Article 18

Posted on 02/10/2014 by Jason Ministries

Sail On, by former Southern Gospel group turned CCM group The Imperials, was originally released on the 1977 album of the same name. Sail On, would mark the beginning of an era that would allow The Imperials to see their biggest successes, both with awards and on the charts.

The message behind this song is simple and straight forward, as a true worshiper of God we must endure until the end. Whether that be our physical death, or the return of Jesus Christ, we must “sail on.” Yes, we will meet with rough waters, but there will also be calm waters too. At any rate, it’s only a short while until the LORD’s flagship comes to pick us up and take us all home.

The Apostle Paul made a similar statement to Timothy, when he wrote:

“But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:5-8)

There are several ways to pilot a ship, whether that craft is designed for the water ways or the air ways, but one of the main tools used are the navigational instruments. A water vessel can use up to thirty different types. The main ones, which have been used for centuries, are the compass, the charts (a.k.a.: the maps), and the stars. An air ship uses many instruments for flying, as well, and one of those tools is known as an “attitude indicator,” or an “AI.”

An AI (pictured above) is an instrument used aboard an aircraft to inform the pilot of the aircraft’s orientation, as it relates to the Earth’s horizon. The attitude indicator will denote pitch (fore and aft tilt), and bank or roll (side to side tilt), and it is a primary instrument for flight while in the midst of poor weather (a.k.a.: instrument meteorological conditions). If the pilot maintains a good attitude then there should be little concern for a failed flight, but should a poor attitude become a part of the aircraft’s heading then danger will soon have to be dealt with. The same goes for us, as true worshipers.

We cannot endure to the end, through all of life’s trials and hardships, if we do not maintain a right attitude in our worship. In fact, it is only by worshiping God in all our circumstances (both good and bad) that we can hope to achieve and maintain a right attitude of worship. A poor attitude, where worship is concerned, is simply us moving from being a true worshiper of God to being a true worshiper of self. Without God to guide our “pitch” and “banks or rolls” we will surely crash and burn, and don’t even think about trying to navigate through a “storm” without a right attitude.

So how can we hope to have such an attitude in this life? By modeling our attitude after the only perfect man who ever lived — God’s son — Jesus Christ. A true worshiper must have a Christlike attitude (Philippians 2:5-8); one that encompasses all aspects of their lives. You see, an attitude of worship will both prepare us for worshiping God and set the stage for our response to God after we have begun worshiping Him. In The Joshua Project we went into more detail in our third set of articles and they are available to you, should you choose to study further.

One thing I would like to quickly cover, though, is this quote by best-selling author, and senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church (located in Frisco, Texas), Dr. Charles R. Swindoll. The quote is regarding “attitude” and is taken from his book entitled Strengthening Your Grip. It reads in part as follows, “Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is ten percent what happens to us and ninety percent how we respond to it.” Simple and to the point. Did you grasp what he said?

Life is not made of circumstances. Life is made of choices. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to your so-called “dead end” job. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to your spouse’s infidelity. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to your parents’ divorce. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to your “ho-hum” life. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to your best friend’s death. You choose how to react, positively or negatively, to all of life’s “circumstances.” You! Not anyone else; no one. Just you. Not even the Almighty Himself can dictate that to you. It’s your choice to react with a negative attitude about a circumstance in your life or with a positive attitude. Now, let’s quickly adapt this concept into our worship.

To have the right attitude of worship, we must choose to do so. True worshipers understand that it’s ten percent God’s call in their lives and ninety percent how they will respond to His call. All of God’s great worshipers understood this, whether it was Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, the Apostles, or Jesus Christ. Every true worshiper learns of God’s calling in his or her life, but it takes our choosing to allow God to fulfill that calling in us that makes us into the true worshipers that we are purposed to be.

The Apostle Paul wrote about our ability to choose to accept God’s call on our lives. As we noted earlier, Paul admonishes the church to have a Christlike attitude. We read of this in his letter to the Philippians, during the second chapter (Philippians 2:5-9). In Galatians, chapter one, Paul was upset to find out that many Galatian Christians were “so quickly deserting the One who called them by the grace of Christ” (Galatians 1:6). Again, please understand this; we choose to either accept or reject God’s call in our lives to be true worshipers. As Joshua said, “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). What a great attitude of worship! Now join me, as we set our “compass” to God’s son, and let’s all keep “sailing on.”

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Article 16

Posted on 01/27/2014 by Jason Ministries

Forgiveness, by CCM artist Matthew West, is from the 2012 album entitled Into The Light. The song was written by Mr. West after he heard an incredible story about a woman who lost one of her four children, a twin daughter, to a drunk driving accident.

As the attached video explains, the man who had caused the crash, that had killed both this young girl and her friend, was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. But according to Renae, the mother of the deceased child, it was she that felt like a prisoner.

You see, bitterness and hatred had been building up inside of her soul, and she felt miserable and entrapped. It wasn’t until she felt compelled to reach out to this young man — while he was still in prison — and tell him she had forgiven him, that she began to feel released from her anger and her hate. In fact, she actually worked to see this young man’s sentence reduced to eleven years, and she has accepted this young man into her family, as one of her own.

George MacDonald, a nineteenth century Scottish author, poet, and minister, was quoted as having said this about forgiving:

“Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.”

Mr. West indicates that writing this song was very hard, because forgiving someone who has wronged you is extremely difficult. So the chorus became a prayer to God, saying, “Show me how . . .” Humanity must be shown how to forgive, we cannot do so on our own because it goes against our sinful nature. It’s God who knows how to truly forgive.

Recall with me Alexander Pope’s infamous quote from his poem entitled An Essay on Criticism. The quote reads as follows, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Mankind’s bent is towards wrongdoing (Psalm 51:5; Matthew 15:19; Romans 3:23), but God’s bent is towards faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, love, patience, peace, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). All of these spiritual fruits, as they are referred to by the Apostle Paul, culminate into another divine fruit known as forgiveness. Look quickly with me at some biblical examples:

– Genesis 3 — Adam and Eve choose to believe the lies of Satan, disguised as a serpent, instead of the truths of their Creator. God knows that humanity has chosen sin over righteousness, and seeks out the man and the woman. Adam and Eve are found by God to be hiding and scared. They are no longer clothed in His glory, but are naked and covered in leaves and vines. God gives them both a verbal scolding. Exclaiming to them the consequences of bringing wrongdoing into the world, but then shows compassion and forgiveness by killing an animal, skinning that animal, and preparing proper clothing to cover the man and woman’s nakedness. In doing this, God established the first example that rings true throughout the Bible, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22), and without forgiveness there is no life (Romans 6:23).

– Genesis 6-8 — The world had become over run by evil. God was sorry that He had ever created humanity, and was poised to destroy all that He had made; ready to demolish all that He had once looked upon as “good.” (Genesis 1:10b) But one man, named Noah, found favor in God’s sight. God chose to spare Noah, and his family, and in doing so also chose to spare a portion of His lower creations; those considered a part of the animal kingdom. So an ark was built to house Noah, his family, and all the creatures God selected. The rains came, and the flood waters rose, and humanity’s sins were judged. Yet, God’s tender mercies were placed upon Noah, and all that were housed in the ark. When the waters recessed, and the ark was again set upon dry ground, Noah built an alter and sacrificed animal flesh to honor God’s loving kindness and forgiveness. Again, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, and without forgiveness there is no life.

– Genesis 22 — God has chosen a specific man to make a covenant with. This covenant would be the foundation by which God would reestablish His lost relationship with mankind. The man’s name was Abraham, and the principle of the covenant would be established through the testing of Abraham’s faithfulness. You see, God had promised to make Abraham the beginning of a “great nation” (Genesis 12:2-3), but Abraham’s wife was barren and could not have children. Nevertheless, God continued to stand by His promise and grow Abraham in his faith. It wasn’t until Abraham was about one-hundred years old, and that Sarah was about ninety years old, that God fulfilled the promise of a child. But a short twenty years later, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, back to Him. Abraham, now nearing the end of his days, doesn’t question God. He gathers up what is needed for the sacrifice, including his one and only son, and heads out to the holy mountain of God. Isaac, old enough now to know what is expected at a sacrifice, begins to question his father about what they are going to sacrifice. After all, he sees no animal. Abraham stays focused and simply responds with, “God, Himself, will provide.” (Genesis 22:8) Abraham arrives, prepares the alter, binds up his son, and places Isaac on the alter. As Abraham raises his knife to return Isaac to God, he is stopped. God praises Abraham for his faithfulness, and provides a ram for them to complete their act of worship. Once more, God intercedes for humanity, and provides a sacrifice that would represent an even greater oblation. For by this special offering, yet to come, all of humanity would be forgiven, and allowed to experience abundant life.

You see, often this theme appears throughout the Old Testament, until it is ultimately played out in the New Testament through the sacrifice that God, Himself, makes. The supreme sacrifice, hinted at in Genesis chapter twenty-two, that would cover all sins that mankind had committed throughout history, during the period it took place, and since. That offering, of course, was God’s only begotten son — Jesus Christ. God’s son willingly became sin, though He had never sinned, so that through His death humanity could be forgiven (Isaiah 53:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Forgiveness truly is divine, and it is strong enough to cover over all our wrongdoings. All we need do is accept it (1 John 1:9), and then give it to others (Mark 11:25).

So, as we close out this article on forgiveness, ask yourself these questions that Matthew West posed in his video clip:

– Is there someone I need to forgive?

– Is there someone I need to ask for forgiveness from?

– Can I forgive myself for what I have done?

– Have I really embraced God’s forgiveness?

God has proven that He is ready, willing, and able to forgive us. All we must do is accept God’s forgiveness, and forgive others, then be ready to embrace life — abundant life!

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8-11)

Article 9

Posted on 12/09/2013 by Jason Ministries

More To This Life, by CCM artist Steven Curtis Chapman, was released in 1989. It was from Steven’s third studio album, which bore the same name. The song is about every day life, and how mundane it all can become when we don’t allow Christ to rule our lives.

Humanity was never meant to live a life of monotony. We were never meant to experience boredom, by living out a day-to-day routine that is filled with tiresome, uninteresting, repetitive actions. Life simply was never intended to be commonplace, yet for many of us living a “modern” twenty-first century lifestyle that is exactly what we are experiencing — pure dull-drum.

So why is it that mankind is all too familiar with all things plain and ordinary? Because most of us live out our every day lives from a purely physical perspective. And what’s worse is that many who claim to be Christians — people who have supposedly given themselves over to living a life that would resemble the life of Christ — are living out such unexciting lives. Hear me people; God did not create you to be mediocre, He created you to live a life full of purpose.

God’s purpose for humanity was to allow us to experience a life full of His Spirit. To bask in the glorious presence of our Creator. Our labor was to be the simple task of ruling and tending the rest of creation (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:15). But because we allowed our own selfish desires to interfere with God’s plan, we lost our way and in the process our life of abundance, too (Genesis 3).

So, God made a way for us to return to Him, and to again experience that life of abundance. Jesus Christ became the way for mankind to be restored to God’s original purpose. Jesus did so by becoming a blood sacrifice that would pay our debt of death, which we owed for choosing to be selfish and living a life of materialism. When we choose to surrender our lives over to Christ, we are choosing to die to our selfish wants and desires, and to embrace the life of a true worshiper, which can never be mundane (John 3:16-17, 14:6; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17).

For a believer, there can never be a secular life and a sacred one. Human-beings only have one life for which to live. God never asks us to compartmentalize our day-to-day lives in this way. We are never to live Monday through Saturday one way, and then live our Sundays another. We are not to live out our professional lives one way, and our home lives differently, nor are we to be contrasting yet again when we enter into the church. No! What ever we choose to do, at any moment of the day, we are to do that task, participate in that mission, fulfill that duty in God’s name. We are to do our jobs and satisfy our promises for the glory of God (Colossians 3:23).

You see, your job may not be directly connected to the church, but that does not mean that your work is less important that that of a pastor, or missionary, or any other cleric. If you are a true believer of Jesus Christ, then anything you do is of the utmost importance. If you follow the teachings of God’s only begotten Son, then you are called to live your life to the glory of your Creator (1 Corinthians 10:31). Once you grasp this understanding, and alter your attitude to model Christ’s, then a humdrum life will never again be one you need to embrace. A life so very abundant in God’s love, grace, and mercy will lift you to a life filled with excitement and new adventures.

So, let’s stop compartmentalizing our lives. Let’s dedicate ourselves to living our lives for the sake of Christ. Let’s surrender ourselves to fulfilling each and every one of our obligations for the glory of God, Almighty. No matter the job you are doing.

Wives, serve your husbands (Ephesians 5:22-24); husbands, rightly lead and love your wives (Ephesians 5:25-27). Moms, serve your families; Dads, rightly lead and love your families. Children obey and serve your parents (Ephesians 6:1-3); parents, rightly lead and love your children. Employees, no matter the business, serve your employers as if your were serving Christ, Himself. Employers, lead and care for your employees just as Christ would lead and care for them. Note these words from the Apostle Paul, which were written to the church in Ephesus:

“Slaves [Employees], obey your earthly masters [employers] with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free [poor or rich]. And masters [employers], treat your slaves [employees] in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that He [God] who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.” (Ephesians 6:5-9)

There really is more to this life, than living and dying. There really is more to this life, than monotonous routines and sterile homes. And certainly there is more to this life, than living physically one moment and then living spiritually the next. Simply concede to live as the Apostle Paul instructed the people of Corinth:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (1 Corinthians 5:14-21)

Stop thinking of your life as belonging to yourself or the world, and start living your life as one who belongs to the LORD of all. Stop compartmentalizing every facet of the life you have, and start glorifying your Creator in every moment you are given. After all, if you are a true believer, “You know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:24)

Article 4

Posted on 11/04/2013 by Jason Ministries

We Will Stand, by CCM artist Russ Taff, was released in 1983. It was the first solo release after Russ left The Imperials, and it became an anthem that called all denominations of Christianity to unite as one church. The Scriptures call this unified church the “body” of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

As true worshipers of God we are not supposed to exist as independent believers, serving Christ on solo missions. No, we are each one member of a vast group of people known as “the Church.” Just as our bodies are made up of many cells, which make up many organs, which all work together to facilitate every member and limb, so too are we each tasked to work with one another for the good of each other and Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

Jesus Christ, as the head of the body, dictates to the believer their function, and it is up to each one of us to respond to His call. If we do, then the “body” of believers known as the Church will benefit and Christ will be glorified (Colossians 1:17-23).

Does that mean the many denominations that exists in Christianity today are bad, or wrong? No! God is sovereign. He rules over all things, and has allowed every Christian denomination to exist for a reason. The many factions of modern Christianity may have come about because of something negative that took place in the past, but the fact still remains that God can use our mistakes — our divisions — for His glory and our good.

Consider the story of the Apostle Paul and Barnabus, in Acts chapter fifteen, where an argument ensued between the two over whether John Mark should be allowed to join them on their second missionary journey. Barnabus insisted that John Mark should be given a second chance at serving God in this manner, despite his having abandoned them on their first missionary journey. Paul, however, was not so benevolent at the time and refused to let John Mark accompany them. So, Barnabus left Paul’s side and went home with John Mark, and Paul teamed up with Silas (Acts 15:36-41).

Satan may have tried to divide Paul and Barnabus, and in all appearances did so successfully, but for those of us who have read the New Testament accounts we know that not only did Paul and Silas do some incredible things to further the kingdom of Christ but Barnabus was also able to mentor John Mark and see him become a great man of God. In fact, John Mark not only wrote The Gospel of Mark, he also later reconnected with Paul and became invaluable to him and his ministry.

True believers of Christ — Christians who are growing into the true worshipers that God has called them to be — must learn to unite as one body of believers, for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. True believers who are ready, willing, and able to look past each other’s differences (no matter what those differences may be) to see each other’s godly purpose and function.

Once we recognize the fact that we all have our special callings from God, not only as individuals but also as denominational bodies, then we can act as united members of the true Christian church (1 Corinthians 12:1-31a). The Apostle Paul, many years after his disagreement with Barnabus, dealt with factions and varying motivations in his letter to the Philippians. In the very first chapter, a more spiritually mature Paul writes:

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the Word of God more courageously and fearlessly. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice.” (Philippians 1:12-18)

Instead of getting angry and disgruntled, as he had done earlier with Barnabus, Paul was able to love and encourage others to love. In spite of his situation, and the intent of others who claimed to be believers, and in spite of the negative motivations that propelled these people to act as they did. Paul simply focused on the “bigger picture” — the preaching of the Gospel message — the glorification of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Shouldn’t we, brothers and sisters in Christ, do the same? Shouldn’t we act as members of a united body of believers? Christians who are not eager to maim and destroy each other, but act as a church body that loves, cares, and nurtures its self for the glory of Christ. Jesus did, after all, tell us directly this same thing in the thirteenth chapter of John:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Come on brothers and sisters, take each other by the hand and love one another as Christ loves us.

Article 3

Posted on 10/27/2013 by Jason Ministries

I Will Follow, by CCM artist Chris Tomlin, was released in 2010 and quickly became a staple on Christian radio, as well as in church services around the globe. The acoustic version performed at the end of the interview, in the attached video, really brings out the strength and sincerity of the lyrics. Lyrics that call all believers to fulfill Christ’s command to “follow” and “go.”

You see, if a believer is to be a true worshiper of God, then he/she must obey the commands of the triune God. One such command given by Christ, God’s Son, to His disciples was this:

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross gave humanity access to God’s forgiveness, and paid our debt of death (Romans 6:23). Death is what was due as a result of our rejecting God’s original purpose for us, and that purpose was to glorify and worship Him.

When we deny ourselves (a.k.a.: stop pursuing our own selfish desires) and agree to take up our “cross,” then what we essentially are agreeing to is to serve God as He calls us to and be willing to suffer as Christ suffered for the good of humanity (1 Peter 2:19-25). God becomes our focus, as does mankind, and we become less focused on our own selfish endeavors.

Another command, that we touched on in our last article, is the command to “go.” Christ gave us this commission just before ascending into heaven. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20a)

We are to go throughout this earth, the portions that God allows us to live and visit, teaching people about the message of hope that Christ makes available to everyone. Serving humanity, as Jesus served humanity. Bringing God to mankind, because mankind can never reach God on their own.

God became human to bring Himself to those who would believe, so that the believers — in turn — could do the same for other people (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). People who simply don’t know or don’t realize that they need God and can’t get to Him on their own.

Read with me these lyrics from the chorus of I Will Follow:

Where You go, I’ll go; where You stay, I’ll stay.
When You move, I’ll move; I will follow You.
Who You love, I’ll love; How You serve, I’ll serve.
If this life I lose, I will follow You — yeah — I will follow You.

We must follow God’s call on our lives to glorify and serve Him. We must go and be faithful to teach others about God’s hope, serve others as Christ did, and baptize those who choose to follow God’s call. Remember Christ said in the book of Matthew, chapter ten:

“Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven. But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before my Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

So, with the words of God’s Son on our minds, let’s close with these words from the Apostle Paul:

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)

Article IV, part 3

Posted on 03/04/2013 by Jason Ministries

In part one, of article four, we discussed the basic belief systems of the three biggest religious groups in the world today: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. In part two, we discussed how Christianity, based on Christ’s claim of deity, is the one true way for humanity to connect with God. In this post, we will explore the issue most people have with accepting Christianity as God’s truth, and that is the Christians, themselves.

Many people have said, in one way or another, “If Jesus is God’s son, and if all His teachings concerning salvation and eternal life are true, then why do so many Christians behave in contrast to His teachings? Why are Christians such hypocrites?” It can be explained in this one statement:

Christians are not perfect, they’re just forgiven.

Being a Christian, as stated earlier, means that you live by the teachings of Christ. What so many outside of the faith don’t understand, and this truth eludes many who claim to be Christians, is that perfection belongs to Christ; perfection does not belong to us. That is the very reason Jesus came to live, die, and return from the grave — we weren’t perfect and never could be, but God’s son is perfect. Christ paid our debt on the cross, because he loved us and could afford to pay it (Romans 3:21-26). Death to Him was physically and emotionally painful, as Jesus experienced separation from God the Father on the cross and as He experienced His Father’s wrath in the grave, but Christ knew He could endure it.

Again, let’s recall the Scripture passage from Romans, chapter three, verses twenty-two through twenty-four: “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We (mankind) are all not perfect, but because of Christ’s perfection, and His graciousness, we can obtain perfection through Him. We have access to His perfection. That’s not to say that we will be perfect while living under the sun, but if we place our faith and trust in Jesus — if we daily choose Christ’s way over our way (Luke 9:23-24; Romans 6:11; Galatians 2:20) — then we can be transformed into the likeness of Christ and upon entering our heavenly destination we will be able to live perfectly under God’s son (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:24).

Even though the Bible teaches us that we are a “new creation,” once we give our lives over to following the statutes of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), we must also remember that this new life is not an instant transformation. Our salvation is immediate, but this “new creation” that has entered into our lives is an re-birthing of our old, sinful spirit (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). Just as a baby must be nurtured, taught, and raised to know how to properly act, function, and live, so too do reborn spirits have to be taught in the ways of Christ (1 Peter 2:2). Christians do not become perfect at their salvation, but at their journey’s end.

There is a popular allegory, known as The Pilgrim’s Progress, that aptly depicts the life of a Christian as a journey. This book, written by John Bunyan and published in 1678, is considered one of the most important works of religious English literature. Its importance and popularity has brought about its being translated into more than two-hundred languages.

The Pilgrim’s Progress is the story of a man, named Christian, who is living in a town called “City of Destruction.” Christian is a man desiring to live in a far off place known as “Celestial City,” but the journey to “Celestial City” is a long and hard one. For example, one of his hardships is a “great burden” that Christian must carry with him along his way. There are also many people along this journey that wish to divert Christian from his goal. At one point, a dragon named Apollyon tries to kill Christian. However, there are also those who help Christian to find comfort and strength too, from time-to-time.

Faithful, who is also a former resident of “City of Destruction,” travels alongside Christian, for a time, helping him until his death. Then Hopeful joins Christian, as does a boy named Ignorance. It’s with good deeds and kindness that Ignorance thinks he can enter into “Celestial City,” but upon reaching the gate he realizes that he cannot because, despite his good works, he has no passport. Ignorance is then quickly banished to Tophet, by the Lord of the city.

Christian, after receiving help from Hopeful, makes it across the “River of Death” and gets to enter into “Celestial City,” upon showing the Lord of the city his passport. Where did Christian receive this passport, and why was Ignorance not able to obtain one? Unlike Ignorance, Christian had earlier taken the “King’s Highway.” This highway was a small path, less traveled, that meandered through many tough obstacles, but ultimately brought Christian to a cross. It is at this cross, that Christian is relieved of his “great burden” and given his passport into “Celestial City.” Had Ignorance left the main road, and followed Hopeful and Christian along the small path to the cross, he too could have obtained his passport to “Celestial City.”

You see, Christianity is not about mystical, magical transformations. It’s not about achieving a perfect life that realizes its connection to a “Universal Spirit” by detaching itself from worldly desires. It’s not a life committed to accomplishing a greater struggle, which ultimately leads us to living a godly life. No. Christianity is the surrendering of our imperfections to Christ. It’s Jesus who willingly takes our flaws upon the cross and covers over them with His perfect blood. By doing so, God no longer sees us as filthy, dirty wretches awaiting damnation, but sees us through Christ’s holy eyes as pure, clean children clothed in His son’s perfect glory, and adopted into His family for all of eternity (Ephesians 1:4-6; 1 Peter 2:4-6).

Yes, for the world to judge Christianity by it’s carnal members is to see all that is ugly in this physical life. Many Christians struggle to totally let go of their sinfulness and allow God to make them into the true worshiper that He intends them to be. This fighting with God only slows the growth of the reborn spirit and allows Satan the opportunity to attack and distract the rebellious Christian from reaching their divine purpose (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:11-14). So what the world sees from the carnal Christian is not Christ’s reflection, but the agitated filth that is being forced away from the spirit. Much like cleaning dirty laundry. Dirty laundry appears more soiled when water meets the filth and creates mud, so too does sin look worse to other sinners as Christ’s blood begins to remove and clean away our sinfulness (Isaiah 64:6).

There are also charlatans that exist in Christianity who, like Ignorance in The Pilgrim’s Progress, latch onto doing good works in the name of Jesus (Legalists), or they use the Gospel message to gain monetary wealth (Prosperity Evangelists). They don’t see Christianity as anything more than a religious endeavor; a means to an end. They think their legalistic actions, their “acts of kindness” will give them prestige, honor, and physical wealth, but God still sees their imperfections and judges them. Not because He is a mean and hateful God, but because (as explained earlier) He is perfect and cannot abide where imperfection exists. Again, this is the reason for Christ’s sacrifice.

Time-and-again, true worshipers and the world will see many forms of carnality and immaturity from many who claim to be Christian. In American churches we see nearly half of all marriages ending in divorce. We also, see many young people, under the age of thirty, choosing to be sexually active outside of the marriage relationship. On-line pornography is becoming a very common problem for ministers, and destroys seventy-five percent of clerics lives. The Christian churches are becoming more acceptant of homosexuality, bisexuality, and many Christian teachers are incorporating eastern religious philosophies into their teachings. The Christian church, no matter what denomination it may be, will not be affective in transforming lives for Christ if it continues to abandon the truths of Christ (Romans 6:1-3, 12-14; 1 Peter 2:9-12; Revelation 3:14-19). You can remove the many avatars of Brahman and still follow Hinduism. You can remove the prophet Muhammad from the teachings of Allah and still follow Islam, but you cannot remove Christ from His teachings and still follow Christianity. It simply can’t be done; it will no longer be Christianity.

The Apostle Paul saw early on how Christians would be a detraction from the truths of Christ if they didn’t live as the true worshipers they are purposed to be, and he gave this stern admonishment in the second chapter of Romans, verse twenty-four: “As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” Christians, though called by Christ to be salt and light to a world that is deteriorating into darkness (Matthew 5:13-16), can and often do become a large part of the reason people reject the truths of God’s holy Word — Jesus Christ. What needs to happen, to prevent this? Two things.

First real Christians, true worshipers of Jesus Christ, need to stay focused on living out the truths of Scripture (Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:1, 5:2; Colossians 2:6). They must be the salty preservative that Jesus has called them to be. If Christians don’t remain true to Christ’s statutes, then they run the risk of losing their saltiness and the world will decay at an even faster rate than it already is. Another part of being focused on the truths of Scripture is to reflect the light of truth, like the moon reflects the sun’s light to the earth at night. To obtain the truths of Christ from the Bible and not share them with others, is like hiding a lit candle under a bowl. No one can enjoy its warm glow, and all will remain in the dark. Not to mention that the bowl will eventually extinguish the light, as the flame burns up the oxygen.

Second, the world needs to stop judging Christianity by its members and look to its founder. This is easier said than done, but as Christians live up to their purpose, as they allow themselves to become the true worshipers God intended all people to be, then the world will have no choice but to see Christ in Christianity. They’ll finally begin to sense the preservative teachings of Jesus slowing down the decaying filth of their spirits. The world will finally be able to see the light of God’s truth shining into the darkest corners of their lives (Matthew 5:14).

The grace of Christ’s sacrifice can only be as affective as those who have already received it allow it to be. Hindus will not see the road less traveled unless the Christians light the way. If Christians continue to allow themselves to reject some of the teachings of Christ, and continue to choose to only follow some of the teachings of Christ, then their light will remain hidden and their spiritual growth will be minimal. Again, the grace of Christ’s sacrifice can only be as affective as those who have already received it allow it to be.

Muslims will never get beyond their “no-grace” mentality, and will continue down the destructive path of “jihad,” if Christians don’t shower them with grace. Only Christianity can sprinkle the salty preservative of Christ’s truths into their lives. Christ’s amazing grace can lead a Muslim to see that they can have an actual relationship with God, and they can do so without bringing destruction to their selves and others. God’s grace is sufficient, and we must live that truth.

Remember, if Jesus existed (and history proves He did) and was seen by all to be a good teacher (and all religions acknowledge this), then His truths must be realized and followed as God’s truth. Why? Because, anything less simply makes Jesus a liar, and a lunatic. Jesus has to be seen and heard as He is — the living breathing Word of God, incarnate. If any part of His message is truth, then all of His message is truth.

I’ll close with this last thought. Whether you claim to be a Christian, or not, if your faith is simply something you do. If your faith is nothing more than a religious right, then stop and ponder the cup of Christ. Jesus didn’t create you to be religious. Christ didn’t suffer and die for a pious philosophy. God’s son created you, lived as you, died for you, and conquered death — for you. True Christianity is not about religion; not at all. It’s about knowing and being known by the Creator of heaven and earth, Yahweh — the Lord, and savior, Jesus Christ. Listen to His call:

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:20-22)

Truth or Dare by J. Scott Harden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Article 8

Posted on 08/06/2012 by Jason Ministries

God (Elohim/Deity) is known by many names, and we have looked at but only a select few. We’ve seen him as Yahweh — the Self-Existing One. He is Jehovah — the One who IS. He is Adonai — Lords and Masters, and El Shaddai — God who IS enough. He is El Hakkadosh — the Holy One. He is Chesed — Love, and Davar — the incarnate Word of God. Yet of all of God’s names, His favorite name must be Abba — Daddy.

Jesus used this Arabic expression when in the garden of Gethsemane. In Mark 14:36, we read that Christ, while praying for the possibility of not having to suffer for humanity’s sins, cried out in despair, “Abba, Father!” The Apostle Paul wrote, in his letter to the Romans, that as believers we have “received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him [the Holy Spirit] we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Romans 8:15)

The CCM group known as NewSong reminds us to call out to our heavenly Daddy, in the song entitled Your Favorite Name is Father. The chorus reads, “Your favorite name is ‘father.’ You love to hear your children calling. You’re there to catch us when we’re falling. Your favorite name is ‘father.’” God is our “Abba Avinu,” our divine Daddy, and He cares so very much for us.

Even something as seemingly minor as our names, matter to God. Did you know that understanding just what our names mean can open up opportunities for us to glorify God? Scripture tells us that God concerned Himself with human names to the point that, when necessary, He would rename those whom He called. Abram was called by God, the Father, to become the father of His chosen people. God renamed Abram “Abraham,” which means in Hebrew “Father lifted up.” Abraham’s grandson (Jacob) was renamed by God, “Israel,” which in Hebrew means “Turns the Head of God.” On and on throughout Scripture we see many of Abba Avinu’s chosen renamed. So, why rename them? Do names really matter to that degree? Yes, I believe they do. Look with me at Jacob, again.

How great of a leader would Jacob have been without his name change? As a man, his character was being defined by what his heavenly Father was doing in his life. People surely would have followed him despite his name, if God was really ordaining him as his chosen ruler over His nation. Sure, God could’ve made Jacob into the patriarch He called him to be without the name change, but Jacob’s name meant “He grabs the heel” and this name described his old nature. That name “Jacob” symbolized his former life as a shyster, a con-artist, someone who was shady in character. That wasn’t Jacob’s new life, he no longer was living a life of deception. Jacob was now following God’s statutes. Jacob was now Israel — “Turns the Head of God.” Israel had God’s attention, he had the Father’s favor. Now that is a man capable of leading a nation, a man people can follow. A man who’s name and character had been changed, by God, for the completion of His divine plan. (You can read Jacob’s complete story in the book of Genesis, primarily in chapters 25-35.)

Even the Apostle Paul went through a name change. The man whom God used as His instrument for spreading the Gospel message through out Asia-Minor (a.k.a. Anatolia), and Rome, and who also was moved by God to write 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament, was originally named Saul. Saul, whose name in the Hebraic language means “Inquired of God,” was the son of a Pharisee and was himself a Pharisee. Saul studied the Mosaic traditions under the teachings of Gamaliel, and was known as a “Jew of Jews.” Strangely enough, Saul was also a citizen of Rome. You see Saul, though raised in Jerusalem, had been born in Tarsus, which was the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia. This birth right enabled Saul to claim a dual citizenship, between Israel and Rome.

Saul was in Jerusalem when Christ was crucified, and he became an integral part of the Jewish leader’s attempts to silence the Gospel message in Israel. Saul, too, was the man who held the cloaks of the men who stoned Stephen to death, and it was also Saul who was charged by the Jewish leaders to hunt down and kill all who preached the resurrected Christ. It would be this charge that would send Saul throughout Judea, and beyond the borders of Israel, executing the followers of Christ.

Now while Saul was traveling the road leading to the Greco-Roman city of Damascus, to continue his persecution of the followers of Christ, he saw the very message he was trying to silence appearing before him — the resurrected Jesus, Himself — the incarnate Word of God. From that moment on Saul devoted his life to spreading the Gospel message, not silencing it, and sometime after his decision to follow Christ he began to answer by the Roman name Paul, which means “small” or “humble.”

Whether God, the Father, changed Saul’s name to Paul, or whether Saul did this on his own, we really don’t know. Scripture and history don’t really tell us one way or the other, but what is significant here is the meanings of the names being changed. Saul, the Hebrew, was a man very proud of his blood line. He was a man living large in the ideals implanted into his life by the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. Remember Saul’s pedigree made him a “Jew of Jews,” a man who “Inquired of God” to elevate himself above the Jewish masses. Paul, on the other hand, as a follower of Jesus came to realize just how small he was before God and humbled himself to serving the resurrected Christ and mankind. As with Jacob’s/Israel’s names, the name “Saul” represented his old life, but the name “Paul” connected him with his new one. (You can read of Saul’s transformation into Paul in the book of Acts, largely in chapters 7-13.)

So with that being said, was William Shakespeare correct when he wrote this phrase, in his tragic play Romeo & Juliet, “A rose by any other name is still a rose”? Certainly on a cellular level this statement is true, physically creation is what it is, but where people are concerned this phrase is false. Humanity is more than cellular, we are also mind and soul. Names and titles can affect people’s attitude, behavior, character, emotions, and thoughts. Just as a costume or fashion ensemble effects human behavior and thinking.

Most of us have worn a costume, at some point in our lives, or a fine ensemble of clothing and experienced a change in our behavior; how we felt about ourselves. Maybe it wasn’t a drastic change, but a change nonetheless. In a very similar way, names and titles can also cause this affect. For example, let’s say the name “Carl” happened to be your name, and you discovered that in Nigerian this name means “unintelligent” or “idiot.” How would you feel about your name? What thoughts would begin going through your mind about your parents giving you that name? How would you begin to see yourself, as you reflected on your life and how your name related to your experiences, both past and future? In contrast, say your name is “Aaron” and you discover that in Hebrew your name means “Strong and Powerful.” Now what do you begin to feel and think about your name, yourself, and your parents giving it to you? Our names aren’t hollow words and we can be affected by them, moreover affect others with them.

Now before we all go crazy looking up the meanings to our names, and possibly begin going about changing them too, let’s take a deep breath and allow for some clarification on why I included this topic in this study. Every aspect of our life, no matter how significant or insignificant we see it as being, is meant to glorify and worship our heavenly Father. Our names can be apart of that. Consider this when naming your children, parents. The names you give your children will affect them in some manner, at some point, in their lives. You, as an adult, may consider a name change due to a drastic conversion experience, or maybe upon accepting the Father’s calling on your life, but that should only be done if you are certain the Holy Spirit is moving you to do so. The attempt here was to simply engage our thoughts to the realization that names have meanings and that those meanings can affect our lives.

In closing, I want to bring your attention to the names in Noah’s genealogy. They are found in Genesis chapter 5, verses 1-29, and are as follows: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. Now note their Hebraic meanings. Adam means “Man.” Seth means “Appointed.” Enosh means “Mortal.” Kenan means “Lamentation,” or “Sorrow.” Mahalalel is an “el” construct meaning “Blessed of God.” Jared means “Descending.” Enoch means “Instruct.” Methuselah means “When He Dies, Judgment.” Lamech means “Made Low,” and lastly Noah’s name means “Comfort.” According to a study of Biblical names, conducted by the founder of Koinonia House, author, and Biblical scholar Chuck Missler, when these particular names are placed into a sentence structure we read these words:

Man (Adam) is appointed (Seth) mortal (Enosh) sorrow (Kenan); the blessed of God (Mahalalel) will descend (Jared) instructing (Enoch) that when He dies, judgement (Methuselah) will bring the lowly (Lamech) comfort (Noah).

The Gospel message hidden in the genealogy of Noah. You see? Our names, God’s names, all names are important. Get to know Abba, Father’s many names and truly begin to worship Him.

His Name Is . . . by J. Scott Harden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Chuck Missler‘s study entitled “Meanings Of The Names In Genesis 5,” Copyright © 1996-2012 by Koinonia House Inc., P.O. Box D, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816, can be found at: http://www.khouse.org/articles/2000/284/

Article 6

Posted on 06/25/2012 by Jason Ministries

When I was seventeen years old, I surrendered to God’s calling on my life to become a minister of the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I immediately began pursuing my calling, by leading music for various worship services and camp meetings. Occasionally, I would even perform vocal concerts for a variety of Christian focused youth events, but it wasn’t long before I felt God tugging again at my spirit. Leading me to believe He had more in store for me — something broader than my scope was able to see then. Shortly, thereafter, The Joshua Project began to dominate my every thought.

The Joshua Project, from inception, has always been about true worship. For only true worship could move the various Christian denominations out of their misunderstood practices and into the very presence of El Hakkadosh (The Holy God), El Shaddai (The God Who IS Enough), Adonai (The Lords and Masters), Jehovah (I AM The One Who IS), Yahweh (The Self-Existing One), Elohim — Devine Creator! One thing kept me from seeing this come to fruition, though, and that was my own lack of understanding.

God has had me on a journey. A journey that now, after twenty-nine years, I am just realizing I will never finish until I see Jesus, face-to-face. I also realize that what God has given me knowledge of, where true worship is concerned, I must begin sharing with the masses. Because to wait until my heart and mind know all there is to know about true worship is to have waited too long. So my blogging began, and The Joshua Project entered into the public eye for the first time in 2010.

If you have read my blog posts, I trust you have grown to understand that true worship is your ultimate goal. The very reason God created you and all that is around you. If you haven’t yet read The Joshua Project, then allow me to encourage you to do so. Until all of humanity realizes why God has created them, and until all of us who are called by His name understand just how to become a true worshiper, there can never be a resolve to our most common and central issue — our need to be restored to God.

In the second article of The Joshua Project, we began looking into what worship really was and we came to realize that the word “worship” was both a noun and a verb; an object and an action. Upon looking further into the word “worship” I presented a formula for applying the true essence of worship into our daily lives. The formula was revisited throughout that series on true worship and I also applied it to our current study of knowing God’s names, in the very first article.

The formula is based on the understanding of God’s three most essential attributes:

– God is faithful
– God is hope
– God is love

A proper understanding of these three attributes of God, and our acknowledgment of those attributes in our lives, will produce the actions that equal true worship.

You see, it’s when we grow to know God that His sovereignty and holiness are revealed. Once revealed, we can see our short comings, our sins, in light of God’s perfection and come to understand our need for restoration to God through a relationship with His son, Jesus Christ. When all of these things come together, true worship begins to happen. That is why at the beginning of this series on knowing God’s names I posted this version of the above formula:

(Knowing God’s names + learning and understanding the meanings of God’s names = worship)

It is essential for us to know God. To know not only God’s attributes, but the very names that invoke those attributes into our lives. We will focus the remainder of this article on the greatest of all of God’s attributes — love.

Love can be defined in many ways, as worship can be. The Hebrews had two main words for love, “ahavah” and “chesed.” Ahavah was used when defining love on a human level, such as between a man and woman, or a parent and child. Chesed was used when defining love on a higher plain; a covenant love, such as between a sovereign and subjects.

The Greeks translated “chesed” as “agape,” which in English is translated as “loving-kindness” or “steadfast-love.” The attributes of this higher love are listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-10: patience, kindness, without envy, without pride, without rudeness, isn’t selfish, isn’t easily angered, forgets offenses, is righteous, truthful, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and is always faithful. These attributes of love are seen as part of God’s character throughout Scripture, especially in Galations 5:22-23 when the Apostle Paul lists the fruit of God’s Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control . . .” No wonder Paul revealed to us, in 1 Corinthians 13:13, that above all of God’s attributes the greatest is love. In fact, Scripture reveals that God, more than anything else ascribed to Him, is entirely, 100 percent love. The Apostle John discussed this in detail, in the fourth chapter of his first letter.

So let’s simplify this all important attribute of God, as we did in the second article of The Joshua Project. Not because godly love is some how trivial — No! Because it is so very crucial to our growing into the true worshipers of the Almighty. We need to be able to ingest this information and apply it to our every day lives. Having said this, understand with me that love can be simply defined as a strong affection, a strong desire, or a strong devotion. Knowing this, we can now apply this definition of love directly to God’s character and say God IS a strong affection toward us, God IS a strong desire toward us, God IS a strong devotion to us. This was revealed to humanity through the incarnate Lord, Jesus Christ; if we can truly grasp this truth and trust it (have faith in it), if we can truly have confidence in the fulfillment of God’s love through Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection (have hope in it), if we can truly live a life of love (have a strong affection, strong desire, strong devotion to God) then we can truly worship God in our daily lives.

(Knowing God IS love + acknowledging that God IS love and applying His love in our lives = worship)

I’ll close with this excerpt from chapter four of 1 John:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love . . . If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Remember, it is essential for humanity to know God; to be restored to God. Come, and let’s get to know Chesed, Agape — Love!

The Joshua Project by J.Scott Harden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at jasonmin.wordpress.com.
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Article 4

Posted on 05/14/2012 by Jason Ministries

The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, and John Derek, is a 1956 epic film that tells the story of the Hebrew’s exodus from Egypt.

The Ten Commandments, which was the last film that famed director Cecil B. DeMille presided over, is one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing over $65 million at the US box office. If you adjust for inflation, this makes it the sixth highest-grossing movie domestically, with an adjusted total of $1,025,730,000 in 2012.

The film received seven Academy Award nominations including “Best Picture,” and won the award for “Best Visual Effects.” The American Film Institute (a.k.a. AFI) later voted The Ten Commandments as the tenth best film in the epic genre.

As epic as this film is in cinematic history, so too is this story’s monumental affect on man’s history and future. For it’s in this saga of the Hebrew’s exodus from Egypt that we see the formal beginning of God’s salvation and redemption of humanity on display, and where we see a subtle visual of one of God’s earliest of names — El Shaddai.

I realize that for most the name “El Shaddai” is more closely connected in our thoughts and minds to the very popular song written by Michael Card and more famously performed by Amy Grant, rather than the story of the Exodus, but grant (no pun intended) me just a moment and I’ll explain the association.

“God of the mountains” or “el shaddai,” was a Mesopotamian term that was used in reference of a divine mountain. This name was but one of the patriarchal names for the tribal god of the Mesopotamians. Now in Exodus 6:3, “El Shaddai” is seen identified solely with the Creator — the God of Abraham — and with His name, Yahweh, which is why this particular name of God (El Shaddai) could be derived from the Hebrews experience of seeing God’s fire atop Mount Sinai and from hearing God’s thunder from the Israelite camp at the base of the mountain. It could also explain, in part, the more popular interpretation of the name “El Shaddai” as meaning “God Almighty,” but linguistically this interpretation comes many years later from the English translators of the Septuagint (i.e. the Greek translators of the Old Testament).

These English translators determined that “Shaddai” came from “shad-ad,” a root verb that means “to over power” or “to destroy.” It’s also seen translated in the Latin Vulgate as “omnipotens,” which is where our English word “omnipotent” comes from. Yes, God is everywhere. Yes, God is all-knowing, and all-powerful, therefore God is Almighty. But while this is very true of God, I don’t think this quite reveals the essence of what this name really means. Also, long before Moses and the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, God makes use of this very name when introducing Himself to the Hebrew patriarch, Abram.

In Genesis 17:1, our Creator used the name “El Shaddai” when He confirmed His covenant with Abram, and his descendants, and renames Abram to Abraham. The more popular name of “God Almighty” certainly could apply here, as God is mighty enough to make this promise and fulfill it, but there appears to be more implied here. Especially if “Shaddai” is seen as a compound word within a compound name.

“El Shaddai” is one of 27 compound names known as “El constructs.” The names are formed by combining a shortened form of the name “Elohim,” meaning “Deity,” with some other name or title, in this case the name “Shaddai.” Split apart “Shaddai” and we get two smaller words: “sha,” which means “who,” and “dai,” which means “enough.” So, a closer look at the Hebraic practice of shortening a name of God (El from Elohim), and combining that shortened name with a descriptive attribute (i.e. Shaddai), and we begin to see that “El Shaddai” could translate as “God who IS Enough.” Pause and ponder that name for a moment (selah) — God who IS Enough!

What an amazing revelation of God to Abraham, and to us. Yahweh wasn’t just making us aware of His might in this covenant. God was saying He was, is, and always will be sufficient to fulfill His promises to us, in us, and through us. Yahweh, is mighty! Yahweh, is enough!

We see another example of El Shaddai as being all sufficient in Genesis 49:22-26, as Jacob (Israel) is blessing his son Joseph. In this verse Israel says:

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One [El Shaddai] of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s [Israel’s] God, who helps you, because of the Almighty [El Shaddai], who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.”

See how God is described by Israel to be the mighty provider of Joseph’s blessings? God is shown to be Joseph’s strength to endure hardships. God is shown to be Joseph’s strong moral and spiritual foundation. God is shown to be Joseph’s sustenance and nourishment; not just to him, but to his children too. All in all, El Shaddai is Joseph’s “God who IS enough.”

So, how about you? Is God your strength in hard times, your foundation of truth, your sustainer in all you need, both physically as well as spiritually? Is God enough?

Do you allow God access to all areas of your life? Do you really have a deep enough relationship with God; one in which you can call upon El Shaddai in confidence? Do you really know “God who IS enough”?

Selah (Pause/Reflect).

I’ll leave you with this word from God to the Apostle Paul. It comes as a response to a painful plea that Paul made to our Creator to have a “thorn” removed from his life. God’s answer to Paul was not to remove the torment from his life, but to reveal Himself to Paul through the affliction. In this answer came an understanding; Paul came to know El Shaddai even more upon hearing and accepting these divine words:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Article IV, part 2

Posted on 05/16/2010 by Jason Ministries

We have begun looking into how we as believers can experience true joy in our daily worship, even in the midst of serious suffering and strife, but to do this there are some things we must first understand about the word joy. So to understand fully what joy means, and to correctly apply it to our everyday life and worship, we will have to dissect the word; cut into what we said joy is and look around inside it — find what lies at its core. To do this we will literally take the word “joy” and examine it letter by letter. When we are done, the acrostic we end up with will be a simple and applicable tool with which you can allow God to bring real joy to you daily.

The first meaning we can find at the core of real joy is in the letter “J.” And that is true faith in the Lord, God Jehovah via a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. (Jehovah is one of the forms of the Hebrew name for God.) As we studied earlier, all of us are sinners. To be a sinner is to be an arrow that has missed its mark or center, or to put it more clearly, missed the bull’s-eye. All of mankind was intended to exist in the center of God’s will and purpose. Sin, which was introduced into our lives via the “fall of man” in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-24), disrobed and removed God’s glory from mankind. Sin left us naked, vulnerable, and dying. There was no way the human race would ever be living in the center of God’s will and purpose ever again without divine intervention. A deep and true faith in God, via a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, is the only way humans can return to living in the center of Jehovah’s will and purpose. Let’s look over how we can have such a faith in God, before we move on.

First, we must recognize that sin has removed us from God’s glory (this is our current “fallen state”) and then realize that we need to be restored to the center and purpose of Jehovah (Isaiah 59:1-20). Remember the five orders of worship (confession, gathering, giving, rejoicing, and studying)? We can’t experience true worship if we can’t exist in God’s presence. Sin prevents us from being in the presence of the Almighty, and confession is the first step toward being in His will; returning us to the center of His will.

We must also realize that we do not deserve Jehovah’s grace, but deserve death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Everything in life costs us something; nothing is free. Some costs we eagerly pay and others we are reluctant to pay, but life is a costly thing. Life costs us, male and female alike, something of each other in order to conceive a new life (child). The creation of the human race cost God, as well. Life cost Him, in the beginning, a piece of Himself — the breath of life and His image or spirit (Genesis 1:26-27). Life also cost Him the loss of our companionship when we sinned in the garden, as sin ushered in death, and death costs us our own lives as payment and prevents us from living with God eternally (again, see Romans 6:23a). But it’s because the Lord God, Jehovah, loved life — human life — so very much, it ultimately cost Him the life of His only Son, Jesus Christ. This truth is another aspect of experiencing a true faith in God. You can’t fully enjoy a relationship with God the Father until you understand fully the relationship we are to have with God the Son.

God longs to see mankind return to Himself and He knew humanity would never be able to do so on its own. Thus the reason God chose to pay our debt to sin (the wages of sin is death) by allowing His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die (John 3:16). Christ’s blood paid our debt (Hebrews 9:22b), and His sacrifice became God’s free gift of eternal life to all of mankind (Romans 6:23b). God never intended to condemn us (John 3:17), sin did that on its own. Jehovah only wanted our love and worship. Remember, death is what we deserved but eternal life can be ours, free of charge, if we will only trust in God, obey His will, and believe in His Son.

To fully trust in Christ we must know that just as life is costly so, too, are our relationships. A relationship with Jesus Christ costs us submission. I know the word submission in today’s equal rights world is yet another negative term, but if we will understand it and accept submission for what it really is, a willful act (choice) of servile flattery (serving/acting out of love and respect) then we will experience the eternal joy that God intended us to have in our lives. We must choose to submit to Christ’s headship over us, serving Christ not because He is our conquering hero but because we love and respect Him for what He chose to do for us on the cross. When believers do this, they become a part of Christ’s body, known as the church (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:22, 5:29-30; Colossians 1:18, 2:10). Quickly, let’s take this concept of the church a little further.

The church is not just known as the body of Christ but its also known in Scripture as the bride of Christ (Christ therefore being the loving Bridegroom of heaven). As the bride, we are to submit to following Christ’s perfect will for us (Ephesians 5:23-32) just as wives are intended by God to submit to their husbands. (The picture being painted here is missed by our modern society because today we have allowed both ideas of traditional marriage and spousal submission to become ugly, meaningless, and disposable. Take time to study what is being presented here. Both men and women alike should meditate on what God intended and come to understand true submission.)

Let’s ponder the definition of submission once more from the above paragraph: “a willful act (choice) of servile flattery (serving/acting out of love and respect).” If you are married, try applying this idea to your relationship. If you do, your relationships will improve beyond your wildest dreams; your life will bloom and grow beyond what you ever imagined possible, and your relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s Son, will fill you with a joy that can only come from being centered on Him.

The second meaning we can find at the core of real joy comes from the letter “O” and is in two parts: be obedient in unity and serve others. The first, being obedient in unity (meaning that we should make every effort to be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ), is the key to understanding the second, which is to serve others. Ken Sande, author, lawyer, and founder of Peacemaker Ministries, says in his book The Peacemaker that peace (or unity) is the “presence of genuine harmony, understanding, and goodwill between people.” Realize, it’s Jesus Christ’s sacrifice (that we just talked about in discussing true faith) which allows for real unity (or peace) with other people. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two [Jew and gentile] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:13-18)

We are called to do all we can to live unified, as one (at peace) with each other (Romans 12:18). We cannot be restored to the center of God’s will and purpose if we are not restored to each other, which brings us to the second part of this second meaning of joy.

Serving others is a crucial part to our receiving true joy from God and to our corporate worship. Obeying Jesus Christ’s call to serve mankind over self is a core truth we must grasp if we want to become the true worshipers that God intended us to be. Christ himself came to serve us, so why should we not also serve as He commands (Mark 10:45; Gal. 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10)? Remember our (the bride’s) submission to the Bridegroom of heaven means we both serve Him as well as mimic, or imitate, Him. We can do this when we allow Christ to make His Spirit dominant within us (John 3:30; Ephesians 6:7) and when we follow His model of self sacrifice, which was to lay aside His heavenly throne to become human, live a human life, and die a sinner’s death so that we could be restored to God as holy and righteous (2 Corinthians 13:4; Philippians 2:6-8). Faith in Jehovah and submission to Jesus comes first, then obeying Christ by being united as one body (the church) and serving each other (the members of that body) comes second. So, what’s third? You!

The letter “Y” represents being at peace within yourself, and is the last meaning we find at the core of true joy. Ken Sande says in The Peacemaker that internal peace is a “sense of wholeness, contentment, tranquility, order, rest and security.” Sounds to me like a piece of heaven on earth. I can’t recall the last time I truly felt this way for more than a moment, but this type of peace can be ours daily. Real peace comes to us, via the Holy Spirit, from the Lord God, Jehovah, and is a gift that awaits all who are faithful in submitting their whole life to His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 3:21-24).

Our internal peace is also a by-product of righteousness (Psalm 85:10, 119:165; Isaiah 26:3, 32:17, 48:18). Righteousness and inner peace are ours through our relationship with Jesus Christ. If we do not allow God’s righteousness to grow and dwell in our daily lives, then we will not only live a life of stress and unrest, but we will put the Son’s reputation at risk. How many people do you know that feel negatively toward Jesus or toward going to church or toward Christianity? Is it not because the “righteous” have bragged about how good they are, only to turn around and dishonor God by acting immorally or unethically? Have we not all talked about love, grace, and peace only to turn around and show nothing of these things in our dealings with people and daily dilemmas? Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24b). Christ’s reputation depends on our being genuine in our faith and peacemakers with each other (Matthew 5:9; Romans 12:18; Colossians 3:15-16).

And returning once more to our first meaning of real joy (true faith via submitting to Jesus Christ’s headship over the body) by acknowledging the Son’s headship and submitting to serving Him, we gain peace within our own spirit (Romans 15:13; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Hebrews 12:11). Then by following (submitting to; serving and mimicking) Christ’s example to serve others, we remain at peace with our brothers and sisters resulting in our own spirit being at peace with God and ourselves (Ephesians 4:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Hebrews 12:14).

This is joy! And joy’s core meaning: to allow God’s real joy into our daily lives and daily worship. Did you catch the acrostic from earlier? Here it is once more:

– J – True faith in the Lord, God Jehovah and submission to His Son, Jesus Christ.
– O – Obedient to be unified as one body (the church) and to serve others (the members of the body).
– Y – Be at peace within yourself by being faithful to submit to Christ and serve others.

Remember from Article 3 that the order of rejoicing allows us to both give and receive God’s attribute of perfect joy. J.O.Y. — Jesus, Others, and You are how we can have this eternal attribute in our daily life. This is how we can have joy in suffering. This is the real meaning of joy that no dictionary could define. Only in God’s presence can we receive true joy, and giving of ourselves in submission to Christ’s will and serving others is what ushers us into God’s presence.

This is what Joshua experienced daily in his life as he led his family and the nation of Israel in genuine worship of the Almighty. Joshua was careful to be faithful in all God asked of him, to obey every command given, and to serve his people, the nation of Israel, by keeping them united and at peace with each other (Joshua 24:31). Joshua never had to struggle to lay his head down at night and be at rest because he was at peace in his faith. This same joy, God can give to you. Now, do you really have the “joy, joy, joy, joy” down in your heart? I hope so, and let’s have no more of that asking, “Where?”

We are now ready to raise our third wall in our temple of worship. That wall is — our purpose!

All rights reserved. The brief information quoted from this book appears in this article with the permission granted per the copyright statement which appears in the seventh printed publication, May 2007.

Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287; www.bakerbooks.com.

“Down In My Heart (I’ve Got the Joy)” by George Willis Cooke, pub.: Unknown, Copyright: Public Domain

Jason Ministries ®

Teaching the Church its Purpose – True Worship

Tag Archives: Paul

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Article IV, part 3

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