January 12th - Day 12 - Alamo Ranch Community Church

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January 12th - Day 12

Job 32-34

January 12, 2020 • Jim McCracken

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January 12th

Our Bible reading today is found in Job 32,33,34.

The debate between Job and his friends is over. After all these weeks and months, nothing has changed. Job’s body is still racked with disease. His flesh has changed colors, not by the sun, but by the rot of infection. His attempts to endure the pain has drained him of strength...so weakness and fatigue have replaced it. Nothing has changed with Job’s suffering.

And nothing has changed with the theology of his friends. They continue to blame Job for God’s judgment. They continue to declare that Job is living in self-righteousness and unconfessed sin...an arrogance that deserves such suffering. **The counselors finished the way they started. They still believed that unrighteous behavior deserved the punishments of God. So they looked upon the terrible condition of Job and deduced that he was really a very bad sinner...who would not repent. They looked upon their own good condition and deduced that they lived righteous lives that gave them an advantage with God. (Reminds me of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day...”O God, I am glad that I'm not a sinner like that pitiful man.”)

If anything changed in 29 chapters of Job’s life with pain, it was Job’s faith...slowly but surely it became a “shaken faith” in who God was...Let me explain: The Suffering Job praised God in the beginning, “My Redeemer Lives”, he sang...and Job believed God strongly in the middle of his suffering declaring, “Though He slay me, I will still put my hope in Him”...but toward the end, Job began to voice doubts about His relationship with God...saying, “I have become an enemy to God”....implying that God had wronged him at some point.

Knowing the end of Job’s story, I can tell you that Job’s faith was restored. But not without an unexpected helper. That’s where the next 5 chapters come in. Beginning with the introduction of a new and somewhat strange character in today’s reading...Elihu. He had one main message...listen for it.

Right off the bat, we learn that Elihu was a young man...much younger than Job and the three friends. How he came to be in the hearing of these four older men is not made clear. But obviously, out of respect, he held his peace until now. And without fear, young Elihu spoke truth. (I Remember Ruth and the charge her uncle gave her in the face of a very hard responsibility...” you were born for such a time as this...”...so was Elihu!)

He reproved Job’s friends. And he reproved Job. The Bible says Elihu spoke to them with words that burned with anger. (I want to liken it to Jesus’ righteous anger against the spiritual corruption promoted by priests and Sanhedrin in Jerusalem...)

Perhaps you have wondered, like me, if Elihu was just another critic who came late to the party. And then we read a little slower, a little closer.

In chapter 32 we hear the beginning of Elihu’s conversation...”I was young and you were aged...I was afraid to speak my opinion...I would let days teach wisdom...I would let number of years express wisdom and understanding...But I knew that it was the spirit in a man, the breath of The Almighty, that made him understand...it’s not the old who are wise or the aged who understand what is right...it’s the Spirit of God within them...” (Reminds me of what Pharoah said to his servants about Joseph...”Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God.”

Elihu was speaking his main message. Wisdom is found in God. It is the Spirit of God that gives wisdom and understanding. (I'm impressed with the young messenger so far.) But even more, impressed with the fact that Job and his friends were silent. That’s a first

My take on that?...the Spirit of God in Elihu spoke to the spirit of these men and brought conviction to their hearts...”And perhaps they said in their hearts, “I should be still now and know that the Lord, He is God, not me.” (Or they could have taken offense at what the young man said...probably more likely...but I hope not.)

What might Jesus have to say to Job now about suffering and death? I believe Christ, in all of His glory, would show Job his nail-pierced hands and feet and his spear pierced side. And say, “it was and is for the glory of God...so make much of Him now, and He will glorify you later. “

January 1st - Day 1

January 1, 2020 • Jim McCracken • Genesis 1—3

Join our facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2183117951984132/?source_id=181918175166472 Our reading today (Gen chapters 1-3) reveals the description of God creating heaven and earth. And we will take a little closer look at it shortly. But the theme of creation begs the question, “When did creation, as described here, happen?” Most evolutionist scientists say life began on earth 3.5 billion yrs http://ago...or so. And that human ancestors began showing up 2-4 million years ago. But Creation scientists, those who believe the Biblical record of God creating everything in a literal 6 twenty-four hour period, date creation between 6 and 10,000 years ago. Quite a difference. Darwinian evolutionists say that Biblical Creationists are not scientists because their evidence is based on the “assumption of a cataclysmic flood” that happened once upon a time. Well, your Bible reading partner today believes that the biblical record is true...without error...including the record of the flood and Noah’s http://ark...and the final authority for our lives, inside and outside the church. So I am a “recent” creation dating man and not the billions of years proponent. And unlike the evolutionists, I believe that God created it all “out of nothing.” Awesome to think on http://...isn't it? Continuing from the text....”Who existed in the beginning of everything?” God!!! God was there, Father Son and Holy Spirit...whenever that was, God was there in the beginning. And our bibles say that God was doing http://something...he was creating the heavens (and all that was in them) and He was creating the earth (and all that was in and upon it.) In our reading today, the Bible says that after 6 days of creating, God finished that creation http://work...that included http://mankind...man and http://woman...for the purpose of doing life together with Him and by God’s power, taking responsible dominion for the earth and heavens and all therein to the glory and worship of God. All of that is a Wow! But remember a greater Wow of God creating something new with a “finishing” touch....2 Cor 5:17 The Apostle Paul said “If there be any man in Christ he is a “new creation”, old things have passed away and all things have been made new.” In Christ we are “new creations”http://....plus, still thinking on the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross and what Jesus said just before He breathed His last...”It is Finished”http://...jesus said “tetelestai”http://...it is paid and it is purchased http://...my sin debt is paid and my eternal home in heaven is purchased. God created the heavens and the http://earth...and then He finished. Later, God the Son made new creations out of all who believed on Him. And He said, “I'm finished...I did what the Father sent me to do...I satisfied the righteous judgment of God on sin by taking sin’s penalty upon my body so that those called and chosen could be saved eternally. And if you are like me when you're reading passages and verses in the Bible, such as, when it says “In the beginning” ( God created the heavens and the earth)...perhaps you asked, “Wonder what God was doing prior to creation, being the eternal being that He was and is? And then I am reminded of Ephesians 1:4 “God chose us in Christ (When?) “before the foundations of the world were laid.” That too is a huge Wow...I hope that you are believing the Lord with http://me...today...that makes us one of God’s chosen ones from before the beginning of time. Blows me away too. And makes me want to worship Him today with all of my heart. Thank You, Lord, Now Use us in any way You choose today.

January 2nd - Day 2

January 2, 2020 • Jim McCracken

Join our facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2183117951984132/?source_id=181918175166472 January 2 I've entitled the reading in Gen chapters 4-7 “A Long Story of Sinning” It Ends with the terrible judgment of God upon the earth...a flood that would cover up the highest mountains created...a flood that would swallow up wicked mankind to the last http://person...except for one/Noah (the only man who believed God) he and his http://family...and a remnant of animals that would ride out the flood on the ark. **(I can't help but see the salvation of God through an http://ark...but I also see how it foreshadowed something far http://greater...god’s eternal salvation for believers through a http://cross...our Savior’s http://cross...jesus’ cross. Now, what about the Beginning of this long story of sinning...? It actually started in yesterday’s http://passage...but in these chapters, It’s the story of Adam and Eve’s firstborn, Cain, murdering his little brother, Abel. That was Definitely a sin story. But I believe the Primary Sin Story did not start at the murder scene. We might say, “It started on the way to church.” “Is that your prize lamb, Abel? “asked Eve. Abel answered, “Yes, mom. I'm excited about bringing my offering to the Lord. He deserves all of me, that is why I'm bringing the best of the lambs He has given to me. And let Him do with it as He wishes. Thanks, mom and dad, for teaching me to do life as a loving relationship that God initiated by His acceptance of the blood of an innocent lamb to cover my sins like He covered yours.” “What a chump my little brother is,” Cain silently mumbled to himself.” “He could have brought any other lamb, and no one would have ever known.” Apparently Abel followed his parent’s teaching about how to truly worship God by http://faith...which basically means worshipping Him as He requires...(Let’s listen to the requirement for true worship that the apostle Paul shared with Rome’s believers in Rom. 12:1...”I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies/your life as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service of worship.” ) That’s how Abel came to worship. But Cain did not. Cain did not bring the “first and best” fruit of his labor and life to http://god...he kept the best for himself and gave God the leftovers. Some say that God rejected Cain’s offering of worship because it was not a blood sacrifice. Sounds good at first and I could sure tie that into the Perfect Blood Sacrifice of Jesus for http://sin...except for one http://thing...later the perfect law of God included offerings of plants and produce for fellowship offerings and specifically for poor Israelites who could not afford to bring an award-winning lamb on the Day of http://atonement....they were allowed to bring some wheat flour and trust the blood sacrifice made by the high priest and the sprinkling of such blood upon the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies for the atonement for their sins. God refused Cain’s offering of worship not because the offering was not a lamb, but because Cain’s heart was not totally God’s. At best Cain was pretending, just going through the motions. There have been many in the line of Cain. For the first 19 years of my life that was me. But unlike the character in the song by the Platters, “The Great Pretender”, I was not left alone in my shame. Jesus came after me and changed my life.

January 3rd - Day 3

January 3, 2020 • Jim McCracken

Join our facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2183117951984132/?source_id=181918175166472 January 3 Today’s Bible reading is Gen. chapters 8-11. We come to the end of the life and ministry of the patriarch, Noah. We read a fascinating story of how God made sure that the testimony of Himself and Noah reached around the http://world...by replacing the one and only language on earth, with many different http://languages...and scattering the people who built the Tower that came to be known as the Tower of Babel to the far reaches of the http://earth...for the spreading of the good news of God everywhere. And by the time you get there in the biblical record, Noah has been dead 350 years. I can't help but imagine that Noah’s grandkids lined up for years to ask their granddad, “Tell us one more time about those 75 years it took you to build the ark that saved mom and dad and you and nana and the rest of the family from the terrible flood. And tell us some more details about the 378 days on the ark. It had to be http://hard...was it exciting?” And I can only imagine that the man who walked with God for so long, responded, “Let me tell you about what GOD did.” “God came to me...I didn't come to Him. God told me what He was going to do in the world, and honored me by inviting me to join Him in the work. God gave me a job to do. Now listen closely...I didn't tell God what I could do for Him to help accomplish His purposes. I was quiet and attentive to His instructions. And with His help, I began and finished the work He called me to do with Him. And when that task was over, God gave me another one to do with http://him...and it may sound strange to you, but that next job was “to wait on Him” http://...for what??? **to do what only He could do...**end the flooding. And at the end of the flooding, God continued to “remember” me...(and the word “remember” means more than just recognizing my http://existence...it means that God kept His http://promise...he saved me and my family from His terrible http://judgment)...and you want to know something else?... God blessed me and mine even when I forgot Him. What an awesome God we have!” And had Noah known the patriarch David, he might have shared these words that God gave to him: Psalm 115:11-13 “O you who fear the http://lord...trust in the http://lord...he’s our hope and our http://shield...and He will always “remember” us ( be committed to us) and bless http://us...both great and small.” What a foreshadowing of how God works in our lives today through Christ our Lord. He chooses us in Christ, and not the other way around. HE shows us favor (grace) to believe Him and follow Him with all of our heart. HE shuts us up with Himself (like He did with Noah when the flood began to http://rise)...when times of great stress begin to rise, He shuts us up with Himself so that we have to trust Him for the next steps. Oh, and HE causes the wind to blow, the wind of the Spirit who rejuvenates our hope for the future, whatever God plans. Ezekiel speaks of the Big 3: Noah, Daniel, and Job. I think Noah would have deferred to his descendants: Moses, David, and Jesus, the God who made it http://all...the Lord who saves us through the cross and the resurrection to the uttermost. Thank you, http://noah...your life message inspires us to believe http://god...and today We will worship Jesus with you!