Question 1: Does God ever forsake those who are His?

Question 2: Can a person feel legitimately forsaken by God?

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46 & Psalm 22:1)

No Christian could have truly felt what Jesus felt on the cross.  As He died God literally turn his back on him because of the sins of the world. As humans we can associate much more with how David felt in Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 is not only David crying out and complaining to God but there are also several key prophesies included in the chapter.

There are three things Psalm 22 reveals about God:

1. Though at times we feel forsaken by God, in reality we are not.

• • Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”
    • David felt this way often, even though he was a tough warrior the emotion effected him often.
  • Psalm 22:24 “For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the affliced one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”
    • David relises later in the chapter that even in the midst of a forsaken feeling, God is still there, He is always listening.
  • Matthew 28:20 “and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
  • 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
  • Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
    • God wants us to know that he is Good, he believes in us, and is with us no matter what.

2.  Do not ignore or deny your perceptions, but honor them by bringing them to God.

• • Psalm 22:2-8, 12-13, 16-17, 20-22 “O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. Yet You are holy, O you who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. To you they cried out and were delivered; In you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, ‘Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him.’ Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me. I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.”
    • David was complaining to God, saying that God had done so much for those before him who had cried out. He wanted God to move him also.
  • 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
    • Complain to God, ask Him to move for you.

3.  Cling to the promise that, in the end, God will come through

• • Psalm 22:24,26 “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. The afflicted will eat ad be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD let your heart live forever!”
    • God doesn’t always change our situation.
    • He does not always deliver us in the physical form.
    • He comes through in different forms
      • God changes circumstances (i.e. delivers)
      • God God gives His presence (i.e. peace, assurance, etc.)
      • God gives us the strength and faith to hang on (i.e. perseverance)

What are you going to do the next time you feel forsaken by God?

-Alex William Bridgeforth

1 Peter 2:11-23 (focus verses)

• God wants his supernatural power to become regular (natural) in our lives.
• God has established his love for sinners on this earth through his son Jesus Christ
• Jesus was established on earth  to bring back everything man lost (re-direct God’s children back to God’s will/plan)
• He wants to fully redeem you from the curse of sin.
• redeemed: to be brought back to original value

1. 1. tell yourself “Jesus went all the way for me, so I’m determined to contiuosly give all of me to him“.

you dont have to accept what the world says to you. The world sends out mixed signals, and confuses you about the will of God.

understand who you are in Christ FIRST, not who you are in the world.

use your ability given by God to stand for him and live for him regardless of what others are doing. Tell yourself “If they wont, I will”.

2. When you are born again, you are in right standings with God.
3. As you fully give yourself away to God, the people around you will be affected
4. When you give yourself away to God, your desires begin to change, and they come after God’s desires

Once you seek first the Kingdom of God and all it’s righteousness, everything else falls in line.(Matt 6:33)

5. All or nothing! Give yourself away to him.

Be fully swept away by God, and engulfed in his presence.

6. Don’t expect God to bless you in areas of your life that you havent devoted to him.

Remember that God has given you the power to command things that contradict his glory to leave……USE IT!

Outrageous as this story may sound today, it was inconceivable when it actually happened two thousand years ago. A strange woman, especially a woman of questionable behavior, to come at your feet and start pouring her tears on them and kissing them, and even pouring an expensive perfume on your feet and drying them with her hair. We are talking about a woman who had probably been used my many of the men present at the house of Simon for their carnal desires, a woman whom other women would stay away from, a woman whom children mocked, and who caused parents to move away when she was coming about.

This woman heard that Jesus was in the house of Simon and without hesitation, she went and purchased an alabaster jar of perfume, something that even rich people would not do very often, and without shame or doubt she entered uninvited the house of a Pharisee, a man who practiced and upheld the law of Moses, a man whose self righteousness was a banner for everyone to see, yet I assume he may not have had time to react to this woman’s aggressive engagement, because she did not doubt, she did not stop at the door, she did not ask for permission, she walked in as if she was an invited guest, and before anyone could say a word, she was at the feet of Jesus.

I am sure Simon’s first reaction was to yank her away from His feet and throw her out, in fact I can safely state that many of the guests in there probably even attempted to do that, many may have even walked away when they saw what happened next, Yet it is obvious that if anybody tried to pull her away and drag her out, Jesus stopped them.

And I wonder about the look on people’s faces, as they saw this woman crying at Jesus’ feet, The Bible says she was weeping, literally pouring out her sorrow and her shame, and yet we learn that the reaction of those present was one of despise, embarrassment, and hatred.

But the Lord Jesus Christ looked at her with tenderness, with love, with understanding, and with joy at the sight of a person who was coming to salvation. He did not flinch, He did not make a sudden move, He just sat there quietly and let her express her repentance and her desire to come clean.

Jesus knew this would bring controversy, He knew Simon was not going to stand still while this woman violated the sanctity of his home, but the Lord Jesus Christ is all love and kindness and patience, and to spare the embarrassment to Simon, before he could open his mouth and make a fool of himself in front of everyone, Jesus caught him on his thoughts.

Jesus could have perfectly waited for what was coming next, Simon standing in outrage, protesting this action and ordering his servants to throw this woman out, He could have waited for Simon to show the darkness in his heart to rebuke him and to give him a lesson in humility and love.

Yet the Lord in his compassion, rather that humiliating him, rather than confronting him He told him a story.

With a simple parable He turned an explosive situation into an opportunity for teaching, for preaching, for bringing conviction to those who could hear.

With a simple parable He brought everyone to the realization that this woman was no less than any of those present at the house, that everyone was equally guilty, equally dirty, and that this woman with all her flaws, was getting the most out this meeting, because she was doing something none of the people present at that house had done, she was showing repentance, and with her actions she was begging to be forgiven, to be brought back to life.

We all live our lives pretending that everything is all right, many of us even brag about our security in Christ, we often become self righteous, and looking around us wonder how many of those we are looking at are saved (Luke 18:9-14).

Many of us have on occasions demean a person because he or she looks different or acts differently, and the Lord has to often stop us in our tracks, while we are thinking, before we open our mouth and commit an atrocious sin.

Because apart form Jesus there is no salvation, there are no scales of sin, or sizes of evil in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus asked Simon who would love more, and Simon answered, the one with the bigger debt (Luke 7:43) and that is because in the matters of the human hearts there are levels of appreciation, of understanding how deep in the mud we were when we were rescued by the gospel of Christ Jesus, but to God a sin is a sin, big or small  they are all sins, because we are all sinful (Romans 3:23).

So this message today seeks to bring you to the realization that as righteous as we may seem, as clean as we may think we walk, as much as we pray and preach and read the bible, we are still sinners, the same as every one of those that are today in the world, and apart from Jesus we are lost, apart from Jesus we are no more that a decaying piece of flesh that will eventually rot to nothing, and that when that comes to pass we ought to have our story straight as we stand in front of the judge.

Jesus told that woman whom everyone saw as a great sinner “your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48).

And this is the only word that matters when it comes to eternal life, there is no riches, no power, no righteousness, no deeds, there is nothing except for that word. And if you do not have that word you may as well had not been born.

I want to always remember that my sins have been forgiven, and act accordingly, in humility, in appreciation, in understanding that I was in the mud and through Him I have been clean, and that others out there who may look very dirty to me have the same opportunity that I had to become clean as well, as long as they come to His feet in repentance.

Rev. Jose A. Luna

A servant of Christ Jesus

Think about the gifts received just a few days ago, odds are most of your family’s gifts are forgotten or lost under remnants of boxes and shredded bags and wrapping paper.  Just to releasing the kids at the gifts it really is pretty; all those nicely wrapped gifts stacked neatly under the tree and in only a few minutes later the family room looks like FEMA should be responding, and then only after a few days later only a few things are still giving the same joy, they quickly get broken, lost, or boring. But let’s pause for a moment, what do you cherish most? Odds are it doesn’t come from a store its friends, family, our church, our pets, and most importantly it’s the relationship that we enjoy with the Lord.

 But how to tie all these treasures into one word? Most of you can guess at it. Its love. Love, now that’s an interesting word it can mean so many things. I can say “I love you” to any one of you and mean it cause I do but then say “I love you” to my immediate family and mean something else, and when I say “God loves you, loves me, loves my family,” that’s a different meaning to. Love is so diverse that many languages have multiple words for love, but ultimately I think that trying to categorize doesn’t define it.

So then what is Love? I immediately must admit that it’s difficult to define. To define love almost seems like trying to describe the color of the ocean to a man whose blind from birth. To a heart or hurting heart love is a difficult thing to comprehend. Dictionary.com gives over 20 definitions and they seem somehow lacking. I posed the question to my family and friends on FB and I got that love is unconditional and something that we really cannot fully comprehend as humans. Interesting enough, and valid in many, many aspects but I think Paul does it well when it defines love in 1 Corinthians. He says it is patient, it is kind, it never fails. He also defines what love is not; it is not rude, boastful, proud, it doesn’t record wrong doings, doesn’t enjoy acting upon sin.

But you have to wonder; where to experience such a love in a world such as the one that we live in? Simply by turning on the television, read the paper, or simply walk down the street; the news throws the evil of the world in our face in glaring print, murder, theft, abuse, and how the people placed to protect us either fail to do so, or worse, are guilty of partaking in the very actions that they swore to protect against. Not even the church is above this torrent, men of the cloth stealing from the church or living in sin and getting caught.  While the news is continuously reminded us of the evil in the world the advertising companies are always ready to tempt us to trade genuine love for the quick fix counterpart found, lust. The world promises us love and gives us disappointment in its place.

Where then is this love? Right here, right now. There are two forms of this awesome sort of love. The first is also the most excellent example of love. It is found in our heavenly father and in the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ. Most know John 3:16 by heart, that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” in this verse the greatest love ever is spelled out in a simple solitary sentence, but there is a second sort of love that is often neglected. Growing up here I learned this second sort of love, the very sort of love that 1 Corinthians is talking about.   I know that many of us know 1 Corinthians 13 as the love chapter and as used to hearing it in wedding ceremonies and I’ve talked to people who’ve mistakenly assumed this is talking about a married couple. We hear it at the wedding, the happy couple nod contently as its read and they promise each other forever and for whatever reason forever ends abruptly.

While love is only seconded in importance by the Lord’s will and blessing when it comes to a healthy and successful marriage but Paul’s not thinking about a nice blurb to be read in a ceremony. He is writing to a body of Christians and is talking about the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to the church. He had listed a range of them in the previous chapter and is concluded that not only is love the most valuable but the only gift that can be experienced, used and shared by everyone. We as Christians are called to share this love much like a spark in the dark its purpose is to be seen, enjoyed and spread into a roaring fire that illuminates even the darkest corners.

today’s lesson in church was what time is it? The pastor asked the congregation, will be ready, when that time comes. I had to think long and hard to the question being asked. Every time i think I’m ready i ask my self ,. Self are you really ready to stand before the lord.??? I dont want to go before god without out truly being ready.. so like it was asked of me earlier today . What time is it???

1. Introduction

   1. We are at war…

      1. There is a battle raging

      2. Causalities are high

      3. “friendly-fire” is a very real danger

      4. The enemy is strong and numerous

      5. This is not Iraq

         1. Iraq is a skirmish in comparison

      6. We’ve all received our draft notice…

      7. Not on the frontline or in the headlines

         1. But it exists in each line of text between the texts

            1. Murder, theft, political arguments, racists attacks, etc

   2. Christians are soldiers

      1.  

         1. Paul tells this directly in Ephesians 6

         2. In addition, putting on armor warns of battle

            1. People don’t wear armor for no reason

               1. Its heavy, bulky and uncomfortable

                  1.  

                     1. ‘Civilian’ clothes are far more comfortable and easy to maintain.

                  2. It’s hard to wear

                     1. Pace can be slow, and moving difficult

                     2. Muscles are strained, making one fatigued and weary.

         3. Wielding a weapon promises a fight

            1. Just as people who wear armor are on guard for attack; someone wielding a weapon is ready for a fight.

               1. Those who are neutral have no need for weapons.

         4. Only a fool would go to battle without armor and/or a weapon.

            1. An unarmed warrior is a sitting duck, regardless of how thick the armor.

            2. A trained swordsman without armor is venerable and frail to attack; he/she is an easy target

2. The Sword of the Spirit

   1. What is it?

      1. “tou pneumatos”, the Greek in which Paul wrote can be translated….

         1. “of the Spirit”

            1. This translation suggests that the sword belongs to the Holy Spirit and is wielding by him.

         2. “by the Spirit”

            1. This way emphasizes that it is a gift, an item of intense value presented to us from the Holy Spirit.

         3. As the adjective, spiritual

            1. Understood as a “spiritual sword” as 2 Corinthians 10:4 reminds us that our fight is spiritual and not physical.

         4. The greatest understanding of this is that the sword is all three; it is a sword that is wielding by the Holy Spirit that at the same time was presented to us for the purpose of fighting the spiritual fight.

      2. It is a close combat weapon

         1. We like to think of our weapon as a massive sword with plenty of blade length to keep our enemies a distance a way.

            1. What we want is what the Greeks referred to as a “romphia”.

               1. A broad sword that was at least 40 inches in length.

         2. And yet Paul refers to it as “machira” which was a short sword, ranging from 6-24 inches in length, double edged, and in Roman hands; the key to world conquest.

            1. This holy sword is also a short blade designed for close combat, and it the key to our victory in battle as well.

      3. It has a fearsome blade

         1. All of us have felt the blade, striking deeply into our hidden sin, causing pain, fear and anger, sometimes to a point of bitterness toward the Lord.

            1. Some of us may have tried a wide variety of the medicine known to man to heal the wounds that the sword delivers, only to find them ineffective.

            2. It is a lethal blow, which only the Lord of Lords can heal

      4. It is the Word of God

         1. His word is referred to as a double edged sword in other places as well

            1. Hebrews 4:1

               1. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

         2. This means that this weapon, unlike the blades of man, is eternal for “the Word of the Lord endures forever.”

         3. Crafted for all; mastered by none.

3. Sharpening Your Sword

   1. The true secret of the machira-lots of practice

      1. It was a liability if not used with the proper techniques and in the hands of fools

         1. Not unlike the Word of the Lord; horrendous events have occurred by men who claimed that they were men of God and master swordsmen.

            1. Wars

            2. Heresy

            3. Cults

            4. Hate Crimes

      2. Proper technique comes from hours of practice

         1. First and foremost we most trust our sword

            1. A hint of doubt of one’s weapon will quickly send a man running for cover on the battlefield

               1. Men who mistrust offer up alternatives and find themselves wanting.

            2. Scoffers enjoy suggested that the Bible is merely man written

               1. One must remember that the sword is a fusion of human and divine elements

                  1. “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21

                  2. Think of these men as those on the battlefield who may joke about your sword, claiming that it is a pity thing. What would you do…run them through!

            3. It is a weapon that will never fail us

               1. The Lord promises “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and is shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Is. 55:11

               2. Solomon attests that, ““….according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of his good promise…” 1 Kings 8:56

         2. Hours of reading

            1. This is the most obvious means of practice; no warrior would dare enter battle without coming to first know his weapon.

               1. Theologian Charles Spurgeon when asked how a Christian could obtain Biblical understanding he replied, “There are three rules in order to have a deep understanding of the Word of God: First read the Bible: Second, read the Bible; and third, read the Bible.

               2. As with practicing anything, it is best if done daily

               3. It is quiet possible that with each rereading of a text new things and deeper understanding arises.

         3. Memorization of Scripture

            1. Hours of practice are great, but if it is forgotten on the battlefield, than what good is it? This is why it is important to actively memorize scripture.

               1. The Lord instructed Joshua to participate in daily training, saying “….thou shall mediate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein…”

               2. David recognized the importance of daily training when he wrote Psalm 119:11 saying, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

               3. Soldiers worked diligently to memorize battle strategy, we must do the same.

         4. Study the Scriptures

            1. A common practice in the U.S. military is to assign the study of the book, Sansui’s The Art of War, to the cadets and they are expected to know his writings well. The man, if nothing else was a brilliant warrior and his writings are still useful.

            2. Our own studying to do….

               1. History, it’s prophecy, and its theology

               2. In such ways that like the military we come to understand and fully appreciate those who came before and to gleam knowledge from them.

               3. Paul instructed Timothy, “Study to show thy self approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15

4. Battle Training

   1. No one individual is an army and to stand alone against a multitude is suicidal, this is why a battle is always fought with people standing shoulder to shoulder. Acting as siblings with love, trust and support, but these are earned, and the skills are honed not on the front line but in the training fields.

   2. Corporate Bible study is our training ground.

      1. An individual alone can become skilled and strong, knowing all the right moves, or so they believe. It’s hard to truly accept weakness in your own life, especially when it seems easily dealt with, this is why the training fields are important. Weakness and flaw are more readily found here.

      2. It prevents us from the continuation and strengthening of misunderstandings, abuse of texts, logical fallacies, and sin struggles.

      3. It is ideally a place of mutual trust, understanding, respect, love, and with the shared goal of becoming stronger, more skilled, more driven men and women for the front line.

      4. Bible study can be an exciting, challenging, and enjoyable time with others, but at the same time it can also be a painful and trying one as well.

         1. If I see a weakness in another’s life it is my duty and responsibility to make it known.

            1. The intention here is to insure that a flaw is noticed and corrected before Satan can exploit it or exploit it further.

            2. The intention is not to embarrass the individual.

5. The Frontline

   1. The battle is an ancient one, and the first strike happened long before written word.

      1. The first arrow-Adam and Eve

         1. “Yea, Hath God said?”

   2. The Enemy at the Gates

      1. Use the sword when the enemy tempts you

         1. Ex. Jesus’ temptation

      2. It is important to recognize that Satan is skilled swordsmen, and is ready with a plan “b” and “c” to get in a blow

   3. Liberation of POWs

      1. People need to hear the word of the Lord

         1. Hearing of the scriptures is instrumental in the saving of souls

            1. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Ro 10:17

      2. Human reason can not convert souls to Christ…only the sword of the spirit, the word of the Lord will reveal the promise of salvation and eternal life through Christ’s redeeming blood.

6. Conclusion

   1. In conclusion, none can doubt the influence of the Word of the Lord, and only fools doubt its power. It is something with infinite strength and as such must be dealt with honor and respect. It is our duty to practice, learn and fight the demons that plague our daily lives with temptation and dishonor, just as it is our duty and honor to stand beside one another on the training fields of our churches, our schools, or wherever we meet for Bible study for the purpose of further strengthen ourselves and our allies, with this in mind, let us pray….

      1. Thank you Lord for giving us the opportunity to come together and worship you as we train to become men of integrity, worthy of your service. Allow us to continue to grow in strength and righteousness. Lord, do not allow us to fall into the snare that we do on the day to day is pure academics, but let it all be for the glory of you. Lord, I pray that these young men got something from this time together and that Your words were spoken through my lips. We love you and to you we glorify. AMEN.

Hebrews 11:7 – [Prompted] by faith Noah, being forewarned by God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and PREPARED an ark for the deliverance of his own family… (Amplified)

I was flipping through my notebook and found some old notes from church.  I want to share them because I think that they cover a very important topic.  The topic is preparation.  We all have dreams and goals that we want to achieve.  Maybe it’s a certain career you want have.  It could be a company or ministry that you want to start.  Whatever your dreams are, they require preparation.  By “preparation,” I mean the process of making yourself ready beforehand so that you are prepared for the thing that you desire.  Below are just a few points from my notes on preparation.

1. The quality of your preparation determines the quality of your performance. – I’ve always heard that “practice makes perfect.”  That’s not really true.  The saying should go “PERFECT practice makes perfect.”    If you are practicing on a speech and you mess up the words during preparation, what makes you think that you will not mess up during the real thing?  Excellence during preparation will result in excellence during performance.
2. Everybody that is great at doing anything invested many hours in preparation. – Natural talent isn’t enough to be great.  You have to invest time in what you want to be great at.
3. Champions do not become champions in “the ring.” – Do you think that Mike Tyson only boxed on fight night?  Or do you think that Jordan only picked up a basketball at game time?  Anyone who excels does so as a result of DAILY preparation.  If your dream is truly important to you, you should work at it daily.
4. Preparation “chapters” in your life are not delays in your future success. – Your dream may require you to go to school or get some other certification.  Don’t view this as a delay in your success.  This preparation is the road to your success!
5. Preparation time is never wasted time. – To often, people want to achieve their dreams over night.  But the truth is, if we received our dream but are not prepared for it, we will just mess it up.  If your dream is to own a home but you have not prepared financially, you won’t have the house for very long.  Don’t see preparation as wasted time.
6. Your dreams will be no more successful than your preparation. – Do you plan on being a success?  Then prepare for it!  Don’t expect God to bless you with something that you are not prepared for.

I trust that these few points will encourage you to go after your dreams and prepare for success!