STOP!

Several years ago, I was telling a bedtime story to two of my grandchildren, the oldest being 8 years old.  I had done this many times.  But this night I wanted to tell them the story of Jesus, even though I knew that they had heard it in Bible classes. 

I began by telling them that all through the Old Testament there had been promises made that one day a Messiah, a king, would come to save the world.  As we get to the NT, we read of the birth of the king, Jesus.  But He was a disappointment to many, because He was born into a poor family, made His start in a barn with the animals, and wasn't the kind of king they wanted. 

But as Jesus grew up, at the age of 30 He began to teach.  And the people followed Him everywhere.  And He would teach them, and heal them, and feed them sometimes.  Nearing the end of His life, He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people lined the road and cheered Him on. But this wasn't to last....and He knew it.  He knew that He would have to eventually be killed; and He taught this to His disciples.  One time, Peter said, "Lord, this shall not be!"  And Jesus rebuked him saying, "Get behind me, Satan...you don't know the things that are of God." (Matthew 16:23)

It was time for the last supper, the partaking of the Jewish Passover Feast with His 12 apostles.  Jesus knew that He was about to meet His end.  As He sat with them at the table, He knew that one would betray him to those who wanted Him killed. And of course, we know where this story is going, that He would be tried and eventually killed on the cross, only to rise again.

But before I could get to the cruel ending, I started telling the boys of the suffering, how Jesus would go into the garden and pray under great stress.  How He would be taken, tried, lied about, spit upon, beaten with whips that tore His skin.  And suddenly, Andrew said, "STOP!"  I said, "Why Andrew?"  He said, "I can't hear any more......stop!"

I thought it was neat that a child could relate to the death of the Lord, that the pain would be too great.  And I thought about how, if you and I had been there to see how badly He was treated for our sake, that we would have been so sad to witness that great suffering.  We would remember, as He told us to remember Him.  That we would remember Him as we took of the communion, remembering His love and compassion for all men.  And we would never forget......

Thanks for reading.  Have a good week.

Wisdom From Jesus

All through the New Testament we get the teachings and wisdom given by Jesus.  For this posting, we will focus on some of the things He was saying in Luke 12.  In verse 16, it says, "Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: 'The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?"  So he said, "I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.' " But God said to him, "Fool!  This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided"  So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.' " 

To understand what Jesus was teaching here, we have only to read on.  "Then He said to His disciples, 'Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.  Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds?"  Later He says, "..seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." 

The man with lots of crops and barns and everything he needed wasn't wrong to have things.  What was wrong was his priorities.  All he could think about was things, and things of this life.  Jesus is saying that our priority needs to be on spiritual things, on the kingdom of God.  Jesus says that if we follow Him, everything else will be okay.  We all need to listen to this wisdom. 

Thanks for reading again.  Feel the love again.

The Simple Story

We all are affected by the way we are raised, by our parents and grandparents and by the religion, or beliefs about religion, to which we are exposed.  And what we learn is not always right; sometimes we must relearn...and be willing to relearn.  Another way of saying this is to say that we should be open-minded, open to hear, seeking the truth.  Hebrews 11:6 says, "...he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."  So must we all be always diligently seeking Him.

One basic principle that we see in the New Testament is the theme subject of the kingdom.  Jesus taught so much about the kingdom.  In Luke 10, He sent 70 of His followers out to teach people about the kingdom (verse 9), saying "the kingdom is nigh."  Jesus told us in many figurative ways about the kingdom.  The kingdom is like a mustard seed, like a treasure hidden in a field, like a valuable pearl and much more.  With so much emphasis on the kingdom, we certainly need to "seek" the truth about it. 

It is noteworthy that in Acts 1, when Jesus is about to leave the earth and ascend into heaven, the apostles asked Him, "..will You at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"  This is an important question!  It shows that the kingdom that Jesus and His followers have been teaching about is still not here.  And it relates to the desire of the Jewish people to get their kingdom, their prominence back.  They had it in old days, in the OT, with great and powerful kings, like David.  Here in the NT, they are being ruled, dominated and suppressed by the Roman government.  They want redemption; they want their kingdom.  But they, even among His followers here in Acts 1, don't realize that the kingdom they are about to get is a spiritual one.

The answer Jesus gives them is, "..it is not for you to know.."  But then He tells them to wait in Jerusalem for power.  And what follows is Jesus going to heaven to rule over the new kingdom, and the apostles, armed with extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit, going out to witness and develop this new kingdom, this kingdom that was foretold in Joel 2, Daniel 2, Isaiah 2 and many other places throughout the OT.

That is the simple truth of the Bible.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.  

The Pivotal Point.........

There is a pivotal point in the Bible where everything changes.  And before discussing this subject, let me say that most people, even Christians, do not have a good understanding of this.  But the whole Bible teaches the before and after of this pivotal point.  And I do not want to indicate that this is the main event of the Bible.  The main event could be the birth of Christ or the death or the resurrection, or the ascension of the Lord.  This is about the change that occurs with God's people, with the beginnings of Christianity.

To be clear, let me state that this turning point occurs with one event, this being the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.  The apostles are in Jerusalem at the instruction of Jesus, who has just left them to ascend into heaven and rule over His kingdom from the throne.  Before leaving, He said, "..you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  They waited in Jerusalem for days; the Holy Spirit came upon them, Peter rose to speak and said, "..this (event) is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.' "

Note these points:

*  As shown above, the prophet Joel, teaching hundreds of years before Jesus, looked forward to the "last days."  This same prophesy was made over and over throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Daniel 2, Isaiah 2).  The OT taught that one day the kingdom would come in its fullness with the coming and ultimate death of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  We learn in Acts 2 that this is the last days.

*  The Jewish Law was still in effect during the life of Jesus.  Jesus kept the Jewish Law throughout His time on earth.  After Acts 2, there was no more Jewish Law.

*  Worship was on Saturday until after Acts 2--Sunday thereafter.

*  Partaking of the Communion, the Lord's Supper, began after Acts 2, not before.

*  "Christians" only occurred after Acts 2.

*  "Church" only occurred after Acts 2.

*  Common practice of baptism for the remission of sins only occurred after Acts 2--actually, in Acts 2.

*  The taking of the "good news" to all the world only began in Acts 2.  Jesus made no attempt to do this; He stayed close around, traveling very few miles in His ministry.

In Acts 1, just before Jesus left the earth, "...when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'  And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.' " This shows that the "kingdom" is about to start, but has not yet.  Jesus had to leave and begin His reign on the throne in heaven.  The apostles had heard about the coming kingdom and were asking if this is the time.  He doesn't tell them, but tells them to wait in Jerusalem and they would see.  Indeed, they did see in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit came upon them...just as promised.

Thank you for reading and for your open minded analysis of these important things.