Reverse Engineered Repackaged Repurposed

Strange concept but we do it more often than we think and this is dangerous territory for anyone especially believers.  God is the same yesterday today and forever but today is where we live therefore we need to accept that God is just as much in the present as He is the past and the future therefore miracles should be the norm, not the exception. Don’t repackage what God has already done.  
Because…

Isaiah 43:19

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to Unfiltered with Jesse B. And I just want to let you guys know that I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to spend with me every week, uh sometimes multiple times a week. And uh just want to let you know that it really means a lot that you guys are out there listening. And if you are enjoying this content and know somebody who would enjoy it as well, don't hesitate to share an episode or two with them and also make sure that you are subscribed, and that way you won't miss any future episodes. So uh just a quick trigger warning, maybe not a trigger warning that might be a little bit too harsh, but uh this episode is gonna be way different than anything that I've ever done. So we're just gonna go ahead and jump right into it because I'm gonna be talking about reverse engineering and in particular, reverse engineering of God. And yes, you heard that right. Reverse engineering of God. So before we get that far into it, we first need to understand what reverse engineering actually is. And reverse engineering is one of those buzzwords that we hear from time to time, and um, I'm really not a math and science person, never have been. Uh my transcripts from school and all throughout college will tell you that, and that's why I hesitate to saying, but this is unfiltered. I haven't really ever heard of the term reverse engineering until all this narrative came out a year or two ago about the release of government documents regarding UAPs and UFOs. But aside from that, reverse engineering is something that has been around for many, many years, and it's used in different facets of engineering from software purposes to mechanical purposes, aerospace projects, nuclear, electrical, and so on. So reverse engineering, aka back or backwards engineering, and it's is just what it says it is, it's a process where the goal is to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accomplishes a task. Now, to put it in terms that I can understand, I when I hear reverse engineering, I often think about the kids, little kids, in particular little boys who go through a phase where they'll take their toys or remote controls or anything that they can get their hands on and try to take it apart and then put it back together. So similar concept here with reverse engineering, but there are three basic steps of the process, which number one is extracting information from the object and extracting, you know, how this object works, what its purpose is, how it operates. So the second step is modeling, which would be combining the gathered information into an abstract model that can be used as a guide to design an entirely new system or object in short purpose, or in layman's terms, I guess, it would be called repurposing. So the third part of that is the review, which is the testing of that model. So, what's this have to do with God? Well, when I heard the phrase how Christians are dangerously close to playing with witchcraft by trying to reverse engineer God, and they don't even realize it, this caught my attention. This phrase was given in the context to offer a theory to try to explain situations where a person may feel spiritually and therefore prayerfully constipated. Now I'm not trying to be crude or even humorous, but there's nothing uncomfortable or funny about being in a situation where prayers are just not getting answered, and it just seems like God is not moving, and we've all been there. I've been there, I am there. So trying to do everything right and checking ourselves right down to the motives, making sure we're not asking amiss and still stuck. And why is that? And what if we've been reading the Bible, listening to sermons, reading books, doing all the Bible studies after Bible study and attending conferences and so on and so forth? And these are not bad things. I'm not coming down on any of that, but my question is what if we, and making it personal, what if I've been taking all this information and processing it wrong? And therefore putting God in a box that I designed and telling him only to operate within that boundary. Very dangerous. And it happens very easily. For example, I can hear someone, and maybe you've been in this situation, hear somebody testify about being blessed with a better paying job, or maybe they got a windfall of some sort and they weren't even looking for it. And then you go home and then you pray something like, Lord, you know my needs and you know my goals, and you did it for so-and-so, please do the same for me, and then it doesn't happen. And then comes discouragement and then bitterness, and then the next thing is that prayer life dwindles and is non-existent, or at the very worst, it places you in a place where you don't feel like you can ask God for anything again, and you just settle. But the question is, what if God didn't want to work in your life that way? What if your life was not designed to be blessed in the way that he blessed so-and-so? What if he had a better plan specifically made for you and you quit on him because he didn't fulfill your desires to have somebody else's plan? These are all very deep questions. And we keep praying for God to answer in a certain way, in a certain time frame, and it's not that God is incapable. In fact, Jesus' own word said that with God all things are possible for those who believe, and that's found in Matthew 19, 26. We also know that the famous ask, seek, and knock teaching by Jesus that is also found in Matthew 7.7. So where's the disconnect? I can either take God at his word or I don't, but perhaps it's the failure to believe that God is still in the present. He's not just a God of the past and he's not just a God of the pu future, he is a God of the present. We know when we quote Hebrews 13 8, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. We quote that verse, but I think it's the today concept, the present concept that we have the most trouble with, because after all, the present is where we live. We can accept the God of the past and we can read all about that. We can accept that we will go to heaven and we can actually read all about the future, but like I said, the present is where we struggle. And I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the excuse so much that I'm trying to get rid of my thoughts even going there. And that is, God may have parted the seas then, but he just doesn't work that way today. Does our Bible study consist of flipping to the index to see if our issue or problem is listed and then coming up with the right formula and making sure we have all the necessary components there to make sure that God will answer those prayers? How about this? Lord, I need deliverance from this life-sucking job, so I'm gonna flip back to deliverance and I'm gonna read every scripture, write it down, pray it all about deliverance. Or how about, Lord, I have financial needs and I could really use your provision, so take my paycheck and stretch it out like you did with the two loaves and the fishes. So I'm gonna read every single verse that I can find about provision. Or do we simply and more effectively study about those situations to know what God's character is and to know that he can be trusted and that he will do the work that he needs to do in each and every one of our lives today. Now don't misunderstand me. There are conditions. John 14 6 says that I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. We wouldn't even be worthy enough to approach the throne if it weren't for Jesus. And we are our lives to Jesus. John fourteen, fifteen says, If you love me, you will keep my commands. So the second part of that is obedience. The third part of it is Hebrews 11 6, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Now, one of the most memorable statements that I will never forget was actually from my Uncle Dennis. And I was visiting with him and my Aunt Charlene one evening, and the subject of healing came up, specifically why some people can get healed of diseases and why others don't. After all, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53 5 that by his stripes we are healed, so is it true or is it not? Well, I guess that would depend on how one defines healing. Dennis said that he quit limiting God when he stopped praying for specific outcomes. Dennis went on to say that he still presents his request to the Lord and what he would like to see happen for those requests, but that ultimately he did not want his will to win out because what if his will was not the best? He can only see a portion of the picture while God sees the entire thing. He went on to say that he wanted the will of God because he was confident that God's will was best. He also went on to say that if he can trust that God wants his best for him and his best for whoever it is he's praying for, then he doesn't have to be worried about the outcome because that's not where faith is. And we see time after time after time how God is faithful, how he makes the impossible possible, how proving that he is worthy to be praised in all things and in all situations because nothing is above him. And the cool thing is, as found in Hebrews 12 2, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. As stated in Philippians 1 6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God is active, and he's very much alive and well in our present time, just as he was in the past and just as he is in the future. We can learn from the Bible and other people's testimonies that he's doing new things all the time, and don't be afraid to trust him to do a new thing in your life. Don't worry about the outcome, leave the outcome to him. Just trust in the Lord your God. Love you guys. Good night.