Those Things That Abide.

Those Things That Abide: 
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV) 

13  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
    We are familiar with the scripture.  We often quote it, but we are living in times that make us question our faith, lose our hope and find it difficult to love.   In the past months we have been bombarded with a metaphorical fiscal cliff, with the threats that our second amendment rights will be taken away, with the knowledge that our government is nearly bankrupt, and with the reality that seeds sown into a culture of violence have grown into the ugly truth that no matter how many safety precautions are in place, our schools are no longer safe.  In the midst of our chaos, our heavenly Father continues to assure us that three things abide: faith, hope and love.  

    Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"  (John 16:32-33 NKJV).  Even though many Christians do not realize it, we are on the winning team.  “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:3-5 NKJV).  Spiritually, we overcome the trials of this world when we walk in faith in the knowledge that we are loved by the One who created the universe and seeks the best for our lives.

    In Romans 8: 37-39, the Apostle Paul expresses that faith.  “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NKJV)

    Paul wrote to Timothy saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is our hope (1Timothy 1:1). In his book, Totally Saved, Dr. Tony Evans explains, "We have lasting hope through the salvation we have in Christ ... Hope means that even when it looks like it's all over, it's not all over yet. That's why the Bible says we can rejoice even in our tribulations. God is working in our hard times to produce proven character and hope in us." 

    Because of the love of God, and because God is love, no matter how bleak the world around us seems to be, we can walk in faith and hope.  Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away”  (Mark 13:30-31 NKJV).  We can stand firmly in the knowledge that His word says that even when all things in this worldly realm pass away,  faith, hope and love will abide.

The Bride of the Lamb of God: the Shulamite Bride, the Beloved Church

The Bride of the Lamb of God: the Shulamite Bride the Beloved Church
By Pastor Lonnie C. Crowe Rhema Fellowship Church
Published: June 22nd, 2012, The Torrington Telegram, Page 4

   In the "Song of Solomon" , the Shulamite comes to the realization that
whatever her situation or her emotional state, she is beloved of her
Bridegroom. Her love for him deepens when she realizes how passionately
she is loved (1 John 4:19).
   While "The Song of Solomon" is a literal picture of marriage, many
elements symbolize the Church and our relationship with our king, the
Lord Jesus. The song describes the experience of every believer who is
sought for and redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
   One of the most quoted passages from the song is "He brought me to
His banqueting table and His banner over me is love" (Song of Solomon 2:4).
   In the same manner, Christ has brought us to His banqueting table.
Through Holy Communion, we are in a place of His spiritual provision
and His love, His banner over us, protects us.
   "The Song of Solomon" 2:16 says, "My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He feeds his flock among the lilies." Here is a picture of not only the
security of the believer in Christ (John 10:28-29 ), but of the Good
Shepherd who knows His sheep, believers, and lays down His life for us
(John 10:11).
   Because of Him, we are no longer stained by sin. His sacrifice on the
cross has removed our spots and blemishes. (Song of Solomon 4:7;
Ephesians 5:27).
   When we enter into the deep spiritual understanding that God truly is
love (1 John 4:8), we realize that we are loved just as we are. In
receiving that love, we desire to please our Bridegroom. Living in the
knowledge that God loves us gives us validity, purpose and direction.
   How can life be meaningless when the Creator of all life loves us
with a passion that took Him to Calvary?
   Jesus' death on the cross makes it possible for us to have the same
relationship with Him that Adam and Eve had before the fall. We can walk
with Him in the Garden of Delight. He has restored our fellowship. He
has anointed us with His joy.
   He calls us His children, His disciples , His brothers , His friends,
His beloved. The third verse to the old hymn, "The Love of God" was
found penciled on the wall of an insane asylum , written by a man
suffering from dementia, who had risen above his turmoil , and rested in
the love of God:
"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
 And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a
quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky."
We are truly His beloved and He is ours.

The Bride of the Lamb of God: Miriam the Celebratory Bride

The Bride of the Lamb of God: Miriam the Celebratory Bride
By Pastor Lonnie C. Crowe,  Rhema Fellowship Church
First Published: June 15th, 2012, The Torrington Telegram, Page 4

    The church has been ordained by God to be the holy, radiant, spotless Bride of Christ, the Lamb of God. Many times women in Old Testament picture the attributes of the church in the New Testament. None is flawless, but each is beloved. Even so, the church, the Bride of the Lamb, though not without flaw,is beloved.
   Miriam, the sister of Moses, is a woman with attributes of the Bride of the Lamb. We remember her often as the woman with leprosy who had complaints against her brother. We must remember her, too, as the one who led the women in the "Song of the Sea" after God had miraculously rescued His people from the Egyptian army.
   Moses, representing the nation of Israel, first leads the men. Then with tambourines and dance, Miriam leads the women (Exodus 15:1-20 ).
   What a triumphant picture of Israel and the Church joining in celebration of Yahweh, the God of deliverance. Miriam began the Israelite tradition of celebrating God's victories through dance.
   Our God is the God of celebration. He encourages our rejoicing in Him because the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10) The "Chabad Weekly Torah Commentary" suggests, "We don't sing when we are frightened, despairing, sleepy or after a heavy meal. We sing when
we are pining after one whom we love, when we are yearning for better times, when we are celebrating an achievement or anticipating a revelation.
   "We don't sing when we are complacent . We sing when we are striving for something, or when we have tasted joy and are climbing it to the heavens. Song is prayer, the endeavor to rise above the petty cares of life and cleave to one's source. Song is the quest for redemption."
   Even a song of yearning is a celebration of the One who can fulfill the longing in our hearts.
   John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, said, "Sour godliness is the devil's religion."  His brother Charles wrote more than 6,000 hymns including "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing My Great Redeemer's Praise." The Wesleys knew the spiritual power and authority that manifest through celebration.
   One of my favorite authors, Graham Cooke, has written, "The Holy Spirit is so good, so strong, so majestic, so intentional , so funny, so powerful, so loving, so gracious, so generous " a genius at life!"
   God knows what is happening in our world and is not overwhelmed by it. Let's go to Him for strategies and solutions . In spite of what is happening around us, we can rejoice in our Redeemer and in our redemption. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
   Zephaniah 3:17 says that God will rejoice over us with singing. I love the concept of God, so full of joy, that He bursts into song. We are created in His image. How can we help but be like Miriam?  We must  pick up our tambourines and dance as we sing praises for what the Lord has done, is doing, and will do.
   Miriam, a worship leader, represents the church rejoicing in our Lord. She represents the Bride of the Lamb rejoicing in her Bridegroom.

The Bride of the Lamb of God: Eve, the Life-Giving Church

The Bride of the Lamb of God:  Eve, the Life-Giving Church

By Pastor Lonnie C. Crowe

First Published: June 8th, 2012, The Torrington Telegram, Page 4

                Again, several biblical symbols represent the church. Among them is the church's calling as the holy, radiant, spotless Bride of Christ, the Lamb of God. Many times women in Old Testament picture the attributes of the church in the New Testament. None is flawless, but each is beloved.

   Eve is one whom we readily recognize as being flawed, but tend to overlook as being beloved. In Genesis 3, the enemy, as a serpent, entered the garden to distort the plan of God. He came to the woman first because he knew she had been called as a helpmeet, the complement to the man. Together, Adam and the woman were to bring about God's fullness for mankind.

   The enemy's purpose was to attack the Creator through those whom He had created. He beguiled the woman, and she was deceived. Adam was not deceived. (1 Corthinians 2:14).  He ate the fruit willingly and blamed the woman and then God for having given him the woman. However, the woman discerned and confessed the deception, "The serpent deceived me and I ate" (Genesis 3:13). She was the first to discern the reality of evil.

   Blessing the woman's discernment, God spoke to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:14-15).     The grace of God came to mankind through the seed of the woman who is Jesus Christ

  As picture of blood atonement, God sacrificed an animal and dressed the man and the woman in its skin. Adam then named the woman, Eve, meaning "life giver." When the woman moved out of deception and into truth, she became a giver of life. This is God's plan for His church, for the Bride of the Lamb.

   We are to move out of the deception of worldly philosophies and into the truth of the Word of God, and, thereby, become givers of life to those around us. One of the deceptions that the enemy is tempting us with today is the thought that Christianity provides only one of many ways to experience God and that we must view the only Bible as an allegorical and/or metaphorical view of history and determine within ourselves what is truth.

   That deception moves us out of grace and into the despairing concept that we must overcome evil in our own power. The ones who accept this deception become like those St. Paul described as "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Paul warned believers to turn away from such (2 Timothy 3:7).

   Holy Spirit power lifts us above our circumstances and allows God to bless us in spite of those circumstances. No other religion or philosophy brings the hope, the power, the authority, the victory, the eternal life we find in the seed of the woman.

   When we walk in the truth of the Word of God, we have hope, peace and joy. In worldly philosophies and powerless religions, we find only hopelessness and despair.

   When Eve, though once deceived, moved from deception and into Truth, she became a life giver.  Are we, the church, the Bride of the Lamb of God, life-givers? Do we walk in and speak forth the hope, power, grace and love that we find in our Savior?