First Love

Announcer: Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis, where faith meets real life. In this weekly broadcast, you'll discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deep in your relationship with Jesus, and encounter him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again. No topic is off limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us. Your journey back to First Love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, happy Wednesday, everybody, and welcome back to First Love. My name is Dr. Nathan Cassis.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And mine's Dr. Robin Cassis.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And we are continuing our discussion as we walk through the beginning, only the beginning, cuz this is a very long journey.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Big, big subject.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: We might even have to cover this for a couple of weeks.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think it'll be helpful for everybody if we did.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, I think we're so used to hearing about pain and tears and trauma and the past that when we talk about blessing

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's because the world is training us like that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And the church is training us to hear about blessing in a prosperity gospel. Name it, claim it, grab it, slap it. If I just prophesy it, I'll get it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, and if I work for it, it'll be me and God when we get

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So we want to get the right perspective on God's blessing. So Dr. Robin ended with fire words yesterday. Were you more interested in prospering or just getting an answer? And if you prosper, then you'll get the answer.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We'll always work that way.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord. So let's dive straight in because we're talking about the valley of Beracah, which is the valley of blessing. And we're coming out of 2 Chronicles 20 verse 20, very important with the 2020 connection there. We brought that out yesterday. I encourage you to go back and hear it over. But now we're going back into the account of Jehoshaphat. And there's some important things that we need to bring out here, Dr. Robin. So after Jehoshaphat encourages the people, obviously, God does what he does best. He shows up and they don't have to do a thing.

So I'm going to read it from verse 22. Actually, let's go to 21 cuz there's a little thing here I want to tie in. It says, and when he had consulted with the people, here we go, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and were saying, here we go, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. So this is how they got themselves positioned for the blessing. This is all they had to do in the battle.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that's all they needed to do, just stand still and declare that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Now I want to quickly tie something in here. We We hear this scripture quoted a lot in church. You know, all they did was worship. All they did was sing. But there's a lot deeper in this text. Worship is a step.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: No, they They were creating an atmosphere, getting it ready for the abundance to pour out. It doesn't just happen with one go.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And I got to say this, as a worship leader, I love worship. It's my life. Worship is what we do when we bring worship. We're bringing worth. But worship is a lifestyle. It's not just a moment on Sunday. But Dr. Robin, when we see this, we think, oh, I just got to sing. I just got to sing a song. I just got to worship. And that's all I can do. But let's dive into the Hebrew word.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, look, mercies endureth. That means a long term. It doesn't mean one time only.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Absolutely. Absolutely. And so here's an important exposition, okay? And exegesis of these words, okay? So praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. They're singing that. We get that. Two important ideas emerge here, okay? The word is used, okay, in praise the Lord. And that comes from the Hebrew word We've talked about this before, right? So is one of the words for praise in Hebrew. There's seven words for praise. All right, all these words. Now means and Strong's H3034 points us to this root. It means to give thanks, to praise, and to acknowledge. Okay, first step.

So they're doing more than just singing songs. Their hearts are engaging in an atmosphere of acknowledgment.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I was just saying when they said stand still, their heart wasn't standing still. It was very active and it was active with these statements.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. And I again, I have nothing against singing songs. But if you're singing the song and your heart is not acknowledging, the song is just a ritual. Your heart has to be engaging in the atmosphere of what you're singing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And stop making it a rescue.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Worship is not therapy. It's worship for the Lord. Then the next word that comes, right? Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. So that word there is literally in Hebrew. And it means steadfast love, loving kindness, mercy, and covenant loyalty. What are they doing, Dr. Robin? They're not just singing. They're remembering covenant.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. Yes, they are. And that makes their heart and their mind very active.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is what we're trying to encourage you with. This Hebrew term is particularly meaningful cuz it is not simply describing a momentary emotional response. Oh, I'm high in worship. God is so good. He's so faithful. But then Monday comes and I go back to where are you, Lord? No, this is talking about sustained response.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think it needs to come back to Monday covenant loyalty. That needs to be remembered.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, that's the covenant.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Loyalty to his covenant.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. And remember it, not just on Sunday when the music is high and the emotion is in the room and everybody's in an elated spirit because we're all in one accord. Remember it when you go back to your life.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Monday, Monday.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, exactly. The Monday, Monday can become a movement Monday if you remember the covenant loyalty. So this is crazy cuz I love talking about this as a worship leader. We've got to move beyond just worshipping in the moment.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, I agree. Give thanks to God for his enduring.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Enduring. You said it. Enduring. So here this communicates faithful enduring love and kindness, including God's covenant faithfulness. I love this word covenant, covenant, covenant. So here's the complete Jehoshaphat pattern, right? Before the battle, what does he do? He gives thanks.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: First.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: First. He remembers covenant first. Covenant is not being remembered as a result of emergency.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And he is loving kindness first.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Then during God's intervention, God brings the deliverance.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, he did.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: He doesn't bring the deliverance.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And he brought it through the prophetic ministry.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Activating that which was getting ready in the atmosphere.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, that's right. That's right. God is not looking just to fill your bank account. He is looking to fill your heart.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: First. First.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's the real blessing. Change me, Jesus. Make me more like Jesus and then I'll have what it takes to hold the blessing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's the one.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Then after the battle, here's where we're going to go next. God makes it that they have so much left over. It takes them three days to recover the spoils.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Read that scripture because I think that is the one that really stood out to me tonight out of all the scriptures I've read today.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: When Jehoshaphat verse 25 and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies and precious jewelry which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away. And they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Just like Jesus was in the grave three days. He was gathering the spoils.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I am sorry. I got to yell. This is so powerful. Then it says on the fourth day, they assembled in the valley of Beracah. For there they blessed the Lord. So the valley of Beracah is not where you get blessed. It's where you bless the Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: First he praised. Then the atmosphere was ready for the blessing. And then he blessed the Lord for the blessing.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. My Lord. Then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat in front of them to go back to Jerusalem with joy. Joy, not depression, not uh-oh, another enemy's coming up. Joy for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for God gave him rest all around.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Wow, that was such a great statement.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: When you go to the valley of Beracah and blessing to not get blessed, but to bless the Lord, he can give you

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You can walk away with the right attitude. They were with the right attitude.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And they got rest all around. Wow. We're going to come back after this.

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Dr. Nathan Kassas: The one who loved you first is still loving you best.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Is still loving you best.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: All right, Dr. Robin, we are back. I'm sorry if I get so excited, but it's landing in me this revelation.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think that something we might look at quickly before we move on is something I hadn't seen before, but Jehoshaphat he knew how to carry that blessing. And he allowed them to see that and they then followed his leading.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And they didn't examine it. They didn't diagnose it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh my Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: They didn't try to find out whether they were worthy of it. They didn't do anything. They didn't even even discern it. So this is something we should learn.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I'm going to learn this. Blessing is just from the Lord. You're not called to question it or to diagnose it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Diagnose it. Understand it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. Yeah. And the other one is to not to try to get to the source of it, but just accept it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Just receive it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It is It's all about, sorry, just receiving it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. Just receiving it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And it goes to the next part of what Jehoshaphat did. Not only did he bless in the valley when they returned to normal life, they kept the worship going.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Enduring.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: I'd like to say key statement.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: The mercies of God forever and ever.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: What a lesson to learn.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So key statement here. Jehoshaphat thanked God before he saw the victory. But then he blessed God after he collected the spoils of the victory.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's true. Thanksgiving precedes the battle and blessings follows the battle.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. Here's a good one. The circumstances changed, but their acknowledgment of God continued. Sometimes we get the circumstance changed, but we go back to the misacknowledgment of God, thinking we did it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I think that's the key here. Before we go any further, that's the key. When you don't come back to give thanks

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh Lord, make me good.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I'm going to tell you it's like those lepers that came back. But only one came back because he realized he had nothing to do with the the blessing he had received.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Nothing to do with it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, and I want to hit something that I really want to target in the Christian mindset. It's not your change or your transformation that triggers the blessing. Your change is for you. But whether God releases blessing over you is up to him. It's totally him. We get into this mindset, Dr. Robin. Oh, I'll change for God and then he 'll bless me.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, but we a mature heart of God, a mature heart of God doesn't wait until the outcome changes before it remembers who God is. That's a sign of maturity.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So when Thanksgiving becomes a practice response rather than an occasional reaction, the heart is less dependent on novelty to recognize the blessing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's the truth. And these are key statements that need to cause you to think a lot because the church has the wrong message about sanctification.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Absolutely. And that really, really hit me between the eyes. I have fallen into the idea that I change and then God will bless. It's not even dependent on my change. Okay, changed. Absolutely. You need to change for you and you can hold up a door from being opened. But we fall into this idea.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We're trying to share. We want to share. Jehoshaphat did not share. He knew it was the good things that happened to him. That's why he was so thankful. It was It was rooted in God's enduring covenant of love.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, we don't want to share with the Lord all the things that we should share. And then we do want to share the things that we shouldn't share.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, but that it was rooted in love, rooted in love. That's an enduring covenant, not merely the appearance of immediate provision. It was not just in the answer.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It was in who he was, the faithful one. That's what I want to know and that's what everybody should know.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, wow, Dr. Robin. So that brings us to an important differentiation because there is a difference between thanking God for only what he does and thanking him for who he is. And I like to term this, you can have circumstance based gratitude or relationship based gratitude.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I'd like to couple in on some of these.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Please.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Thank you Thank you, Lord, for the battle is over. Thank you because the money came. Thank you because I received my promotion. Thank you because prayers were answered.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: What's that all based on, Dr. Robin? A circumstance changed.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: No, yes, and it's based on um rescue. You got me out of it, Lord. The money came, Lord. The promotion came, Lord. The prayer was answered, Lord. But that attitude is sticky bad.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It's that sticky thinking.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, it's that circumstance based gratitude.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And it's riddled in the church.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And because of that, we don't have a relationship based attitude. And I want to tell you, thank you because of your loving kindness and it endures forever. That's what we should have instead of the battle's over.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Oh.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Thank you because you are faithful. That's what I've been saying. I've got to get and I want to get and I need to get and I'm going to get.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Thank you because the money came. No. Thank you because you're faithful.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you remain my God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, and you remain my God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: No matter what circumstance I go through.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that love covenant never changes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Thank you, Lord, for that.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. And it's particularly very important in this valley that we're talking about because circumstances This is why you can't have gratitude based on circumstance. Here's a very important neuroscience key because your circumstance after a while will become familiar.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Become a novelty.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And you will lose the emergency. So if you only thank him based on the now emergency, when it becomes familiar, you'll stop thanking him.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah, and God's carrying that does not depend on novelty of what he provides. And I I understand what this novelty means. I really do.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Cuz I am being challenged with new thinking.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, it's enduring. His mercy is enduring, but maybe your thanks needs to become enduring. That's the key. See, David, I love his writings in the Psalms because he's such a honest person. He gets to the heart. Yep, he pours out his tears. He pours out his honesty and his vulnerability. But he always comes back to after the Selah who God is. More than what God did for him. This is who you are. You are my rock. You are my refuge. You are my hiding place. You are my strong tower. That's nothing to do with circumstance.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And nothing to do with you because David in the Psalms would if you split the Psalms up into three parts, the first part was David complaining. David seeing it from his perspective.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And then suddenly he stops and he looks and he sees, hey, who am I? You made all these things.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And now I'm telling you what you already know about what you made. And then the last part of it is and the Lord says, now you've got it. Now you know the response I want from you because your perspective has changed.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You will now listen to what I require of you so that you can have that blessing endure forever.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: My Lord. Someone needs to write that down cuz you will never read the Psalms the same way after that, you know, understanding, Dr. Robin. It's so true. That pause that the modem that Selah, it brings the perspective right to David.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that's what they do with music, isn't it? They get they get that Selah becomes to bring it into a place that it wasn't. And now it's gone beyond that point.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Yep. And we don't know how long that pause was for.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: No.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: You know, we read it in one day or one sitting. But that Selah they were actually taught to play God into the room, those musicians. And David It could have been a pause for a day. It could have been a pause for a week. Could have been a pause for an hour.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It doesn't really matter. It was there.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Ah, my Lord. So if we only thank God for what has changed, we can forget to worship him for what has remained faithful. Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Wow, give us some more keys while I just get my breath back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Jehoshaphat thanked God before the battle changed because God's covenant love never changed. This is important. If we keep thanking him based on a change, then when the change stops happening, we'll stop thanking him.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's the key here. That's what I'm trying to say here. I'm saying it's about what we've got. We thank him for what he's given to us, not for who he is being faithful to his word.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. And I think it comes to there needs to be a moment when you stop counting what you've received and start acknowledging the one who gave it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's where we come to, isn't it?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: We fall into this counting my blessings, you know, counting your blessings. And this brings us into comparison and coveting. Oh, you got more blessings than me. You got another car. You got another baby, right? You got married before I did. Oh, you're having this. Oh, you got a job promotion. But hang on, you stopped realizing who gave it. It's the same God that you serve. This is the key. Blessing has to come back to worship.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And look, I've got to say the blessing of the Lord will become an emotional novelty. And it will that provision that you've been waiting for that novelty will fade and you will be looking for the next thing.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Next high. Wow. So quickly here, a Hebrew root that is very important to discuss, okay? The Hebrew word of Beracah, the Hebrew root of Beracah is Barak. The root Barak is associated with blessing, but it has a form associated with kneeling.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, there you go. Here we go. It means to kneel before the Lord.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Blessing is not something just received. It is also something directed towards God. Blessing should put you on your knees to kneel before him. Beracah, the name of the valley means blessing, yes. But the root also means kneeling. So this explains that the valley received its name because the people, here we go, they blessed God there, not they received a blessing from God there. It's not the blessing valley because they got stuff. It's the blessing valley because after they got stuff, they came back to continue blessing God. This is so powerful, Dr. Robin. We get stuff.

We get the answer, but it doesn't bring us back to kneeling. It just brings us back to wanting more blessing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Or getting uh taking it for granted what we have got.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. So here's an important thing. They responded to the blessing by responding with worship. Throwing to you for your final words.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We have to remember that what we have is a blessing, not a novelty of life.

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