Radical Life Support

All of the attributes are interconnected. We are trying to build on top of the other, like building blocks. For example, God is Creator. He knows how everything works. Who better to defend us than someone who knows the system and how is works. And with God as Almighty, when He is ready to defend, he has all the power He needs to defend it.

Believe it is important to know the entire word of God, old and new testament. Good idea to read the bible through and have everything refreshed in your mind. In this case, when I think of God Defender I am reminded of all the battles in the old testament. There are so many examples in the old testament showing God defending and protecting His people in battle. You can really get to know who God is by learning about how God defends and helps His people in battle. And what works, in battle. 

So many times when the Israelites were getting ready for battle or someone was coming to challenge them in battle, what was really important to God was that they consulted Him before they went into battle. If they didn’t consult Him, they lost battles. Also in the battles He doesn’t ask them to defeat the enemy the same way each time. Reading the old testament will show you leaders who did things right and those who didn’t do things right. Good leaders surrounded themselves with good counselors. As you recall these old testament battles, it should strengthen your resolve. God was there for the Israelites and He will be there for me now. There is great value in knowing the God of the old testament.

 After saying all that, when I looked up verses in the bible it was more about God defending us in a legal sense. Like an attorney who is your defender in a courtroom. Deut 10:18 says, “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving them food and clothing.” 

When God was putting together, under the old covenant, all the things they needed to do as they were governing, He was very concerned that people were not exploited, especially the poor and the weak who had no one to come to their defense. God is a defender to the powerless. God says I hear their cries. Don’t deprive them of justice. If you are impoverished, God will take care of you. He promises to do that.

I John 2:1-2, “If anyone sins, we have one who speaks to the Father in our Defense, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” So Jesus is also our Defender. NIV bible study notes say that Defender here is referring to someone who speaks in court on behalf of a defendant and in God court the Defender must be and is, sinless. Jesus can be the only one who can stand in our defense before God. 

Why is it so important to believe God is your Defender? Every battle, every temptation, every obstacle, He will fight for you. Some of you are fighting against bad habits and addictions and it seems overwhelming. Believe in Him, trust in Him, do all the things He tells you to do to fight that battle and face the enemy and you will come out victorious. 

When God is on your side in the battlefield or in the courtroom, you are perfectly defended and safe. 

Living a Radical Life for Jesus means believing that God is Defender

Rick shares the events surrounding the Summer of 1991 when Teen Rescue almost stopped after 4 years. Rick always wondered as a school year came to an end, if he would travel to schools again in the fall. Starting in 1987, after doing about 18 schools the first year, he wondered if he was going to do even one more school the coming year; but September rolled around and schools started calling. They did about 25 schools the second year and were up to about 50 schools by years 3 and 4. 

The summer of 1991 was no exception. The band had just come off of their biggest year ever and they made some administrative decisions moving Teen Rescue to another town and enlarging the staff. But, as a young entrepreneur, he didn't foresee some financial calculations which then caused Teen Rescue to have to dramatically pull back. Rick met with the band and staff to share what his heart was to do but in his mind wasn’t sure how to make the business end of it work. 

Rick pretty much released the whole group and explained that he couldn’t promise anything as they came upon their fifth year that would be solid enough to tell them to stick around. One day Rick, concerned that money was getting scarce, went to an employment agency. All day everything inside of him was saying this was not right, he shouldn’t be getting a job. One side of him was thinking he wanted to be faithful to provide for his family, and on the other side he was hearing, what has God called you to do as you are waiting faithfully. 

He worked one day and was given cash for the job. He put the money in his wallet and went home. While he got out of the car, he put his sunglasses and his wallet on top of the car. He walks into the house, he realizes he has to meet somebody, so he goes back out and jumps in the car and takes off. Suddenly he realizes he set these items on top of the car. Returning home, they were on the road, glasses run over and the wallet open. The money he had just earned for that day was gone. He should have listened to his heart. 

Feeling discouraged, he walked into his office and saw messages on the answering machine. One call was from a superintendent who had a consortium of 18 high schools and wondered if he was available in the coming year. He couldn’t call back fast enough.

He assembled the band back and they went into their busiest year ever. From there, Rick didn’t have another summer where he questioned should he be doing this or will there be another school that will call. It was a time of great growth and excitement for what Teen Rescue was doing. 

As easy as it is sometimes to get discouraged, it is just as easy to say, “Do not be discouraged.” When you wake up in the morning, it is your responsibility to begin to encourage yourself. The bible says to speak to your soul, to live. When your bones feel dry, you have to speak to those dry bones and tell them to come alive. The Lord wants us to be refreshed and it starts with your own words. Are you either a pessimist or an optimist? Rick says he is neither one, he is a psalmist. His cup isn’t half full nor half empty, it is running over.

Ricks story also reminds us to be very careful when you are waiting on God not to jump ahead and try to make things work when you think God isn’t doing anything or taking a long time. It is the difference between moving forward in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Rick says it is a thing you have to learn. You have to live in this world in your flesh but with the Spirit in your heart. The Spirit part of you is bigger than the flesh part of you. If you feed the flesh instead of the Spirit, then the flesh will win every time. If you feed the Spirit, your spirit grows, your spirit is encouraged and your spirit encourages others. The best way to be encouraged is to encourage others. Give to others. The way to get is to give. The way to receive is to spread the love around.

God is uncreated. He was not created. He has no origin. If you think God comes from something else, then where does that entity come from and you find yourself going down a rabbit hole that never ends. But with God it ends with Him. There is nothing more than Him. He doesn’t rely and anyone else. No one created Him. He is self-existent.

We will bring God down to our level so we can manage our understanding of Him. God doesn’t account to us for who He is. He is responsible to no one. He is self-existent, self-dependent, and self-sufficient. He is not a part of creation, time or space. Her created them and is independent of them.

You were created in the image of God. You cannot know your purpose for being born apart from knowing the God who created you. If you want to know your purpose, know your creator. 

Jer 32:17 – Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Is 42:5 – This is what God the Lord says, the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it. Who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it.

God as Creator comes from Gen 1:1. God created the heavens and the earth. He created the world in six days. And He looked at all He created and it was good. God says to Job 41:11, “Who is it that has a claim against me?” “Everything under the heaven belongs to me.” If you create something it belongs to you, the universe belongs to God.

Jesus is a critical component of creation. John 1 – Jesus was the Word. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. Paul says – For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, powers or principalities, all things were created by Him and for Him and He is before all things and by Him all things exist

Phil 2:6-8 – Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing—taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death on a cross. Jesus came as a human to save us from our sins.

There are spiritual truths built into creation. When God created lamb and sheep, it was intentional. One of Jesus’ names is He is the Lamb of God. He is the final sacrifice. Jesus came to do the Father’s will, to lay down His life, and then to take it up again. A speaker once said, “Did God pause when He created blood, knowing His Son would have to shed it in order to save the world?” 

Science is created by God and shows the order of things. Science is good. When you want to understand the order of creation, you go to science. Science shows how consistent God is in His creation and scientists can measure it. But when you want to know right from wrong and what is good and what is evil, you don’t go to science. It gives no moral code. Science is science and it is not wise to base a religion on science because it is limited. Science is only a part of creation.

God created people with all kinds of personalities, passions, talents, and gifts to make things work in His created world. We were all created with a certain personality for a certain purpose. Nothing is created randomly.  You will not be content until you are doing what you were created to do. God loves you and all His creation.

Think of fear as here and faith is there. So we are going to go from here to there. From fear to faith.

On Easter 2020, a young man was walking down the sidewalk and he stopped to talk to Rick. Rick said, “What’s happening?” He said, “I’m afraid.” Rick says, “What are you afraid of?” He replied that the whole quarantine situation was making him afraid. Rick asked him, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” He said, “That he could get the virus and die.” Rick said, “That definitely is not even close to the worst thing that could happen.” And the young man looked at him wide eyed and confused. Rick proceeded to say, “Actually the worst thing that could happen is if you were to die without Jesus.” Rick proceeded to tell him that today was Easter when the death and resurrection of Jesus is celebrated. He told this man that he came walking in this direction in fear but he could now continue on in faith. He wanted to know how he could do that so Rick shared the gospel, how to be born again, and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. So he prayed to accept Jesus into his heart right there on the sidewalk in front of our house. The change that came over him was dramatic. He said, “I am different. I am not afraid.” Rick said, “Because the worst isn’t going to happen. God is with you. He is your protector and provider and everything you need is found in Him.” He walked away in faith and a saint of Jesus Christ.  

This young man was in crisis and his whole being was shaken. God had favor on him and brought an answer to him through Rick. Rick offered a greater eternal perspective to his earthy fear. It is good to have the question of your eternal destination figured out. Then he took a step of faith and believed.

Believers need to be ready to offer hope and encouragement to others but if you do not have that hope and encouragement yourself, you cannot offer it to others. You have to have it to give it. When you have Jesus and the knowledge of salvation and you share that information with others, you are an evangelist. You are one who brings good news to another. The beginning of winning others is to recognize that in you lives this evangelist.The greater the crisis, the greater Christ is. Share with others where Christ is in it. 

If you are feeling fearful, take steps to walk from fear to faith:

Take an inventory as to what you are feeding your mind, the battle starts and is won in your mind; identify that it is fear; decide you do not want to be in fear. Choose not to be afraid; realize that fear puts you in a weak position and you do not want to make decisions based on fear; declare who God is: He is in control of the whole world, He is taking care of me, He is with me, that He has always provided for me financially and physically, and know your position in Him; put the fear into God’s perspective; put God back into the equation; remove the What Ifs: What if, then God is bigger; What if, then God will take care of me; What if, then God will heal me; read your bible and pray and get around people who are in faith and can encourage you.

The bible says be not afraid. Some may say that it is natural to be afraid and maybe but then go from the natural to the supernatural and take a step of faith. You don’t know what courage is until you face fear. Go beyond fear and step into courage. It is a journey to go from here to there, fear to faith.

This is a good time to grow your faith. A lot of people just want to pray away a problem or pray out of a situation but in this crisis everyone is dealing with you cannot just skip to the end. Since you have to walk through it, God wants to walk through it with you and have you trust Him each step of the way. Walking in faith, walking in peace, not worrying. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Have you ever thought about the beauty of God? Splendor and glory can also describe the radiant beauty of God in the bible.God doesn’t have to adorn Himself with beautiful things to make Himself beautiful. He is beautiful and He is the one who makes something beautiful. Apart from God there is no true beauty. Only the beauty that comes from God is eternal and lasting and true.

A place God dwells is spoken of as beautiful. Psalms say splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and glory are in His sanctuary. From Mt. Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. In Rev 21, John saw the Holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with precious stones—jasper, sapphire, emerald, topaz, amethyst, pearls, and pure gold. Royalty mesmerized us and the King of kings is going to dwell in this new Jerusalem. Royal palaces maybe just a taste of what heaven.

How does God reveal His beauty in creation. Isn’t His beauty displaying in creation for all to see? I love the beauty of a flower. So much variety, sizes, and colors. Only a beautiful God could create so many beautiful things. In Matt 6:29, Jesus say, consider the lilies, not even Solomon in all His splendor as king was dressed like one of these. God shows beauty in the biggest things and in the smallest things.

Consider sky filled with the moon and the stars shining their light all the way to earth. A rainbow makes you want to stop and follow its track across the sky. Lightning displays beautifully power. We love beauty and will spend a lot of money to travel and visit beautiful places. In Hab 3:3-4 it says that His beauty was like the sunrise, rays flashed from His hand where there His power was hidden. 

How does God reveal His beauty through Jesus? One of the prophetic verses in Isaiah, talking about the Messiah who is Jesus, that he had no beauty (as a man) or majesty to attract us to Him. Jesus was God but He laid His physical glory aside when He came to earth. Three disciples were fortunate to see His true glory displayed up in the mount of transfiguration. Luke 9:29 said that, as He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Moses and Elijah appeared in all glorious splendor (radiant beauty).

Jesus mentioned once about a beauty done for Him. After a woman poured perfume on his body to prepare Him for burial, Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” If you pause a minute and think of Jesus on the cross, you will see sacrificial beauty. After He died and rose again, He visited the earth with His new body and then ascended into heaven and promised to return again. Another verse in Isaiah 42 says that, In that day, The Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious. He will come back in the skies. 

Finally, how does God reveal His beauty to us in our hearts. Since God’s presence makes things beautiful, how about us? The bible says we are formed in His image. And if you are a believer, His Holy Spirit’s presence dwells in you. He made you beautiful and He gives you beauty. God gives beauty from ashes and he makes all things beautiful in its time. God can give you beauty in your life. He gives beauty to those He loves and He definitely loves you.

Our beauty should not come from outward adornment but from your inner self says Peter, an unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God’s sight. How do you become beautiful on the inside? When Moses came down from the mountain with the ten commandments, his face was radiant because he had spent time with God. The more time you spend with the Lord, the more beautiful you become.

Ps 27:4, One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I see, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

In Part 1, Rick shared that he knows he is a non-traditionalist and he agrees that Robin is very much the opposite. Robin is a traditionalist, she sang in a choir for 13 years and she does not like to rock the boat. Rick is the Adam to Robin’s Eve. God created them perfectly different. 

Rick says if the crowd is running one way, he tends to run the other way but with Robin, if the crowd is going one way, she intentionally goes with the crowd. For example when she has worked for executives, she will find out how her boss works and then adjust and conform to their way of doing things to create a good working relationship.

She does the same in churches. Each church has its own personality and language. They speak a specific way based on their culture, their pastor, or focus. So, Robin quietly observes them to learn what a church is about. Then intentionally conforms in order to communicate with them just like Paul who said he tried to be everything for everyone so that he might win some. She doesn’t see the need to push against the crowd in certain matters that might offend. 

Robin explains that for 13 years, God lead her to attend a church of a particular denomination that would not have been her first choice because she didn’t necessarily believe everything they believed. Over the years when certain beliefs were spoken that she didn’t believe, she didn’t speak up to offer her opinion especially on matters that were debatable amongst many believers of differing denominations. When God places you somewhere, you simply need to love the people you are around.

Robin’s favorite place to attend church was on a navy military base in Japan. All the Protestants had to lay down their differing beliefs and stick to the ones they all believed in like the Trinity, and the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart and soul and love others as yourself. In order for the group of believers to survive and support one another they focused on the basics. It was simple and perfect and she hated to return to the USA with all its denominational divisions.

Robin shares one final belief about all the churches and denominations of the world. All are run by sinful people so no church is perfect. Some churches might claim they have it all together but she believes each church has at least one thing wrong about it. If you go to any church, in time you will find that one thing. You can focus on what is wrong about a church or decided to focus on what is right about a church instead. Many look at mega-churches and instead of highlighting all the good they are doing, they gleefully say, “I found it, I found that one thing,” and then they proceed to magnify the church’s or pastor’s error to minimize its influence. 

Many people base their belief on a church or pastor based on something they were told instead of listening to the pastor or attending the church. One time Robin was listening to a popular highly-criticized preacher and God told her to let go of all the negative prejudices she had previously heard about him because she had never listened to him before. God told her to listen to what he was saying and that God was using him to touch people. 

One thing Robin admires about Rick is that he feels compelled to come in and defend a criticized pastor because he or she is not there to defend themself. Having been a pastor and in ministry for many years, Rick knows first hand how difficult a job it is to lead God’s people and he provides a pastor’s point of view to many things that go on in a church.

The strength of Rick’s non-traditional spirit gives him more boldness to speak out and shake things up on matters that need attention. Robin’s strength as a traditionalist is to not rock the boat in order to keep the peace in the crowd so it will be more receptive to hear and address a matter. Both are good and useful traits in God's kingdom.

God Almighty, is El Shaddai in Hebrew, meaning invincible power of God. He is all, the most, complete might. Omnipotent meaning all powerful. God the creator is the source of all power. Any power you see comes from Him. Nothing is more powerful than Him. Power never diminishes in Him. He is all power all the time. All the power in all the universe is within Him.  When God does something like create a flower or a star in the sky, He doesn’t need more energy to do one or the other. In Him, He can do anything with the same amount of effort as anything else. He can create things out of nothing.

As AW Tozer says, in his book Knowledge of the Holy, “all the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fulness in His own infinite being.” So if He is an infinite being than His power if infinite. He has the same amount of power in the past, the same amount of power today, and He’ll have the same amount of power in the future. It is hard to comprehend because usually when we think of energy, it has to be recharged. He doesn’t recharge and He doesn’t have to draw on anything else to recharge.

Rev 4:8, In John's vision the heavenly creatures say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” He has the same amount of power always. Who was in the past, who is today and who will be in the future. It is eternal power, it doesn’t fade, and it is unlimited.

Heb 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His Powerful word.” Scriptures say that Jesus is The Word and all things were made through Him. If all things were made through Him too then there is power through Jesus Christ. You cannot create the world without power. He would talk to a storm, command it to be still, and it was immediately.

In Matt 26:53 Jesus said, “I can call on my Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels.” Jesus had all this power with Him. He could do whatever He wanted to do on the earth but He submitted to the Father. Even though He had all this power, He didn’t use it. Because He didn’t come with all His power to destroy man because of their sins, He came with all His power to save man because of their sins. 

God has so much intense power that He could wipe it all away with the blink of an eye as easily as He created it. Yet, God is so tender. He said a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He won’t blow out. He is incredibly tender but He is also there with all the power you need to do anything that you need to do. 

The bible says we will see the Son of God coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. That will be awesome to see when He comes and returns. But the greatest power of all is seen in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The power that raised Christ from the dead is that He never died again. He was raised to life and because of His resurrection, we all live too.

Rom 8:11 says, “if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dear will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, of love, and of a sound mind so if the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, this power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of you. It is the very presence of God. 

How powerful is the God you believe in? His power has not diminished over time and it never will. If you want to feel secure and safe, then put your life in the hands of this big almighty personal God. I believe in a God who can do anything for me and give me all the strength I need to do to live out this life. He possesses absolute limitless power. His power is divine. His power is only used for His will and His will is good.

Living a Radical Life for Jesus means believing that God is Almighty

Can you relate to Rick Moe and say that you just don't fit into a traditionalist environment? This is the episode when Rick says, "It is all about me."

Rick Moe shares how the Radical Life Support band began.  And he answers the question, "How do you know if you are called?"

Robin loves thinking about God and who He is. It started about 20 years ago when a lady at her church showed people how to put together a prayer notebook and it included verses in the bible about God’s names, characteristics, and attributes. There was a page for every day of the month. She used that notebook for many years reading about God every day. When she found an alphabetized list of God’s attributes, she adapted the prayer notebook to fit that layout.

Then while singing a song in the choir on the names of Jesus, Robin added an alphabetized list for Jesus to the notebook. Of course, a study on the Holy Spirit lead her to also include verses on this person of the glorious Triune Godhead. Then, she began to think about how believers should respond to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and created a list of responses. Finally, in her journey, Robin developed a list for the church. It progressed over many years, one building on top of the other. 

So now she has five lists for each letter of the alphabet and it was really fun to look up verses. Doing a study in the bible can bring you great joy as you learn more about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and how they view us and the church.

What really brought great insight for Robin was when she did a study on a book by A.W. Tozer entitled, Knowledge of the Holy. It was an in depth, eye-opening exploration on God and it absolutely, dramatically, and radically changed how she viewed God.

Many people put God in a box, but this busted out the sides of the box. A famous quote from the book is the basis of this podcast series, “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about us.” What a person thinks about God affects how they live their life, all that they do in life, how they view others, what their purpose is and how they make decisions. Many people view God wrongly. If you view God how He really is, it will change your perspective on life.

Can you know God? Maybe not in His entirety but God reveals Himself in the word, in creation, in the Person of Jesus, and in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. These will be the areas that will be studied for each attribute of God.

One thing will be explored in all God's attributes. What is true about one attribute will be true for all the other attributes. So, if God is eternal then His faithfulness is eternal and His love is eternal. They are all God and all interconnected. One doesn’t work outside of any of the others. If He is unlimited then His knowledge, resources, and power are without measure too. 

Robin’s favorite attribute of God is that He is unchanging. It gives you an unmovable firm foundation to stand on. You can always trust that God is a certain way. He will always keep His promises, be with you, and provide for your needs. You don’t have to worry because He is 100% reliable in who He says He is. 

Robin’s goals for doing this series on the attributes of God are so you could:

1.      Love God for all He is.

2.      Be moved with passion and emotion through knowledge of His being.

3.      Know Him more

4.      Accurately proclaim to others who God is.

5.      Bust open the sides of any box you have put God in

Robin hopes you will go on this journey with her. Maybe you couldn’t put your life into the hands of the God you thought Him to be; but after this study Robin hopes you will want to put your complete trust in this God you are learning Him to be.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have eternal life. This is who God is. 

Living a radical life for Jesus means glorifying the Father in all His attributes.