Monday, November 30, 2015

THE TRUE SHEPHERD



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In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

“Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend My people: Because you have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. “I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There is one truth that is undeniable.

All people have one thing in common, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. They are all made by the same Master Creator and Shepherd, the Lord God Almighty.

In other words, we’re all related, all part of the same flock and it’s a shame we often choose to not live that way, focusing on what makes us the same instead of what might make us different.  

Perhaps that is the greatest wicked act that Satan, our enemy, accomplishes each and every day. For he is a master at division, always seeking to first separate us from the Lord and then from one another by using any number of vehicles to do so. Think about all the things we use to distinguish ourselves one from another and you will see his evil methods at work, ever seeking to scatter the flock of the Lord by way of false shepherds. Those shepherds may use ideologies to wage people against each other. They may use socioeconomic differences to sort the affluent from the poor. They may even use ethnic, religious, gender, or age differences to segregate us from one another.

Indeed, we are a scattered flock today. It’s even evident in our Christian churches as each denomination becomes more and more independent of others, fracturing the common cause of Christ we were all called to. Can you imagine how much more the power and spread of the Gospel of Jesus could be if we would all just set aside what makes our churches different and go out together hand-in-hand to answer the call of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)? I believe there would be no greater movement in human history than that one if we would just unite as one and make it happen.

So how do we get there from here? How do we turn away from the path of divisiveness Satan has us on to become the united people in Christ we’re supposed to be?

It all comes in returning to the True Shepherd, the Lord God Almighty, as one people.

It wouldn’t be the first time it needed to happen as we see in the opening verses of Jeremiah, Chapter 23:

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

“Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend My people: Because you have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. “I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 23:1-4

Note here the key problem with the people of God is that they had followed the wrong shepherds and had been led away from the Lord to a place of destruction, a place where sin abided. This was most evident in the pagan worship practices the Israelites entered into, practices that were endorsed by even the people God expected would lead and direct His people in His ways. Such practices incited God’s anger and judgment, resulting in seventy years of exile for His people but His punishment on the false shepherds would be even harsher because of the evil they had done. As we have seen in earlier chapters, these evildoers would not be allowed to ever return to Judah again. In other words, they would never be allowed to shepherd God’s flock again. Instead, God would do it Himself, returning to His people as their True Shepherd, the only One who could bring them back to their pasture where they could be fruitful and multiply in number.

Indeed, this promise came to be after the seventy year exile as God made the way for His people to return to Judah to rebuild and renew the land as well as the holy city of Jerusalem which had been left in ruins by the Babylonians after their invasion. The returning people would make a special effort to not only rebuild their homes but their faith as well, confessing that they had sinned and deserved the judgment God sent on them. Their goal was to ensure it never happened again, to ensure that they would keep their flock intact this time, under the watchful eye and protection of the True Shepherd.

Friends, the Lord desires to do the same again today. All we need to do is allow Him to gather us back together where we can be one flock again under His divine care, one flock tended to by the True Shepherd, the One who will one day come to capture His sheep and take them to an eternal pasture where they will live in His glory forever.

Are you ready to be a part of the Lord’s flock again if you have strayed away?

I pray you will allow the True Shepherd to gather you back in His arms and return you to His care, where others who seek and follow Him faithfully abide.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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Sunday, November 29, 2015

DESPISED AND DEPOSED



Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?”

“O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.’”

Jeremiah 22:28-30

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

God’s message throughout the 22nd Chapter of the Book of Jeremiah has been crystal clear:

A high cost will be paid for unrighteousness, particularly when someone willingly and willfully chooses to dishonor and disrespect God through blatant disobedience, disregard for His word, and disrespect of His authority.

And no one is beyond the judgment of God when He is violated and dishonored.

Not even kings.

Prior in this chapter, we have seen God call out two of Josiah’s sons, Shallum (also known as Jehoahaz) and Jehoiakim, for their wickedness, propensity for injustice, and unwillingness to follow their father’s righteous-style of leadership. Both received God’s judgment.

You’ll recall that God told Shallum he would be taken from Judah, never to return again, and that promise came to be when the king was taken captive by the Egyptians and hauled back to Egypt where he would die. Indeed, he never returned to Judah again.

Shallum’s brother, Jehoiakim, also had angered God but his fate was slightly different. He wasn’t taken away anywhere but would perish within the city of Jerusalem, his body dragged outside the city gates and dumped unceremoniously like a common animal like a donkey.

As Jeremiah 22 closes, we find news of a third king, Jehoiachin, falling out of favor with God and getting his due just as his two predecessors had.  Look at these final verses of the chapter:

“Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?”

“O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says: ‘Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.’”  Jeremiah 22:28-30

Jehoiachin assumed the throne after Jehoiakim’s death and scriptures tell us he did evil in the sight of God, just as his father had done. It’s little wonder why he only reigned three months (2 Kings 24:8-17) before he was taken away along with his family, attendants, nobles, and officials to Babylon, despised by God and then deposed from Judah, never to return. Such was God’s disdain for Jehoiachin that He removed any future chance for the captive king or any of his offspring. None of them would find prosperity.

Friends, I pray that the world’s national, state, and community leaders are paying attention to this word of God for He is making His expectations for leadership crystal clear.

Any leader who turns from the wisdom and direction of God, a wisdom and direction that will always result in righteous decisions and actions, can expect to receive God’s judgment for God will not tolerate sinfulness in any form, no matter who commits it.

Kings, the most powerful leaders on earth in biblical times, were not exempt and neither will any powerful leader today. For everyone here on earth is subordinate to the true Ruler of all, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

No one can stand against His judgment when it comes. Anyone who tries will only find themselves despised and deposed, just as Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin were.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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Saturday, November 28, 2015

DISCARDED



Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

Jeremiah 22:24-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Imagine if you had a relationship with someone who could and would be able to give you all you could ever ask for in life which would include:

Provision.
Protection.
Encouragement.
Direction and guidance.
Wisdom.
Comfort.
Support.
Peace.
And the hope of a future that would endure forever.

Would you want that relationship?

Who wouldn’t?

And yet, so many people choose to reject such a relationship, one that is readily available to all through the Lord God Almighty. For He and He alone can and will provide us with exactly what we need because He made us and perfectly knows us to include what we need and when we need it. His timing is as perfect as His judgment.

What might be even more baffling than people knowing God and rejecting a relationship with Him are other people who choose to enter into a relationship with Him and then abandon that relationship as if the world can offer something better than God Himself. This is happening today and it’s not a new phenomenon as we have seen in our study of the Book of Jeremiah. For the Old Testament Israelites of that time decided that there was something better than God to turn to and follow as well and as they chose to discard Him, they found out that He could in turn discard them. Look at today’s passage as we look at God’s word in Jeremiah 22:

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”  Jeremiah 22:24-27

In this chapter alone, we have seen the sons of Josiah, all kings who chose to follow wickedness instead of following their father’s righteous leadership, called out by God for judgment. They all had a chance to have a relationship with God and lead their people to that same relationship but they didn’t. Sin became more important to them than God, highlighted by their decision to worship and bow down to false gods and idols. There could be no greater expression of disrespect and disregard for God than that.

Indeed, the people of Judah, from the top down, had chosen to discard God in their lives and so He showed them just how that felt, hurling Jehoiachin away to King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire, never to return to Judah again. He wouldn’t be the only one hurled from Judah and Jerusalem as the king’s mother and other Israelites who followed him in embracing sin would follow him into exile.

I can’t think this story could have such a different ending, certainly a happier one. All Jehoiachin and his brothers Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim had to do was be obedient to God and insist that their people do likewise. God had promised them that He would be their God and they His people.

What more could the people want than that?

What more could we ever want than that?

And yet the Old Testament Israelites of Jeremiah’s time, as well as so many people today, opted to turn away from the God who can do and provide all things and embrace the ways of the world, ways that only serve to drag anyone from righteousness to wickedness.

The message today from God’s word is clear. Disregard God and you can and will find yourself disregarded and discarded by Him.

Do yourself a favor and never break your relationship with Him for in Him, you have all you’ll ever need, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com

Friday, November 27, 2015

ALONE AND WITHOUT HELP



Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed. I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed Me. The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness. You who live in ‘Lebanon,’ who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!”

Jeremiah 22:20-23

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you found yourself alone, feeling isolated and without any source of help?

I know I have in my life and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It was a time of extreme loneliness, a time that was full of pain in the midst of difficulty, a time when I was cut off from those who I may have been able to rely on in the past.

Maybe you can relate.

As we see in today’s passage and our continuing study of Jeremiah, the people of Judah were in the midst of being alone and without help. And it wasn’t going to get any better. Look again at these words:

“Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed. I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed Me. The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness. You who live in ‘Lebanon,’ who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!” Jeremiah 22:20-23

The Israelites of Judah had made the choice to worship other gods, even though God had commanded not to, and there were plenty to choose from. Their obstinate, disobedient attitude, refusing to turn away from sin and back to God, incited His wrath and judgment against them. If they wanted to turn away from God and abandon Him, then they would experience what it felt like to be abandoned themselves.

But this didn’t happen in Judah first. For the northern kingdom of Israel experienced God’s punishment first.

Like their brothers and sisters in the south, the people of God in Israel had willingly and willfully chosen wickedness over righteousness and so God allowed the Assyrian nation to come and lay the kingdom to waste, hauling any Israelites who survived the onslaught into exile. Unlike their southern counterparts, they would never return to rebuild and restore.

In times of trouble, the people of Judah could call on their northern brothers and sisters for help in times of need. They had someone to fall back on, someone to come to their aid, someone they could rely on. But with the destruction of the north, that security blanket was now gone and the people of Judah and Jerusalem were on their own to fend for themselves.

They were about to learn what it felt like to be alone and without help.

Going back to our passage, we find God inviting his people to climb to the highest points to cry out to their allies for assistance, to Lebanon and Bashan and Abarim. Their cries for help would go unanswered because they would find no one left to come to their rescue. The Israelites in the north had been crushed and soon the Israelites in the south would be as well for God’s consequences were coming upon them in the form of the Babylonian nation, coming to devastate their land and take them away into seventy years of exile, seventy years of being alone and without help. The pain this would bring was likened to the labor pains of a woman at birth only that pain would not just come for a moment and then subside. It would sustain over time as the Israelites experiences being distanced from God, ashamed and disgraced because of their wickedness.

Friends, are we listening to this word of God today? If we are sinning in direct disobedience to God’s word and ignoring His calls to repent and change while abandoning Him in the way we live our lives, then we are putting ourselves in a position where His judgment can and will come upon us, a judgment that will show us just how it feels to be forsaken and deserted, how it feels to be alone and without help.

It’s been said that sometimes we don’t gain a full appreciation for God until we try to live without Him. His word today is showing us that living without Him isn’t something we should even want to consider.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com