Israel: we stand with you

Wow! What a week! Things have just exploded over in the middle east. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to say something about the current situation in Israel. I am glad that Israel is taking action and I hope they completely root out(neutralize) the Hezbollah terrorists. I'm sick and tired of hearing about the poor suffering Palestinians. There isn't one innocent person being targeted by Israel. The Hezbollah on the other hand is shooting missiles directly at innocent civilians. Yet, all we hear form the whining UN security council(what a joke) is poor Lebanese, they are suffering so much. What about the thousands of innocent Israeli citizens who are being attacked? What about their suffering? Once again Jewish suffering doesn't count. Well, It counts to God, and He's keeping track of all the crap that people are doing and saying against Israel. I recently heard a pastor say that his Jesus isn't the Jewish Jesus. My Jesus is the Jewish Jesus, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, The Son of David the Messiah of the Jews and He will rule and reign from Jerusalem. We have a choice to either support God's people or not. If we support Israel we will be blessed if we don't we will suffer the consequences. I for one am glad to sacrifice a little money with the current gas prices to see the terrorist in southern Lebanon vaporized. "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem"

What am I here for? Has this thought ever crossed your mind? In our busy world, where there is so much distraction the questions of meaning sometimes get lost in the frantic shuffle of our lives. We have about 70 years give or take to live and then we die. To what end or purpose is our life. There are many philosophies and religions that try to answer this question. Some include a all powerful God or gods and others try to explain our existence scientifically. If There is a all powerful God controlling everything it makes sense to try and discover what makes Him happy. If there is no God, and if we just evolved by chance, then the only thing that makes sense is living for myself and doing what I want, love becomes meaningless. If there are many gods then I have to work to appease the most powerful one and hope that it's the one I know.
I have chosen to believe in a all powerful loving God. I believe the very existence of self-sacrifice and selfless expression of love is strong support for the existence of God. If I believe in an all powerful loving God then I should wish to know Him and please Him. What better place to look for information about God then in the Book that defines His nature, the Bible. In this book is the answer to our questions and the answer to why I am here. To love, glorify and honor God.

I was reading this morning about Israel in Isaiah 1. God had been so faithful to them, bringing them out of over 400 years of bondage and preserving them through the wilderness. God gave them the land of Canaan, a lush green land, a land of abundance. Time and time again they turned against God and were unthankful, ungrateful and rebellious. The Lord allowed different nations to come in and take their land for the purpose of getting their attention and so that they would turn back to him. God delivered them many times from their enemies. God gave them a King when they ask for one and established the kingdom of David. Still after all this that God did for them they are refusing to follow Him. Isaiah 1:2-3 Says that Israel rebelled against God and that they don't even know who he is any longer. In verse 4 it says they are no longer being corrupted but that they are the corrupter and that they have made God angry. Verses 5-9 describe the depth of depravity to which they have sunk. In verse 9 it talks about a remenant, but even the remenant is corrupt. In verse 10 - 15 God says that he is sick of their offerings and the multitude of sacrifices, their services, feasts and sacred meetings. In verse 15 it says that He will not even look at them or listen to them. So what is the state of Israel is it hopeless. What about us!! We are no better than wicked Israel in our rebellion and idolatry. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are in the same state as Israel. We have been continually rebellious toward God. We act as if everything is ok. We bring him our offerings of prayer and sacrifices of praise but our hearts are far from Him. We get together on Sunday or Saturday and smile and act holy, but inside we are like Sodom and Gomorrah. God says to us just as He said to them Isaiah 1:15 " When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear". We wonder why our prayers are not answered and why we feel so dis-satisfied and confused. What is God's solution? Verse 16 + 15 says: " Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do Good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor;
defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Verse 18:

"Come now and let us reason together ," says the LORD,

"though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

through they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

verse 19:

" If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land"

If you find yourself in the situation that Israel was in, there is hope!! Turn to the LORD today is you are a Christian(follower of Jesus Christ) REPENT and it says in first John 1:9 that " He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all un-righteousness". If you don't know Jesus you can become His child today. Romans 10:9 "If You confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved."

Why is it so hard to trust God?

Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is it so hard to trust God? I ask myself that question often. It seems to me that no matter how many times God answers my prayer and keeps his promises I still have a hard time trusting him. Why? I could tell you that I have been let me down so many times that I just can't fully trust God. But that would be untrue. The truth is that I don't want to acknowledge God's faithfulness because then I have to acknowledge my unfaithfulness. Yeah I'm a scumbag. I don't like to admit it but it's true. I want to give myself some wiggle room. I want an out in case things don't work out with God. If I acknowledge that He has fulfilled His promises and has never let me down, then I would be admitting that I am wrong and He is right. Basically it comes down to the common struggle with pride and the flesh. "Dear God please strip me of my pride and rip apart my stinking flesh till I am spiritually bare before you". "That I may decrease and you might increase". I choose to trust You Jesus.

A necessary death

"Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die" My new favorite CD, by David Crowder starts out with these words, and they are so true. Many of us ascribe to this philosophy; we want the joy and pleasure of life but none of the pain and hardship. We want satisfaction now instead of waiting for the right time. We find this idea is encouraged in our modern American culture. Fast food, fast shopping, fast sex, fast drugs, fast music, fast relationships, fast cars/trucks, fast communication. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but there is something wrong with our attitude of instant satisfaction. Why, what’s wrong with being instantly satisfied. The first problem is that it usually comes from a self focused or selfish attitude. We want satisfaction and we want it now. We are unwilling to wait for anything. Whatever your religious beliefs may be the Idea of selflessness and sacrifice is usually praised. Unless you ascribe to Satanism or hedonism which is all about self. Watching someone wait with patience or grace happens so rarely anymore that it is looked at as a virture. I have heard even atheist praise a selfless act. It seems to be a human trait, that although we want instant gratification we praise those who are willing to suffer to obtain their goals. There is a problem, we find ourselves unable to act in a purely unselfish way. Even when we do something for others we have to fight wrong motivations and pride. The motivation to be recognized or to be liked is selfish. The feeling of satisfaction at doing a good job can turn into pride which is the epitome of selfishness. We can't seem to win. If you’re honest with yourself (which we can all be, because this is the internet) you will agree that you and I are selfish. We can't fix this problem no matter how hard we try. What is the answer? Death, yeah I said it DEATH!!. No, I am not encouraging mass suicide. I'm also not encouraging the messed up idea of sacrafice encouraged by racical Islam. It's not a physical death I am speaking of but a death to self. I was reading 2 Corinthians 4:10 this week which says; "Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, That the life of the Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh". Notice it says dying which implies that there is still life there. As Christians we should be in the constant process of dying to ourselves and our flesh by conforming to the dying of Jesus So that His life can be seen in us. Jesus Said, "If anyone wants to be my disciple he must first deny himself, take up his cross and follow me". There is much suffering and pain in choosing to follow Jesus but in the end pure joy. If you don't know Jesus you can know Him today. Confess your sin to Him and ask Him to forgive you and He will. Ask him to be your Lord and Savior. You immediately become His and he will begin to work in your life. From then on you will suffer & succeed for a purpose. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:28 " For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". Die today so that you can really live.

Ok! so I'm a Jewish Christian Zionist!!

I recently heard that Israel may be planning to give up more land to the Palestinians. That would be a huge mistake!! It would also be a mistake for our country to support this decision, or even worse to pressure Israel to do this. We should not have given up any land in fact the surrounding Arab countries should be giving Israel land for all the attacks and suffering and pain they have inflicted on the Jewish people. I'm tired of whining Palestinians who already have a homeland called Jordan begging the world to help them in their "struggle for freedom". I'm playing the world smallest violin for them right now but you can't see it because this is the internet, ok I could take a picture and post it, but I won’t. If you say "don't you want peace" I say no, not if it means that Israel has to give up more of there God given inheritance, yes I said "God given". There are millions more Jewish people around the world that will be returning to Israel and they are going to need land. We need people like Netanyahu back as the Israeli Prime Minister. Sure I'm sorry that Palestinian children suffer but the responsibility of most of their suffering lies squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinian people not on Israel. The Bible is very clear about the future of Israel and its ultimately good. Yes, you all better get used to matzah ball soup, because when the MESSIAH returns he will be ruling from a Jewish Jerusalem and HE will be ruling over the whole earth. BARUCH HABA BSHEM ADONAI!!!