A robe dipped in blood

Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” Genesis 37:31-33 (ESV)

In the book written by Mark Driscoll ,"Vintage Jesus", there is an amazing way he has us view Jesus in order to better understand Him. He shows us that we can view Him as prophet, priest, and king. In order to understand this post better, I would like for you to think of Jesus as king.

Many years before Jesus' coming to the earth in the flesh, there was a young man named Joseph who loved and feared the Lord. His father Jacob loved him more than any of his other sons and blessed him with a beautiful robe. This robe however was taken from Joseph by his brothers, his own people, and his brothers used this very robe to fool their father to believe the lie that Joseph was attacked and killed. However, Joseph as we know did not die, but he did suffer. From age 17 to age 30 (13 years) Joseph literally walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but God was with him. Until finally he had found favor with Pharaoh, and this is what happened...


This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” Genesis 41:37-44 (ESV)


Joseph was promoted as high as Pharaoh, and only in regards to the throne was Pharaoh greater than Joseph. Joseph was a king. Thus the robe dipped in blood and the 13 years of trial were redeemed to bring about what God had planned next for Joseph. God brought Joseph back to his people Israel as a king to fulfill His promise made to Jacob, Issac and Abraham. It is important to note that Joseph lived his life to be used by God. Joseph's idol was God and as he loved and worshiped Him, he became even more like Jesus. If we really examine Joseph he was SO Christ like its just hard to miss. He was a humble servant, he was a great prophet, to those around him he was a loving priest, and he was a king who did not abuse his power but stewarded it wisely to bless God's people. Like Jesus, Joseph was greatly loved by His father. And like Jesus he was abounding in love and mercy. Joseph was an amazing image bearer of Christ. God was able to use him to carry out His will. But God was also able to redeem the robe dipped in blood, symbolizing the mock death of Joseph and ultimately the sin or betrayal of his brothers. Indeed Joseph escaped death when his brothers tried do away with him, just as his grandfather Issac had escaped death when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son whom he loved. God used these men to symbolize Jesus, to show us what He would ultimately do for us. These men were not worthy to die for the sins of God's people, but little did they know that their lineage would bring about Jesus, who WOULD be killed and betrayed by His own people, and would defeat death once and for all, and would come back to us (His people) as king, sitting at the right hand of God the father as king of kings, with the power to grant us our salvation. The book of Revelation tells us about His second coming...


Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-16 (ESV)



Upon Jesus' return we will see Him for who He really is, a mighty King. He will come in great power and finish off death once and for all. And He will do it wearing a robe dipped in blood. This robe will have His blood on it which is the only blood worthy of cleansing us from our sins. We will be redeemed by this blood and it will glorify the Father forever.

I believe the robe dipped in blood is a divine slap in the face to Satan, sin, and death. As evil tries to prevail, God uses its plot to glorify Himself and bless His people and bring about an amazing king.  

Mark Driscoll NLC 2011

Every leader/man should watch this. One of the best sermons I have ever heard on our priorities. Enjoy!

A believer in a terrible storm

Exodus 17:8-16

English Standard Version (ESV)

Israel Defeats Amalek

 ⁸ Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹²But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³AndJoshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

 ¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears ofJoshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." ¹⁵And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, ¹⁶saying, "A hand upon the throne^[a] of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."

I love this passage.  The short and sweet of it is this.  During the storm that may even come in the middle of a valley you must lift up the Lord and use the aid of fellow believers.   One of the core values of our church is "you can't do life alone", what a great illustration.  Moses lifting his hands up to God, and when he is tired, his brothers are there to help him by holding his hands up for him and giving him rest.  Sometimes lifting up the name of Jesus can be tiring for one man to do on his own, may we never give up our community, our brothers, our sisters, the rest of the body of Christ, or deny the power of the bride of Christ.  But may we always serve each other in all times.  


Never give up your God given fellowship!

Meism

Meism is one of the oldest if not THE oldest religion of all time.  It is a religion that focuses on yourself, contains motives that are to ones own advantage, and essentially makes us worshipers of ourselves.  I believe worship is the sacrifice of one's valuable limited resources in the form of time, money, and talent to a certain idol or god.  We are all created worshipers, we are unceasing outpouring worshipers created to worship God alone.  But with free will in the mix it causes our act of worship to be directed in other directions it was not created to belong.  The result is idolatry and is very damaging, leading to death. 
Idolatry is a very simple minded sin that destroys everything even the first thing it sees.  Being that idolatry is a sin and starts within us it tends to spill over and get on us as we are pouring out our worship, making our worship turn in our own direction.  This is Meism.  Even those who claim that the God over their life is Jesus Christ, their practical life would say otherwise.  It is my personal belief that Meism is everywhere and while also known as selfishness, it is the root of most sin.  If we all took a look at our lives, selfishness would probably be our most utilized sin.  I know this is true in my life, as God in my quiet time has lately revealed to me how selfish I am.  Almost every time the spirit commands me to do something, the first thing I do is try to find an excuse as to why I can't, in the same breath saying "God you don't know what you're talking about".  As much as I hate my own selfishness, it seems like sometimes I can't make myself do the things that in my heart I know are right.  Even Paul struggled this way saying in Romans 7:14-20

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me."

I believe Jesus' selflessness is the perfect answer to our selfishness.  By being selfless, it helps us to see that everything around us is not for our personal gain and I believe it makes everything around us so much more beautiful and useful as its original intention of creation.  I pray that God would make us more selfless as we look and study the life of Jesus.  He was so selfless that He hung on the cross and was praying to God for those who were killing Him.  Yet as I pray to God to make me more like His son Jesus, I still have a hard time just giving up my limited resources to others so that the Gospel may prevail in my life.  You can give without loving but you can't love without giving.  A Christ like heart will be wise enough to know that the limited resources in his life are not there for him to take for himself, because we are incapable of taking complete ownership of any created thing without turning it into idolatry and sinning against our creator God.  That is why we are only stewards of His creation.  But selflessness will show true blessing in the use of our limited resources by allowing us to use them for God's glory so we can have the joy of knowing the original intention for its creation.  

So Meism (selfishness), a worship directed towards ourselves that makes us busy bodies and goes nowhere.  Or, Jesus (selflessness) worshiping Him the creator so that He may be glorified and our joy made complete.  I pray we all become more like Jesus.  Another great example is John the baptist.  The same man who had enough faith in his own cousin to be the Christ and said "He must become greater, I must become less", was also said to be the greatest person born to man by Jesus Himself.  

I hope this post is useful so we may take our eyes off of ourselves so that we may see Jesus more clearly.  

Forget the World

YES!  Forget the world!  It really has nothing to offer.  The condition of the world speaks for itself.  I think of those who have ever achieved any tremendous amount of success, like a star athlete or a law maker of some sort, or a television icon.  If I follow the life of someone rich and famous I see that they are not happy.  In fact, for some reason, these unhappy people are who the entire world wants to be.  It seems that the world has made us completely stupid.  The typical actor can never keep a relationship together and every time something new happens in their life its in a million different news articles.  The role of that actor in his/her work changes all the time to showcase a way of life or person that they, in reality, may not want to promote.  As the fame, money, possessions and attention come, so does the emptiness of finding out that after inheriting the world...something is still missing.  Yet the entire world strives to be like this person.  People buy things they can't afford and work crazy hours just to afford a lifestyle like this person.  As if they're trying to become more like their idol or icon.  When life slaps these followers in the face and their plans to become more like their idol fall through, they themselves fall into depression because THAT is their hope in life.  THAT, meaning their idol, themselves also ends their life or their prime...unhappy and broken. 
Looking at this big problem, it seems to me that this world is closer to God than most may think.  Because when we realize there is a problem we do away with the old us.  That is about the only thing this world does right is realize there is a need for change.  We get everything else completely wrong.  Instead of denying ourselves and following Jesus, we follow our icon or our idol.  Instead of being more Christlike, we become more like our idols or icons.  And we rely way too much on self help when the bible is very clear that we can not do life alone.  When we do invite others into our lives to rely on them to fix our problems, we never stay fixed and usually end up in even worse condition than we would have had we allowed Jesus to be sovereign over our lives (see Luke 11).  Forget the world, it has nothing to offer!  The fallen condition of this world has us believe we need to achieve all we can achieve and pursue our potential and have as much fun as possible before your days are over.
When are we going to realize that this world only has table scraps to offer in comparison to the feast that awaits us in the eternal kingdom of the living God?
What an indescribable peace there is in trusting in Jesus.  Taking Him at His word.  Watching Him come through and living out that abundant life that He promises us both now and after this life.  Having an amazing quiet time in the Word as He speaks to us and shares His love and many promises to us.  We have a great God, Father, Friend, Savior and many other things in our Lord Jesus, and I wouldn't trade Him for the world. :)

Pride

1 Corinthians 4

The Ministry of Apostles

 ¹This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.  ⁶I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers,^[a] that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
 ⁸Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! ⁹For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, ¹²and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; ¹³when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
 ¹⁴I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶I urge you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷That is why I sent^[b] you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ,^[c] as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

This scripture stepped on my toes today.  One of the biggest struggles in life for people but men in particular, is to get over their pride.  When we realize that pride is only a useless possession, it could be one of your biggest steps closer to God.  Pride can stop you from all kinds of things, but in particular, pride makes it hard for you to walk in repentance, by robbing you of any humbleness.  In this scripture Paul says "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"....So Paul was talking to the church...but doesn't the same stand true for everyone.  What do you boast about that you did not receive?  Did God not give you your talent, money, career, athletic ability, good grades, church, spouse?  Did God not give you His son Jesus so you can have eternal salvation?  The bible says salvation belongs to the Lord.   So if nothing was ever yours to begin with, even your salvation, why do you boast?  I believe what God is using Paul to tell us is that if we receive anything we should not hog it as if it were ours, but share it since it is not.  One of my biggest battles has been tithing, when I finally completely submitted to God I was set free from such selfishness and pride.  I am guilty in that when God is using me to do something significant, pride is always there as soon as the work is done so I may boast in myself.  No wander the most vulnerable time for most pastors is right after they finish preaching a good sermon.  Satan will attack you with pride and make you think that because you've experienced extraordinary increase in an area of your life, that you have reason to feel enabled and empowered.  Outside of ministry, pride has swallowed up the world.  Even to the point that people actually boast in their sin.  Guys boast about how many women they've slept with, how drunk they got last night, how much pizza they can eat  in one sitting.  All the while running far away from the amazing life God has planned for you by walking in repentance and living a humble life.  If by pride we seek anything of value then why not seek things of more eternal value by seeking FIRST the kingdom of heaven? 
I believe too many people boast in what is not and never was theirs to begin with, BUT once we realize that all things belong to Him and we stop owning His things and actually become stewards, then you will see true blessing and transformation. 
In particular I feel led to say that if you are proud of where you attend church, I would say you've missed the point and have wasted valuable time.  Jesus died for the church, not your church.  That is why I believe in this letter to the Corinthians, Paul starts out in dealing with quarreling in the church.  I believe the fighting may have started with pride.  Too many people lift up the name of their church rather than the name of Jesus.  These people should repent, and embrace all the churches in Gods kingdom.  And at the same time realize that even though your church may teach things a little differently, in most cases there is more than enough truth in the gospel that you both believe in that can hold you together and at the end of the day let Jesus deal with your differences. 
Ask God where He can work on you in this area, because I believe removing the lense of pride over you eyes will help you to see Jesus more, and allow Him to use you in more amazing ways.  Love you guys, now I'm going to go wake up Maddi and play.