How Long, O Lord?

 

Psalm 79:1-11

 

July 31, 2022

 

How Long, O Lord?

A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.  They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the heavens for food, the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.  They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.  We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us.   

 

A prayer to the only Truth God, in the time of King Zedekiah, he was 21 when he became the king of Judah, and  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it.  After almost three years they were out of food and the King and his men of war could not stand against Babylon.  2 Kings 25:4 gives us this account; “Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah.”  One must wonder if the king gave any thought to those he was leaving behind.  The Chaldeans were known for being very cruel to the nations they conquered.  They caught up with King Zedekiah and his army, captured the King, and brought him back to the King of Babylon.  King Zedekiah watched his sons be killed and then his eyes were put out and he was one of many kings Nebuchadnezzar had as trophies.

 

How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?  Will your jealousy burn like fire?   Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name!   For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. 

 

What is heard is a cry for mercy, Asaph acknowledges that God has a right to be angry, and God is jealous, and Asaph does not mention the reason for God’s jealousy.  Judah had sinned chasing after pagan gods and breaking the covenant they had with God.                                                                                                                        

  

Do not remember against us our former iniquities;  let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake!  Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”  Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!  

 

Asaph, agreeing with God about the former sin of the people and speaking for the exiled survivors admitted their sin against God.  Now they are no longer in denial but are asking for mercy to come quick.

 

We the Church in the USA are also in denial about our sins of chasing after the world concept, looking for ways to draw the lost by a baseball team or some program other than prayer and sharing with our friends what Jesus had done for us.  When God gets a gut full of our cool programs and lack of sharing, and caring for a dying world, we will be the first to ask for mercy, and knowing the modern church, we will expect it that day.

 

Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;  according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!  Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!  But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever;  from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

 

The people of Judah had lost all that is required to be a nation, and without walls and gates, their neighbors who did not like or respect them taunted them.  These were people left that were the working class, and all the others had been carried off to Babylon.   They are praying that God will show mercy on the prisoners, for they know God’s power could not only restore but set free, those taken prisoners.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God is the Same today, As then

 

Psalm 78:56-72

 

July 29, 2022

 

Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.  For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.  When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.  He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.  Fire devoured their young men,and their young women had no marriage song.  Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.  And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.  He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.  He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.  He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.  With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

 

My first thought is God changes not, He is the same today as then, and we are a nation that has tested and rebelled against our God.  We say on our money in God we trust, but that is a lie, we are a stiff neck people, no different than Israel at the time of writing this Psalm.

 

As a follower of Jesus Christ, this should arouse fear for a nation that has been so blessed and is witnessing God’s hand being removed.  Life has little value, could it be it was cheapened by killing over 6 million babies in the womb.  A government that wants you to believe it is worthy of looking to it for your protection and resources, and not God.

 

And it is not people who are the problem, it is you, for we as a Church have forgotten to stand firm, to be watchful, and men have not been the man who put on the armor of God and leads their family in love and truth, for Jesus is the Truth and Life.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

They Forgot the Blessing of God

 

 

Psalm 78:42-55

 

July 28,2022

 

They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.  He turned their rivers to blood so that they could not drink of their streams.  He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.  He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.  He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.  He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.  He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.  He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave their lives over to the plague.   He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.  Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.  He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.   And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.  He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

 

Four Hundred years of being in Egypt, we get a clear understanding of what God shared with Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14, “Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward, they shall come out with great possessions.”  One must not forget this is God’s plan, He did not make Joseph's brothers sell him, but He sure was not surprised by their actions.  Nor was he shocked when they took him to Egypt.  We see in Genesis 39:1, the following; “Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.” 

 

 If you keep reading you see that Joseph has God's hand on him and it is apparent to Potiphar, that he placed him over his house.  Things are looking good, till Potiphar’s wife gets the hots for Joseph, and he ends up in jail because of her lies.  The jailer also sees God’s hand on Joseph and puts him in charge of the jail.  You need to read the account of how he interpreted the dreams of two guys who had lost favor with the Pharaoh, and they promised to share what he had done once they were back with the Pharaoh.  Three years later when the Pharaoh is about to kill all the wise men because they could not interpret a dream he had, the cupbearer says there is a Jewish guy in the jail that can take care of that.  And when the famine came Joseph was in charge and it was all God’s plan.  And our God and Father revealed this to Abraham a long time before it took place.

 

It’s been over two thousand years since Jesus walked on planet Earth in the flesh, where He paid for all sin, for all people, or we that much different than the people who were coming out of Egypt.  Yes, I’ve thought about those things also, we would trust and believe if we had seen the Red Sea parted and walked across on dry land the next morning.  That is a bunch of baloney, you and I have the same flesh they did, and we forget very quickly what our God has done.  

 

I can hear you say, But our nation is so evil and demonic, and yes many have rejected the gift of Jesus' blood sacrifice, and they do as their father the devil put into their minds.  We saw the effect of that in Texas where a demonic kid of 18, killed 19 children in a school and two teachers.  Many believe the removal of guns from the Citizens will solve the problem, but a gun has never killed anyone, but evil men acting on the desire of their father the devil, for their desire to kill, steal, and destroy.

 

It was reported that the current administration is going to withhold funding to the school district for lunches for kids who need them if they do not allow boys and girls to shower together.  Now if that is true, can you think of anything more demonic?  We like the people who came to Egypt got a great promise from the Pharoah of what his government would do for them, and at  it looked good, but it was not that long before they were slaves.  The United States of America has bought into the fact that our nation was founded by evil men, that is a lie, and that our nations is  evil; sure like saving the world twice from evil men who want to destroy our way of life. It was called WW1 and WW2, and we were used by God who is good, to save this world from evil rulers, who were under the control of the devil.

 

So give up your rights to freedom, and see how quick you become slaves to those evil people, who want to rule over you.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

InSpite of God's blessing we Sin

 

Psalm 78: 32-43

 

July 27, 2022

 

In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.  So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.   When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.  They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.   But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.  Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.

He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!  They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.  They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

 

As I read this and prayed to our mighty warrior and compassionate Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ these two questions came into my mind. When you assemble as the body of Christ each Sunday do you expect God to show up?  Is what happens in your local body of believers, more than singing a few songs and hearing a sermon you do not recall, or is it something you can talk about how God showed up and your life and others were changed?

 

As a baby in Christ, over 40 years ago I was given a book written by Buell H. Kazee, titled "Faith is the Victory," have you read this book?  Buell was a Bible teacher at Lexington Baptist College in Lexington, Kentucky.

 

I believe it is a timeless book because its message is about faith versus flesh, and it is from a pastor’s heart to the church.  I do not believe it is any longer in print, but I got a copy from Amazon.

 

I will give you a taste of his writing from chapter 1, pages 16-17, “So without discussing the details, we would say that the wilderness wanderings represent the life of the carnal Christian, the babe in Christ, delayed and stinted in his growth.  When we follow the direction of this course we find that they just wandered around, here and there, without any direct objective.  Once again, it seems, they came to Kadesh Barnea and looked with weary longing into the Promised Land.  Yea, they even tried to take it in the strength of the flesh, but were defeated.  Their experiences with heathen nations involved them time and again, and in nearly every case they become despised rather than glorified.  It is always true with those who try to play with the world and belong to God at the same time.  They have just enough religion to keep them miserable, to make them despised by the world and pitied by the righteous.

 

Carnal living is the poorest of all kinds of living.  “Wishy-washy” is the common coinage for it.  Babes are in a fretful mood, always crying out for something for themselves, complaining that they do not get any joy out of their religion!  Not only do they become cares and burdens to pastors and spiritual leaders, demanding to be wheeled about in baby carriages and fed on sugar-stick diets, but at last they get big enough to lust for the fleshpots of Egypt and are easily led astray by the mixed multitudes in the world about them.  They want the church fashioned after their tastes and built after a world order.  They want to indulge in worship that will produce a mystic spell over their fleshy religious nature and make it “feel good.”

 

Out of this carnality has grown much of the busy life of the modern church.  The flesh is terribly religious, and through it Satan works his greatest deception, making the carnal one feel that he is deeply religious while working in the energy of the flesh.

 

I would title this the dangerous games we play with God, thinking we can con Him.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

THE COUP WE NEVER KNEW

 This DOCUMENT was sent to me by my brother, It is not my doing but for all my readers from the USA, it sure gives you something to thank about.  OUR FREEDOM

THE COUP WE NEVER KNEW

 Did someone or something seize control of the United States?  What happened to the U.S. border?  Where did it go?  Who erased it?  Why and how did 5 million people enter our country illegally?  Did Congress secretly repeal our immigration laws?  Did President Joe Biden issue an executive order allowing foreign nationals to walk across the border and reside in the United States as they pleased?

 Since when did money not have to be paid back?  Who insisted that the more dollars the federal government printed, the more prosperity would follow?   When did America embrace zero interest?  Why do we believe $30 trillion in debt is no big deal?

 When did clean-burning, cheap, and abundant natural gas become the equivalent of dirty coal?  How did prized natural gas that had granted America's wishes of energy self-sufficiency, reduced pollution, and inexpensive electricity become almost overnight a pariah fuel whose extraction was a war against nature? Which lawmakers, which laws, and which votes of the people declared natural gas development and pipelines near criminal?

 Was it not against federal law to swarm the homes of Supreme Court justices, to picket and to intimidate their households in efforts to affect their rulings?  How then with impunity did bullies surround the homes of Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, and Clarence Thomas - furious over a court decision on abortion?  How could these mobs so easily throng our justices' homes, with placards declaring "Off with their d--s"?

 Since when did Americans create a government Ministry of Truth?  And on whose orders did the FBI contract private news organizations to censor stories it did not like and writers whom it feared?

 How did we wake up one morning to new customs of impeaching a president over a phone call?  Of the speaker of the House tearing up the State of the Union address on national television?  Of barring congressional members from serving on their assigned congressional committees?

 When did we assume the FBI had the right to subvert the campaign of a candidate it disliked?  Was it suddenly legal for one presidential candidate to hire a foreign ex-spy to subvert the campaign of her rival?

 Was some state or federal law passed that allowed biological males to compete in female sports?  Did Congress enact such a law?  Did the Supreme Court guarantee that biological male students could shower in gym locker rooms with biological women?  Were women ever asked to redefine the very sports they had championed?

 When did the government pass a law depriving Americans of their freedom during a pandemic?  In America can health officials simply cancel rental contracts or declare loan payments in suspension?  How could it become illegal for mom-and-pop stores to sell flowers or shoes during quarantine but not so for Walmart or Target?

 Since when did the people decide that 70 percent of voters would not cast their ballots on Election Day?  Was this revolutionary change the subject of a national debate, a heated congressional session, or the votes of dozens of state legislatures?

 What happened to Election Night returns?  Did the fact that Americans created more electronic ballots and computerized tallies make it take so much longer to tabulate the votes?

 When did the nation abruptly decide that theft is not a crime, and assault is not a felony?  How can thieves walk out with bags of stolen goods, without the wrath of angry shoppers, much less fear of the law?

 Was there ever a national debate about the terrifying flight from Afghanistan?  Who planned it and why?

 What happened to the once-trusted FBI?  Why almost overnight did its directors decide to mislead Congress, to deceive judges with concocted tales from fake dossiers and with doctored writs? Did Congress pass a law that our federal leaders in the FBI or CIA could lie with impunity under oath?

 Who redefined our military and with whose consent?  Who proclaimed that our chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could call his Chinese Communist counterpart to warn him that America's president was supposedly unstable?  Was it always true that retired generals routinely labeled their commander-in-chief as a near Nazi, a Mussolini, an adherent of the tools of Auschwitz?

 Were Americans ever asked whether their universities could discriminate against their sons and daughters based on their race How did it become physically dangerous to speak the truth on campus?  Whose idea was it to reboot racial segregation and bias as "theme houses," "safe spaces," and "diversity"?  How did that happen in America?

 How did a virus cancel the Constitution?  Did the lockdowns rob us of our sanity?  Or was it the woke hysteria that ignited our collective madness?

We are beginning to wake up from a nightmare of a country we no longer recognize, and from a coup, we never knew.

 

Testing God

 

Psalm 78:17-31

 

7-25-2022

 

Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.  They spoke against God, saying “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?  He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed.  Can he also give bread   or provide meat for his people?”  Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.  Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.  Man ate of the bread of the angels;  he sent them food in abundance.  He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power, he led out the south wind; he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.  And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.  But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.

 

When will the Church awake to their unbelief in the God of Jacob, as one who by faith and God's amazing grace enter into the Church, I have a desire to learn the precepts of my Lord, but also fall short in applying them to my life.  We have been told in the Scriptures to “study to show ourselves workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of God.

Do you understand, these are the people whose parents had seen the water of the Red Sea being held back on both sides and walking across on dry land.  “They spoke against God, saying “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?”  They drop the ball, using an American term, not telling the coming generation, to trust the God of Jacob.  Reminding them of all He had done for them, that God was good and faithful, and was the same today as yesterday.  He does not change, should that not put fear in the heart of His Church.

Should that not put fear in your heart that the American Church has been so blessed, we live in abundance compared to most of the nations of the world.  We still today have the freedom to speak out against our government to worship and tell the world about what Jesus has done for each of us.  It would be wise to share what Jesus has done for you with your family and neighbors.  We have been instructed to train our children in the ways of God, to train them in the right living by being an example to each of them.  But we have allowed the world and its values to shape us, and we have become dull to the ways of our Lord.  

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

 

 

Tell the Coming Generation

 

Psalm 78:1-16

July 23-2022

 

Tell the Coming Generation

A Maskil of Asaph.

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;  incline your ears to the words of my mouth!  I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known,  that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.l  The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.  They did not keep God's covenant but refused to walk according to his law.  They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
 In the sight of their fathers, he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.  He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.   In the daytime, he led them with a cloud and all the night with a fiery light.  He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.  He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

 

What happens to a generation that the Father has not told them the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that he has done?  They begin to do as this generation, they believe the lies being told to them, yes they believe good is bad and bad is good.  The Children of that generation become more foolish and have no understanding, they are arrogant and prideful and with no respect for authority.   They do not look to worship their Creator, nor do they look and study His written account.

 

They become foolish people looking to others who are eviler than them, to serve to lead them, and they buy into the killing of babies for the convenience of the mother. Climate change is as if a man is in control and can control the weather.  They no longer use their mind to seek truth, or they would understand that if oil removal from the earth was terrible, it is bad for the planet no matter who does it.  If coal is terrible for producing energy it will affect the world no matter who does it.  I understand and have the wisdom not because of age, but because I’ve studied the Scriptures and know that man has learned nothing from history, so he keeps repeating it.

 

When it comes to any form of government other than Capitalism, as we have in the USA, that was established by men who believed in freedom from the control of the government, the ability to worship and speak out against the government, and the right to arm oneself if that government set out to take away those rights.  They believe that these rights are not given by man but given by God, to all who obey the laws of God and man.

 

This generation, will not study history, will not open God’s written word, and have chosen to act as if they “can do it their way.” How does that work, let me tell you they are headed for a wreck, for they were too foolish to seek truth, and chose the ways of evil one.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Seek the Lord

 

 

Psalm 77:10-20

 

July 22, 2022

 

Then I said, “I will appeal to this,  to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”   I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.  Your way, O God, is holy.  What god is great like our God?  You are the God who works wonders;  you have made known your might among the peoples.  You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

 

When the waters saw you, O God when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.  The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side.  The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.  Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.   You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 

If you find yourself In the Day of Trouble,  Seek the Lord, will you know how to find Him?  Most of this generation remembers 9/11.  It was a time of soul searching, who do we run to?  This was my recollection of that time in our history, for a few Sundays our Churches were full of religious people who were fearful of what might be coming, but most were back to their little gods on the third week.  Once more the building we refer to as the Church was lacking those religious people, for they had returned to a little god they trusted in, maybe some were foolish as to believe our government was worthy of putting their trust in.  Now shall we forward to 2022, and look at the foolishness of mankind.  Many of the super-rich want us to join a one-world government, they believe they will be in charge, but if those foolish people would read the Scriptures they would see it will not be them or their family but the one who said I want my seat equal to the Most High God.

 

If you recall his name was Lucifer, an angel created by God, who allowed pride to enter his heart and he rebelled against God with many of what are now referred to as fallen angels.  The devil or Satan now roams the earth seeing who he can deceive, and an easy target is a person who wants to be god.  Those are often the very rich, who do not want to bow down to any authority.  They are as foolish as the kid who joins the military to get away from his parent's authority, in that he does not want to be told what to do.

Let me close with this question: What god is great like our God?

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

In the Day of Trouble, I Seek the Lord

 

Psalm 77:1-9

 

July 20,2022 

In the Day of Trouble, I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.   In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.   When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

 

You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.  I consider the days of old, the years long ago.   I said,^[ “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.”   Then my spirit made a diligent search: “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?   Has his steadfast love forever ceased?   Are his promises at an end for all time?   Has God forgotten to be gracious?  Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

 

If you have gone through a tough time, like the parents who lost a child to a demon-possessed young man in Uvalde, Texas, you may have come to understand these first nine verses, or if you lost your health, or gone through a divorce.

 

You may be asking will the Lord refuse forever and never again be favorable?  You may be asking has His steadfast love forever ceased?  Or you may be asking “Has God forgotten to be gracious?  May I give you a short answer, no?   His love for you was demonstrated in the giving of His only Son, to die for your sins and mine.  Our problem often is we've been so far away from Him we want to be fixed, but do not listen to what He tells us.

If that is where you are, be still and know that He is God and that He loves you, and what to bless you, so be still and wait on the Lord.

 

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  Romans 8:26

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Who Can Stand Before You?

                                                                          Psalm 76:1-12

   

 July 19, 2022

 

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.  His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.  There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah

 

Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.  The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; all the men of war were unable to use their hands.   At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.  But you, you are to be feared!  Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?  From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah

 

Surely the wrath of man shall praise you;  the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.  Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

 

What a powerful song about our great God, one must wonder why the people of Israel would leave God to be like their neighbors. who were the pagans?  I grew up with HEB and its founders were folks that had a fear of God.  I worked for them from the age of 12 to 18. How things have changed, Charlie Butt is a billionaire and must not read what God has said nor does he have any fear of God, it seems.  It seems making more wealth is of greater importance to little red butt, that was his nickname when I was a very young boy, in that he was always in trouble with his dad.  I use that only as an example of where we have gone in the USA.  Is our Father in Heaven's name well known in the USA, His name is often used as a cuss word, much of the time by those who would claim to be Christian.  Does the word Christian, say you are a follower of Christ and look to Him and obey His written word?  If not, what does it mean?

 

A large group of unlearned people who have no understanding of history have been led to believe in government, and not in seeking God and His righteousness, reading His written word, and asking Him to open your eyes to the truth, without truth one will always make wrong choices.

 

Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, who cuts off the spirit of princes, who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

 

Will you who have no knowledge of the Scripture, you never read the Bible, or if you did it was read like a book, will you just read the gospel of John, and ask God the Father to open your eyes to what His Son has done for you?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

 

 

IT’S A Matter of Identity

 

IT’S A Matter of Identity

 

Laying a Foundation for Your Children’s Identity

 

Four Principles of Identity

In the life of Jesus

1. Identity has to do with who you belong to Matt. 16: 13-17

Jesus asks two questions

1. Who do men say I am?
2. Who do you say I am?

Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Four things we must know about Identity: 1) Identity has to do with connection.  To whom was Christ connected too? (The Father) 2) Identity has to do with Power.  To whom did Christ draw His power? (The Father) 3) Identity has to do with the vision of the Father.  In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

 

2. Identity has to do with Power. Matt 16:17-19 (John 12:48; 5:19) Jesus did not say I am going to build my Church on Peter, but on the knowledge and faith that comes from the Father.  In John 5:19 Jesus tells us He looks to the Father for everything.

So, what do we do?  We try to connect with the one we think has the power to fill our wants or place in life.  Do you recall Jr. High School?  Who had the power?

3. Whoever you want to identify with, you give them the power to shape your life. Matthew 16:15-19, In Peter's case, he chose Jesus and gave him the power to shape his life.  Whom have you chosen to shape your life?  In Luke 4:1 Jesus was led by the Spirit in the desert, Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
4. God has ordained that the father be the primary source of identity for his son either passively by what he doesn’t do or actively by what he does do.  Matthew 16:13-17
1. An example of the Father’s wisdom; “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17

 

Identity has to do with shaping your life.

       

1.     Because of Jesus, I’m being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For, this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  2 Corinthians 3:18b

2.     Why am I the way I am?

a.     I believe it is because Jesus Christ has become my life.  For much of my adult life, I’ve let my passion for the world and my flesh rob me from living a Spirit-controlled life.

b.     I’m on a new path, and that path has Jesus as my master guide.

c.     That path is focused on Jesus’ example and by the Holy Spirit's power I may abound in hope.  Romans 15:13

d.     When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead you into all truth.  John 16:13

Hope or Vision

       

1.     All of us are looking for someone who gives us hope or vision.

2.     My dad was a good provider, but he did not instill a vision of being a man.

3.     His dad did not give him a vision and it is hard to pass on what you have not experienced or been taught.

4.     In Deuteronomy 6:4-8 we are told “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  God not only told the fathers to put this in their hearts but to teach it diligently to their children.  Not at church, but in your house, and in the car, and on trips, when you are shopping, or playing, and when you rise and when you go to bed.  When your child sees you, he should see Jesus living out His life in you.  

a.     If you are just taking them to church for someone else to tell them about God you will lose, them.

b.     Fathers we are instructed in Ephesians 6:4; “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

c.     As a son, I must “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”  As a son, when you read Proverbs 3:1-7 you will begin to understand that your heavenly Father has told us to not trust in self or man but to acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

d.     Fathers never forget; “The one that gives the most hope holds the heart.”

 

Validate the Son

 

1.     It is a must that we as sons know and have our hearts enlightened on the promises and hope of our calling.  We have an inheritance in Christ that sets us apart; Jesus the giver of life has come to live in us.  Ephesians 1:18

2.     Look at this promise; God called us not because of something we had done, (like be a good guy) but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before time began.  See 2 Timothy 1:9

 

Our Society has devalued the role of the family, and it has targeted the role of the dad as not important.

 

1. We see men moving to independence!
1. Trying to connect with anything but sons or daughters.
2. What happens: independence from God, family, and other men.
3. It leaves the woman to do family
2. God has never asked the woman to call out her sons, he has told the dad to call out sons.  We are told that John the Baptist was one who would come in the spirit of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.  Luke 1:17  

 

Some very interesting statistics 

 

            If the child is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 3% of the 

           family.

 

            If the Mother is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 7% of her   

           family.

 

            If the Dad is the first in the family to be converted it will affect 94% of his family.

 

God’s Blueprint for the Family

 

• Deuteronomy 6:7-9
• Deuteronomy 11:18-21

 

Men’s hearts naturally turn to work and stuff.  What happens to the sons of a man who does not call his son out into manhood?  Judges 2:7-9 we have a good example of what happens.  Joshua was a man, who walked with God, and the men of his generation followed the lead of Joshua, but they did not walk as Joshua did.  What happened to Joshua’s grandchildren or the children of the generation that followed Joshua?  In Judges 2:10 “And that generation also were gathered to their fathers.  (They died) And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.  It only took three generations for Israel to forget the God of Joshua, to forget the God of their fathers, why?  

Because dad was too busy, too busy too self-centered to teach and to live out the Christ life in front of their sons and daughters.  So as in Joshua’s time, they lost their sons in three generations, it is happening in America.  Men will send them to church, and they may even go with them, but they do not live out the life in their family.

What a sad story, sons with no hope.  You can only give what the Father gives you.  So, we see then and now, men who go to church, but at home the children can tell it is not real.  What will these sons and daughters do, they will go after other gods, gods from among the people around them.  It is happening now and it is a repeat of Judges 2:10-12.

You may also want to look at 2 Kings 17:7-8, where the sons and daughters follow the lead of the kings who went after the customs of the people whom the Lord had driven out before them.

 

Kings of the land today

 

1. Madison Avenue

The advertising folks know how to sell a 15-year-old boy on buying Bud.  You show him the supermodel with not much on and imply if he drinks Bud, he gets the girl.  The world has been teaching him that life comes from women, so he is going to go for it.  And if the ad guys know if they can get him drinking Bud at 15, they have him for life.

 

2. Wall Street

 

A worldview of how much you can die with.

 

3. Music

 

Designed to build false desires and opinions in the hearts of our sons and daughters.

 

4. Hollywood, College sports, and Pro- sports

 

The desire is to steal your son's and daughters’ hearts and give them a false identity.

 

This is not your identity

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice