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Our verses for today: Luke 22:1-38 ; Genesis 39 ; Psalms 30
On Luke 22:1-38, Jesus here institutes the Last Supper.We are familiar with that dramatic presentation of Jesus' last meal that are hanging on our dining tables.Let's zoom a bit more into the scene.Hmm.A bit more.Oops,you zoomed a bit more.
There.Here,we can see Jesus eat with His 12 apostles.Some crumbs of bread were falling into the ground.I bet no one noticed it.Hm.The atmosphere feels quiet.

I still remember the time and place when I've experienced this extreme pain of having dysmenorrhea. -_- I haaaaaaaaate that kind of feeling. :| It was last summer camp in our Church's conference (SLJ - South Luzon Jurisdiction) held in Lipa, Batangas. A whole week of pain (emphasis on PAIN). I can't focus myself that much on the talks given to us by our Pastors and some youth. I had the hardest time joining physical activities because i can't move properly. UGH. :| But then the night before our camp was ended, something happened. :) We were singing songs of praise and worshiping our Lord. I talked to Him. Sharing my experiences throughout the whole camp. That exact moment, tears flowed from my eyes and as I offer Him praise and glory in full voice, whole mind heart and soul, I barely notice the pain I had. My dysmenorrhea actually faded. Poof! Gone! Disappeared! I testified the day after and just a thought that you guys might want to know how God worked in me. How He works in my life. How He is the greatest. How He loves me so much. How amazing God is.

We had nothing at all to do with our salvation other than believing the gospel.  Furthermore; we can only believe the gospel because God has given us the gift of saving faith.  The sinful mind is in such a state of rebellion against God that we are naturally doubtful and unbelieving.  Like Thomas, we instinctively refuse to believe until we first see.  The wonder of saving faith is that believing causes our blinded eyes to see.  Notice the progression in this miracle of Jesus.  "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened." Matthew 9:27-30
Salvation is not the result of our good works. In fact, any good works of morality or religious duty we perform in an attempt to earn God's favor are worth nothing more than filthy rags in God's sight. If salvation were something earned by what we had done, then we would have the right to take the credit for it.  All of the work necessary for salvation was completed by Christ on the cross.  He deserves all of the glory. "All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us." Revelation 1:5
We are His workmanship.  We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can accomplish all of the good things He planned for us to do long ago.  The Christian life is marked by good works.  Remember this; good works never produce salvation but salvation always produces good works.  God has a life time of good things for you to accomplish for His glory.  He will set you up with divine appointments.  The Holy Spirit will give you the wisdom and ability to carry out the unique tasks that He has prepared especially for you to do.

Genesis 30:1 The progressive jealously

 

 

This narrative shows us how progressive the sinful fruit can be from a desire to be accepted, to get attention, or to be pleased can really be. Note first that Rachel is not thinking about God or His perogratives, instead she has begun to focus on child bearing, the social acceptability of being barren, and her sister's possessions. She is coveting children and feeding the desires of her heart until they are more important to her than loving God and others. Look then how she treats the idol from which she believes she can get what she desires. She begs Jacob to give her what she longs for and, in a dramatic way, shows how sick she is with the dieases of idolatrous lusts. She has turned away from God and to an idol as the source of her solutions to her problems in life; instead of trusting God she will get what she wants by force.

 

 

 

Genesis 30:2 Bad Counseling 101

 

 

Jacob here is right to rebuke Rachel for her failure to trust God and to love Him and others before herself. He is even theologically correct in saying it is God who opens and closes the womb. However, he did not tell the truth in love. He showed himself to be open and unloving here instead of open and loving (Prov. 27:5-6).

 

 

 

Genesis 30:3 The Sickness Spreads

 

 

Rachel is now using every avenue possible (the deffinition of an idol) to fullfill her bloated and misprioritized desire (the deffinition of a lust - something more important than loving God and loving others). You can see that Rachel's selfish desires are starting to cause chaos and every evil thing (James 3:13-18). She is showing that she is not operating from the wisdom from above but the demoic wisdom from below (James 3:13-18). We begin to see the bad fruit of the poisonus root. Rachel is willing to use her own maid to obtain children for herself just to satisfy her desires. Although this practice may have been acceptable in ancient times to obtain children if barren, the real issue is not even the use of the maid. It's Rachels heart. Her whole life is becoming twisted around the lust in the spring of her heart. (Prov. 4:23)

 

 

 

Genesis 30:6 Justifying Actions

 

 

Rachels thinking is also now tainted with her lust. She believes that God has granted her a son as a means of vindication. Although she is accurate that God is the one who opened her womb, as we see the pattern throughout scripture, it is not mentioned here for a reason. Rachels motives are incorrect and her evaluation is simply untrue. What God did in this circumstances by giving Rachel a son we cannot say with one hundred percent certainty. We do know, however, that it was not for vindication. God had opened up Leahs womb as we but a few short verses prior and He did it because He took notice of Leah not being loved. He was using the shamed things of this world to make foolish the wise. He took the unloved and use them to shame the loved. (Both the Levites and the Priests came from Leah's first bought of sons) What Rachel is going through is the advanced stages of a terminal disease. She has colored even her perception of God with the lust in her heart. She see's God and worships Him based on His willingness or unwillingness to give her what she wants. Her theology and doxology flow from a heart of selfish ambition. She is shows herself to be an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross (Pr 26:23) and her praise is to God with lip service while her heart is far from Him. (Ish 29:13)

 

 

 

Genesis 30:8 Her Heart Revealed

 

 

Now Rachel has entered the last stage of her illness. She now proclaims openly and without any hesitency, coverup, or false humility what she was after. She has believes she is the winner of the conetest in her own heart. She has obtained all the fullness of what she believes would satisfy her. She does not even attempt to give vain praise to God her. Her heart is fully open for any who would see. Even the name of her son, Naphtali, shows the focus was on her desires all a long. What happens next, however, will show the frustraition of having any desire more important than loving God and loving others. Rachel is about to go from her manmade mountain top experience through a rigerous time of frustraition and failure.

 

 

 

Genesis 30:9 Sin Begets Sin

 

 

Now Leah goes through the same cycle of Rachel. She shows the desires of her heart as well. We often find that the sin in one person reveals the sin in the other. While we would like to blame Rachel for what Leah is now yearning for, the truth is that nothing comes out of a persons heart that is not already there. Although Rachels sin has given the opportunity for Leah to engage in the same sinful beahaiors, it is Leah who is responsible and liable for her own actions. A compentition is about to ensue that, if you image living in the same tents with these woman, could only have been a vicious all out war.

 

 

 

Genesis 30:13 Earthly Happiness vs. Heavenly Joy

 

 

Leah gives us additional information into the heart full of lusts. She believes that her children are the source of her happiness. People have replaced God as the source of joy. We know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God and that the desires of the flesh can only bring about conflict. (James 4:1-10) Both are evident here as Leah and Rachel war over who will have prominence. The battleground is Jacobs home, the ammunition is an endless heart of lust, and the casualities suredly were everyone living within 10 miles of that place!

 

 

 

Genesis 30:14–16 No Consideration for Others

 

 

Jacob will now feel the results of the lust fueled hearts of these two woman. They are both out to manipulate each other to get what they want. Here Rachel tries to get Leah's mandrakes (just another idol or avenu she believes will give her what she wants apart from God) while Leah twists Rachel to give her a night with Jacob. Neither really care for the other or anyone else involved - they are focused only on what they will receive and how it will benefit them in feeding the desires of their hearts. Neither of them could speak for Jacob and now they are even using him as a bargining chip. People have become but tools and levers to getting what they want. The war is in full furious rage.

 

 

 

Genesis 30:18 More improper theology...

 

 

Leah shows her incorrect view of God as well. She now believes that God is rewarding her for giving Jacob her maid as a wife. She has become convienced that God can be manipulated (in the sense that she can earn the desires of her heart from him through performance) and that He is a rewarder of those with a vile heart. God did heed Leah but that does not mean He approved of her actions. God often gives grace to those who are wicked (He makes the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous) but we should not confuse grace with approval. Leah can only see herself as right in the situation. She has become selfrighteous and is on the road to destruction.

 

 

 

Genesis 30:20 Another lust

 

 

Again we see Leah's improper priorities and desires. There is nothing wrong with wanting her husband to dwell with her but we can see that one of her motivations all along was to get what she wanted more than loving God and loving others (including Rachel). She has sinned and there is no other explaination.

 

 

In the end, we get to witness what goes on in all of hearts every day. Although Rachel and Leah have some extreme symptoms and signs, the silent diease of Idolatrous Lusts plagues all of us, even those who believe. We must come to see this and seek out the death of those lusts that are the source of our failure to love God and to love others. Starving them of life and breath will mean denying ourselves and taking up our cross but the end result of losing our lives will be to save them. It is by grace we are saved through faith, and that being a gift of God, but that grace is also the means by which our lusts are put to death proving that we are saved. I challange you all to look deep in your hearts and your lives. Look for areas that you know you do not obey God, where there is strif, anger, fear, worry, jealousy and trace them back. Those are fruits of a deeper root issue. These always come from an some idol when they don't give you want you want or prevent you from getting what you want. Once you can find the idol, you can then ask "What is it that I want or don't want from this person or thing." When you can answer that question, you have found the desire that is out of place in your life and you can begin to address it.

I was in church today and met a very nice chap whom I'd never spoken to before. He seemed very interested in the specifics about what I was studying at college.
"I'm on my honours year of a BA in Theology." I told him. "My dissertation is on the resurrection of the dead." I added, just to flesh out the conversation.
"Oh really?" He replied. "My wife and I are infants in Christ, we only became Christians a year and a half ago. But Jesus Christ is King, that's all that matters!"
I love studying theology, and I've found it really helpful in a lot of ways; but that guy hit the nail on the head with something I easily miss among all the academia: Jesus is King, no matter how much or how little I think I understand or how good a person I think I am.
The righteous shall live by faith. Knowing Christ crucified for your sins and risen again is more valuable than all the theology, all the good works, all the money, all the skills and all the human praise in the world. Everything else is vanity.

"But God" this phrase sets the stage for the most amazing contrast in all the universe.  The preceding verses describe the sad state of the lost without Christ; The verses that follow are the glorious anthem of redeeming grace.  Not only is our God merciful but He is the God who is "rich in mercy", Not only does He only loves us but He loves us with 'Great Love".

Even when we were dead in sins.  This is not in the future but in the past tense.  Spiritual death is not a pending judgement but a present condition for those who have not yet surrendered to the Savior.  The lost can no more improve his condition through his own efforts than a corpse can raise himself from the dead.   Neither morality, philosophy, nor even religion can reconcile fallen man to His creator. Jesus' voice called, "Lazarus, Come forth!"  In the same way, it is the voice of Christ through the Gospel that raises the spiritually dead to life.  God promised through the prophet, "Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live."

By Grace ye are saved.  Salvation is God's great gift; it is free to us and yet it cost the Savior every drop of His precious blood.  Salvation is the work of God on man's behalf, not the work of man on his own behalf.  Grace means that we can do absolutely nothing to earn God's forgiveness, the hope of heaven, or the gift of eternal life. Grace is simply received by faith, that is by believing the message of the gospel.  Grace is the transforming power of God that turns the sinner into a saint.  Grace has the power to keep us secure in the love of Christ.  Once the wonderful work of grace is begun in the heart, we have God's assurance that He will be faithful to complete it.  As John the apostle wrote, "When we see Him we shall be like Him.'  This is the final, finished product of grace, transformation into the image of Jesus.

He hath raised us up together. Jesus is our proxy or substitute. That is, when He died, we died with Him.  When He rose again, we rose with Him. In His exaltation we are seated with Him.  the Psalmist spoke of the blessedness of those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Jesus sat down when His work of redemption was complete.  As far as our salvation goes, there is nothing for us do but in faith to sit down with Him. Throughout eternity God will show us off as a monument to His kindness. We will forever be trophies of grace.

There is time for everything.I know that this verse is known by many Christians as it continues with the lines: "A time to give birth and a time to die;A time to plant and a time a uproot what is planted..." Now what about timing? Timing,according to www.thefreedictionary.com, timing is "the regulation of occurrence,pace,or coordination to achieve a desired effect." As a Christian,how can we use timing in evangelizing and sharing the Word of God?
Nonbelievers make a conclusion about Christians that we are so "annoying".Now,you might ask me,"What does this have to do with timing?"The reason why we were given such a description is because we just talk about the Good News but we DO NOT consider the time. Do not get me wrong,the one I am talking is when we share Christ to someone,we just blurt out while not taking note of that person.Some questions to consider are:

• Is this person doing something?
• Does he have time to listen?
  

Take Ecclesiastes 3:11 for example.

I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember.  But to say that in all those years I have been a perfectly good Christian would be a lie.  I would do the usual things that Christians do; Go to Church, Sunday school, pray, do good deeds, help others, etc.  But even with that I just couldn't stop myself from sin.  We are all capable of sin.  I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't sinned before.
But if we all sin, does that mean that God doesn't love us anymore?  Does that mean that we are not worthy of him anymore?
One things I've learned is that God is a forgiving God.  I'm not saying that we can sin over and over again because he'll forgive us anyway.  We can't help but sin, yes, but what we can do is try to ask him for wisdom.  We might not be perfect, but we try our best to become worthy of the Lord.
I went to our Youth service today and the preacher was telling us about God being so limitless.  He talked about how the Lord is an everlasting God who is timeless compared to us finite beings in this world.  He talked about how "Knowing" is not only our knowledge about God but has to personal.  I think that it's like saying that, we have to have a personal relationship with the Lord and not to just fill ourselves with knowledge.  I feel that to be a Christian, we need to personally know and have an encounter with Christ.  How can you call yourself a Christian when you do not even fully understand who you worship?
Imagine walking by the ocean.  You're holding a pail and you scoop up water from the ocean.  That ocean is like God.  You might have water in your pail but you can't hold the whole ocean in it because it is too vast and 'unlimited'.  It's the same with us people.  We might have knowledge about God but we cannot ever fully understand God.  It is impossible to fully know the Lord because he is infinite and unfathomable.  But what we should have, is a "not full, but enough" understanding of God.