Mrs. Noah

  Last Sunday we talked about Mrs. Noah in Sunday school class.  We decided a couple of things right away. One, she didn't have it easy and two, boy did she pick the right man.  Does that mean women should keep their eyes open for a man with a good boat? Well no, not necessarily, however if you like to fish it might not be a bad idea.
  That catastrophic world wide flood that Mrs. Noah went through was a one time thing. That particular time of judgement has come and gone.  We even have rainbows to remind us that there will never be a world wide flood again. You women now need to keep your eyes open for a man who knows about the next judgement.
  No, our dear Mrs. Noah didn't have it easy.  Those rainy days cooped up in a rocking sea vessel with all those smelly animals, three daughters in law, (hopefully all like Ruth) and four possibly sea sick men.  Does it get any worse that that?  Yes, those dark rainy days were undoubtedly some of the dreariest known to man, (and women). 
  This ark which carried Mrs. Noah and her family took anywhere from a few years up to possibly seven years to build.  It was about 450 ft by 75 ft. by 45 ft. had similar proportions of a modern ocean liner, but trust me this was no Carnival cruise. After that door was closed and locked by God Almighty and the rain started falling,  I can imagine that the cries of the people on the outside could be heard by those on the inside who were powerless to do anything.  Every friend, every family member not on board, every acquaintance, every man woman and child perished.  Gloom and grief  and maybe fear, were the companions of those eight persons on the ark. There had to be a measure of comfort in knowing that they were in God's safe place because of faith in what God had said.
  There was no TV and no internet aboard the ark, no I phones and I'm guessing not even any books. They were in the ark for approximately one year.  Think how we react when it snows and we are snowbound for a few days.  Enough said.
  These people, this ark, this event, these were all very real.  But this bit of history was also a picture.  That ark was a place of safety and security from the judgement God brought upon the earth and all the inhabitants. It is a type of Christ. A picture of Jesus.  There will be another time of judgement in the future.  Jesus Christ is our ark.

Romans 3:23-24 : For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 

Romans 12:5 So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

II Cor. 5: 17-19:  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.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Colossians 1:13-14:   For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:38 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  One more thing I want to mention about Mrs. Noah.  We don't know her name.  In fact we don't know much of anything about her except she was there.  She did not have a long list of attributes and accomplishments that bought her passage on that ark.  It was provided in return for her faith.

  I don't have to have a list of accomplishments or a famous name. Maybe you don't either. God has provided a way for us to be in the next Ark of safety.  This passage also comes thru faith.  Faith in believing that Christ died on a cross to take the punishment for my sins. With His blood, I am clean and can enter the Ark.

  Kudos to you Mrs. Noah you are an inspiration.  Don't you just wonder how many times Noah got asked "Are we There yet?"

And God Created Them Male and Female

    God told the first couple (and no I don't mean Barack and Michelle) you must not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden.  Because if you eat of it you will surely die.  I think that implied that God did not want them to die.  He wanted them to enjoy a really good life in the garden where He walked and talked with them.
   But then the enemy came along and said, "Really? God told you that you would die?  That's ridiculous you won't die.  God just knows that you'll be like Him if you partake."  
   Well the deceiver was wrong and God was right.  They ate and they died.  On top of that, so has or or so will everyone else that has ever been born.  (Well except for Enoch and Elijah but that's another lesson.)   Maybe it is a good and wise thing to believe what God says.  He knows considerably more than we do.
   For any unbelievers out there that think Adam and Eve were fictional characters please go to Ancestry.God  (in the pages of scripture) and discover they were indeed real people who did these real things that we are talking about.  I am certain that all educated folks realize that Jesus was a real person.  What you believe about Him may vary, but he was real indeed and documentation from many sources verify this.  
   In Matthew chapter 1, scripture records the linage of Jesus' earthly parent's all the way back to Abraham. (common sense says that all those people would also have to be real.)   Most people believe that Abraham was not fictional. He has way too many decedents to have been fictional. Stay with me.   In Genesis chapter 11 scripture provides record of Abraham's linage back to Shem. (One of Noah's sons.....Yes Noah was also real) Amazing isn't it?  It would have to trace back to one of the three sons of Noah because all other humans were destroyed in a flood and surprise, surprise, it does. (Common sense says that all those people would also have to have been real, and they were.)
    Genesis chapter 5 provides record of Shem's linage back to Adam and then it stops.  Hummmmm. Interesting huh?  Just threw all that in for any unbelievers.  Now to continue.......
   Here's another thing that God has, in His wisdom, let mankind in on.  Genesis 1:27:  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Truth bomb here....there are only two choices.  By God's plan and design there would be male and female, boy or girl.
  Well, along comes the deceiver (the same one from the garden) and says, "You can be whatever you want, you don't have to be a boy, or you don't have to be a girl."  Just because your DNA is that of a boy, it doesn't mean that you are really a boy. "Did God really say?......"  The deceiver says, "You can be what you want to be."  
   So, now we can flood your body with foreign hormones and do surgeries on you that give you the appearance that you are not what you are.  You are now a counterfeit, and society is foolish enough to believe that sinister voice that beckons you away from who you are.
  Maybe, just maybe that person who is confused about their gender identity has some deep rooted conflicts.  Maybe they need to sort some things out.  There could have been some deep wound inflicted by someone in their life that causes an unconscious revulsion so strong that they don't want to ever be like that person, even to the point of not wanting to be the same gender as that person. 
    Might it be possible for a child to hate a parent, or sibling, or even a stranger so much that they cannot stand to see themselves as the same gender as that person?
   Is it possible that a young boy out there might have heard his mother speak constantly about how horrid men are as he grew up.  Words of how men are all useless and stupid.   The continual message that she has no use for them.  Do you think that little boy is going to want to grow up to be a man if his mom expresses such disdain for men?  Is it possible he might start thinking he wishes he was a girl.
   And girls, who witness or endure continual abuse at the hands of a mean, angry, selfish man; might they decide in their little noggins that being the weaker sex has too much pain involved? Many things can plant seeds of confusion.
  If gender confusion can come from such things as these, we have to ask, is marching them into operating rooms to change their bodies going to fix anything?  I doubt it.  It will probably create more confusion, and drag down society in the process.
  Occasionally birth defects happen where a child might be born with both male and female organs, but this is rare and this is not what is causing society to go insane and demand that we allow children to  relinquish the gift of their God given gender.  
   This is not kindness to those confused individuals. This is abuse. This is not the thing that will bring wellness and joy into their lives.  

Is It Bigotry?

   I think there is something that the general public does not understand about this conflict concerning Christians being asked to provide service for the marriages of same sex couples.  I have heard of no Christian business owners such as retail stores, donut shops, or gas stations etc. who hesitate to sell their wares to homosexual persons.
    If you notice it is only those whose businesses provide products or service for the marriage ceremony in some way.  It requires an entering in to the occasion.  If these same business owners sold tacos or hot-dogs on the street corner these same sex couples would be sold tacos or hot-dogs.
  Let me explain why there is this difference when it comes to weddings.  In scripture the mysterious relationship between Christ our Messiah and the church is typified by the marital relationship between a man and his wife.  Men are instructed to love their wives as Christ loves the church.  Christ is the protector and provider of His "Bride".
  Revelation 21:8 says:  Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."
  For Christians, that relationship between the Lamb (Christ) and the bride (us) is a holy thing not to be messed with.  Entering in to a marital relationship with two males or two females distorts this holy picture given in scripture.
  It is NOT bigotry.  It is ....don't mess with this holy picture that we believe God gave.  If you have an alternative lifestyle, it is your life to do with as you wish, but don't ask us to cross a boundary of our deeply held religious beliefs.  This inability to participate in same sex weddings is not about you.  Like I said it is not bigotry, it is about not offending our Bridegroom.

Worship the King

I went to the church to worship the King, but this is what I found:

No preacher preaching, nor grand choir singing, just children standing round.

On the left, some sparkly angels with sweet and nervous faces,

On the right, small shepherd boys were trudging to their places,

And in the back were wise men, with paper crowns upon their head;

And, down in front, is Mary by a little manger bed.

Oh my, look, a tiny shepherd boy has nodded off to sleep.

Giggles are heard, but grandpa steps up, to help this child keep

His place on the stage, and his part in the telling of this vital story,

Of the babe who came to bring men peace, all the way from glory.

So, from the first warbled notes of Silent night,

To the wise men’s tale of the star so bright;

From the inn with no room and a cold manger bed,

All the way thru, til the last lines were said,

The man carried that boy where the shepherd boys went,

To every place that those shepherds were sent.

And so the story was once again told, for every ear to hear,

The message proclaimed for one more time, “O men be of good cheer”.

For a Savior comes to redeem mankind,

And in the manger you will find,

A King wrapped up in swaddling clothes

We tell it now so that each man knows.

Well, That tiny boy has played his part, even sleeping sound,

For twas love that caused the dear old man to carry him around.

Twas love that caused the Christ to come and in a manger lay,

Twas love that caused that Christ to take, our every sin away.

I went to the church to worship the King and this is what I found:

No preacher preaching, nor grand choir singing, just children standing round.

Standing round a manger bed to tell the tale and sing.

And all together we joined hearts and worshiped our great King.

A Broad Spacious Place

Psalm 18

     I am going to take a break from the full and empty series.  I have something else on my mind today.  It probably stems from the mini mission trip to the prison I made last week.  A few of us from church went and did a chapel service for the inmates at Cummings prison in Southern Arkansas.  

     I have to admit I was hesitant at first to participate in this outing.  The thought of clanking doors locking behind me played with my tendency to feel a little claustrophobic at times.  I could picture myself in a panic not able to breathe making quite the fool of myself.  

    I'm not sure why I changed my mind.  Maybe the good Lord had a hand in that and I am quite sure He gave me added strength and stability to meet the challenge.

    While I was there I thought about the hurdles these men would face in putting their lives back in order.  Having a record tagging along with you can't be easy. I wondered about the shame factor. I wondered how hard it would be to get past the stigma of having been a prisoner.

      There are many things in life that can lock us into a flawed mental picture of ourselves.  Messing up, breaking laws, failing to live up to our own expectations, or someone else's expectations of us. There is an endless list of circumstances that can narrow our own view of ourselves.

    Having parents that leave us, or parents that can never be pleased no matter how hard we try. Having a spouse who walks out.  Having a child that wanders way off the beaten trail.  Making bad choices that land us in jail or rehab.  All these things have the power to shrink how we see ourselves into a person of that one circumstance.  I am a failure in this area thus I am a failure.  This person does not accept me probably no one will accept me, I'm unacceptable.  My father left me maybe everyone will leave me.  I'm not worth hanging with.

   Why have I titled this little talk Psalm 18?  Because it is filled with good stuff to counteract narrow vision.  I was doing some major struggling with father/daughter stuff and found much help and strength in this Psalm.

   I love, love, love this song written by David.  David had struggles and battles, failures and regrets, but one thing about David he was real before his God. He did not let his failures, his sin, or other people's view of him steal away his relationship with almighty God, or limit what God had planned for his life.
     God gives us our value.  In the first three verses David identifies his God as: my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my shield, horn of my salvation, and my stronghold.  God was real and personal to David and David knew that He is worthy to be praised.  After the words detailing the role God played in his life, David goes on to document all the ways that God had been faithful.   Right about in the middle of all this recounting, praise and acknowledgement of God's wonderfulness is a rich nugget.

   Verse 19 says: He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

    This may have been a military situation for David, I'm not sure what the broad place represented in Davids life, but I could tell that a broad place is a good place.

     I had put myself into a very small place.  It was a place controlled by how one person treated me. This wonderful little verse reminded me that's not all there is to me.  In reality how God sees me is the real thing.  When I became a child of God, He brought me out into a broad place.  I'm not just a "cast aside" daughter.  I'm a wife, a mother, a grandmother.  My broad place began to get broader and broader. I'm a sister, an aunt, a friend, a Sunday school teacher. The paralyzing emphasis I had been putting on one painful area of my life started to shrink. 

  With the wonderful reminder that God delights in me it became easier to put things into perspective.  The sting of rejection, the shame of mistakes, the weight of regret can cause us to not be able to see past those circumstances.  God delights in you and He has a future and a broad place for you.  Blessings.

Filled or Empty Series #4: Filled with Complaints

Empty

#4  Filled or Empty of Series

Filled with complaints

  You will find in chapter 14 of Exodus the account of the miraculous way that God brought deliverance through the Red sea. In chapter 15 you will find the song that Moses and the people sang to the Lord. What a glorious time of celebration and praise. Then they traveled on and three days later instead of praise we hear complaining about no water. God took care of that for them and on they went.

Then in Chapter 16 we find the Israelites in quite a state. It has been about a month and a half since they left the bondage of Egypt and now the horrors of the bondage is starting to dim and they have lost their vision of the Promised Land. This was taking too long. Maybe what they had wasn't so bad. The here and now was beginning to feel intolerable so the complaining began in earnest.

There are plenty of situations in scripture that deal with being filled or being empty that have really good life lessons for us and quite honestly I wanted to skip this one about being filled with murmuring and complaining and jump ahead to the next one, but God slowed me down and showed me some things in my own life and guided me not to skip over this.

When I read this section of scripture, I can't help but wonder; did it not occur to any of these complainers to suggest a prayer meeting about the problems that came up? I mean come on. What on earth happened to their faith? Did they not have one speck of faith that the God who had done all those things in Egypt and parted the Red Sea could still meet their needs?

It is so easy to think these people were crazy. They were witness to some of the greatest miracles of all times and yet they were saying "we should have stayed where we were." Really? Back into bondage? Back to slavery? Back to where the ruler's population control program meant your boy children were thrown into the river. Really? Go back? What a bunch of whiners.


Exodus 16: 1-10The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. NIV


I imagine their lack of faith irritated the almighty. It irritates me and I don't even know those people. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Ok, now I have to get real. I don't know those whiners but I do know the one I see in the mirror every day. I told you God didn't want me to skip this one. He knows I need this reminder.

I have to admit that often I complain instead of pray. It seems so innocent, like....I wish this situation would be different, or I wish that person would stop being....whatever. I wish things would happen faster. I wish our leaders would do things differently. I wish this or that for this person or that person. (I am putting this all mildly of course.)

I have to ask myself, do I just wish things were different or do I have a little prayer meeting and pray and ask God to change things that need to change. Do I pray believing that He cares about the situations around me, and do I pray believing He can change things?

Complaining and whining is kind of the opposite of faith and it is offensive to God. Dear Lord, help me to be strong in my faith and diligent in my prayer life trusting You.

Those folks that left Egypt and got discouraged, lost faith, and lost sight of what God had already done. Think for a minute what He has done for us. He delivered us from bondage. He parted the waters of death making a path to our Promised Land. Jesus is our bread of life supplied daily for us and He is in us a fountain springing up. How do I forget these things even for a moment and lapse into times of worry and fretting and complaining?

We all (me mostly) need to remember what God has done for us and trust Him every day.

Filled or Empty Series #3:Filled with Israelites

Empty

Filled and Emptied and Filled 

#3 in series

   Exodus 1: 1-7 says: These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy[a] in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. NIV
    Time marches on.  Generations come and go.  The generation of Joseph and his brothers came and went.  Pretty soon the land was filled with Israelites.  I’m not sure, I’m not a king you see, never have been a king and don’t hope to ever be a king, so I don’t know how kings think, but to me this seems like one of those “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” kind of things.
   But, the king in this account imagined that he had a problem or a potential one and he decided to fix it.  He decided to nip it in the bud. Nip it, nip it, nip it as Barney Fife would say.  This king did not like the land being filled with Israelites.
   It might have been wiser to have made them friends, but he chose to make them enemies.  But the almighty, sovereign, God of all wisdom had His own plan in the midst of the king’s plan.  God always has a plan in the midst of all circumstances, in your circumstances.  It is good if our plans match God’s plans.  It works out better for us that way.
   Verses 8-14: 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. NIV
  When the king tried to remedy his “filled” problem it became even more “filled”.  So he doubled down.  I wonder if he ever once thought, “Maybe I should have left them alone.”  But no he proceeds to plan C.
Verses 15-19: 15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”NIV
  These were some gutsy midwives.  I think they must have feared God more than they feared the king. They lied to the king.  The king was asking them to preform partial birth abortions and they said no.  If you have ever wondered what God’s view on abortion is I think we can safely assume He is pro-life.
Verses 20-22: 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”NIV
   The king was not giving up. Population control plan D would begin.  He was getting down right crazy now.  The boy children were hunted down and cast into the river.
   On a side note, let me remind everyone right here that a Savior Redeemer was to come from this chosen group of persons, through the heritage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Joseph/Israel.   God had made a promise to Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. Genesis 12:3 NIV.   My side note is this; someone else was taking note of this plan.  Our spiritual enemy was lurking around taking notes.  Just maybe it was the enemy’s influence that caused this king to be so “threatened” by the peaceful people living among them.  “Kill the boy babies” came the evil order.  Does that have a familiar ring to it?  For Bible readers it should.  Another day, another king, these same evil words were spoken when the prophesied  Savior, Redeemer was born in Bethlehem.  King Herod gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under.
   God’s hand of provision was clearly seen in Egypt.  His intent was to provide a deliverer for the Israelites and free them from their bondage, and, in doing so He would paint a big historical picture that would point to another deliverer who would come from these delivered people and who would free mankind from the bondage of sin. This awesome God that I love so dearly is so wonderfully complex and at the same time so beautifully simple with His plan to bring me and you into his fold.
  Back to my main story, in the midst of the lunatic ruler’s demands, we have a mama who hides her boy child from the authorities.  She puts him in a basket and hides him in the reeds of the river.  The daughter of Pharaoh finds him and takes him home. “Look what I found Daddy.  Can I keep him?  Please Daddy.”
   She gets to keep him, but she has a problem, how will she feed him?  Her body was empty of sustenance and there was no Wal-Mart nearby with shelves of infant formula.  It just so happened that a girl by the river had the solution.  “I know a woman who can nurse a child,” she says.  Unknown to the Pharaoh's daughter, this woman just happened to be the child’s own mother whose body is filled with nutrition for her baby.  The child is named Moses and eventually grows up to face Pharoah and demand that he let the people go.
  According to Christian writer Glenn Miller from The Christian Think Tank, it could have been 80 years that boy babies were being killed and the total numbers could easily range from 1.2 million to 4.3 million babies put to death.  That is very sobering.
  Well, when Moses comes on the scene as a grown man in tune to what God is directing, some interesting things start to happen.  Water is turned to blood, and then frogs take over.  After the frogs come lice, then flies. (I think right about here, if I were an Egyptian, I would be saying “Can’t we vote this guy out?”)
   After the flies, then the livestock was stricken. (Only the livestock of the Egyptians though, not the livestock belonging to the Israelites.)  Then came boils on man and beast.  After that came hail, big hail mixed with fire.  After that came locusts, then darkness, a deep penetrating darkness that scripture says could even be felt. The claustrophobics went crazy with that one.
   After that was the judgment of the firstborn.  The Israelites were told to kill a lamb and put the blood over their doors.  The death angel would not stop at the homes with the blood of a lamb.  The death angel came and swept thru Egypt claiming all the firstborn sons.  Finally Pharaoh was ready to relent and freedom came.
Exodus 12:31-3631 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughswrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.NIV
  Well, the land was no longer filled with Israelites.  It was now empty of them.  It was also empty of a good portion of its silver, gold and other plunder.
   Don't we all love a good story that ends well with the bad guy losing.  Well, there is so much more to this story than a foolish king getting his just rewards.  The whole exodus from the land of Egypt is a picture.  God wanted the picture to last so He told them to celebrate the Passover from then on.

   We have an enemy much like that king, actually way worse.  He holds people in bondage to sin owning them.  Jesus is our Passover lamb whose blood protects us.  We can come out of the bondage of sin and the domain of the enemy and into new life.  The best “empty” is to be empty of sin.  The best “filled” is to be filled with God’s Spirit.  For God so loved that world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV