|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

A good friend asked me a good question today, based on a passage I taught on last night (City on a Hill). I thought it was helpful: Question: How is it that we know that outer darkness is for believers and is not hell? Answer: These are the three passages in the gospels that refer to outer darkness: Matthew 22:12-14 So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen." Matthew 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' The first passages describes a man IN the wedding room...meaning he made it through the raptur...

When God made man, He made him to have God inside. God is triune: Father, Spirit, and Son. God made man triune...in the image of God. People are three in one: spirit, soul, and body. People were made to have God's Spirit joined to their own. This is how life happens: Genesis 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. That word for breath is nashama, which means Spirit. God breathed his own self...his Spirit... Into Adam and THAT made what is earthly come alive. Adam was supposed to live in a family relationship with God forever. God won't occupy second place, though. Adam chose to take the reins of his own life when he ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil...he decided it would be better to be like God than to let God lead him into the knowledge of good and evil forever. Death began by a breaking of the relationship between God and man. For love, God allowed the relationsh...

John 15:13“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. In Jesus, perfect love came and revealed to mankind that we were desired, longed for, by God. Then for love, Perfect Love withdrew and gave us time to long for Him in return. The story will crescendo with a night and day cry for heaven to give our Beloved back, and heaven will speedily answer. When Jesus comes back, heaven will come with Him. The point is longing...the point is loving His appearing: Song of Songs 5:6I opened for my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7The watchmen who went about the city found me. They struck me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls Took my veil away from me. 8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him I am lovesick! 9The Daughters of Jerusalem What is your beloved More than another beloved...

God is using the least intense means necessary to draw as many to Himself as will humble themselves and submit to His leadership. Because God's leadership of creation is based in voluntary love and not involuntary submission, the effect this process has on me, my family, my church, and my city is largely up to me. If I will enter into repentance, which simply means to agree with God, I will find my life stirring others to decide if they will respond to the Lord. There are two enemies that war against this voluntary submission to God's leadership: the flesh and Satan. I must defeat both in my life in order to really come into an experience of the leadership, and the life that leadership brings, of Jesus. Submitting to Jesus is super wise, because His leadership makes life more enjoyable...more full. Jesus' way of doing things seems restrictive and dull from the viewpoint of the flesh but once you get into it, you find it is really the only satisfying way to live. The way to ...

Psalm 136:7To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever— 8The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever; 9The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever. 10To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His mercy endures forever; 11And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endures forever; 12With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endures forever; The Psalms were written in the night and day prayer-to-music movement that David began in Israel. Many of the Psalms have a clear "call and response", or antiphonal, nature to them. Antiphonal means "opposing voices.". To understand why the Psalms, or songs of prayer, are written this way, you really have to know why David organized the tabernacle of night and day worship the way he did. David was mimicking the government of God on earth. God's decrees go out by voluntary agreement. God desires, others see His desire, share in it, declare i...

There is a mistaken belief that Jesus could come any minute. He could, but He won't. Jesus wont violate His own written and prophesied plans to return. Jesus is the greatest prophet...everything he prophesied will come to pass: Matthew 21:11So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” Jesus himself said he would not return until Jewish leaders in Israel invited Him back as the Messiah rejected from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This will fulfill the prophetic promise of Psalm 118: Matthew 23:37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38“See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39“for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ” Not only that, but this intense process of Israel being sifted among the nations until ...