KISS

K eep

I t

S imple

S tupid

The Kiss Principle

A group of birds is called a flock.

A group of cows is called a herd.

A group of fish is called a school.

Do you know what a group of buzzards is called? A flock? Nope! A Committee!

Isn’t that appropriate.

Did you ever notice that the larger the committee, the more complicated a problem gets; and the solution is always even more complex?  I guess that’s why, God never asks for our opinion.  Opinions are dime a dozen! But, that does not stop us from having them.

Have you ever noticed how complex, most churches have become.  Ever wonder why!  Maybe because we all want to feel like our opinions matter, makes us feel important.  We like things organized in neat little boxes, sort of like job descriptions.  If you do ABC, you get this raise.  If it’s not in my job description, I don’t have to do it.   That’s how religions work.  They are man made ways to reach out to God.

Doing it God’s way is so old school.  When the Philippian jailer asked what he had to do to be saved, Paul and Silas said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” 

SO SIMPLE!

What did Jesus tell us to do?

Mark 16: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸they  will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

SO SIMPLE!

A couple of blogs back, I asked, how many Pharisees it takes to screw in a light bulb?  Today’s question is: How ministries does it take to fulfill Jesus’ command?  How many does your church have?  How many ministers does your church have?  Jesus had twelve and they all had the same job: 

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸they  will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

It can’t be that simple!  No music ministry?  No Youth ministry?  No Children’s ministry?  No singles’ ministry? No senior’s ministry?  No golf ministry?  No childcare ministry?  No car care ministry?  No internet ministry? 

It would never work!

When is the last time your church laid hands on the sick?  When was the last time your church anointed the sick with oil?  When is the last time your church spent more than 60 second praying for the sick, the needy, the hurting?  When did you spend more than 60 seconds in prayer?  When did you spend more than 60 seconds in the Word?

Why do we major on the little things and ignore what Jesus told us to do?

Oh, you of little faith! 

If Jesus came to your church, would it be said, “He could do no mighty work there”.  Would He marvel because of our unbelief?

No Such Thing As Too Much Love!

There’s an old Don Williams country song, Too Much Love, which speaks well of the situation we find ourselves in today.  The song goes:

Too much coffee, too much tea, too much sugar isn’t good for me.

Too much money and too much fame, too much liqueur drives a man insane.

But too much love, too much love,

There’s no such thing as too much love.

Too much misery and fighting, there too much trouble in this world for me.

There’s too much trouble in this world for me, There’s too much of this and too much of that and too much of anything that will make you fat.

There’s no such thing as too much love.

I realize that the songwriter is talking probably about lust rather than love but I want to talk about God’s love.  There is no such thing as too much of God’s love.  If you contemplate what effort He went through to show us His love, you have too admit that there’s no such thing as too much of God’s love. 

I have been trying to show you Jehovah-Rapha, the God that heals.  As we go thru the gospels, examining Christ’s work, it almost gets repetitive looking at His healing of the sick.  But God is telling us that there is no such thing as too much healing.  Jesus kept repeating Himself, showing us picture after picture of His Father.  His healing nature is an expression of His love for us.  His love is not just for our souls, but, for our bodies.  Christ did not just minister to people's souls, he met their physical needs.   A few days ago we were following Jesus as He healed all the sick that were brought to Him.  Following that, Jesus and His disciples got into a boat and shortly they were overwhelmed by a storm.  His disciples were terrified, even after just seeing Jesus heal all the sick.  After  seeing Jesus meet the needs of all those people, they still were afraid!  Sounds like something we would do!  Jesus first rebuked the disciples for their “little faith” and then rebuked the winds and seas.  The winds and seas calmed and the disciples marveled!

You’d think that after all this that Satan would lay off for a little while; but no.  As they landed, they were met by a demon possessed man. The demons speaking thru the man asked Jesus, “Have you come here to torment us”.  Wouldn’t you think that Satan would have just had the guy stay low and avoid Jesus.  No, Satan, still has his pride, the thing that caused his fall.  Satan thought then and still thinks that he can win.  Jesus had to deal with him and so do we!  That is why the Father has given us His Armor!

There’s too much misery and fighting.

There too much trouble in this world.

BUT

There’s sooo much love!

How Many Pharisees Does It Take To Screw In A Light Bulb?

That is one of the great theological questions that no one can answer.  It’s right up there with, how many angels can sit on the point of a pin? Or, Can God make a rock so big that He can’t lift it.  You may be thinking, Where in the world is this guy going now?  Well, I am following up on my last blog.  When I say, “Pharisee”, most of you reading this think about the people that constantly harassed Jesus.  Those were the religious establishment guys in Jesus’ day.  Jesus did not have a lot of patience with these guys.

 Matthew 23

¹⁴Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer.  Woe, unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. ²⁴Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. ²⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. ²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. ²⁸Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity

Why am I mentioning this?  Because we all have a little or a lot of Pharisee in us!  Most churches have a little Pharisee in them!  You say, “Surely you jest, not I?” “Not my church! Let me explain.

When Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, He was talking about their hypocrisy. They had rules for everything.  They took the Old Testament law and added to it.

Do we do that today?  Definitely!  Let me give you an example!  I recently was reading the bylaws and constitution of some churches as we are in the process of examining our bylaws and constitution at our Ann Arbor church.  We are specifically examining the role of elders and deacons and their qualifications.  Many of you are aware of 1 Timothy 3, where Paul is writing to his young protégée outlining the qualifications of elders and deacons.  In that he says they must be “not given to wine”.  He does not say that they must be tee totallers. Paul even tells Timothy in the same letter:

²³And don’t worry too much about what the critics will say. Go ahead and drink a little wine, for instance; it’s good for your digestion, good medicine for what ails you.

Yet in one churches bylaws that I recently read, they say that deacons and elders must practice total abstinence.  I guess they think that the Holy Spirit did not go far enough, we need to add a little.  Sounds like something the Pharisees did.  I could mention many more, but that is not my goal.  I only want each of us to do a reality check as to what we believe.

You may be saying, “why is he picking on churches right now?”  Well it ties in with knowing and trusting your Heavenly Father and His Word! He is the only one we can trust.  Trust Him.  Don’t trust religious people.  They will let you down!  I will let you down.  I don’t want to; but I am not perfected yet. 

We are afraid to take His word at face value.  This started in the Garden of Eden.  God told Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  When Satan confronted Eve she said that they were not eat of the fruit nor touch it.  We don’t know if this is how Adam conveyed God’s instruction to Eve or if Eve added this herself.  Regardless, that is not what God said. 

We all think that we need to “add to”, “take away” or “explain away” from what scripture says.  We all tend to have favorite scriptures that we pick out, rather than look at the entire work of Jesus and His Father’s word.  We tend to ignore scriptures that don’t fit our religious theology. We make up our own theology regarding why we don’t see miracles on a regular basis!  Is it any wonder why God is not blessing our church, why our pews are not full, why we can not meet our budget, why our young people are forsaking our churches! 

We ignore the character of our Father.  We have made up our own god to fit our self-made theology.  We don’t do what Jesus told us to do.  Why should people believe John 3:16 when we ignore huge chunks of what Jesus showed and told us

We ignore James 5:14-16:

 “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. ¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. when it comes to anointing the sick with oil.”

 We ignore Mark 16:15-19:

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ¹⁷And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ¹⁸They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” 

We ignore the sick among us.  We spend so little time in prayer.  We are too busy playing church!  How much time and effort does your church devote to praying for the sick.  This was a HUGE part of Jesus’ ministry.  How did Jesus praise His Father?  How did Jesus bring glory to His Father?  He did His Father’s work!  His work brought glory to His Father! 

I love singing and praising God in song; but, I can find no example of Jesus doing this.  Now, I do not want to stop doing this in our services; but, I think we should spend equal time praying for the sick and needy!

Be ware of the hypocrisy of ALL religious people, including those in your denomination, church, Sunday school, small group, or even within YOURSELF!

It’s All Part of My Father’s Plan!!

(WARNING, if you are a religious person, you may be offended by this blog: in which case, DO NOT READ ANY FARTHER!  I wrote this blog on Monday but have been waiting to post it out of concern that some people might be offended.  After listening to last night’s sermon, I feel good about posting it.  If it causes anybody to get their shorts in a knot, that’s their problem; so here goes. )

Jesus’s next encounter with illness came when He went to Peter’s house.  Peter’s wife’s mother was in bed sick with a fever.  Jesus said, “Take 2 Tylenol and call me in the morning!”  Oop’s no Tylenol available!  What ya gonna do?  Jesus just touched her and her fever was gone!  What’s next?

They (we’re not told who they are!) brought many that were possessed with devils and He healed ALL that were sick!  No exceptions.  The writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, relates sickness with the Satan.  Today, we don’t even mention Satan in most of our churches and certainly not in the same sentence with sickness.  We are more educated!  Satan is such an old school idea.  We are more enlightened!  Well in the old school, all the sick got healed!   Somehow I like the old school better!  As they say the proof is in the pudding! Sickness is from Satan. Jesus came to defeat Satan.  Jesus defeated the works of the devil. Jesus defeated sickness! End of discussion! NOT, if you are part of most religious establishments today!

Why no exceptions? Because He was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. 

“And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. ¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. ¹⁶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: ¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses

Where is that prophecy?

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  (Isaiah 53:4-5)

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?  A normal sane person would interpret this to mean that “by his stripes we are healed”.  A group of fisherman would take it this way.  A child would take it this way!  BUT, not a religious person.  This does not sit well with most religious people’s experiences!  If it really means “with his stripes we are healed”, it would mean that healing is part of the atonement.  It was paid for at Calvary. This is where all the religious people get hung up!  Jesus had not yet been beaten or crucified, so they conclude that healing is not part of the atonement.  I personally don’t get too hung up on when in Jesus’s atoning life, he took care of sickness.  I just know it says that he did it.  Jesus’s entire ministry was part of His atoning work.  He forgave sins before He was crucified.  If He could do that before He actually died on the cross, why can’t sickness be the same.  OOPs, He did say they were the same. 

Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? (Mark 2:9)

Why is this so significant? If it is not part of the atonement, it is not for everyone.  Religious people use this argument to explain why when we pray, people don’t get healed most of the time. If it is part of the atonement it can be appropriated by faith like salvation.  If this is the case, then lack of healing is the church’s responsibility.  It is easier to change our theology than to recognize or admit that our faith is too weak.  We’d have to admit that maybe we “have the form of godliness, but deny the power thereof”.  We’d have to admit that we often play church and talk “christianese”. 

I find it more rational and realistic to admit that my faith is too small than to interpret scripture to fit my experience.  Healing is part of my Father’s character.  Healing is part of His plan to restore man to oneness with the Himself.  Sickness came as a result of Adam’s sin.  Jesus came to restore everything that sin took.  Sin took health away, God wants to restore it!

Jesus said that we need to have child-like faith.  What is child-like faith?  A child believes everything their father says without reading the fine print.  They have not met any used car salesmen yet!  (Sorry, if there are any used car salesmen reading this blog) We have a lot of religious people who act like God is used car salesman.  You need to read the fine print.  “Is” does not always mean “is”.   Sorry, but you can keep your theology, I’ll keep believing in Jehovah – Rapha.  Is my faith where it could and should be?  No, but, I am growing.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17)

Great Faith

 Getting To Know Him More

Last Wednesday, I started to follow Jesus through the gospels as He shows us the character of His Father.  Today, we move to Matthew 8, Jesus has just completed what is commonly called His sermon on the mount.  As Jesus comes down from the mountain, He is met by a leper.  The leper came and worshipped Him and said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”  The leper believed that Jesus was able to heal him; but he was not sure Jesus wanted to heal him.  Jesus immediately responds, “I will; be thou clean.”  Mark and Luke also record this healing, so the Holy Spirit deemed this miracle of such significance that it is recorded three times.  The three writers emphasize that when Jesus was asked if He wanted to heal, Jesus responded, yes.  You should note that Jesus did not comment on the leper’s faith.

The next encounter involves the centurion’s servant.  Matthew and Luke record this miracle.  Luke gives a little more detail than Matthew.  Luke adds the detail that the centurion had built a synagogue for the Jews and that when his servant was sick and ready to die, that upon hearing of Jesus, he called the elders of the Jews, asking if they could go to Jesus and ask Jesus to come and heal his servant.  At this point the centurion obviously believed that Jesus was capable of healing the servant; but was not sure if he wanted to.  The elders go to Jesus and tell Him about the centurion, being a man that loved the Jewish nation and had built them a synagogue.  You need to remember that this centurion was part of the Roman soldiers that were occupying Israel.  Jesus immediately starts going to the centurion’s house; but when Jesus was almost there, the centurion sends someone to meet Jesus and tells Jesus that he does not want to trouble Jesus.  Jesus had just gone out of His way to go to the centurion's house. He had already troubled Jesus. He tells Jesus to just speak the word and he knows that his servant will be healed. Immediately, Jesus commends him for his “great faith”.  What made Jesus say this?  What made his faith great?  When the centurion saw Jesus coming, he then knew Jesus wanted to heal his servant.  He now knew that Jesus was not only able to heal but wanted to heal his servant.  At that point, he says just say the word and I know he will be healed. Great faith is not just knowing that God can heal,; but; also knowing that God wants to heal.

Knowing that someone can do something for you, will never help you.  Everyone knows that Bill Gates, from Microsoft is able to give you a million dollars.  Is that going to help you pay your next house payment?  No!  If you knew he wanted to give you a million dollars, that would mean something.

Do know that God can heal you?  Do you know that God wants to heal you?  If you do, you have great faith! 

You know your God! 

You know Jehovah-Rapha!

Two more examples of your Father’s character!

More to follow.

Ya But’s!

Following up on yesterday’s blog, I want to talk about “ya but’s”.  You say, what’s a “ya but”?  Well that's when you tell your kids to do something and their response is: Ya, but, dad, I’ve got something else to do: or, Ya, but, none of the other kids have to do that.

“Ya but’s” are not just something that kids do, adults do them also.  When it comes to reading the Bible and coming across a promise or command, we often get a case of “Ya but’s”.  I know the Bible says that BUT, that was in Bible time.  Ya but, you don’t know my situation.  Ya, but, Jesus could do that because He was God.  Ya, but, those guys were disciples.  Ya, but, they did not know about antibiotics and drugs. 

We come up with a million reasons why that verse does not mean what a naïve simple-minded child would think it does.  We come up with a million reasons why that verse is not apropos for our situation. 

As James says: “a double-minded man (is) unstable in all his ways”, that man will not receive anything from the Lord.”

Rather than admit that our lack of faith is the primary hindrance to our prayers, we make up this doctrine that it must not be God’s will or that the answer is “no”.   We have included the phrase “if it be the Lord’s will” in every prayer just to cover our “ya but’s”.  It takes the onus off of us.  Rather than look in scripture and see that many times his followers were rebuked by Jesus for their lack of faith, we say it was not God’s will. 

The people who do not know their God, do not do exploits.  People who do not know their God, get eaten by lions!  People who do not know their God, burn when thrown into the fiery furnace!  People who do not know their God, never walk on water!

I want to know my God, I want to do exploits.

Why?  It brings glory to my Father!

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

Sleeping With The Enemy

Many of you are thinking right now about the Julia Roberts movie; but no, I am not going to talk about that.  I am going to talk to you about sleeping with THE enemy, the devil, Satan.  You say, I don’t sleep with the devil. Well I beg to differ.  I have slept with him, figuratively, and I am sure you have too. 

Let me explain, a few days ago I talked about NO FEAR.  I talked about fear being the absence of faith, using Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus said to his disciples: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”  Also I mentioned that the author of Hebrews tells us: “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. Fear is a tool of Satan.  Fear keeps us from pleasing God.  Faith pleases God.  God takes delight when His people have faith in Him and His Word.  Satan knows this and uses fear to keep us paralyzed.  How many of you have laid awake at night worrying?  I have and do, in spite of knowing that what I am just saying.  In this way we are sleeping with the enemy, Satan. 

We can’t keep these worrisome thoughts from coming; but we can choose to dwell on them, or not. Satan will bring them.  They are like the seeds of doubt that Satan used when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness.  He said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God”, do this.  If he would tempt Jesus to doubt His Father’s Word, don’t you think he would do the same thing to us.  How did Jesus respond?  He SPOKE the Word back to Satan!  Jesus used the Sword of the Spirit, part of the armor of God, referred to in Ephesians 6. 

There are two words used in Greek for “word”.  One is “logos”, and the other is “rhema”.   “Logos” refers to the written word; while “rhema” refers to the spoken word or “the thing said”.  Why is this significant?  Well the word used in Ephesians in talking about the sword of the Spirit, where it says: “take …. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”, the word used there is “rhema” not logos.  We need to speak the Word to Satan.  There is nothing in scripture that would lead us to believe that Satan can read our minds.  He can put thoughts in our minds, but based on Job, Satan observed Job’s action, but did not read his mind.  If you want Satan to hear you, you need to speak to him.  Jesus did many time when He cast out demons.  It says that He cast them out.

When we lay awake at night, worrying; or, for that matter, any time, we waste time worrying, we are “sleeping with the enemy”.  Paul tells the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:

 “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ;Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

When we worry, we imagine all sorts of horrible “what if’s”.  These are imaginations that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.  We know that Jesus told us in Mathew 6:

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ²⁷Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ²⁸And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: ²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

Yet we take these “thoughts” or “imaginations” that exalt themselves over our knowledge of God, and waste our time on them.

I have been talking recently about “people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32).  In knowing your God, you need to know His enemy, Satan.  Satan is everything that God is not.  If something pleases God, it displeases Satan.  Worry pleases Satan, faith pleases God.  We need to bring these “imaginations” into captivity as Paul says in  2 Corinthians 10:4-5. Cast out those thoughts.

What did Julia Roberts do in the movie, she ran away. 

Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:7-11:

“we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ¹¹But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

FLEE these thoughts!

Quit sleeping with the enemy!  Don’t play in his sandbox!  It will literally keep you paralyzed, take away your joy, your peace, your confidence and eventually kill you. 

Getting To Know Him

There is a song that is often sung as part of our worship service, “I want to see Jesus, I want to see Him high and lifted up”.  Well, I have decided that the best way to show you Jesus, is to look at His activities while here on this ball we call “earth”.  In showing you Jesus, you will see His Father and my Father.  I am going to go through the gospels and paint a collage. I am going to count for you each time Jesus is presented an opportunity to heal and see His response.  We will start in Matthew.  I don’t know how long this will take; but, I’ve got lots of time.  Here goes!

In Matthew 4, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, fasting.  That’s a long time!  What happens next?  His Father must be very pleased with His Son.  Everything is going to be rosy!  NOT!!  Jesus is confronted with Satan.  Satan tempts Jesus, with what might seem to most of us, as a kind of petty temptation, turn stones into bread.  What’s wrong with that?  But, Satan was asking Jesus to prove himself: “If you are the Son of God?  Tempting Him to doubt whether if HE really was the Son of God.  Was His Father really Jehovah-Jireh? Will He really provide food for you?   Just like Satan did to Eve.  Planting seeds of doubt.  The second temptation was tempting Jesus to doubt His Father’s protection!  Will your Father really protect you?  Is He really Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord your Banner?  Can He overcome gravity?   The last temptation tempted Jesus to doubt the work that His Father had entrusted to Him.  Adam had been given this earth initially and told to:

“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so doubt His”.

Adam surrendered this dominion over to Satan when he sinned.  In John 12:31, Satan is referred to as “ruler of this world” and in 2 Corinthians he is referred to as “god of this world”.  Jesus knew that eventually, after He had completed His job on this earth that His Father would seat

“Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  And …put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Satan was offering Jesus a shortcut, an easy way out to avoid the cross. 

Was Jesus going to take His Father at His Word?  Did He have to see His Father do something to prove His “Fatherliness”?  Was he going to pull a doubting Thomas?  It would have been so easy!  But then, it would not have been walking by faith! 

Do you need to withdraw cash from your ATM in order to believe that there is really money in your account?  Or, do you just accept by faith that the money is there when you need it?  Do you need to check it first?  Maybe my pin number is wrong!  Does God’s Word really mean what it says?  Maybe I better check it out just to make sure it works.  Sure would not want to find out it doesn’t work when I am at the end of my rope!  Do you test God or take Him at his Word?

How did respond to each temptation?  By speaking the Word to Satan.

Immediately following this, He called Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Him to make them fishers of men.  How were they supposed to accomplish this?  They did not have a church building!  No sound system!  Why would people come to them?  Jesus said the “Kingdom of heaven is at hand”.  What does that mean?  We know how to fish for fish; but how to we fish for men?

Jesus showed them:

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. ²⁴Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. ²⁵Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.”

The first word picture of Jesus is a picure of the gospel of this kingdom, Jesus healing ALL the sick people who were brought to Him:

“healing…various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics”.

He was the first general practitioner.

Example #1 of Jehovah-Rapha!!!

DO YOU KNOW HIM?

To Whom It May Concern

Yesterday I talked about THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.  I am sure the reaction to that blog covered a wide range of viewpoints. 

If you are a reader who is not a Christian, you may think that guy has gone off the deep end.  Well, let me assure you that I have not.  Neither have I come upon these views recently.  I have believed this most of my professional life.  I see no conflict with my belief in the Great Physician and being a dentist.  As you read on, you will see why.  I would also ask you to please surrender your will to God and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  If you don’t know how, please email me and I will gladly help you.

If you are a Christian who believes that divine healing is as much a part of God’s plan today as it was during “Bible times”, you probably said “AMEN”!

If you are a Christian who is not sure it is God’s will to heal.  Let me ask you, ‘Does God want all people to be saved?  Are all people saved or going to be saved?

Scripture tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

In spite of His “not willing that any should perish”, many will and do.

Some Christians think that Jesus could heal because He was the Son of God and he could do anything.  He was not limited; but Mark tells us that when Jesus went to His own country, “ he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.”

Jesus was limited by their unbelief then, why should it be any different today!  Why would He heal someone who does not believe that He wants to.  Most Christians believe that God can heal, but are not sure that he wants to heal.

I find it very ironic that Ben Stein, a Jew by nationality and religion said, “Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.  Ben Stein knows Jehovah-Rapha.

Some of you are thinking, “Is Merle saying we should not go to doctors?”  Absolutely not!  The only Christians that should go to doctors are those who believe that God wants them to be healthy!  If you believe that God put sickness on you to teach you something or to in some crazy way bring Him glory, please don’t sin and go to your doctor to circumvent the will of God for your life.  Don’t make your doctor complicit in your plan to circumvent God’s will. 

Why do I become sick sometimes?  Guess what!  I am the first to admit that my faith is not as strong as it should or could be.  I also sin.  I don’t spend as much time as I should getting to know my God.  I don’t fast and pray like I should.  My faith is less than mustard seed size!  I am still growing!  PLEASE DON’T BASE YOUR FAITH ON ME!  Don’t base your theology on what you see happen to me.  Base your faith on the Word!. Base your faith on Jesus!  Base your theology on how Jesus reacted when He encountered the sick.  If someone can show me that Jesus ever said that His Father did not want to heal them; then I will change my theology!  Trust me.  Nobody can. Nobody will!  It’s not in the Word!

If you are a Christian who does not believe that God wants to heal, please consider what Jesus said to Philip when Philip wanted to see the Father:

“Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

Forget what your church says!

Forget what your preacher says!

Forget what your denomination says!

Forget what your parents taught you!

Forget what you have always believed!

Look at JESUS!

Get to know His Father

Get to know Jehovah-Rapha

Get to know your GOD!!!!!