tradition and, if you changed the way you did it, would it help you be more effective for the Lord. Someone needs you and Satan wants to be sure that they never get what they need. The easiest way to accomplish that is to get you to think that you simply can't do it or are not supposed to do it. Fall for that and Satan wins. He has been winning way too much for my money.

May God bless you as you serve Him in new ways.

Theo

Dear Small Group Leader (or soon to be Facilitator)

Please allow everyone in your group to answer the Quick Question. It will get things started on the right foot, encouraging quieter ones to open up. Please do not require everyone to answer every question. They may not be ready to share yet. Also please allow at least 5-10 minutes at the end of your study so as many as would like to can respond to the REFLECTION question. This may be the most important time in your small group study. Thank You

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY

Please Read: Mark 7:1-23

QUICK QUESTION: What are some traditions in your church and which ones do you like the best?

1. What did the followers of Jesus do that was different from the Pharisees?
   
   

2. What were the Pharisees doing wrong?
   
   

3. How did Jesus explain the concept of 'tradition?'
   
   

4. What did Jesus say made a person 'unclean' and how did that differ from the teaching of the Pharisees?
   
   

5. What is wrong with 'substituting your own traditions?
   
   

REFLECTION: What could you do this week to demonstrate that doctrine is more important to you than some tradition?