Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?
Yes Friends, today we’re going to look at that verse from Jeremiah again, because it highlights two very notable and significant aspects of our God; He is the God of all flesh, and nothing’s too hard for Him to do. Now in concert with our God’s mysterious, contrary, unique and eccentric ways, yesterday, I chose to do the last part first. (smile) So today we’ll look at the first part: ‘Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.’ And that’s the living truth my people! Believers shouldn’t have to be reminded of that most significant fact, but it’s strange how so many of us do indeed forget it. And not only is the Lord the God of all flesh, but of everything that exists in the universe, because He is its creator. He spoke the world into existence then bowed Himself to the earth, the dry land He’d made and LOVINGLY moulded man from its dirt, then gently blew the breath of life into us. And all God’s people joyfully shouted: ‘Thank you Lord for making us in your Holy image, and being so good to us, though we are totally undeserving of your awesome mercy!’ Oh Friends, judging by our rebellious, disobedient lifestyle, we are truly undeserving of the Lord’s awesome grace and mercy. But thankfully, He’s such a patient, long-suffering and LOVING Deity, giving us plenty of time to right our wrongful lifestyle, to embrace His easy yoke, His righteous way of living. In that action though Friends, there is also enough rope to hang our selves. We can look at it from two angles. The first is that He gives us so much time to turn our lives around, that we get complacent and don’t do it, always thinking we’ll do it tomorrow. Then suddenly, without any warning, we’re pulled up short, there are no more tomorrows, our earthly lives are over and we face eternity with Beelzebub. On the other hand, we can see that we’ve been given ample warning, through sickness or some death sentence. We know that our time is short, yet we ignore the warning until it’s too late and we again end up with Beelzebub for company throughout eternity. Oh mih people, the safest way is to consider that our time is very short, so let’s turn to Him right NOW, because this might just be the last sunrise we ever see. We might not even see today’s sunset. And as the old people would say, better safe than sorry. But enough of my rambling, let’s look at some scripture that says it better than me. (smile) And our first example is when Moses and Aaron faced the rebellion of Korah. (Num.16) At one stage, Korah gathered all the people against them at the door of the tabernacle, but the Lord in His righteous anger said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?’ (Num.16:21-22) Yes my Friends, Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves before the Lord and invoked His Holy title: ‘O God, the God of the Spirits of all flesh.’ And if we look at it closely, we’ll see that that’s what our God really is; the God of our spirits, since our flesh is terminal while our spirits are eternal. We are truly spirits, merely existing for an instant of time in a fleshly body. Later on, when God led Moses up to Mount Abarim, to show him the Promised Land and sadly inform him that he wouldn’t set foot there, Moses used the same term: ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.’ (Num.27:16) So Friends, the term is nothing new. The Old Testament people knew it better than we do. Like it was popular in Job’s time too. Here are three instances from his Book. The first is during his retort to his friends’ spurious, unfounded accusations. He acknowledges the Lord’s omnipotence: ‘In whose hand is the soul (life) of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind (all flesh of man)?’ (Job 12:10) Again, when he talks about his truthfulness, he proudly proclaims: ‘All the while (as long as) my breath is in me, and the spirit (breath) of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.’ (Job 27:3-4) And the last example in Job comes from his friend, Elihu, when he tries to reason with Job. ‘The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.’ (Job 33:4) Now that’s the gospel truth mih breddren! God the Spirit made us; both in flesh and spirit, and gave us life from His breath. So why don’t we appreciate that rather important and significant fact more than we do eh, and consequently pay Him the proper homage, respect and reverence He’s due? And we’re not even talking about all the other things He’s done for us, just that act of creation alone. Ah mih people, I don’t know why. Can it be possibly because He’s a Spirit, not a physical entity that we tend to ignore Him in an evil, ungodly world that’s focused more on inanimate, physical objects, things we can see and touch? Oh Friends, all I can say is that we’re making a big mistake if we follow the world’s lust for physical possessions and objects. And we’ll end today, rather appropriately, with a verse from the New Testament, where the writer of Hebrews is talking about God’s discipline and very wisely asks this million dollar question: ‘Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence (respect): shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?’ (Heb.12:9) My personal answer is a resounding YES! But it’s a question that each individual has to answer for his or her self. Lets sincerely hope and pray that all God’s creation will also answer it with an exuberant, heartfelt YES! More time, and Much LOVE, mih people!…as for me and mine…we’ll honour and revere…the God of the spirits of all flesh…
Yes Friends, today we’re going to look at that verse from Jeremiah again, because it highlights two very notable and significant aspects of our God; He is the God of all flesh, and nothing’s too hard for Him to do. Now in concert with our God’s mysterious, contrary, unique and eccentric ways, yesterday, I chose to do the last part first. (smile) So today we’ll look at the first part: ‘Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.’ And that’s the living truth my people! Believers shouldn’t have to be reminded of that most significant fact, but it’s strange how so many of us do indeed forget it. And not only is the Lord the God of all flesh, but of everything that exists in the universe, because He is its creator. He spoke the world into existence then bowed Himself to the earth, the dry land He’d made and LOVINGLY moulded man from its dirt, then gently blew the breath of life into us. And all God’s people joyfully shouted: ‘Thank you Lord for making us in your Holy image, and being so good to us, though we are totally undeserving of your awesome mercy!’ Oh Friends, judging by our rebellious, disobedient lifestyle, we are truly undeserving of the Lord’s awesome grace and mercy. But thankfully, He’s such a patient, long-suffering and LOVING Deity, giving us plenty of time to right our wrongful lifestyle, to embrace His easy yoke, His righteous way of living. In that action though Friends, there is also enough rope to hang our selves. We can look at it from two angles. The first is that He gives us so much time to turn our lives around, that we get complacent and don’t do it, always thinking we’ll do it tomorrow. Then suddenly, without any warning, we’re pulled up short, there are no more tomorrows, our earthly lives are over and we face eternity with Beelzebub. On the other hand, we can see that we’ve been given ample warning, through sickness or some death sentence. We know that our time is short, yet we ignore the warning until it’s too late and we again end up with Beelzebub for company throughout eternity. Oh mih people, the safest way is to consider that our time is very short, so let’s turn to Him right NOW, because this might just be the last sunrise we ever see. We might not even see today’s sunset. And as the old people would say, better safe than sorry. But enough of my rambling, let’s look at some scripture that says it better than me. (smile) And our first example is when Moses and Aaron faced the rebellion of Korah. (Num.16) At one stage, Korah gathered all the people against them at the door of the tabernacle, but the Lord in His righteous anger said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?’ (Num.16:21-22) Yes my Friends, Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves before the Lord and invoked His Holy title: ‘O God, the God of the Spirits of all flesh.’ And if we look at it closely, we’ll see that that’s what our God really is; the God of our spirits, since our flesh is terminal while our spirits are eternal. We are truly spirits, merely existing for an instant of time in a fleshly body. Later on, when God led Moses up to Mount Abarim, to show him the Promised Land and sadly inform him that he wouldn’t set foot there, Moses used the same term: ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation.’ (Num.27:16) So Friends, the term is nothing new. The Old Testament people knew it better than we do. Like it was popular in Job’s time too. Here are three instances from his Book. The first is during his retort to his friends’ spurious, unfounded accusations. He acknowledges the Lord’s omnipotence: ‘In whose hand is the soul (life) of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind (all flesh of man)?’ (Job 12:10) Again, when he talks about his truthfulness, he proudly proclaims: ‘All the while (as long as) my breath is in me, and the spirit (breath) of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.’ (Job 27:3-4) And the last example in Job comes from his friend, Elihu, when he tries to reason with Job. ‘The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.’ (Job 33:4) Now that’s the gospel truth mih breddren! God the Spirit made us; both in flesh and spirit, and gave us life from His breath. So why don’t we appreciate that rather important and significant fact more than we do eh, and consequently pay Him the proper homage, respect and reverence He’s due? And we’re not even talking about all the other things He’s done for us, just that act of creation alone. Ah mih people, I don’t know why. Can it be possibly because He’s a Spirit, not a physical entity that we tend to ignore Him in an evil, ungodly world that’s focused more on inanimate, physical objects, things we can see and touch? Oh Friends, all I can say is that we’re making a big mistake if we follow the world’s lust for physical possessions and objects. And we’ll end today, rather appropriately, with a verse from the New Testament, where the writer of Hebrews is talking about God’s discipline and very wisely asks this million dollar question: ‘Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence (respect): shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?’ (Heb.12:9) My personal answer is a resounding YES! But it’s a question that each individual has to answer for his or her self. Lets sincerely hope and pray that all God’s creation will also answer it with an exuberant, heartfelt YES! More time, and Much LOVE, mih people!…as for me and mine…we’ll honour and revere…the God of the spirits of all flesh…
SCRIP-BITS 