November | 2014 | Grace and Truth

November 21, 2014
by GraceandTruth Leave a comment

Today’s Street Preaching 21st November

Today I was so blessed because a large group of Asian teenage students came along when H was preaching. They stopped and were listening. I went over to them with tracts and little books containing the gospel of John. They were so hungry for the gospel. They clamoured for tracts. When one saw I had little books as well, she cried out “I want a little book!” Well that set off the rest of the group who all also didn’t want to miss out and clamoured for the “little books”. They were so pleased and thanked me profusely.

It is rare to see that kind of hunger here in Australia. Oh God have mercy on us.

The Holy Spirit gave us Judges 7:13, 14 before we went in to preach today:

“And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.”

Just as God sent Gideon into battle the enemy with only 300 men, so God today sent 3 women in to the enemy’s territory.

When we first arrived there was a strange feel to the place. I suddenly felt very ill with nerves. My stomach came down with a bad case of butterflies looking at all the people.

The best antidote for fear and nerves I have found is to get on with preaching immediately. If I procrastinate I can lose my nerve and sink into a mire of fear.

The funny thing is that as soon as I begin to preach the fear always leaves immediately. The strange feel to the place also left too.

I want to encourage you that our individual testimony of God’s grace and power in our life is powerful. H was sharing her testimony when a young man walked past. He kept stopping and looking back at her as she spoke about how God had changed her. Eventually he came back and asked me for a tract.

We each have a testimony to share with someone – and that is sufficient to be able to bring the gospel to someone who is lost.

These words from Wesley’s hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” were on my heart all day today:

Hark the herald angels sing:

“Glory to the new born King

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinner reconciled!”

That’s what it’s all about.

God bless you!

November 20, 2014
by GraceandTruth 10 Comments

What I Learnt from an Imposter

maguires.movies.blogspot.com

I met him on the street and shared the gospel with him. Weeping bitterly on the street, not caring who saw him, he seemed to genuinely repent of his sins. The next time I saw him he seemed completely different, happy, in control. To me that demonstrated the “fruit” of true salvation.

How wrong I was.

One may wonder if it is even possible that somebody could pretend to be a Christian. Yes, it’s definitely possible. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:13

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived”.

So here are some things that I learnt from 4 confusing, consuming months with an imposter:

That it is so important to be able to recognize other people after the Spirit, rather than according to the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5:16.

That we need to be able to test the spirits. (1 John 4:1) Even though someone may have amazing “revelations”, quote scripture, do all the right things, seem spiritual, this can all be a facade. We need to listen to the Spirit. Is there a check in our spirit regarding this person? Ask God for the gift of discernment.

Never to put any human being EVER before my own children (yes, sadly I had to learn this lesson)

To listen to my husband and my father, especially because they are Christians. Sadly, as Eve was deceived by Satan, it does seem to be easier for women, in general, to be deceived than men.

That my desperation to see “results” of my work in the gospel had opened the door to the enemy. Christ should always be the centre – not our ministry, not results, not fruit.

That I should not be too quick to trust, but at the same time, not become hard and cynical. Trust needs to be earned.

That the devil seeks to consume us. Consume time, energy, spiritual life, emotional well-being. Any way he can destroy us through exhaustion/burn out he will attempt it.

That God is not the author of confusion nor disorder, but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33). If there is confusion, disorder, if things seem to becoming undone and out of control then the situation is not of Him.

(On this note, God gave me a dream around this time:

In the dream I invited a new friend to my home I believed to be

maniacworld.com

spiritual. Suddenly and unexpectedly this friend started throwing furniture around my home. It was scary, confusing and out of control. This is exactly what the devil will do if you give him right of access in any way.)

That an imposter can have a lying spirit and so will tell you things that they can’t possibly know without some sort of supernatural help. What this guy told me I thought was from God, when his source was actually Satan.

That because God knew my heart was sincere towards Him and that because I really did seek God’s will for my life, God did not let the situation go any further or for any longer than He had pre-determined according to His sovereign will. In a period of 48 hours God exposed the lies and deception of the imposter completely and entirely.

That God is kind. I mean really so KIND. Even when we make mistakes and mess things up. He was so gentle with me during this time, especially during the period that He removed the veil of deception from my eyes. By this time my body was steeped in physical exhaustion, my emotions were all over the place and my faith was flagging. God knew, and He was oh-so gentle with me. He upheld me and I will never, ever forget His gentle kindness towards me – His imperfect, erring servant.

That God is still in control in the chaotic situations of our lives – IF we are truly yielded to Him.

That God used this situation to teach us so much. Discernment, wisdom, knowing others after the Spirit can unfortunately only be learned through hard-experience.

The hard and confusing thing about this situation was that we really did love this guy. We sincerely wanted to see him saved. We truly wanted to be used of God. We had a zeal for God, but not the wisdom to accompany it.

Even though this was one of the hardest times I have experienced, God used it and taught us greatly and abundantly. Now years later, I see the fruit and depth of that experience in us and blessing others. I pray that this post will speak to someone who may be going through a similar situation. I pray others will learn through my mistakes. May God bless you with His kindness, wisdom and discernment.

“I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be as prey in your hand. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad…” Ezekiel 13:21, 22

Belinda 🙂

November 18, 2014
by GraceandTruth 5 Comments

The Tabernacle of Moses and the Cross

Continued from The Tabernacle of Moses and Jesus

The Tabernacle’s Position

Israel was a large group of people, divided into 12 different tribes. As God is a God of order, this large group of people had to be arranged orderly. God set up the camp as follows:

The Tabernacle was in the midst of the camp (Numbers 2:17)
On the East side the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulon camped
On the West side the tribes of Ephraim, Mannasseh and Benjamin camped
On the North side the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali camped
On the South side the tribes of Rueben, Simeon and Gad camped

Many experts believe that the view from heaven as God looked upon the camp was in the shape of a cross.

Chuck Missler explains: “The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun–collectively called the Camp of Judah–had to encamp east of the Levites. This poses a technical problem. Notice that if the breadth of their camp was larger than that of the Levites, the excess would be southeast or northeast, not east. Therefore, their camp could only be as wide as the Levites, and they then had to extend eastward to obtain whatever space they required.

The camps of Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan had the same constraint on the south, west, and north, respectively. The length of each leg would be proportional to total in each camp.

If we assemble what we can infer from the Torah account, we can imagine what the camp of Israel looked like from above: the tabernacle and the Levites in the center, surrounded by the four faces of the tribal standards, and each of the four camps of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, stretching out in the four cardinal directions.”

Source:http://www.ldolphin.org/camp.html

God should be in the midst of the camp, in the midst of His people. Where Christ is in the centre of a believer’s life, or of a Church, then there is divine order. We see that God’s dealing with His people is always on the basis of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Construction of the Tabernacle

The Tabernacle took nine months to build. It was built from materials which the Israelites willingly offered unto the Lord.

Christ was nine months in the womb of Mary. Mary willingly offered her life to God for His purposes.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²“Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. ³And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁴blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ⁵ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; ⁶oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; ⁷onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. ⁸And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. ⁹According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.” Exodus 25:1-9

We see that when we willingly give to God our lives then He will use it for His purposes and bring forth divine life.

God bless!

November 10, 2014
by GraceandTruth 10 Comments

The Tabernacle of Moses and Jesus

source: templestudy.com

God gave Moses a divine plan in building the Tabernacle :

“According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so shall you make it.” Exodus 25:9

Moses was required to build the tabernacle exactly to the plan which God gave Him.

“They served in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”” Hebrews 8:5

It was divided into three different areas within it.

source: tabernacleofmoses.org

There was the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place and the Outer court.

Each area had its own pieces of furniture. The furniture was also to be made exactly to the pattern that God gave Moses.

The Purpose of the Tabernacle

When Moses was on the mountain with God, God said to him:

“…let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8

The purpose of the Tabernacle was for God to dwell among His people, in order to guide them and to bless and provide for them.

God has always desired fellowship with man. We see this with God’s dealings with Adam and Eve, with Israel and with the followers of Christ – His Church. In fact the Tabernacle of Moses points ultimately to Jesus Christ as it is a picture of God dwelling amongst man.

In John 1:14 we read:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The word “dwelt” here literally means to “pitch a tent”. It is from the Greek word skenoo

“…This word skene (tent) is the very word used in the New Testament to refer to the tabernacle of God used by Israel in their early worship of God. If you remember, the tabernacle was a wooden structure with a tent pitched over the top. In the Greek New Testament therefore, the word translated “tabernacle” is skene — “the tent” (Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:2, 5, and chapter 9). Hence, when the glory of God descended to the earth to take up residence in the midst of Israel as described in Exodus 40:34-38, it could be said that God “pitched His tent” among men. The writer of the book of Hebrews calls it “the true tent [skene] that the Lord set up” (Hebrews 8:2). The glory of God went camping with Israel as Israel wandered in the wilderness.” (source: http://www.awordfromtheword.org/dwelt)

When Jesus became a Man and dwelt among us, it was the ultimate fulfillment of the Tabernacle of Moses. Here was God not only dwelling amongst human beings, but God dwelling in human flesh Himself. How merciful that God would take on human flesh to bring about fellowship with man again!

And now, as believers in Christ, God Himself dwells (tabernacles) in us. By His Holy Spirit God now dwells not only with man, but inside of man. The incredible kindness and mercy of God!

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ” 1 Corinthians 6:19

The Glory of God

We also see that where God dwells, He sends His glory. It is God’s desire that His glory is seen where He dwells. Back then it was in the Tabernacle, now it is in us. In eternity it will be in the New Jerusalem.

Once the Tabernacle was completed the cloud of God’s glory filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:34-38
When Solomon completed the Temple, the glory of God filled the Temple, 2 Chronicles 7:1-3
God’s glory was seen in the Person of Jesus Christ as He walked the earth: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory, Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36

“… he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them… a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Mark 9:2-7

Right now in the Church , it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27 and see also 2 Corinthians 4:1-7
In the age to come the Glory of God is resplendent in the New Jersusalem, Revelation 22:9-27