The Impact of the Promise
Notes
Transcript
Our Identity is Found in God
Our Identity is Found in God
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
“Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’
For so many of us, the foundational disconnect between our everyday lives and the cosmic, eternal plan of God is the way that we see ourselves. We define ourselves and root our identity in the temporary things of this world (job, family, feelings, diagnoses). These things do not truly define us. They are temporary accomplishments used by God to reveal to us the deeper and eternal purpose by which He has created us for, eternity with Him.
Our identity is meant to be rooted in our maker, God Himself. Our identity finds its true roots in who God is, what God has done and what He promises to do. It is in these things alone that we truly identify who we are. When our identity is rooted in temporary things, the temporariness of those things leaves us broken, lost and wandering at some point in our lives. Our identity in the Lord though surpasses the temporariness of worldly things and transcends life’s circumstances.
The Hand of God
The Hand of God
“They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
When our identity finds its true roots in the Lord, the work of the Lord in our hearts and lives truly begins. It is in this that the Lord transforms and changes us. We begin to see the world as He does. Our heart is quite literally changed in His hands. We see this in the person of Saul.
Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance? When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?” ’
“Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
“After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”
As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul’s heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day.
God transformed Saul’s heart. He created in him a new heart, nothing like the one to which he possessed before. This is the cry of David as well in the psalms as he pleads of the Lord to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him.
God desires to drastically change our hearts, to shift make them over longing for the eternal. It is with these new hearts that we see the kingdom of heaven come to life all around us. Undivided hearts that are in unison with Christ. How do the apostles and prophets have such faith to endure the persecution of the world?
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The Purpose of God
The Purpose of God
“They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
God’s desire is for our hearts to be transformed to mirror His own heart, the heart that He will give to us. We are the obstacle to this transformation. When we cling to the things of the external things of this world, our hearts can not change.
Throughout the Old Testament, there is example after example of men and women who in part experienced tastes of the restored union between God and man, but every one of their stories is marred by the moments where they feel short, lost sight of God and chased earthly treasures. In Jesus Christ, we have the perfect example of life lived in perfect union with God. Jesus serves as our example of what it looks like to remove the external obstacles to this union. And Jesus is the One who ushers in the Holy Spirit who removes the internal obstacles.
So as we end 2020, God has mercifully brought about circumstances that have forced us to examine our external obstacles. He has removed the wool from our eyes so to speak. Let us not squander this gift. Let us be ever faithful as the Lord has been ever faithful.