Just A Little Teaser...

This week we've been studying Revelation 5...  WOW...  BREATHTAKING...  AWESOME... AMAZING!!    But here's what I've come to realize as I've studied this week, it completely changes the depth of Scripture when you begin to understand the old behind the new...

There is so much of the Old Testament tied up in this chapter... I can't wait to tell you about it!  But just in case we happen to be in the same class, I better wait until tomorrow, or you wouldn't need to come to class... It will be a 2 part post!

Be ready to be even more overwhelmed by what Jesus did for us!!

P.S.  If you were reading over the weekend, I decided to take down the post I had written about Christian school and football...  I learned something new and while it doesn't change how I felt about the situation on Friday night, it made me question whether or not I had the whole story...  I would never want to wrongly represent someone, so I thought it was best to just remove it...

The Bible Is Just So Amazing...

This week in Community Bible Study, we were in Revelation 4...  I know I've said this before, but WOW...  Revelation is so incredible!!  In Revelation 4, John takes us into the throne room of heaven, it is an amazing vision!!

Several years ago, our pastor talked about some different worship scenes in Scripture and how he would read them at the start of his quiet time to prepare his heart to meet with God.  I decided to do that with Revelation 4 and I will never forget the first time I read it and really tried to imagine it...  For some reason, it made me so uncomfortable...  The thought of such abandoned worship was really hard for me to grasp (I'm not a hand-raiser, although God is working on that!)...  But I decided to read it for 30 days...  And Revelation 4 became one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture...

But I had never studied it depth until this past week... The imagery...the symbolization was stunning...  How God ties to the Old Testament with the New Testament, just takes my breath away.

There are so many different opinions about what the descriptions in the throne room mean, but I believe that Scripture interprets Scripture and since Hebrews 8:5 says that the earthly tabernacle was a shadow or copy of heaven, it made sense to me to look back at the tabernacle and its meaning to understand the throne room scene.

I learned so much, but there was one treasure that still just makes me shake my head in wonder...

In John's vision, he describes a sea of glass, as clear as crystal before the throne.  In the tabernacle, the bronze laver (a big round basin) was sometimes referred to as the sea.  And when King Solomon built the temple, he built a replica of the bronze laver and in 2 Chronicles 4:2, it was referred to as the sea.

So here's what blew me away...  The bronze laver was used to cleanse the Priests before they could go into the tabernacle to serve God.  When the Levites first became priests, they had to go through a consecration process, a ceremonial cleansing.  Their entire body had to be washed in the bronze laver, but they couldn't do it for themselves, someone else had to do it for them.  Then they were dressed in their priestly garments.  From that point on, they never had to wash their full body again, only their hands and feet and they could do it for themselves because the full cleansing was complete.

That is such a picture of Jesus!!  In John 13: 8, Jesus said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you can have no part of Me."  We cannot enter the presence of God, or be in relationship with Jesus, unless we have been washed in the blood of Jesus...  He has to do it for us...  Then, Romans 13:14 tells us to clothe ourselves in Christ.  Jesus is our High Priest and so we are to clothe ourselves in the garments of the priest.  And then, Jesus tells Peter in John 13:10, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean."  Once we have been cleansed by Christ, we simply have to wash ourselves daily from the remnants of our daily sins...

The bronze laver is a picture of the saving and sanctification process that happens in Christ.  In heaven, it is a sea of glass, clear as crystal because in heaven, we are made into the image of Christ...  There's no more sin to dirty the waters of the 'sea,' Jesus has defeated sin and death, once and for all and when He returns, it will NEVER corrupt creation again!

But here's the thing, what John sees in heaven is a present reality!  It's a done deal...  We have a freedom from sin that I think we really don't grasp.  Will we experience the fullness of that on earth?  No, but we can learn to grab hold of it, more and more... 

I don't know about you, but I have far too many sins that I still struggle with...  I commit them, they break my heart, I confess them, decide to do better next time, and then I fall on my face again.  But what if I really learned to live in the reality of my salvation...  What if I really got that sin only has the power over me that I give it...  Maybe I would experience just a little more victory in my life... 

I am so thankful for God's amazing Word that teaches me about the reality of being a child of God... 

Jesus... Just WOW!! More Thoughts on Revelation

A couple of years ago our family went out to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons and I was completely overwhelmed by the glory of God that was so visible there.  His beauty and majesty...  His power...  All I could think of was David's words in Psalm 8:3-4, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that You are even mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him?"  God's compassion and love, side by side with His glory...  It took my breath away!

Well that's how I felt as we continued our study in Revelation last week, Chapter 1:9-20...

In these verses Jesus is unveiled in a magnificent display of glory...  As our High Priest, in His robe and golden sash, tending to His beloved church, represented by the seven golden lampstands.  We see Him as the Divine Son of God...God Himself, the Ancient of Days...  His eyes were blazing like fire...  penetrating to the depths of our souls...  Feet like bronze as He marches in judgment against those who would harm His beloved bride, the church...  His glory shining like the sun in all of its brilliance...  It is breath-taking... awe inspiring...

But there is this moment, when John is so overwhelmed by the vision of Jesus that he falls at His feet as though dead and Jesus reaches down and touches Him and tells him not to be afraid...  The hands that touched the leper and healed him...the hands that put mud on the eyes of the blind man so he could see...  the One who spit on His own hands and healed the deaf... Jesus, just revealed in all of His glory and power, reached out and touched John and reassured him.  What an absolutely breath-taking vision of Jesus, one that we need to take with us wherever we go...

When we are afraid...Jesus reaches out and touches our hearts and whispers, "Do not be afraid."  When we are suffering, He reminds us,"I am with you."  When the world seems to be falling apart, He assures us, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

Our God of glory loves us beyond our wildest imagination.  He is bigger than anything we can imagine...but He is more loving than we could ever hope for...  I think the more I understand the vastness, the greatness, the glory of our Most High God...the more overwhelmed I become at the thought of His love and grace...  Like David, my heart wonders in gratitude... "What is man that you are even mindful of him?  The son of man that you care for him?"

Let Revelation Begin...

If you've been reading along for awhile, you might remember that I'm a Teaching Director for a Community Bible Study class... If you don't know about Community Bible Study, then check out their website. It is a non-denominational study that meets across the country...over 600 classes and even in other countries... CBS has changed my life, I am starting my 11th year... Basically, we take 9 months and immerse ourselves in either a single book of the Bible or several books over the course of a year.

Today, we started our study of Revelation! I am SO excited about this study. I did this study 7 years ago, under another Teaching Director and it changed my life, I'm so glad to be back to it...

It's funny, it seems that the church often avoids the study of Revelation... It causes controversy and disputes... People use it to warn of the end of the world and yet, that's not what God intended at all...

The Greek word that we translate as Revelation actually means an unveiling... If it unveils...it does NOT hide... so why do we make it so complicated? And God gave it to His servants to show them what is still to come... He didn't give it to scholars and if He was showing them what is still to come, He obviously meant for them to understand it... Maybe not every single detail, but at least the big picture that will give us hope and encouragement in the face of suffering.

But here's the greatest thing about Revelation... It is an unveiling of Jesus. When we see Jesus in the gospels, He is veiled in human flesh... But in Revelation, we see Jesus in ALL of His fullness and WOW...WOW...WOW... what a vision that is... He is the King of kings... Lord of lords... Mighty Warrior... Conqueror of evil...

Sometimes it may look like evil is winning in this world, but Revelation shows us that things just aren't as they seem...

I wish there were adequate words to describe how Jesus fills my heart when I meditate on the glory and wonder of Him in Revelation... It is AWESOME!! It makes me think of the old hymn, "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus..." The chorus says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face...And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."

A very wise friend of mine once said, "When we fix our eyes on Jesus, He gets really BIG and our problems get really small."

I don't know what you're up against today, but Revelation shows us that we have a Savior that is way bigger than anything life could throw at us... He is your Mighty Warrior and He goes before you to fight your battles for you. AND... He loves you beyond reason. If you have put your faith in Him as your Savior, He holds you in the palm of His nail scarred hand and NOTHING can separate you from His love for you...

What do peanut butter & jelly sandwiches have to do with worship?

This past Tuesday, we finished another amazing study in Community Bible Study... Our last lesson was on Colossians 3:18 - 4 and the verse that just keeps following me around is from Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Whatever you do...laundry...carpool...grocery shopping...cooking...cleaning bathrooms and changing sheets...work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord... Ok, I have a hard time wrapping my brain (and my heart) around that one... Laundry for the Lord?

But that's what God's Word says... Even in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether you eat or drink, WHATEVER you do, do it ALL for the glory of God." (Emphasis mine)

Every single task can be for the glory of God...that means that anything we do, if our heart is in the right place, can have significance in the kingdom of God...can bring Him glory! WOW!!!

As the teacher for the class, I think that the application of God's Word is just as crucial as the context and the meaning of the verses, so whenever I teach application like this, I'm constantly challenged to be sure that my words and my actions line up...

As we ended the year, I challenged the ladies in the class to start seeing every task as an opportunity to worship rather than grumbling and complaining...

So yesterday morning, as I dragged myself out of bed at 5:45 a.m. and went downstairs to make my 529th peanut butter and jelly sandwich of the year, I fell into my usual internal grumbling... I really hate making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...it's messy and it takes forever, I would much rather slap some sandwich meat on 2 slices of bread and be done with it...

But as my heart hit the usual replay button of all the reasons I hate making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...the Holy Spirit hit pause and challenged me with what I had just taught the day before (I so hate it when that happens...LOL!!)...

"Pssst...Sharla...how can you turn making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into an act of worship?" You have got to be kidding...peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as an act of worship?

"But you just said yesterday that NOTHING...no task...in the kingdom of God is insignificant when you work as unto the Lord...for His glory..." (P.S...these are not audible voices, just thoughts that seem to get whispered into my heart)...

So I started thinking, how can I look at this as an act of worship?

All last year, I didn't make my kid's lunches... They were 10, 13 & 14, I figured they could handle it, so I admit, that more than once I lingered in my warm cozy bed a little longer than I should have, knowing that they could handle getting ready for school (yeah I know, no mom of the year awards for that one, but cut me a little slack, I had ACL reconstruction and had some nerve damage and went almost 4 months without a full night's sleep)...

So as the school year started this year, I knew that all of that absolutely had to change, no more alarm clocks for the girls, I needed to wake them up to help attachment with Abby and of course a 6 year old can't make her own lunch...but then, what kind of mom would I be if I made Abby's lunch but not the other's? (Rotten!!)

So began the morning ritual of grumbling and complaining and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches...

So yesterday morning, I decided to remember the reason I was making these sandwiches...God brought precious Abby into our lives, not to mention our 3 other amazing children that He's blessed us with... Hmmm... I'm so blessed to be making so many of those PB & J's...

And what about the fact that this is an act of service to my children... No greater love has a man that he lay down his life for his friends... Offer your bodies as living sacrifices... Yep...even PB&J, with the right heart attitude, counts as laying down your life... your wants, your likes, your time and energy...

All of a sudden I had a new track I could choose to play in the morning...

So this morning, as I got up to make PB & J, as the first notes of Achy, Breaky, Grumbly, Gripey Heart started sounding, I thought, "Wait a minute...this is not the song I want to hear." And I changed the song of my heart to worship!

What song is your heart playing?

With Some Thoughts About Sacred Vessels!

I was really convicted by something else in Daniel 5 last week that I wanted to share with you...

In Daniel 5, King Belshazzar, the partying king, orders that the sacred vessels be brought to him. Well, these were vessels that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had been used to worship God. So, King B. gets these vessels and what does he do with them? He starts drinking out of them and worshiping his gods with them! BAD IDEA!! And some scholars even believe that he poured out wine as a sacrifice to his gods...REALLY BAD IDEA!!

But I started thinking...our bodies are sacred vessels. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (My theme verse for this blog) says, "We have this treasure in jars of clay..." That treasure is the Holy Spirit and we're the vessels... So, if you're a Christian, you're a sacred vessel!! (We're also told that our bodies are the temple of God!!)

And it hit me... I'm alot like King B! I pour things (in a spiritual sense) into my sacred vessel that don't belong there and I pour out my sacred vessel to the idols of my heart, things I look to for satisfaction apart from God! Hmmm... BAD IDEA!

Let's consider a few things we might pour out our heart to... shopping when we're down, overeating when we're stressed, maybe alcohol, or pornography, or improper relationships...it could be the gym too, or even the television or books (as a means of escape)...or it could be our friends, or even the ministries we serve in... There are thousands of places that we can seek satisfaction apart from God...

But what about the things we pour into our sacred vessels... FOOD! Anger, bitterness, criticism, self-righteousness... And think about our eyes, the things that enter through them.

I've been thinking a lot about what I watch on TV... We've stopped watching CSI because so many of the crimes were graphic sex crimes... The same with Law & Order SVU... And besides, who needs all of that darkness in our minds anyway. And there's the television shows like The Batchelor and Desperate Housewives... YIKES!! And what about the movies we watch?!

Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So, even though those shows might not cause you personally to stumble, what about your husband who is more visual... If they look lustfully at any of the women, they are committing adultery in their hearts. I just don't want to be a stumbling block like that to my husband.

But here's another thought...Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

True, noble, right, PURE, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy... WOW... that's a pretty tough litmus test in our time... It rules out a lot of things for believers.

Well, God had a pretty decisive judgment against Ol' King B for what he did with the sacred vessels, so we can be certain how He feels about things such as this... Yes, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, even our idolatry, so we won't be judged in the same way as King B., but I sure hate to think that I'm taking the cross for granted because I supposedly have the 'freedom' to watch, eat, do, shop, say whatever I want too...

Jesus said, "Clean the inside of the cup and dish and the outside will be clean also." (Matthew 23:26) If you'll excuse me now, I have some cleaning I need to do!!

A Lesson From Daniel 5

We are studying the book of Daniel in Community Bible Study right now. I was pretty nervous about teaching this book, but it has blessed me beyond anything I dreamed...well, blessed me and convicted me.

This past week, we studied Daniel 5 when Babylon falls to the Medes-Persians, under the leadership of King Belshazzar. It's really a fascinating story when you combine Scripture with history...

Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, who was really the King. But Nabonidus was kind of flaky, so he went off to an oasis in the desert to worship the moon god, and left his son Belshazzar to rule and protect Babylon...Big mistake...HUGE.

History shows that Belshazzar was a bit of a playboy, more interested in partying with his nobles and the girls, rather than ruling and protecting this amazing empire.

Well one night, King B. threw this huge, raucous party, even though he knew the enemy was surrounding the city. I mean hey, the city had 80 foot thick walls that were 350 feet high...the Euphrates River ran through the city and they had enough provisions to last them for 10-20 years...so they were indestructible...RIGHT?! (Yeah, that's what they thought about the Titantic too!)

So while he partied, different accounts say that Darius the Mede put men at the points where the Euphrates ran into and out of the city and then went upriver to divert the river. As the water lowered, the men stepped into the river and went under the walls into the city. Apparently Babylon fell without a fight...the drunken nobles were caught completely off guard.

Now whether or not those are the exact details, aren't what's important... I was really struck by how Belshazzar had control of this incredible empire, tons of gold, beautiful gardens...no telling how much wealth...and he squandered it all.

Daniel told him that the reason judgment was being brought on him was because he didn't honor, or glorify God.

But isn't that like America...isn't that like me?! I look at all of the wealth that is squandered in this country and it breaks my heart... But then, I look around my own home, all the things we don't need and it breaks my heart.

Our lives are full of stuff, but they aren't things that honor and glorify God...they aren't things that satisfy His plan and purpose...it's just stuff, some futile attempt to fill holes in our lives that only God can fill anyway.

Scott and I have made a committment this year to live by a budget...we're doing pretty good so far, but it's been hard. I have to stop and ask myself with every purchase, do I really want to spend the money on this...do we really need this? I've put a lot of stuff back on the shelf...and there's still stuff I should have put back...but I'm learning.

Ephesians 2:10 says that God has prepared good works for us to do. I've learned this past year with Abby, that those works bring incredible blessing to your life when you obey Him and walk in His path. But sometimes He lays desires on our hearts that we aren't able to do because we haven't been faithful stewards of His blessings.

It breaks my heart to think that someday, when I get to heaven, I'll get to see all of those opportunities that I missed because I had squandered His blessings. But I'm so thankful that He forgives us and then transforms us...I'm so thankful that He's teaching me about faithfulness and stewardship... that He's patient with us in the process and always gives us a second chance.

I don't want to waste another blessing...because who knows what He has in store for us down the road...maybe an opportunity to be obedient to Him that we just wouldn't want to miss!!