Three thousand five hundred years ago God gave us his rules to live by from a mountain in the Sinai desert. These rules aren’t conditions of a relationship with God but a confirmation of one. The first four rules are about honouring God and putting Him centre of all. The next six are about honouring the people around us. It is about liberty and equality of all. Everybody is on an equal footing because we are all made in God's image.
In the final part of The Sinai Code series, Thou Shalt Be Free, Andy tells us that God took His people out of Egypt and at Sinai raised them up all on the same level. They were slaves no more. In God's nation He did not want any king to rule but with Him at the centre. This was a hard concept to understand for the ex-slaves and soon they begged God to allow them to have a king. They threw out equality to have what they thought is more liberty
In 1776, America tried to get back to what God had in mind at Sinai. I think America did a good job with liberty and equality under God but now they seem to have lost the plot and think they can go it alone without God. They are trying to weed out God from every aspect of daily life.
No God in schools.
No God in work.
No God in church.
Two other countries also changed the world with their throwing off the shackles of kings and queens. In 1789 saw the French Deists sweep away all authority and turned to the rights of the people under a supreme being. God had to step aside to liberty and equality. Closer to our time but still eons ago, saw the Gnostics change mother Russia in 1917 when they threw out God along with the Czar. Both countries were noble in their end view but with no God at the centre they too missed what God had in mind at Sinai.
America who is battling to have both liberty and equality at the same time surprised me at the inauguration of Barack Obama when Rick Warren prayed over the nation. But it doesn't surprise me when America cried foul when he used the name of Jesus in his prayer.
Almighty God
Our Father, everything we see, and everything we can't see, exists because of you alone.
It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.
History is your story.
The Scripture tells us, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."
And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today, we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.
We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequalled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership.
And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.
Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.
When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us.
When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes – even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all.
May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.
And may we never forget that one day, all nations, and all people, will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life – Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus – who taught us to pray:
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil,
for Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Liberty and equality for all under one God is what God has in mind for us with our many problems and imperfections.
We shalt be free.
27 February 2009
20 February 2009
Thou Shalt Do Nothing
What?
What was my first question that flew through my mind when I heard this. Can this actually be one of God's rules? What is Andy smoking when he wrote part four of the series The Sinai Code? Going a little way into the sermon I got where he was going with this. He was doing the fourth rule,
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11
This is a rule that I myself have broken many times in the past even though it was drummed into me at a young impressionable age. Yes I understand the concept of what God was saying by keeping one day a week aside but what stands out for me is the word Remember. Remember. Remember. We as humans find it easy to forget the things that we feel are not good for us. God took forty years trying to get His people to remember the Sabbath but they tried to find loopholes in resting in God. Today it is no different. God in His infinite wisdom knew that we will become so busy that we forget putting aside a day that is holy.
The question that was asked way back then at the foot of Sinai is the same today, how can we just stop for a day and do nothing? If we miss a day we will lose money and our families will suffer. Andy gives us the answer why we find it difficult to take a day off. He says that we do not trust God. We don't trust God to provide what we need if we were to stop for a day.
Remember that it is in God that we must trust not our own selves.
What was my first question that flew through my mind when I heard this. Can this actually be one of God's rules? What is Andy smoking when he wrote part four of the series The Sinai Code? Going a little way into the sermon I got where he was going with this. He was doing the fourth rule,
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11
This is a rule that I myself have broken many times in the past even though it was drummed into me at a young impressionable age. Yes I understand the concept of what God was saying by keeping one day a week aside but what stands out for me is the word Remember. Remember. Remember. We as humans find it easy to forget the things that we feel are not good for us. God took forty years trying to get His people to remember the Sabbath but they tried to find loopholes in resting in God. Today it is no different. God in His infinite wisdom knew that we will become so busy that we forget putting aside a day that is holy.
The question that was asked way back then at the foot of Sinai is the same today, how can we just stop for a day and do nothing? If we miss a day we will lose money and our families will suffer. Andy gives us the answer why we find it difficult to take a day off. He says that we do not trust God. We don't trust God to provide what we need if we were to stop for a day.
Remember that it is in God that we must trust not our own selves.
12 February 2009
What's in a Name
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
Raise hands those who knows where this quote comes from. Shakespeare would be a good guess and Romeo and Juliet would to thine own self be true. I can draw many parallels between this tragedy and the love of God of His people. Okay you must be asking what has Shakespeare have to do with this posting. Well we are doing Andy Stanley's series on the Sinai Code and part three is called "What's in a Name". It could have come straight out this tragedy of lovers who are members of the opposite sides of the tracks.
But this "What's in a Name" comes to us from Mount Sinai deep within the desert of the Sinai Peninsula where God gave His people His set of rules. These rules are not conditions to be His people but a confirmation of belonging to Him. "What's in a Name" covers the third rule; you shall not misuse the name of the Lord.
Myself like many thought that this rule is simply warning to us not to use God's name in vain. Since watching "What's in a Name" my view of this rule has now been turned on its head. Instead of using God's name carelessly it means not use His name for leverage to get what you want.
Leverage God!
Yes we actually play God against God and try find loop holes to dodge his rules. Andy says that like the Pharisees if we get into a habit of leveraging God to our own agendas then we will miss God. So that is how the Pharisees missed the Messiah. We too can spend our lifetimes talking to God and miss him completely all in the name of God. This has made me realise how easy it is to hurt others in the name of God. Religion is man made to bend the rules of God to suit our own needs and wants. Are we using God for our own glory and not His?
Wow! With some deep thoughts raised this has opened my eyes to how I misuse the Lord's name.
By any other name would smell as sweet
Raise hands those who knows where this quote comes from. Shakespeare would be a good guess and Romeo and Juliet would to thine own self be true. I can draw many parallels between this tragedy and the love of God of His people. Okay you must be asking what has Shakespeare have to do with this posting. Well we are doing Andy Stanley's series on the Sinai Code and part three is called "What's in a Name". It could have come straight out this tragedy of lovers who are members of the opposite sides of the tracks.
But this "What's in a Name" comes to us from Mount Sinai deep within the desert of the Sinai Peninsula where God gave His people His set of rules. These rules are not conditions to be His people but a confirmation of belonging to Him. "What's in a Name" covers the third rule; you shall not misuse the name of the Lord.
Myself like many thought that this rule is simply warning to us not to use God's name in vain. Since watching "What's in a Name" my view of this rule has now been turned on its head. Instead of using God's name carelessly it means not use His name for leverage to get what you want.
Leverage God!
Yes we actually play God against God and try find loop holes to dodge his rules. Andy says that like the Pharisees if we get into a habit of leveraging God to our own agendas then we will miss God. So that is how the Pharisees missed the Messiah. We too can spend our lifetimes talking to God and miss him completely all in the name of God. This has made me realise how easy it is to hurt others in the name of God. Religion is man made to bend the rules of God to suit our own needs and wants. Are we using God for our own glory and not His?
Wow! With some deep thoughts raised this has opened my eyes to how I misuse the Lord's name.
04 February 2009
The One and Only Box
How often we heard that we must not put God in a box. We as humans find it easy to put things into compartments because it helps us understand them. So when God of the universe becomes our personal God don't we also try to put Him into a box? Andy Stanley in the second series of the Sinai Code says that God is bigger than the box we try to put Him in. God wants to be in front and centre of our lives yet we try to downsize or marginalise Him by putting Him in box, well trying to that is.
I have a teeny small problem with this but maybe it is just my lack of vision and understanding. Okay I would tend to say that trying to put God into a box is part true by my understanding. For me, by saying that God cannot fit in a box is saying that God has no limitations. Before you shoot me down, let me explain. God is limited by His own nature. For example He cannot lie nor sin therefore He has limits. Elementary dear Watson. I do not have the answer to this myself but I have two ideas that I could leave with you.
God can be in all the boxes that we make. This effectively means that God cannot be contained in boxes but is present in all the boxes. Omnipresent.
The other idea is that we are trying to put God into a box of our own limited design. I think that God has His own box and it is the biggest and greatest box there is. So big that our limited minds cannot even comprehend. In our own minds God cannot be defined.
So when God comes along and says to you that I want to be your one and only God. What do you do? Do you put God in a box of your own understanding and put him among the other gods of your life? Are we guilty of shrinking God down into an idol?
God does not want to be shut out of any part of your life that includes activities and relationships; past, present and future.
If you do manage to put God into a box of your own understanding then your god is too small.
I have a teeny small problem with this but maybe it is just my lack of vision and understanding. Okay I would tend to say that trying to put God into a box is part true by my understanding. For me, by saying that God cannot fit in a box is saying that God has no limitations. Before you shoot me down, let me explain. God is limited by His own nature. For example He cannot lie nor sin therefore He has limits. Elementary dear Watson. I do not have the answer to this myself but I have two ideas that I could leave with you.
God can be in all the boxes that we make. This effectively means that God cannot be contained in boxes but is present in all the boxes. Omnipresent.
The other idea is that we are trying to put God into a box of our own limited design. I think that God has His own box and it is the biggest and greatest box there is. So big that our limited minds cannot even comprehend. In our own minds God cannot be defined.
So when God comes along and says to you that I want to be your one and only God. What do you do? Do you put God in a box of your own understanding and put him among the other gods of your life? Are we guilty of shrinking God down into an idol?
God does not want to be shut out of any part of your life that includes activities and relationships; past, present and future.
If you do manage to put God into a box of your own understanding then your god is too small.
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