The God Without … A Thanksgiving Message

Reposted from gracethrufaith.com

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016

• Grace
• Holidays
• Past Featured

A Thanksgiving Message by Jack Kelley
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.   For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100)


Each year on the 4th Thursday of November we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the US.  It’s a holiday begun by the early settlers to express their gratitude to God for a bountiful harvest, and it’s patterned after the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.

After the harvest, Israelites from all over the country would gather in Jerusalem for a week long celebration. This was to commemorate the time God had spent with them in the wilderness and to give thanks for another good harvest. All year they saved up their tithes, the first born of their flocks and herds, the first sheaves of grain, the first grapes, figs, olives and other fruit and vegetables and brought it all to Jerusalem in the fall where they cooked and ate everything in a national celebration of praise (Deut. 12:5-7).

After surviving a very difficult year in the new world, the Pilgrims of New England instituted a similar, though much smaller, thanksgiving feast, again with the intent of praising God.   This event finally became a national holiday in the US in 1863, but it took until 1941 to settle on the 4th Thursday of November as its official observance.

My parents made sure we never forgot that it was the Lord who provided for us and so Thanksgiving was a religious observance in our house. Prayers were offered and each family member gave thanks to the Lord for all the good things we had received.
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today (Deut. 8:17-18).

We believed, as the Bible tells us, that even though my parents worked hard all year, it was the Lord who had given them their strength and ability and created opportunities for them. In these verses God reminded the Israelites (and us) not to forget that.  After all, lots of people work hard all their lives and never seem to get anywhere.   We weren’t well off, but we gave thanks for what we had because we knew where our blessings came from.

As an adult I got involved in the self-development field and began learning about the “god within”, an internal force I was told I could use to maximize my “creative potential” for success.  This appealed to my ego and made me seem like the master of my own fate. I forgot all about the Lord’s admonition to remember Him. When I was born again at age 40 I finally saw that this “god within” was only my own self determination. It was really the “God without” who had been blessing me all along even though I was taking all the credit.  In one of my first prayers for forgiveness, I asked the Lord to forgive me for giving myself credit for things that were gifts from Him. As I was praying about this, the phrase “God Without” kept repeating itself in my mind. What was the Lord trying to tell me?

I believe He was saying that the word “without” applies to lots of things where He is concerned, and as I continued to pray several of them came to mind.
If you’re looking for things to be thankful for (even if you live in a country where Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated) try some of these “withouts” the Lord brought to my mind.  I’m sure He will bring even more to yours as you focus on them.

Love Without Limits … For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Forgiveness Without Question … Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened (Matt 7:7-8).  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Performance Without Exception … All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. And this is the will of Him Who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up on the last day (John 6:37, 39).
Promise Without Equivocation … I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say, “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please … what I have said, that will I bring about and what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:10-11).
Blessings Without Number … You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country (wherever you are). The fruit of your womb will be blessed (your children), and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock-the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks (your work). Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed (you’ll have plenty of food). You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out (when you come home at night and when you leave in the morning) (Deut 28:3-6).
Mercy Without Measure …. It is because of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion fails not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Faithfulness Without Failing … Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands (Deut. 7:9).  And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Redemption Without Retraction …  “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life (John 5:24).  For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:40).

Salvation Without Merit … But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).
Grace Without Guilt … Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

So in a time when mankind has all but forgotten that the Lord is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Author of all our victories, who arranges every opportunity and fashions every blessing, these “withouts” might serve as good reminders to give thanks where thanks is due.
And now may “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26) Happy Thanksgiving. 11-17-12

Proving the Existence of Jesus

Reposted from gracethrufaith.com

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016

• Israel
• Old Testament
• Past Featured
• Prayer
• Prophecy

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Know and understand this. From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until The Anointed One the ruler comes there will be seven sevens and sixty two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble. After the sixty two sevens the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. (Daniel 9:25-26a)


This information was given to Daniel in 538 BC in response to a prayer asking God to release His people from their 70 year captivity in Babylon. The Angel Gabriel visited Daniel with a message that has become known as the 70 weeks of Daniel (Dan 9:24-27). The title is somewhat confusing because the Hebrew word translated as “weeks” in the KJV and “sevens” in the NIV actually describes a period of seven years. So 70 “weeks” is really 490 years, and the seven “sevens” and sixty-two “sevens” referenced above combine to equal 483 years. This passage is the single most important piece of prophecy in all of scripture because it chronicles the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the coming of the anti-christ and the timing and duration of the Great Tribulation. It is nothing less than the key that unlocks our understanding of the end times, and so mastering it is critical for any student of eschatology.

For our purposes today, the 2 verses of Daniel’s prophecy I’ve quoted presents us with a very narrow window of time into which we must fit the birth and death of anyone claiming to be the Messiah. This window of time can be measured in secular history, opening 483 years after the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (issued in March of 445 BC by the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes Longimonus) and closing with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Do the math and you only have a 38 year span of time. In 6000 years of recorded history with millions of lives beginning and ending, what is the probability of any man being born within this 38-year time frame? Now factor in some of the unique aspects of the Messiah’s life. He had to fulfill over 300 prophecies written about Him hundreds of years before His birth, be recognized as Israel’s Messiah by thousands of people, incur the wrath of His country’s leaders, be falsely accused of a capital crime, make no defense though innocent, and be publicly executed by crucifixion.

Where Was He Born?

To try and assess the odds against of all this happening by chance, let’s review just 3 of these 300 prophecies. How about the place of His birth? 750 years in advance the Prophet Micah learned from God that Israel’s Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) even though it turns out His family was from Nazareth, several days travel away. He also learned that this Messiah would be unusual in that His origins would be “from of old, from ancient times.” Literally translated this means His family descent is from before time and perpetual. In other words He would possess eternal life. Furthermore verse 3, the one that doesn’t make it to your Christmas card, states that because of Him Israel would be abandoned until all His brothers return to join those who’ve accepted Him.

By the way, if you don’t believe the generally accepted dating for these prophecies, consider this. The Old Testament, from which they come, had been translated from Hebrew into Greek beginning in about 275 BC and by 150 BC was substantially complete. Therefore events foretold concerning the life of Jesus were a matter of public record at least 150 years before the fact. How many years prior to their fulfillment must a prophecy be given to have validity? Remember, prophecy is God’s way of authenticating Himself for us, because only someone who exists outside the restrictions of time can describe events before they’ve taken place with 100% accuracy.   The fact that sets the life of Jesus apart from all of humanity is not that He performed miracles. It’s that so many details about His life were foretold 100s and even 1000s of years in advance.

What about His betrayal?

In Zechariah 11:12-13 we’re told that the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver in the House of the Lord, and that the money would be used to buy a field from a potter. Though Zechariah wrote these things around 520 BC Matt 27:3-8 indicates that’s exactly what happened. Here you see the Lord’s betrayer and His sworn enemies fulfilling prophecies down to the last detail. If you happened to be born at the right time and were trying to force fit yourself into Messianic prophecy, we could understand getting your friends to cooperate, but how do you go about getting your enemies to do so? The fact that He was betrayed by a close friend during a meal was foretold in Psalm 41:9 and confirmed in John 13:18 & 26-27.

How Did He Die?

The Jews were people of the Law and their leaders prided themselves on their merciful application of justice. Yet in the case of Jesus they consciously and maliciously violated their own laws repeatedly. No one could be arrested with out formal charges being filed, yet Jesus was. It took 2 independent witnesses to convict but they couldn’t get this required collaboration, so they convicted Jesus on His own testimony, also forbidden. Trials couldn’t be held at night, but His was. Death sentences required unanimous consent of the Sanhedrin (ruling body) and a “sleep on it” rule wherein they had to come back the next day and vote again. But in His case they didn’t inform the Lord’s advocates among them of the trial thereby eliminating the possibility of a divided vote and then waived the sleep on it rule. Much of this was predicted in Isaiah 53:7-8 750 years before the fact.

Jewish law required death by stoning, but the Jews had lost the right to impose capital punishment, and so appealed to the Romans, whose method of execution was crucifixion. This was a particularly gruesome and painful method first used by the Assyrians in about 800 BC and adopted by the Romans 700 years later. But in Psalm 22, King David described in detail what it feels like to be crucified and then foretold the activities of the Lord’s executioners, down to splitting up his clothing and casting lots for His robe. David wrote this psalm over 1000 years before the fact.

So What’s The Point?

In Jesus we have someone who was born in Bethlehem though His family was not from there, and lived and died within the prescribed 38 years out of 6000. He was widely accepted as Israel’s Messiah but betrayed by a close friend and though innocent of any crime made no defense and was convicted and sentenced to death in an illegal trial. His enemies paid the prophesied amount of money for His betrayal and then when payment was returned to the Temple used it to buy a potter’s field. He was executed by a method foretold before its invention and his executioners split up His belongings just as predicted.

That’s only 4 out of over 300 fulfilled prophecies we could explore. But even with just these 4 the odds against them happening by chance are so astronomically high as to be ridiculous. It’s true, as I stated in last week’s message that these things are no longer taught in our schools, nor sadly even in many of our churches. But if you take it upon yourself to study just a few readily available reference books, you’ll find that you can prove the existence of Jesus, and that He is Who He claims to be, with greater certainty than you can prove that you are who you claim to be. No matter what standard you decide to use, rules of evidence as used by an attorney, statistical probability as used by a mathematician, or forensic logic as used by a debater, you’ll be persuaded beyond reasonable doubt. You can take His word for that: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13).