Halloween ghost story?

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

Jesus walks on water...

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here! ”

Matthew 14:22-27

DID THE DISCIPLES FEAR GHOSTS?

Okay, Lets strip this right back the original text reads the word "ghost" is φάντασμα(phantasma),

a noun which means "an appearance, an apparition."

The only reference of it being used in Scripture is here both in Mark's and Matthew's account of the event.

So let's find its source, it comes from the root word

φαντάζω (phantazo), a verb which means "to cause to appear, make visible, expose to view, show."

So the disciples feared an "unexplained appearance" of something.

Where else can the verb φαντάζω (phantazo) be found? I can find it in only one other scripture reference:

 

Moses himself was so frightened at the

sight φαντάζω

that he said, “I am terrified and trembling.” Hebrews 12:21

So what is the "sight" this ghost, this phantom? The author is writing to Jewish believers, who are intimately familiar with their Tanakh (the Old Testament). He is emphasising the inapproachability of God on Mount Sinai, something with which the readers were very familiar.

He is referring to Exodus ch 19 where Moses and the sons of Israel had arrived at Sinai after having escsped Egypt. 
  
THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE 
  
"The LORD said to Moses, 'Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever'"

Exodus ch 19v9

God warned him,

"You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death'"

Exodus ch 19v12

And it was not just the people that would die, but "whether beast or man, he shall not live"

Exodus ch 19v13

  
Three days later, "Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently"

Exodus ch 19v20

God told Moses

"Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish"

Exodus ch 19v21

And it was from within this terrifying smoke and blazing fire that the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments. 
  
We see then, that

φαντάζω (phantazo)

as we read in Hebrews was the "appearance"

of God in what he called

"blazing fire,"

which the people were not to approach or they would die.

(So the appearance, the phantom or "ghost" as we read was a death bringer?)

Moses recorded the event later quoting the fears of the people,

"this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die"

Deuteronomy ch 5v25

  
We see elsewhere in the bible;

The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and he thought

"We will surely die, for we have seen God" Judges ch 13v21

He appeared also to Gideon who, upon realizing it, cried out,

"Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face," to which God replied, "do not fear; you shall not die"

Judges ch6v22-23

  
SO WHAT DID THE DISCIPLES FEAR?
  
What is it the disciples of Jesus feared, then?

Was it the "appearance" of a ghost,

a roaming, disembodied spirit of a dead person, a phantom, a banshee or other ghostly ghoul?

No...

The disciples feared for their lives!

They thought they were seeing an "appearance" of the Lord, the same  "appearance" they had heard read in the temple, the "appearance" that caused their ancestors to tremble with fear of death at Mount Sinai!

But Jesus comforted them, just as the angel of the Lord had done in the past, and said,

"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid"

Mark ch6v50

The Bible teaches us ghosts don't exist.

Reflect and meditate on Jesus' response to His disciples:

"Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid."

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

Hebrews ch 12v22-24

Through Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, we can approach God! In the past God could not be approached, for anyone catching a glimpse of His glory would perish

but because of what Christ has done for us, we are welcome to draw near to God! We "have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear;" we "have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father'"

Romans ch8v15

The word "Abba" is the equivalent of our "Daddy." Almighty God appeared in the past in a death bringing blaze of fire.

We get to draw near and call Him, "Daddy." 

The apostle Paul, the survivalist!

Did the apostle Paul have survival experience?

More than the sailors, the soldiers or did the Holy Spirit prep him?

Acts 27:27-38 NIV

"On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away. Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.

Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea."

The apostle Paul, a prominent figure in the book of Acts, was shipwrecked three times. In his lifetime traveling by sea was primitive. It was harsh. You took your life into your own hands when you boarded one of those first-century sailing vessels. And Paul had survived three shipwrecks.

So how do we survive a shipwreck in life? We will all face storms & sooner rather than later we'll find ourselves against the rocks.

If life is a journey then we will face obstacles, storms & mountains to climb. That is just the way it is. There are times when you will have smooth sailing. There are times when the sky will be blue and the sun will be shining. There will be beautiful moments between the storms. Remember not all the winds that blow in life are necessarily devastating.

On Paul’s voyage to Rome, we read in Acts that “the south wind blew softly” (Acts 27:13).

Sometimes that is the way it is. The south wind is blowing softly. You feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

Thank God for those moments. You'll need them for when the storm comes.

Sometimes people think that when they are in the will of God, they will have an easy ride.

That was not true of the apostle Paul. He seemed to face every kind of adversity imaginable. He had many enemies that were jealous of his success and would follow him around and undermine him, intending to destroy him. He had many setbacks in life, arrests, beatings and inprisonment.

Talking about his trials, he wrote, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

Five years before making his journey to Rome, Paul wrote the believers there, “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you” (Romans 1:10).

We would say, “Hey, would you guys pray for me? I am coming your way, pray the Lord gives me a prosperous journey by the will of God.” Did God answer his prayer? Yes.

We hear a lot about prosperity today & God wants a believer to prosper but the problem is with the meaning that people take from "prosperity".

For many, prosperity means

you never will be sick

you will never have problems

you will have plenty of money & 

life will be just great.

The problem with that is too much YOU not enough God.

The truth is that you can live a prosperous life in the will of God and still face conflict.

Paul went through shipwreck on his way to Rome but he had a prosperous journey, by the will of God, because of what it ultimately accomplished.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God".

Seeing God's will working in our lives will bring prosperity but not in a way that the flesh will measure, not by the worlds standard!

Paul survived a shipwreck of a life and as I have already said we are all going to face storms and difficulties, yes even shipwrecks in some way.

So it is time for us to get our sea legs and learn how to survive, we need to equip ourselves with the right gear & mindset for what lies ahead...

Get lost in the word of God, prep your mind in prayer & know God will see you through!

Our protection, plan & purpose

Do you ever bird watch?

 

I don’t mean like a avid bird watcher with high powered optics, note books & field guides but do you ever get caught up in the splendour of colour, the grace of flight or the majesty of song…?

I do from time to time, the soaring bird of prey or the morning song bird always causes me to pause and appreciate.

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

 

Jesus delivered this sermon outdoors

(as with a lot of his teaching, Jesus knew creation was the best auditorium for teaching)

People could see the birds in front of their eyes, just as they could see the lilies of the field.

Jesus called His followers to consider the birds that they saw in the sky above them.

Without harvesting or reaping and without building barns to store grain, those birds had found food & blessing in life.

Many of us live in a constant state of worry. Do you know the word worry or anxiety has its roots in choking or being strangled? That's what it feels like. We run the spiritual race, Paul says, and for many of us that feeling of worry or anxiety is like trying to run a marathon while being choked. You're trying to persevere and do the right thing and help people and live a good Christian life and you're thinking, "I'm so stressed about everything."

Think about the people that Jesus is talking to and the violenceand volatility of their world.

They're occupied by a foreign power, the Romans.

• The average life span is in the 30s or 40s

• Very dangerous to have a baby.

• Very dangerous to get any kind of cold or infection.

• Food is not everywhere or plentiful.

• There was no government support.

• There are no benefits.

• There are no police.

• You never know what kinds of things people are plotting.

• It's a dangerous world.

 

And Jesus tells them not to worry do you think, compared to them, when you think of standards of living and living conditions, who has more to worry about? They do!

If we had to deal with the things that the people in the ancient world had to deal with, we would just fall apart. 

 

If you're a worrier, it's coming from a place of pride (self, control & not submission).

You need to let go of that and trust God. Trust the Lord.

• You don't have to worry about tomorrow

• you don't have to worry about all your problems and

• you don't have to worry about your kids

• your parents

• your spouse

• you don't have to worry about the government

• you don't have to worry about the environment

• you don't have to worry about money

• You don't have to worry about all the things that are actually really important.

You can stop worrying right now because God's in control.

Yes, be responsible, do the right thing, vote for your party, be a citizen, be a good person, but stop worrying. Stop worrying because there is a spiritual reality in which God is in control. You can smile. You can enjoy the weather today. It is going to be a nice one. You can enjoy your friends and you can stop worrying. You don't have to be the worrier. Everybody is alive for a reason.

Everybody!

Everybody is alive for a reason. But many people will miss that reason, because they are focused on their worries.

 

If faith comes by hearing & hearing the word of God then fear also comes by hearing & hearing the lies of the enemy!