Many people would be surprised to know that Christ was present at the creation of the universe; in fact, He was the creator. Check me out here to see that I am right. We know that He is part of the Godhead, the Son part of the threesome, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let's further examine His role.
Genesis 1:26 God says: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness....." Note that this is plural, "Let Us make..." The plural refers to the 3 parts of God. We know this by the following verses:
Hebrews 1: "God.....has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." God made the world through His Son.
Colossians 1:16, speaking of Jesus, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."
John 8:57, "Then the Jews said to Him, 'You are not yet 50 years old, and have You seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'." Jesus existed before Abraham, a very early character in the Bible....and in fact, before the worlds were created.
And finally, John chapter 1 talks a lot about Jesus, calling Him the Word. Notice how the book of John begins: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
It is very plain from these verses that Jesus Christ, while a man on this earth for only a finite number of years, 33 or so, always existed. It is difficult for us to understand this, to understand a lot about a God that is so great and so complex...and so far above us. It is only for us to accept it and to look forward to seeing Him in person. Our Lord.....Our Savior.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week! Keep the faith!
Friday, December 26, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Christmas
It is Christmas time....and a glorious time it is. Oh, I know, sometimes it is a hard season for various emotional reasons. Perhaps we have lost loved ones, or maybe feeling alone. But there are lots of reasons to feel excitement, as well.
In this blog we want to consider the religious, the Christian, significance of it all. Many would say that we need to put the "Christ" back into Christmas. First, let's consider a few negative facts. Already you are wondering how that could be. But let's try:
1. Christmas as such is not found in the Bible. That is, there is no teaching that we are to celebrate the birth of Jesus at all.
2. There is no likelihood or proof that December 25 is the right day that Jesus was born.
3. The beginnings of the celebration came by the Catholics, hundreds of years after Christ.
But there are positives:
Jesus was born, and His birth is a wonderful event. He was born in a manger, an inauspicious setting, but we know that with the involvement of the angel, the shepherds, the wise men, the star, inauspicious is not the word. The event was major, earthshaking, life changing.
The angel to Mary: "...behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
Such a significant baby, an amazing event that only God could accomplish. And we are the beneficiaries. Praise God....and Jesus, the Son, the Lord.
Have a great week! And Merry Christmas!
In this blog we want to consider the religious, the Christian, significance of it all. Many would say that we need to put the "Christ" back into Christmas. First, let's consider a few negative facts. Already you are wondering how that could be. But let's try:
1. Christmas as such is not found in the Bible. That is, there is no teaching that we are to celebrate the birth of Jesus at all.
2. There is no likelihood or proof that December 25 is the right day that Jesus was born.
3. The beginnings of the celebration came by the Catholics, hundreds of years after Christ.
But there are positives:
Jesus was born, and His birth is a wonderful event. He was born in a manger, an inauspicious setting, but we know that with the involvement of the angel, the shepherds, the wise men, the star, inauspicious is not the word. The event was major, earthshaking, life changing.
The angel to Mary: "...behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end."
Such a significant baby, an amazing event that only God could accomplish. And we are the beneficiaries. Praise God....and Jesus, the Son, the Lord.
Have a great week! And Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 13, 2014
The Proverbs
The book of Proverbs in the Old Testament brings us lots of wisdom, and for sure, we should spend much time being familiar with it. But probably most of us don't spend the time that we could or should. So we'll take a look at a bit of wisdom in this blog.
The first nine chapters of the book give some instruction into how to avoid some of life's problems and challenges, how to stay out of trouble. Note the first few verses of chapter one.
"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." Solomon was given great wisdom from God, so it only makes sense for us to listen carefully to his teaching.
After the first nine chapters we start a new flow of wisdom given in short quips. Here are a few examples of proverbs dealing with the subject of conflict:
18:6 "A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating."
20:3 "It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling."
22:10 "Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease."
26:17 "Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears."
Certainly none of us would argue that these are not good rules to live by. On the other hand, we likely could all use a heavier dose of this teaching. Here are a few thoughts on contention:
17:1 "Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife."
15:17 "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred."
22:24 "Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go; lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul."
This is just a small sampling of the teaching of Proverbs. It would do us all good to read and dwell on the wisdom therein. We want to be wise people, people whom others seek out for guidance. This is the place to start.
Thanks for reading....and may God bless you this week and through the holiday season.
The first nine chapters of the book give some instruction into how to avoid some of life's problems and challenges, how to stay out of trouble. Note the first few verses of chapter one.
"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." Solomon was given great wisdom from God, so it only makes sense for us to listen carefully to his teaching.
After the first nine chapters we start a new flow of wisdom given in short quips. Here are a few examples of proverbs dealing with the subject of conflict:
18:6 "A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating."
20:3 "It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling."
22:10 "Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease."
26:17 "Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears."
Certainly none of us would argue that these are not good rules to live by. On the other hand, we likely could all use a heavier dose of this teaching. Here are a few thoughts on contention:
17:1 "Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife."
15:17 "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred."
22:24 "Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go; lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul."
This is just a small sampling of the teaching of Proverbs. It would do us all good to read and dwell on the wisdom therein. We want to be wise people, people whom others seek out for guidance. This is the place to start.
Thanks for reading....and may God bless you this week and through the holiday season.
Friday, December 5, 2014
Slavery
I was reading the book of Philemon in the New Testament and found it quite interesting in the discussion of slavery. In this blog entry we will look a little closer at the Bible dealing with the subject of slavery.
We note that in all of the writings of the NT there is no specific demand for the absolving of the practice of slavery. It was quite common in that day. People owned slaves as property. The owner was free by law to treat that person however desired. The slave could be bought and sold, treated well or not, could even be killed if that was the owner's desire. The slave was simply the property of the owner.
There are several places in the NT where slavery is mentioned and dealt with. In the book of Philemon, Paul is writing to his friend Philemon to give him specific instructions about how to deal with Onesimus, a run away slave of Philemon's. This slave ran away from his master, Philemon, somehow found his way to Rome where Paul is imprisoned, learns the Gospel from Paul, and is now facing having to go back to his master. Onesimus has been a help to Paul and is quite close to Paul at the writing of this letter. Paul is explaining to Philemon that Onesimus should be received back warmly, still a slave, but now also a Christian. Paul is not saying that Philemon should release Onesimus, giving him his freedom. But he is saying that he needs to treat his slave as a brother in Christ.
We can see that in a world where slaves are often mistreated, this new direction is quite a contrast. And while it doesn't do away with slavery directly, it opens new doors to social change, to changing how people deal with one another. With this change, this new way of thinking, will come the eventual end of slavery in most societies.
In Galatians 3:27 and following, it reads, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
From all of the teaching of the Bible, from the words of Jesus to the teaching of the apostles, it is clear that there is no place for slavery in the world of the Christian. All are the same in the eyes of God....and all should be same in our eyes as well.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love! Spread the love!
We note that in all of the writings of the NT there is no specific demand for the absolving of the practice of slavery. It was quite common in that day. People owned slaves as property. The owner was free by law to treat that person however desired. The slave could be bought and sold, treated well or not, could even be killed if that was the owner's desire. The slave was simply the property of the owner.
There are several places in the NT where slavery is mentioned and dealt with. In the book of Philemon, Paul is writing to his friend Philemon to give him specific instructions about how to deal with Onesimus, a run away slave of Philemon's. This slave ran away from his master, Philemon, somehow found his way to Rome where Paul is imprisoned, learns the Gospel from Paul, and is now facing having to go back to his master. Onesimus has been a help to Paul and is quite close to Paul at the writing of this letter. Paul is explaining to Philemon that Onesimus should be received back warmly, still a slave, but now also a Christian. Paul is not saying that Philemon should release Onesimus, giving him his freedom. But he is saying that he needs to treat his slave as a brother in Christ.
We can see that in a world where slaves are often mistreated, this new direction is quite a contrast. And while it doesn't do away with slavery directly, it opens new doors to social change, to changing how people deal with one another. With this change, this new way of thinking, will come the eventual end of slavery in most societies.
In Galatians 3:27 and following, it reads, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
From all of the teaching of the Bible, from the words of Jesus to the teaching of the apostles, it is clear that there is no place for slavery in the world of the Christian. All are the same in the eyes of God....and all should be same in our eyes as well.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love! Spread the love!
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Love 2
I wrote last week on the subject of love. This is such an important matter that it seems appropriate to spend this session on some further thoughts. This is not a complicated subject, but one that we all can contemplate and seek for a higher level.
1 Peter 1:22,23 gives us some ideas to ponder: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..."
The first part, "..in sincere love of the brethren.." uses love with the Greek word "phileo." This is a brotherly love kind of thing, a love like you would feel for your siblings. This is a noble love...and one that we should feel toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the family of Christ.
The second part of this passage is in 1 Peter, "..love one another fervently with a pure heart...." uses love with the Greek word "Agape." Agape love goes further in our relationship to one another. In agape love we want the best for the other person. We may not know the other person, at least not well; we may not like the other person. The other person may even be our enemy, remembering that Jesus taught us to love our enemies. This of course, is hard teaching. But we can agape even the worst.
And this brings us to the thought that we might have to love the unlovable. Romans 5:5-8 shows us that we aren't the first to face this situation. "..the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Christ died for us....sinners....ungodly. Thus, it isn't too much for us to love those who aren't lovable.
And Philippians 2:4,5 instructs: "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." We can do this!
Thank you for reading. I hope your week is great!
1 Peter 1:22,23 gives us some ideas to ponder: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..."
The first part, "..in sincere love of the brethren.." uses love with the Greek word "phileo." This is a brotherly love kind of thing, a love like you would feel for your siblings. This is a noble love...and one that we should feel toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the family of Christ.
The second part of this passage is in 1 Peter, "..love one another fervently with a pure heart...." uses love with the Greek word "Agape." Agape love goes further in our relationship to one another. In agape love we want the best for the other person. We may not know the other person, at least not well; we may not like the other person. The other person may even be our enemy, remembering that Jesus taught us to love our enemies. This of course, is hard teaching. But we can agape even the worst.
And this brings us to the thought that we might have to love the unlovable. Romans 5:5-8 shows us that we aren't the first to face this situation. "..the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Christ died for us....sinners....ungodly. Thus, it isn't too much for us to love those who aren't lovable.
And Philippians 2:4,5 instructs: "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." We can do this!
Thank you for reading. I hope your week is great!
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Love
I love this passage from 1 Peter 4: "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' " Love is a great subject because it is at the base of what the Christian is, at the very core. There are many other things that go into making up the Christian such as faith, practice, worship and more, but love is at our core....and must be at our core. The early part of 1 John talks about the importance of the Christian keeping "His commandments," and "test the spirits." But love must still be at the core and of prime importance.
And note this passage in 1 John 4: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
And no discussion of love would be complete without the reference to the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13. It begins: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And it concludes with "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Love reigns above all. That is what we are, what we are to be. As mentioned in 1 John 4, "God is love." And He expects us to be love. It manifests itself in us when we love Him, but even more when we love each other. God knew that it would not always be easy for us to love each other. But He expects that, demands that.
So, beloved.....I love you. Let us strive to complete this teaching by loving each other. Thanks for reading. Have a great week! And feel the love........
And note this passage in 1 John 4: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
And no discussion of love would be complete without the reference to the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13. It begins: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And it concludes with "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Love reigns above all. That is what we are, what we are to be. As mentioned in 1 John 4, "God is love." And He expects us to be love. It manifests itself in us when we love Him, but even more when we love each other. God knew that it would not always be easy for us to love each other. But He expects that, demands that.
So, beloved.....I love you. Let us strive to complete this teaching by loving each other. Thanks for reading. Have a great week! And feel the love........
Friday, November 14, 2014
Tolerance
I will have to work at not becoming political in this blog entry because of the nature of the title; and I have promised to keep this discussion strictly Biblical.....certainly not political.
Tolerance is a major practice in America today, perhaps more than ever before. You will notice that most other countries, for what it is worth, do not tolerate what we do in our society. And tolerance sounds like a good thing, like a great thing. I would suggest that the Bible does not teach that.
We see in the Old Testament that God was very specific in what He wanted from His people. The examples would be too numerous to even mention. But we can mention that even in His first people, Adam and Eve, He was very demanding in what He expected from them. And in the case of Cain and Abel, the first children, we see that Cain did not do what God expected of him. Even that early in history, God was intolerant of bad behavior.
Then there was Jesus. Jesus taught a less exact type of religion, wanting people to give their heart to the Lord, not just outward sacrifice. But even here, Jesus was specific about many things. For example, He was quite critical of the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23....and in many other places. He taught His followers to do certain things in their worship in the future days, like: remember Him by taking the communion (He taught them this in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22). In Matthew 28:19, He told His apostles to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you...." In John 14:6, He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." And in Matthew 7:21, He said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
I get the idea from these teachings and many more that Jesus was serious about this. It wasn't "Do what you want to do", but rather "Do what I say!" He didn't stress tolerance in matters of morality. And we should not be so quick to accept every thing that comes our way, that comes into our society. There still is right and wrong.....and there is plenty wrong in our society today, in our movies, our tv, our language, our behavior. Let's stand up for right. Jesus certainly did.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Tolerance is a major practice in America today, perhaps more than ever before. You will notice that most other countries, for what it is worth, do not tolerate what we do in our society. And tolerance sounds like a good thing, like a great thing. I would suggest that the Bible does not teach that.
We see in the Old Testament that God was very specific in what He wanted from His people. The examples would be too numerous to even mention. But we can mention that even in His first people, Adam and Eve, He was very demanding in what He expected from them. And in the case of Cain and Abel, the first children, we see that Cain did not do what God expected of him. Even that early in history, God was intolerant of bad behavior.
Then there was Jesus. Jesus taught a less exact type of religion, wanting people to give their heart to the Lord, not just outward sacrifice. But even here, Jesus was specific about many things. For example, He was quite critical of the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23....and in many other places. He taught His followers to do certain things in their worship in the future days, like: remember Him by taking the communion (He taught them this in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22). In Matthew 28:19, He told His apostles to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you...." In John 14:6, He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." And in Matthew 7:21, He said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."
I get the idea from these teachings and many more that Jesus was serious about this. It wasn't "Do what you want to do", but rather "Do what I say!" He didn't stress tolerance in matters of morality. And we should not be so quick to accept every thing that comes our way, that comes into our society. There still is right and wrong.....and there is plenty wrong in our society today, in our movies, our tv, our language, our behavior. Let's stand up for right. Jesus certainly did.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Friday, November 7, 2014
Jesus in Capernaum
In looking closely at the New Testament teaching about Jesus, specifically in the gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we see that the town of Capernaum played a key role in the life of Jesus. We know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a town in Galilee. But when He began His ministry He moved over to Capernaum and made this His new home base, His new home town (Matthew 4). And the reason for moving was the rejection of the people of Nazareth; they couldn't accept that this son of a carpenter could be the Son of God.
We read more about Capernaum in a number of places in the NT. But I like the events that we find in Mark 1 and 2. In chapter 1 we read that Jesus went into the home of Peter and Andrew and healed their mother of a bad fever. She was apparently quite sick, but immediately recovered and proceeded to serve the others. He also healed others at this time and drove evil spirits out of some. We read that the crowds were so great that He had to get out of town, move around some. But in Mark 2, He returns home to Capernaum and is teaching a large crowd of people who have gathered. This is where four men carrying a paraplegic cannot get to Him, go up on the roof and cut a hole, lowering the crippled man down to Jesus.
This is an amazing miracle considering how much trouble these men went to in order to get this man to Jesus, the Healer. Jesus, upon seeing how this was accomplished, remarked that He was impressed with their faith and proceeded to say first that the man's sins were forgiven. Some in the crowd challenged Jesus about His forgiving sins, so He then healed the man.
We aren't told who repaired the roof. Oh, but I know a good carpenter! Jesus would be the perfect one for that. But, of course, the roof isn't the point. We cannot help but be amazed at the miracles that our Lord performed....and at the compassion that He exhibited.
All of this builds our faith, reminding us that Jesus is Lord. And just as He took care of this crippled man, He will take care of us, too.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
We read more about Capernaum in a number of places in the NT. But I like the events that we find in Mark 1 and 2. In chapter 1 we read that Jesus went into the home of Peter and Andrew and healed their mother of a bad fever. She was apparently quite sick, but immediately recovered and proceeded to serve the others. He also healed others at this time and drove evil spirits out of some. We read that the crowds were so great that He had to get out of town, move around some. But in Mark 2, He returns home to Capernaum and is teaching a large crowd of people who have gathered. This is where four men carrying a paraplegic cannot get to Him, go up on the roof and cut a hole, lowering the crippled man down to Jesus.
This is an amazing miracle considering how much trouble these men went to in order to get this man to Jesus, the Healer. Jesus, upon seeing how this was accomplished, remarked that He was impressed with their faith and proceeded to say first that the man's sins were forgiven. Some in the crowd challenged Jesus about His forgiving sins, so He then healed the man.
We aren't told who repaired the roof. Oh, but I know a good carpenter! Jesus would be the perfect one for that. But, of course, the roof isn't the point. We cannot help but be amazed at the miracles that our Lord performed....and at the compassion that He exhibited.
All of this builds our faith, reminding us that Jesus is Lord. And just as He took care of this crippled man, He will take care of us, too.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Friday, October 31, 2014
The Gospel Creates Problems
From the very beginning of Christianity, the Gospel message has created problems. We know that when Jesus was teaching He often encountered difficulties and challenges. Many of these early challenges came from the Jewish leaders. But that would be expected because He was teaching in a Jewish environment, in the land of Israel, and largely in Galilee. These were Jewish people for the most part. And He was teaching them of a new Way, a new Kingdom, a new Law....and the Jewish leaders especially did not want to hear it. And they were willing to kill Him to stop it.
We might want to note that Jesus didn't start this new Way immediately. His plan was to leave it to the apostles to carry out after He died and left. But He told those who wanted to listen that it was coming soon, and He told the apostles that it was coming with power. This coming is recorded for us in Acts 2.
Later, as recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul warned of the difficulties that the Gospel message presented to the Jews and Greeks alike. The effect, the resistance, was different between the two groups but equally a problem. He begins this discussion by saying, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Then in verse 22 he continues: "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness...." Then he concludes, "...but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
There are two separate cases here: To the Jews, the Gospel presented a stumbling block. It got in the way of their traditions and practices. It was going to require them to change their worship lives completely. Everything would be different....and that was unacceptable to many, especially to the Jewish leaders.
To the Gentiles, the non-Jews that Paul addresses as Greeks, it just seemed like foolishness. To them, everything has to be according to what they would consider "wise." But Paul points out that their kind of Wise, is not true wisdom. Only the wisdom of God is truly wise.
And today we have many of the same kinds of rejection of the Gospel. It is a stumbling block to some, requiring considerable change in lifestyle. And others just don't think it is reasonable, that it fits their idea of "wise." But we know that it is true, that it is the only true wisdom, wisdom from above.
Let us honor the Word of God. Thanks for reading again. All the best to you.
We might want to note that Jesus didn't start this new Way immediately. His plan was to leave it to the apostles to carry out after He died and left. But He told those who wanted to listen that it was coming soon, and He told the apostles that it was coming with power. This coming is recorded for us in Acts 2.
Later, as recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul warned of the difficulties that the Gospel message presented to the Jews and Greeks alike. The effect, the resistance, was different between the two groups but equally a problem. He begins this discussion by saying, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Then in verse 22 he continues: "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness...." Then he concludes, "...but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
There are two separate cases here: To the Jews, the Gospel presented a stumbling block. It got in the way of their traditions and practices. It was going to require them to change their worship lives completely. Everything would be different....and that was unacceptable to many, especially to the Jewish leaders.
To the Gentiles, the non-Jews that Paul addresses as Greeks, it just seemed like foolishness. To them, everything has to be according to what they would consider "wise." But Paul points out that their kind of Wise, is not true wisdom. Only the wisdom of God is truly wise.
And today we have many of the same kinds of rejection of the Gospel. It is a stumbling block to some, requiring considerable change in lifestyle. And others just don't think it is reasonable, that it fits their idea of "wise." But we know that it is true, that it is the only true wisdom, wisdom from above.
Let us honor the Word of God. Thanks for reading again. All the best to you.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
The Timing of Jesus' Death
I find it very interesting to look at the timing of the death of Jesus. And there are facts around this particular time that I find most people unaware. So we will take a close look in this blog at the timing and events of His death.
First we should note that Jesus kept the Old Law, the Jewish Law throughout His lifetime. He didn't start Christianity; He taught, prepared the Way; but He left the actual beginnings of it for His apostles to carry out (see Acts 1 and especially Acts 2). In demonstration of this fact, we see that Jesus met with His apostles just before His death in the upper room to partake of the Passover feast, a key Jewish feast. Immediately following His celebrating the Passover, Jesus is taken by the Jewish leaders, tried, turned over to the Roman authorities, and all events move to the crucifixion. He is taken down from the cross before the Passover Sabbath to be in accord with Jewish law. But note that this Passover Sabbath is especially important for several reasons. It is the last one in which Jesus will partake. It begins the process of the death of Jesus. It is the occasion of the teaching of the Lord's Supper, the communion. And in fact, it is the last real Passover, for Christianity is about to begin in its fullness and the Jewish Law will no longer be in effect. Finally, it begins a 50 day period that concludes with the Jewish feast of Pentecost...Pente meaning 50 in the Hebrew.
Acts 1:3 tells us that "...He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." This is the only verse in the Bible where we learn that Jesus spent 40 days showing Himself on the earth after his resurrection from the dead. And of course He would teach about the kingdom of God because it was about to begin in its fullness.
But thinking about the Pente, the 50 day period, it began on the Passover Sabbath, Saturday, Jesus rose on Sunday; that is one day; then Jesus was alive for 40 days; that is 41 days into the 50. And we read in Acts 1 that Jesus told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit to come. That happens on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover Sabbath. So Jesus ascended into heaven, see Acts 1:9, and it was just a few days of waiting by the apostles before they were endued by the Holy Spirit with the power, the power to do miracles, heal, etc, on the day of Pentecost, described in detail in Acts 2.
This period between the last Passover feast and the Pentecost feast was an amazing period, a period in which Jesus brought to an end His ministry....and His life on this earth. And it was a beginning. a beginning of the church, of Christianity, of growth.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
First we should note that Jesus kept the Old Law, the Jewish Law throughout His lifetime. He didn't start Christianity; He taught, prepared the Way; but He left the actual beginnings of it for His apostles to carry out (see Acts 1 and especially Acts 2). In demonstration of this fact, we see that Jesus met with His apostles just before His death in the upper room to partake of the Passover feast, a key Jewish feast. Immediately following His celebrating the Passover, Jesus is taken by the Jewish leaders, tried, turned over to the Roman authorities, and all events move to the crucifixion. He is taken down from the cross before the Passover Sabbath to be in accord with Jewish law. But note that this Passover Sabbath is especially important for several reasons. It is the last one in which Jesus will partake. It begins the process of the death of Jesus. It is the occasion of the teaching of the Lord's Supper, the communion. And in fact, it is the last real Passover, for Christianity is about to begin in its fullness and the Jewish Law will no longer be in effect. Finally, it begins a 50 day period that concludes with the Jewish feast of Pentecost...Pente meaning 50 in the Hebrew.
Acts 1:3 tells us that "...He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." This is the only verse in the Bible where we learn that Jesus spent 40 days showing Himself on the earth after his resurrection from the dead. And of course He would teach about the kingdom of God because it was about to begin in its fullness.
But thinking about the Pente, the 50 day period, it began on the Passover Sabbath, Saturday, Jesus rose on Sunday; that is one day; then Jesus was alive for 40 days; that is 41 days into the 50. And we read in Acts 1 that Jesus told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit to come. That happens on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover Sabbath. So Jesus ascended into heaven, see Acts 1:9, and it was just a few days of waiting by the apostles before they were endued by the Holy Spirit with the power, the power to do miracles, heal, etc, on the day of Pentecost, described in detail in Acts 2.
This period between the last Passover feast and the Pentecost feast was an amazing period, a period in which Jesus brought to an end His ministry....and His life on this earth. And it was a beginning. a beginning of the church, of Christianity, of growth.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Communion....or The Lord's Supper
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, came together with His apostles right before His death on the cross to observe the Jewish Passover feast. Jesus was a Jew and kept the Jewish Law throughout His lifetime. But at this last Passover feast, Jesus used the opportunity to command these apostles to remember Him in the future by partaking of unleavened bread, representing His body, and fruit of the vine, His blood. The account of this event is stated in three places in the New Testament: Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22. The fourth of the gospels, John, does not cover this teaching of Jesus. We might note, just as a way of remembering, that the location of these three accounts is 2 chapters back from the end of each of these books.
We also read that Paul recounted this occurrence in His first letter to the Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul is chastising the church in Corinth for their poor observance of the Lord's Supper. Some were using it as a common meal, some eating while others were not, some just not giving it proper respect. This is good teaching for us in seeing the importance not only in taking it but in taking it in an appropriate way.
Then in the book of Acts, the fifth book of the NT, as the church begins to grow, we find Christians getting together to observe the Communion, or Lord's Supper, on the first day of the week, Sunday. Note Acts 20:7, "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." The Christians were following the typical practice now of worshiping on Sunday and taking the bread and fruit of the vine to remember Jesus, just as He had taught them to do.
In these passages, the first 3 spoken by Jesus Himself, the teaching of Paul on the subject, and the passage in Acts, written by Luke, we learn clearly what the Lord wanted of us in the matter of taking the supper in remembrance of Him. Thus, we come together on Sunday, each Sunday, to do the same.
Thanks for reading. And keep the faith!
We also read that Paul recounted this occurrence in His first letter to the Corinthians. Read 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul is chastising the church in Corinth for their poor observance of the Lord's Supper. Some were using it as a common meal, some eating while others were not, some just not giving it proper respect. This is good teaching for us in seeing the importance not only in taking it but in taking it in an appropriate way.
Then in the book of Acts, the fifth book of the NT, as the church begins to grow, we find Christians getting together to observe the Communion, or Lord's Supper, on the first day of the week, Sunday. Note Acts 20:7, "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." The Christians were following the typical practice now of worshiping on Sunday and taking the bread and fruit of the vine to remember Jesus, just as He had taught them to do.
In these passages, the first 3 spoken by Jesus Himself, the teaching of Paul on the subject, and the passage in Acts, written by Luke, we learn clearly what the Lord wanted of us in the matter of taking the supper in remembrance of Him. Thus, we come together on Sunday, each Sunday, to do the same.
Thanks for reading. And keep the faith!
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Beatitudes
Jesus begins the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5 with a description of what a Christian looks like, what we should be. It is interesting to view the various characteristics to know better how we should live.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We see an attitude of life here....and the result of having this attitude. We all want to be in the "kingdom of heaven." But it appears that it isn't those who are riding high, living great and feeling self confident that will win in the end.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." We see the love of God in these words.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Emphasis is on the meek...not the bold.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Many verses in the NT mention the importance of searching for God...like Hebrews 11:6. "He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." We should live for this.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." It isn't easy to be pure in heart, but that must be our goal.
"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God." Don't we all love a peacemaker...as opposed to a troublemaker?
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God."
We can see from this that the Christian life isn't always going to be easy. But we want the rewards that come only to those who have these characteristics as our goals. Let's do it!
Thanks for reading again. See you next week. Feel the love...
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We see an attitude of life here....and the result of having this attitude. We all want to be in the "kingdom of heaven." But it appears that it isn't those who are riding high, living great and feeling self confident that will win in the end.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." We see the love of God in these words.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Emphasis is on the meek...not the bold.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Many verses in the NT mention the importance of searching for God...like Hebrews 11:6. "He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." We should live for this.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." It isn't easy to be pure in heart, but that must be our goal.
"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God." Don't we all love a peacemaker...as opposed to a troublemaker?
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God."
We can see from this that the Christian life isn't always going to be easy. But we want the rewards that come only to those who have these characteristics as our goals. Let's do it!
Thanks for reading again. See you next week. Feel the love...
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Bible Contradiction?
There are many places in the Bible where people sometimes claim contradiction. There are no contradictions but only variances that require our closer understanding. Here we will look at one such matter that could raise question.
In Galatians 6 we see where we are to bear our own burdens and to bear one another's burdens. That certainly sounds like a contradiction. Let's look closer.
In verse 2 we read, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." This is another way of saying that we need to put others ahead of ourselves.
Then we read, "But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load."
It seems obvious that these two situations can exist without contradiction. Yes, we are to be responsible for ourselves, to look at our own work, to "bear our own load." But further than that, we are to be concerned for others, helping them as well, giving their needs priority. In doing so, we are fulfilling "the law of Christ."
No one was more selfless than our Lord. And this was His teaching, His "law"; we are to bear the burdens of others. There are certainly important lessons for each of us in this teaching, lessons that show us how to better live our lives....and to be true followers of Christ.
There are no contradictions, only passages that require our further understanding. Let us revere the Word of God, the Bible. Thanks for reading. All the best to you.
In Galatians 6 we see where we are to bear our own burdens and to bear one another's burdens. That certainly sounds like a contradiction. Let's look closer.
In verse 2 we read, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." This is another way of saying that we need to put others ahead of ourselves.
Then we read, "But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load."
It seems obvious that these two situations can exist without contradiction. Yes, we are to be responsible for ourselves, to look at our own work, to "bear our own load." But further than that, we are to be concerned for others, helping them as well, giving their needs priority. In doing so, we are fulfilling "the law of Christ."
No one was more selfless than our Lord. And this was His teaching, His "law"; we are to bear the burdens of others. There are certainly important lessons for each of us in this teaching, lessons that show us how to better live our lives....and to be true followers of Christ.
There are no contradictions, only passages that require our further understanding. Let us revere the Word of God, the Bible. Thanks for reading. All the best to you.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Wisdom
We all have many goals or dreams for ourselves, things that we want to accomplish or to become. Perhaps a great goal for each of us would be to obtain wisdom. We have all known people who, though they aged, they did not become wiser with their years.
First, we might say that the gaining of wisdom comes by seeking it. And the true source of wisdom is the Bible. There we learn from God Himself. There are other sources of wisdom, but we can't do better than to go to God for our learning and understanding. And the neat thing about that is that He made sure that we are provided all that we need in this direction. The Bible is full of wisdom literature.
A good place to start is the book of Proverbs. Note Proverbs chapter 1, written by Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament:
"To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom.....The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
And Proverbs 8: "Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill...."
And the reason that Solomon is regarded for being the wisest man of the Old Testament: The Lord looked kindly at Solomon and asked him what he would want above all else. Solomon could have asked for wealth or health or long life, but instead asked for wisdom that he could use to judge well in his position of king of Israel. The Lord blessed him with the greatest wisdom, but also with all the other things that Solomon could have asked for, including great wealth.
One little piece of advice, wisdom, is Proverbs 13:20, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed." It only makes sense that if we want to be wise people, we will align ourselves with wise people.
And in conclusion, I love the first chapter of Joshua. God is speaking to Joshua directly. We might note that God doesn't speak to us in this same way, but He has given us the same powerful promise of support through His Word, the Bible. "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you, nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage.....This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Wow!
The Lord didn't just love and support Joshua. He loves and supports each of us who love and follow Him. Anyone who has spent time in the Bible knows that it is the true source of wisdom. Let us dwell on that.
Thanks for reading. You are great!
First, we might say that the gaining of wisdom comes by seeking it. And the true source of wisdom is the Bible. There we learn from God Himself. There are other sources of wisdom, but we can't do better than to go to God for our learning and understanding. And the neat thing about that is that He made sure that we are provided all that we need in this direction. The Bible is full of wisdom literature.
A good place to start is the book of Proverbs. Note Proverbs chapter 1, written by Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament:
"To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom.....The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
And Proverbs 8: "Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill...."
And the reason that Solomon is regarded for being the wisest man of the Old Testament: The Lord looked kindly at Solomon and asked him what he would want above all else. Solomon could have asked for wealth or health or long life, but instead asked for wisdom that he could use to judge well in his position of king of Israel. The Lord blessed him with the greatest wisdom, but also with all the other things that Solomon could have asked for, including great wealth.
One little piece of advice, wisdom, is Proverbs 13:20, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed." It only makes sense that if we want to be wise people, we will align ourselves with wise people.
And in conclusion, I love the first chapter of Joshua. God is speaking to Joshua directly. We might note that God doesn't speak to us in this same way, but He has given us the same powerful promise of support through His Word, the Bible. "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you, nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage.....This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Wow!
The Lord didn't just love and support Joshua. He loves and supports each of us who love and follow Him. Anyone who has spent time in the Bible knows that it is the true source of wisdom. Let us dwell on that.
Thanks for reading. You are great!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Scripture
The Bible uses the term "scripture" in a couple of ways that are interesting and telling. The first way is to reference the Old Testament scriptures that were written over hundreds of years. These scriptures instructed the Jews in following their religious practices and in looking forward to the day when a new King, Jesus, would come to bring deliverance.
The use of "scripture" is used in a more comprehensive way as well. There are a couple of verses that make reference to scripture including the New Testament writings as well. Note Peter's comments at the end of 2 Peter. He is speaking of the writings of Paul:
"...our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."
Here we see the writings of Paul being included in the term "scriptures."
Another passage that is interesting along this line is 1 Timothy 5:18. "For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,' (Deuteronomy 25:4) and, 'The laborer is worthy of his wages.' " (Luke 10:7)
In this passage the term Scripture is being used to include a quote from the OT as well as one from the NT as spoken by Jesus Himself.
So we conclude from all of this that Scripture for us today is Old Testament and New Testament teaching. As followers of Christ, we are primarily under the Law of Christ, following the instruction of the New Testament. But the OT is important for our learning.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week and know that your are important.
The use of "scripture" is used in a more comprehensive way as well. There are a couple of verses that make reference to scripture including the New Testament writings as well. Note Peter's comments at the end of 2 Peter. He is speaking of the writings of Paul:
"...our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."
Here we see the writings of Paul being included in the term "scriptures."
Another passage that is interesting along this line is 1 Timothy 5:18. "For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,' (Deuteronomy 25:4) and, 'The laborer is worthy of his wages.' " (Luke 10:7)
In this passage the term Scripture is being used to include a quote from the OT as well as one from the NT as spoken by Jesus Himself.
So we conclude from all of this that Scripture for us today is Old Testament and New Testament teaching. As followers of Christ, we are primarily under the Law of Christ, following the instruction of the New Testament. But the OT is important for our learning.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week and know that your are important.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
The Queen of the South Will Judge
Jesus was speaking in Matthew 12 about the Old Testament prophet Jonah, how Jonah had preached to the people of Nineveh and they had repented of their wrongdoing. Jesus was saying that the people of Nineveh would rise up in the time of judgment to judge this generation. Nineveh had repented but this generation would not. Then He said, "The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here."
This quote about the Queen of the South has reference to the queen of Sheba as discussed in 1Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9. The lesson there is that the queen had heard about the greatness of Solomon, the king of Israel, and had traveled many hundreds of miles by caravan to observe in person this amazing king. Here is a little of the description of the what the queen saw:
"And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her." Then she said, "..I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me."
We might stop here to note that we know little of the queen of Sheba. We aren't even sure just where Sheba was. All Scholars seem to agree that it was in Southern Arabia. We do know that this queen was exceptionally wealthy....and she had a great desire to witness the great king of Israel.
The point that Jesus was making was that if someone wanted so badly to witness the great king Solomon, to travel so far under hard circumstances, everyone should be willing to witness...and obey...a king far greater than Solomon; i.e. Jesus Himself. This is a lesson from which we can profit. Jesus wants us to be amazed at Him; to witness, to follow, obey, love, teach Him. He is the great king....and Him only. Let us be amazed at His greatness!
Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
This quote about the Queen of the South has reference to the queen of Sheba as discussed in 1Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9. The lesson there is that the queen had heard about the greatness of Solomon, the king of Israel, and had traveled many hundreds of miles by caravan to observe in person this amazing king. Here is a little of the description of the what the queen saw:
"And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her." Then she said, "..I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me."
We might stop here to note that we know little of the queen of Sheba. We aren't even sure just where Sheba was. All Scholars seem to agree that it was in Southern Arabia. We do know that this queen was exceptionally wealthy....and she had a great desire to witness the great king of Israel.
The point that Jesus was making was that if someone wanted so badly to witness the great king Solomon, to travel so far under hard circumstances, everyone should be willing to witness...and obey...a king far greater than Solomon; i.e. Jesus Himself. This is a lesson from which we can profit. Jesus wants us to be amazed at Him; to witness, to follow, obey, love, teach Him. He is the great king....and Him only. Let us be amazed at His greatness!
Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
How Does a Person Become a Christian?
Becoming a Christian is all about faith.......and for that matter being a Christian is all about faith. Hebrews 11 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God..." But there is much misunderstanding about faith and what that really means. Jesus pointed out that even the devil believes, has faith...knows that Jesus is the Son of God. But the Bible gives lots of teaching about the matter and what it really means to have faith in God, in Jesus, His Son. We can't cover all aspects of this subject in this short treatise, but we can do a little examination.
We could cite many examples of people who went through the conversion process. Let's look at the Ethiopian guy in Acts 8. He was traveling back from worshipping as a good Jew in Jerusalem, sitting on his chariot and reading the book of Isaiah. Philip, a preacher, comes to him at God's direction and teaches him about Jesus. At this point we have a man who becomes a believer, realizes that Jesus is the Son of God. "As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" Philip baptized him and the man "went on his way rejoicing." This whole matter of conversion was a simple process, but one that brought great joy to this man.
In Acts 2 we see people who came to realize that they weren't Christians and needed to do something about it. They asked Peter in Acts 2:37. Peter's answer was "Repent and be baptized every one of you...." This simple instruction shows what Bible people did when they believed and wanted to be followers.
All through the Bible we see people in this same condition coming to Jesus. And we should all make sure that we do the same, follow the same process: Believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, repent (change) of our past lives and commit to follow Him. We should be willing to state our beliefs to others, that we believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, and we should be baptized.
This is the Bible pattern, and it is a simple one. But many people today bring in other ideas and water all of this down. All we have to do is do what the Bible teaches; follow the many examples that we see in the New Testament.
And of course, we have to live it, to live for Him. But a great reward is waiting for us. Let's be there! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
We could cite many examples of people who went through the conversion process. Let's look at the Ethiopian guy in Acts 8. He was traveling back from worshipping as a good Jew in Jerusalem, sitting on his chariot and reading the book of Isaiah. Philip, a preacher, comes to him at God's direction and teaches him about Jesus. At this point we have a man who becomes a believer, realizes that Jesus is the Son of God. "As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" Philip baptized him and the man "went on his way rejoicing." This whole matter of conversion was a simple process, but one that brought great joy to this man.
In Acts 2 we see people who came to realize that they weren't Christians and needed to do something about it. They asked Peter in Acts 2:37. Peter's answer was "Repent and be baptized every one of you...." This simple instruction shows what Bible people did when they believed and wanted to be followers.
All through the Bible we see people in this same condition coming to Jesus. And we should all make sure that we do the same, follow the same process: Believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, repent (change) of our past lives and commit to follow Him. We should be willing to state our beliefs to others, that we believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, and we should be baptized.
This is the Bible pattern, and it is a simple one. But many people today bring in other ideas and water all of this down. All we have to do is do what the Bible teaches; follow the many examples that we see in the New Testament.
And of course, we have to live it, to live for Him. But a great reward is waiting for us. Let's be there! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Monday, September 1, 2014
Save Our Nation
In terms of our nation, we as individuals have no power. Not one of us can turn the direction of our nation, our society, around. But who would disagree that there has been a loosening of morality in our society today. Our country is going through a period of tolerance, tolerance of everything, a legalization of everything. Where we once were considered a Christian nation and took pride in such, we see now that this just isn't so. We now are a nation of all religions, and most people feel that all are fine, all are acceptable to God, one is as good as another.
I should hasten to say here that this is a country of freedom....and certainly freedom of religion, as well it should be. But there was a time when the predominate religion in this country was Christianity. And those of us who understand that Christ died for us also understand that He said there was no other acceptable way to the Father.
But regardless of one's stance on the matter of a "Christian nation," it likely would be agreed by all readers that we are in a period of moral degradation. And it would seem agreeable to say that we as individuals don't have the personal power to change this direction of our society. We can vote, but most of us don't have political power beyond that.
But we need to recognize that God is always in charge. He has the power. And we should know that there has always been a remnant; a remnant to whom God listened. God cares about His people. And while we don't have the power, He does. Note this statement in 2Chronicles 7:14.
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
The point of all of this is that we need a healing. This country, this nation, needs a healing, needs a turn-around of major proportions. The answer is prayer. There are a lot of things that we cannot do, but we can pray. And God says that prayer will make a difference. We don't have the power, but He does......and He cares. Join with me and offer a prayer today for our country. Tell the Lord that we know He is in control of nations....and leaders....and powers. He can change the direction of our country....to His glory. We want things to change for the better so that He can be glorified.
Just as God said to Joshua, it can be so with us: "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you."
Thank you for reading. Know that you are important.
I should hasten to say here that this is a country of freedom....and certainly freedom of religion, as well it should be. But there was a time when the predominate religion in this country was Christianity. And those of us who understand that Christ died for us also understand that He said there was no other acceptable way to the Father.
But regardless of one's stance on the matter of a "Christian nation," it likely would be agreed by all readers that we are in a period of moral degradation. And it would seem agreeable to say that we as individuals don't have the personal power to change this direction of our society. We can vote, but most of us don't have political power beyond that.
But we need to recognize that God is always in charge. He has the power. And we should know that there has always been a remnant; a remnant to whom God listened. God cares about His people. And while we don't have the power, He does. Note this statement in 2Chronicles 7:14.
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
The point of all of this is that we need a healing. This country, this nation, needs a healing, needs a turn-around of major proportions. The answer is prayer. There are a lot of things that we cannot do, but we can pray. And God says that prayer will make a difference. We don't have the power, but He does......and He cares. Join with me and offer a prayer today for our country. Tell the Lord that we know He is in control of nations....and leaders....and powers. He can change the direction of our country....to His glory. We want things to change for the better so that He can be glorified.
Just as God said to Joshua, it can be so with us: "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you."
Thank you for reading. Know that you are important.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Ethiopia
We have 2 of our church members in Ethiopia this week working with preachers from throughout Ethiopia. These are Bob Owen and Steve Patton. It is amazing how the gospel of Christ has been accepted in that country. It seems much more readily accepted and growing there than in many other countries of the world, perhaps even in the U.S. We were once a Christian nation, but more and more we are getting away from that. Unless that changes it will likely be the downfall of our nation--just my prediction. I digress.
The point of this lesson is that it was the command of Jesus to His disciples just before He left them that they were to spread the Word. Note this teaching at the very end of Matthew:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been to given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Then in the first chapter of the book of Acts, just before Jesus ascends to heaven, He gives this statement to His apostles:
"...you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
At the beginning of Acts 8 we read that this spread of the gospel begins: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria."
The book of Acts chronicles the growth of the church throughout the known world at that time. And speaking of Ethiopia, there is an interesting story at the end of chapter 8 of Acts that tells of a Jewish man who came up from Ethiopia and was converted to Christ. I will let you read that one on your own if you wish, but it is an interesting read of a conversion.
The charge of Jesus was made primarily to His apostles. But we know that He expected this effort to continue long after the apostles were dead and gone. It is up to us now to see that the Word is spread throughout the world. We can do this at home and abroad.
Let's do our part. Thanks for reading and have a great week!
The point of this lesson is that it was the command of Jesus to His disciples just before He left them that they were to spread the Word. Note this teaching at the very end of Matthew:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been to given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Then in the first chapter of the book of Acts, just before Jesus ascends to heaven, He gives this statement to His apostles:
"...you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
At the beginning of Acts 8 we read that this spread of the gospel begins: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria."
The book of Acts chronicles the growth of the church throughout the known world at that time. And speaking of Ethiopia, there is an interesting story at the end of chapter 8 of Acts that tells of a Jewish man who came up from Ethiopia and was converted to Christ. I will let you read that one on your own if you wish, but it is an interesting read of a conversion.
The charge of Jesus was made primarily to His apostles. But we know that He expected this effort to continue long after the apostles were dead and gone. It is up to us now to see that the Word is spread throughout the world. We can do this at home and abroad.
Let's do our part. Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Maturity
The Bible talks a lot about the importance of God's people being mature. This was the subject of the apostle Paul's comments in Hebrews 5 & 6. The following are excerpts from that:
"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
The teaching here is clear: We need to first get the learning of the basics, then move on to matters of Righteousness. That is where the real meat of the Word lies. Continuing:
"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."
In this latter passage, Paul gives some examples of what he would consider elementary. But the only detailed matter of maturity given here is "righteousness." He is looking for us to be righteous people. But note that we first should give some consideration, show some understanding of the basics, the basic beliefs of Christianity. Having that, we are to move on to a higher calling, a calling to seek perfection, holiness, as God is Holy. I am certainly not saying that we can be perfect, that we can reach the level of holiness that our Lord has; but this is to be our goal.
Let us all think about maturity.....and the need to seek that. May God bless you this week!
"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
The teaching here is clear: We need to first get the learning of the basics, then move on to matters of Righteousness. That is where the real meat of the Word lies. Continuing:
"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment."
In this latter passage, Paul gives some examples of what he would consider elementary. But the only detailed matter of maturity given here is "righteousness." He is looking for us to be righteous people. But note that we first should give some consideration, show some understanding of the basics, the basic beliefs of Christianity. Having that, we are to move on to a higher calling, a calling to seek perfection, holiness, as God is Holy. I am certainly not saying that we can be perfect, that we can reach the level of holiness that our Lord has; but this is to be our goal.
Let us all think about maturity.....and the need to seek that. May God bless you this week!
Saturday, August 9, 2014
"It is Finished"
The last words of Jesus, "It is finished," ring in our ears. It is true that His life is finished at that moment. One account says that He made a loud cry, then it was over. But there is something special about the final words that go much deeper than the obvious.
This moment in time, the giving of the life of the Messiah, had been planned from the beginning. We could go all the way back to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, right at the beginning of the Bible, to see that there would come a time when Jesus would have to die on this earth. Note Genesis 3 beginning in verse 14 where the Lord was speaking to the Serpent and concludes with "And you shall bruise His heel", speaking of Jesus being bruised by Satan. But we know that Satan would never win that battle, a point that is made more than clear in the book of Revelation.
All through the Bible we find that there are references to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and eventually to His death. It was always God's plan to offer His Son in order to redeem the sins of man, of you and me.
So when Jesus made His final statement, "It is finished", He was not only saying that His life was over, He was saying that His ministry was over, that this was the end of all that had been prophesied about Him. He had fulfilled all that had been spoken by the prophets about the coming Savior, the coming Kingdom, and the redemption of man.
But perhaps we shouldn't overlook the fact that it was the end of all the suffering that He went through for us. For sure, we never want to minimize the severity of that.....and the wonderful sacrifice that was made....allowing us to have the beauty of heaven forever.
And so, it was finished, but it was also a great beginning. It represented the beginning of a new era, a new Way, the Way of Jesus. We see this come to fruition in the book of Acts as the apostles go forth to develop the church.
What a great plan that our God had for us! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
This moment in time, the giving of the life of the Messiah, had been planned from the beginning. We could go all the way back to the 3rd chapter of Genesis, right at the beginning of the Bible, to see that there would come a time when Jesus would have to die on this earth. Note Genesis 3 beginning in verse 14 where the Lord was speaking to the Serpent and concludes with "And you shall bruise His heel", speaking of Jesus being bruised by Satan. But we know that Satan would never win that battle, a point that is made more than clear in the book of Revelation.
All through the Bible we find that there are references to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and eventually to His death. It was always God's plan to offer His Son in order to redeem the sins of man, of you and me.
So when Jesus made His final statement, "It is finished", He was not only saying that His life was over, He was saying that His ministry was over, that this was the end of all that had been prophesied about Him. He had fulfilled all that had been spoken by the prophets about the coming Savior, the coming Kingdom, and the redemption of man.
But perhaps we shouldn't overlook the fact that it was the end of all the suffering that He went through for us. For sure, we never want to minimize the severity of that.....and the wonderful sacrifice that was made....allowing us to have the beauty of heaven forever.
And so, it was finished, but it was also a great beginning. It represented the beginning of a new era, a new Way, the Way of Jesus. We see this come to fruition in the book of Acts as the apostles go forth to develop the church.
What a great plan that our God had for us! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Grace
Maybe there is no more beautiful word in all of the English language than "grace." For the Christian it is the free gift of God, the giving of favor to us that is not deserved. We don't deserve the benefits, the salvation, that He offers. We haven't earned it, aren't entitled to it; but we get it.
Oh, there are some qualifications: We have to be Christians, believers, followers. We have to dedicate our lives to Him. We have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And we have to try to live as He lived when He was here on this earth.
I think of the Prodigal Son as recorded in Luke 15. He was a bad son. He left home and took his inheritance with him. He wasted his life in partying....and nothing good. One day he realized that he had lost it all and followed the wrong path. He decided that he should go home and ask his father to just let him work as a servant, not as a son but as one of the lowly workers around the place. But his father gave him grace, letting him come back as a son...and with a great celebration for his return.
This is how our father extends grace to us. We haven't lived a perfect life; have turned away from God many times, ignoring what was right and doing what we wanted. But God loves us and accepts us back. We could use the term "mercy," but grace goes even further than mercy. God's grace is everything to us, salvation to us who cannot save ourselves.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, asked God to relieve him of his "thorn in the flesh," some ailment that was a severe bother to him. The Lord answered by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you." All else pales in comparison to His grace.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10
Praise God for His wonderful grace. Thanks for reading again. God bless you with His grace!
Oh, there are some qualifications: We have to be Christians, believers, followers. We have to dedicate our lives to Him. We have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And we have to try to live as He lived when He was here on this earth.
I think of the Prodigal Son as recorded in Luke 15. He was a bad son. He left home and took his inheritance with him. He wasted his life in partying....and nothing good. One day he realized that he had lost it all and followed the wrong path. He decided that he should go home and ask his father to just let him work as a servant, not as a son but as one of the lowly workers around the place. But his father gave him grace, letting him come back as a son...and with a great celebration for his return.
This is how our father extends grace to us. We haven't lived a perfect life; have turned away from God many times, ignoring what was right and doing what we wanted. But God loves us and accepts us back. We could use the term "mercy," but grace goes even further than mercy. God's grace is everything to us, salvation to us who cannot save ourselves.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, asked God to relieve him of his "thorn in the flesh," some ailment that was a severe bother to him. The Lord answered by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you." All else pales in comparison to His grace.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10
Praise God for His wonderful grace. Thanks for reading again. God bless you with His grace!
Saturday, July 26, 2014
A Gospel of Inclusion
It is so great that the Bible answers so many of the questions of life for us. We don't have to wonder what God wants from us. We know how He wants to be worshiped, where we came from, why we exist, where we are heading. We know what our attitudes should be toward so many things; how we are to live and how we are to treat others. And that brings us to today's discussion of inclusion.
The Bible, the New Testament, and Jesus Himself, make it clear that we are to be people who reach out to all cultures, all peoples. In this writing we will look at some Bible examples that give us clear instruction on the matter.
I always think of the Good Samaritan who went out of his way a lot to help a Jewish man, a man not of his people. Others had passed this injured man by, but not the Samaritan.
In Acts 6 we read of Grecian widows who were not having their needs met. The Jewish Christian widows were being cared for but not the Grecians. The apostles recognized that they did not have the time to see to every need so they appointed certain men to see out for this need.
In Acts 15 there were disagreements between Christians because some Jewish Christians were insisting that Christian men should be circumcised according to Jewish Law. This was settled by the apostles, taking away this requirement.
And we see the Corinthian church being instructed in 1 Corinthians 16 to send help to the Christians in Jerusalem who were in need. It didn't matter that it was Gentiles helping Jewish Christians, or for that matter, Jewish Christians helping Gentile Christians.
We know that the NT teaching is to do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith...i.e., Christians. So we see that we should treat all men alike for all are the same in God's eyes.
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26)
It all comes down to an attitude...an attitude of love. Thanks for reading. Have a great week....and feel the love!
The Bible, the New Testament, and Jesus Himself, make it clear that we are to be people who reach out to all cultures, all peoples. In this writing we will look at some Bible examples that give us clear instruction on the matter.
I always think of the Good Samaritan who went out of his way a lot to help a Jewish man, a man not of his people. Others had passed this injured man by, but not the Samaritan.
In Acts 6 we read of Grecian widows who were not having their needs met. The Jewish Christian widows were being cared for but not the Grecians. The apostles recognized that they did not have the time to see to every need so they appointed certain men to see out for this need.
In Acts 15 there were disagreements between Christians because some Jewish Christians were insisting that Christian men should be circumcised according to Jewish Law. This was settled by the apostles, taking away this requirement.
And we see the Corinthian church being instructed in 1 Corinthians 16 to send help to the Christians in Jerusalem who were in need. It didn't matter that it was Gentiles helping Jewish Christians, or for that matter, Jewish Christians helping Gentile Christians.
We know that the NT teaching is to do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith...i.e., Christians. So we see that we should treat all men alike for all are the same in God's eyes.
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26)
It all comes down to an attitude...an attitude of love. Thanks for reading. Have a great week....and feel the love!
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Which Denomination is the Best?
What is the answer to the best denomination to be a part of today? Fortunately, the New Testament gives the clear answer to the question so that we do not have to wonder about this. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 1 starting with verse 10:
"I appeal to you, brothers, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?..."
The answer is clear. There is no best denomination. In fact, there should be no denomination, realizing that the word simply means to divide. As Christians, we are one. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. Unity is taught all through the Bible. Just before His death, Jesus prayed in John 17 that His followers would be united. And this passage in Ephesians 4 shows us the importance of unity:
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism....."
It is obvious that Jesus and Paul were very concerned about the unity of Christians. We might ask how we can be unified and is that possible. The answer lies in just being Christians, just following the teaching of the Bible, just being today what Christians were in the days of the New Testament. Meanwhile, while we make this journey to being what Christ wants us to be, we are to "be completely humble and gentle", as it says in Eph. 4, with one another; to love one another and seek the best for one another.
Let's just be Christians. Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
"I appeal to you, brothers, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?..."
The answer is clear. There is no best denomination. In fact, there should be no denomination, realizing that the word simply means to divide. As Christians, we are one. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. Unity is taught all through the Bible. Just before His death, Jesus prayed in John 17 that His followers would be united. And this passage in Ephesians 4 shows us the importance of unity:
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism....."
It is obvious that Jesus and Paul were very concerned about the unity of Christians. We might ask how we can be unified and is that possible. The answer lies in just being Christians, just following the teaching of the Bible, just being today what Christians were in the days of the New Testament. Meanwhile, while we make this journey to being what Christ wants us to be, we are to "be completely humble and gentle", as it says in Eph. 4, with one another; to love one another and seek the best for one another.
Let's just be Christians. Thanks for reading. Have a great week.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
God Always Provides
All through the Bible we see that God loves His people....and He always provides for His people. Today's lesson shows the example of this principle when God provided manna and quails for the people of Israel. God had brought the people out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery and oppression, had helped them cross the Red Sea on dry land by parting the waters, and was leading them toward the promised land. God delivered them and thought they would be appreciative.
Soon, the people became concerned about the lack of food and started complaining. We learn from the Bible that God does not appreciate complaining. He was upset with His people, but He showed great patience with them and love, too. He gave them manna and quails. We read in Exodus 16 that the manna was a type of bread dough that they got from God in the morning and baked. Then quails were provided in the evening which they would boil for eating.
We read on in the Old Testament that the Israelites were so turning away from God that He made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promised land, the land of Canaan, what is today the nation of Israel. Later in this period of wandering, God again became upset with their complaining. Numbers 11 tells, "Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." They then began complaining about the lack of meat again. Apparently, the quails had been stopped for awhile and now they were unhappy. God provided them quails again but in such quantity that it made them sick.
There are many lessons to be drawn here. The main one is that God is extremely gracious to His people. He saves, He delivers, He wants to help them...and does. It is the same with us today who are His followers. He not only gave us His only Son, but He continues to give and to care.
Another lesson is that God doesn't appreciate complaining. He didn't like it then and He doesn't like it now.
In summary, we must first be sure that we are committed to Him, that we are a true follower. And we should know that He provides, He takes care of His own. And we must appreciate the care and love He gives us, not complaining in any way.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great!
Soon, the people became concerned about the lack of food and started complaining. We learn from the Bible that God does not appreciate complaining. He was upset with His people, but He showed great patience with them and love, too. He gave them manna and quails. We read in Exodus 16 that the manna was a type of bread dough that they got from God in the morning and baked. Then quails were provided in the evening which they would boil for eating.
We read on in the Old Testament that the Israelites were so turning away from God that He made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years before going into the promised land, the land of Canaan, what is today the nation of Israel. Later in this period of wandering, God again became upset with their complaining. Numbers 11 tells, "Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." They then began complaining about the lack of meat again. Apparently, the quails had been stopped for awhile and now they were unhappy. God provided them quails again but in such quantity that it made them sick.
There are many lessons to be drawn here. The main one is that God is extremely gracious to His people. He saves, He delivers, He wants to help them...and does. It is the same with us today who are His followers. He not only gave us His only Son, but He continues to give and to care.
Another lesson is that God doesn't appreciate complaining. He didn't like it then and He doesn't like it now.
In summary, we must first be sure that we are committed to Him, that we are a true follower. And we should know that He provides, He takes care of His own. And we must appreciate the care and love He gives us, not complaining in any way.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great!
Saturday, July 5, 2014
King Josiah
King Josiah was one of the last kings of the nation of Judah. This occurs in 2 Kings 22 of the Old Testament. The overall nation of Israel had been split into 2 parts for many years; Israel in the North and Judah in the South. As we read through the OT we see that Israel went into captivity to Assyria as recorded in 2 Kings 17. And the reason that they were overcome was because they had left the Lord, not following His instruction, following after false gods. And during this period of the Northern and Southern kingdoms, there was not one single king who was faithful to the Lord.
We read that Judah held on longer and never fell to the Assyrians. This is because at least some of the kings and the people remained faithful to God. Thus, God spared them for awhile. Eventually we see that Judah falls to the dynasty of Babylon.....but only when the nation started following false gods and totally rejecting the true God.
Josiah became king of Judah at the age of 8 and reigned for 31 years. The High Priest at that time found the Book of the Law and got it to the king. King Josiah as amazed; this book had not been found or followed for a long time. Verse 13, the king speaks, "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
Verse 25 says of king Josiah, "Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him."
This kind of commitment to the Lord serves as a good example to us. We need to recognize the importance of God's instruction book to us, the Bible. To those people of old it was the Law of Moses, given by God, the Jewish Law. To us it is the instruction of the New Testament. And we need to see that God is serious about us following it.
And we can note that all through the Bible we read where nations that followed the Lord were protected by Him. When nations turned away from Him, there was a great fall. Pray for our nation.
Thanks for reading......and learning, or being reminded, about our Great God!
We read that Judah held on longer and never fell to the Assyrians. This is because at least some of the kings and the people remained faithful to God. Thus, God spared them for awhile. Eventually we see that Judah falls to the dynasty of Babylon.....but only when the nation started following false gods and totally rejecting the true God.
Josiah became king of Judah at the age of 8 and reigned for 31 years. The High Priest at that time found the Book of the Law and got it to the king. King Josiah as amazed; this book had not been found or followed for a long time. Verse 13, the king speaks, "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
Verse 25 says of king Josiah, "Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him."
This kind of commitment to the Lord serves as a good example to us. We need to recognize the importance of God's instruction book to us, the Bible. To those people of old it was the Law of Moses, given by God, the Jewish Law. To us it is the instruction of the New Testament. And we need to see that God is serious about us following it.
And we can note that all through the Bible we read where nations that followed the Lord were protected by Him. When nations turned away from Him, there was a great fall. Pray for our nation.
Thanks for reading......and learning, or being reminded, about our Great God!
Saturday, June 28, 2014
The Prophets Elijah and Elisha
There are many prophets in the Bible, both OT and NT. The purpose of the prophets varied somewhat, but in all cases involved these people being spokespeople for God, carrying His wishes to the people. Often it was with the goal of getting the people, God's people, to repent, to straighten out their lives, to get back to following Him.
Elijah is referenced enough in the NT to know that he is regarded as one of the greatest. We read about both of these men, Elijah first, beginning in 1Kings 17 and running into 2Kings 13. Interestingly, neither of these men wrote books or letters or anything that we can read. And they are not recorded as saying great things to us. Their work was to the people of their time; sometimes to kings, sometimes to the smallest of figures.
There is the story of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, both evil, obtaining the next door property of Naboth. They had him killed, then took his vineyard land. "Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria.....You shall speak to him, saying, "Thus says the Lord, Have you murdered and also taken possession?" ' " (1Kings 21). This was a tough job for Elijah to do, going to the king and condemning him. Elijah takes on lots of tough assignments including performing many powerful miracles at the hand of the Lord.
In 2Kings 2, Elijah passes the torch to Elisha. Just before Elijah's life ends in a most amazing way, Elijah asks Elisha what he can do for him. "Elisha said, 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." This is what happened. Elisha begins his ministry and works many powerful miracles in the name of the Lord. These men were men of great faith and duty. They set out to do exactly what God wanted them to do....and what was needed by the people.
We aren't Elijah or Elisha. But we can follow their example and be the people that we need to be. Thanks for reading again. You are great.
Elijah is referenced enough in the NT to know that he is regarded as one of the greatest. We read about both of these men, Elijah first, beginning in 1Kings 17 and running into 2Kings 13. Interestingly, neither of these men wrote books or letters or anything that we can read. And they are not recorded as saying great things to us. Their work was to the people of their time; sometimes to kings, sometimes to the smallest of figures.
There is the story of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, both evil, obtaining the next door property of Naboth. They had him killed, then took his vineyard land. "Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria.....You shall speak to him, saying, "Thus says the Lord, Have you murdered and also taken possession?" ' " (1Kings 21). This was a tough job for Elijah to do, going to the king and condemning him. Elijah takes on lots of tough assignments including performing many powerful miracles at the hand of the Lord.
In 2Kings 2, Elijah passes the torch to Elisha. Just before Elijah's life ends in a most amazing way, Elijah asks Elisha what he can do for him. "Elisha said, 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." This is what happened. Elisha begins his ministry and works many powerful miracles in the name of the Lord. These men were men of great faith and duty. They set out to do exactly what God wanted them to do....and what was needed by the people.
We aren't Elijah or Elisha. But we can follow their example and be the people that we need to be. Thanks for reading again. You are great.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Pivotal Chapter
The Bible begins in dramatic fashion with the creation. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It then follows a thread of history leading up to the New Testament, to Jesus Himself, and to all the happenings to Jesus through His ministry and His death and resurrection. In all of this building, there is a flow that is pointing toward the coming of a king, a great kingdom, a messiah, a new beginning.
All of this building, this progression, is leading to the pivotal chapter in all of the Bible. This chapter is Acts 2. It is here that all that the Old Testament was leading up to, all that Jesus prepared for, the beginnings of the kingdom are reflected on earth. Jesus had left His apostles as recorded in the first chapter of Acts and gone into heaven to reign from the throne. He left the apostles to carry on the work; and He sent the Holy Spirit back to help these men in their work, to give them power to work miracles and prove that they were for real, carrying a real message for a real Messiah.
The reader is encouraged to read all of Acts 2; it is very powerful. It begins, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire...." It is this major event and the occurrences to follow that would begin the existence of "Christians" and the "church."
After this pivotal chapter, the rest of Acts tells of the conversion of many people and the development of the church....in Israel and on beyond into all of the known world. After the book of Acts, the NT tells Christians how to live, how to serve, how to avoid the evil of Satan. It all revolves around the key chapter in all of the Bible.....Acts chapter 2.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
All of this building, this progression, is leading to the pivotal chapter in all of the Bible. This chapter is Acts 2. It is here that all that the Old Testament was leading up to, all that Jesus prepared for, the beginnings of the kingdom are reflected on earth. Jesus had left His apostles as recorded in the first chapter of Acts and gone into heaven to reign from the throne. He left the apostles to carry on the work; and He sent the Holy Spirit back to help these men in their work, to give them power to work miracles and prove that they were for real, carrying a real message for a real Messiah.
The reader is encouraged to read all of Acts 2; it is very powerful. It begins, "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire...." It is this major event and the occurrences to follow that would begin the existence of "Christians" and the "church."
After this pivotal chapter, the rest of Acts tells of the conversion of many people and the development of the church....in Israel and on beyond into all of the known world. After the book of Acts, the NT tells Christians how to live, how to serve, how to avoid the evil of Satan. It all revolves around the key chapter in all of the Bible.....Acts chapter 2.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Death and the White Stone
Death is a subject that we don't want to think about. And I don't want to go into all aspects of this. But as we read of the death of the Christian, we see that it is nothing to be feared.....at all. Oh, none of us wants to go through the death process; dying has to be no fun; it surely wasn't for Jesus, and it may not be for us.
But the important point here is that if we are a follower of Jesus, if we do His will, if we put His will above ours, He has paved the way for us. John 14 says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." That is truly comforting as we think of ourselves...and as we think of our loved ones who have gone on before us.
We learn about this passing process in many places, but consider 1 Corinthians 15:51, "Listen, I tell you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed......Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?...But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
He continues, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Now, how is that for good advice. A powerful lesson for us all.
I want a white stone. Note Revelation 2:17, "..To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." I look forward to my white stone; and I want that for you. Love the Lord; He has prepared the way for you....and for me.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
But the important point here is that if we are a follower of Jesus, if we do His will, if we put His will above ours, He has paved the way for us. John 14 says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." That is truly comforting as we think of ourselves...and as we think of our loved ones who have gone on before us.
We learn about this passing process in many places, but consider 1 Corinthians 15:51, "Listen, I tell you a mystery; We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed......Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?...But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
He continues, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Now, how is that for good advice. A powerful lesson for us all.
I want a white stone. Note Revelation 2:17, "..To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." I look forward to my white stone; and I want that for you. Love the Lord; He has prepared the way for you....and for me.
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
The Warning with Hope
The Old Testament gives us so much information leading up to the coming of Christ. It gives us a history of man from the first people, Adam and Eve, and continues through to the final words of the prophet Malachi. Throughout the OT we read of God giving warnings and direction and hope to His people.
Malachi is the last of the prophets in the OT through whom God gave His instruction. It is interesting to read the very final words of Malachi. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
God is saying, through the mouth of the prophet, that He expects people to do right; and He is telling them that He will send Elijah the prophet to them. This is figurative language because Elijah has already come and done his work. He means here that one like Elijah is going to be sent. We might think this is Jesus to come. Actually He is speaking of John the baptist. We know this by going to Matthew 17:12 and listening to the words of Jesus.
" 'But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist."
God has sent many prophets and even His Son to be sure that we get the message. He made sure that all of the teaching from these men, especially that of Jesus and the apostles, was preserved through the writing of the Bible. We have the Word in its entirety. Now we must heed the warning to follow it. But it also gives hope. It offers us life. Let's make sure that we heed and take hold of the life that God has prepared for us.
Thanks for reading. You are important.
Malachi is the last of the prophets in the OT through whom God gave His instruction. It is interesting to read the very final words of Malachi. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
God is saying, through the mouth of the prophet, that He expects people to do right; and He is telling them that He will send Elijah the prophet to them. This is figurative language because Elijah has already come and done his work. He means here that one like Elijah is going to be sent. We might think this is Jesus to come. Actually He is speaking of John the baptist. We know this by going to Matthew 17:12 and listening to the words of Jesus.
" 'But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist."
God has sent many prophets and even His Son to be sure that we get the message. He made sure that all of the teaching from these men, especially that of Jesus and the apostles, was preserved through the writing of the Bible. We have the Word in its entirety. Now we must heed the warning to follow it. But it also gives hope. It offers us life. Let's make sure that we heed and take hold of the life that God has prepared for us.
Thanks for reading. You are important.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
The Gift of the Spirit
The Bible is God's Word, His guide, His instruction book for us to follow. It contains all truth....and it tells us some things about God Himself. It tells us about His Spirit; now there is a complicated subject.
The Spirit of God is something that we might never understand fully in this life. God does reveal some things, but He also must know that matters of the Spirit are difficult for us mere humans to comprehend. But we will address one aspect of the Spirit in this article.
Acts 2:38 tells of an account where Peter and the apostles have just told the Jewish people there in Jerusalem that they killed the Christ, the Son of God. They are upset and say to the apostles, "What shall we do?" Peter says, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This gift is the Spirit. We don't know from this account just what this means, but it is clear that the Spirit was being given to these people.
In Acts 3:19, the instruction is: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Comparing these two passages gives the idea that the gift of the Spirit brings times of refreshing from God.
We can perhaps add some understanding by looking at the teaching of Galatians chapter 3, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I like this one because it compares three phases of the Bible. The first is the "promise" that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 3 that one day a descendant (Jesus) would bless all people of the world. Later in the Old Testament God gave the Jewish people the "Law," a special law for them to follow. Following that is "faith" in Jesus Christ...in fulfillment of the Promise that was given to Abraham. I suggest reading all of Galatians 3, but here is an excerpt: (Paul is speaking to the Galatian Christians): "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?" In this passage He mentions the fact that they received the Spirit when they became Christians. In those days receiving the Spirit often came with the ability to do miracles. That is not true today. But we still have the gift of the Spirit; we have the Spirit of God within us. Let us rejoice in that....and try to live as Christ lived.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great.
The Spirit of God is something that we might never understand fully in this life. God does reveal some things, but He also must know that matters of the Spirit are difficult for us mere humans to comprehend. But we will address one aspect of the Spirit in this article.
Acts 2:38 tells of an account where Peter and the apostles have just told the Jewish people there in Jerusalem that they killed the Christ, the Son of God. They are upset and say to the apostles, "What shall we do?" Peter says, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This gift is the Spirit. We don't know from this account just what this means, but it is clear that the Spirit was being given to these people.
In Acts 3:19, the instruction is: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Comparing these two passages gives the idea that the gift of the Spirit brings times of refreshing from God.
We can perhaps add some understanding by looking at the teaching of Galatians chapter 3, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I like this one because it compares three phases of the Bible. The first is the "promise" that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 3 that one day a descendant (Jesus) would bless all people of the world. Later in the Old Testament God gave the Jewish people the "Law," a special law for them to follow. Following that is "faith" in Jesus Christ...in fulfillment of the Promise that was given to Abraham. I suggest reading all of Galatians 3, but here is an excerpt: (Paul is speaking to the Galatian Christians): "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?" In this passage He mentions the fact that they received the Spirit when they became Christians. In those days receiving the Spirit often came with the ability to do miracles. That is not true today. But we still have the gift of the Spirit; we have the Spirit of God within us. Let us rejoice in that....and try to live as Christ lived.
Thanks for reading. I hope your week is great.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Put God First
Today we will compare the beginnings of the 10 commandments to the Lord's Prayer. It is quite a stretch to make any comparison between these two things. We can say that they both came from the Lord; one through Moses in the Old Testament, the second through Jesus in the NT.
The point of comparison here is in the beginnings of each. We can note that the first 4 of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) relate to our treatment of God. The first one is "You shall have no other Gods before Me." That is followed by You shall not worship any false Gods or idols, then Don't take the name of the Lord God in Vain, and Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. All four of these have to do with our respect for God.
Now note the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. The Lord Jesus was teaching them to pray:
Our Father in heaven
hallowed be Your name.
your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen.
The beginning of this prayer has 4 points, all putting emphasis on God...and our respect for Him. It recognizes that our Father is in heaven, that His name is to be hallowed, mentions His kingdom, and for His will to be done. These are all important matters; so important that the example prayer starts with this first.
So the conclusion to all of this is that it matters to God how we show our respect to Him. We must put Him and His wishes above all else. And if we study His Word, we learn what He wants from us.
Thanks for reading again. Have a great week!
The point of comparison here is in the beginnings of each. We can note that the first 4 of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) relate to our treatment of God. The first one is "You shall have no other Gods before Me." That is followed by You shall not worship any false Gods or idols, then Don't take the name of the Lord God in Vain, and Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. All four of these have to do with our respect for God.
Now note the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. The Lord Jesus was teaching them to pray:
Our Father in heaven
hallowed be Your name.
your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen.
The beginning of this prayer has 4 points, all putting emphasis on God...and our respect for Him. It recognizes that our Father is in heaven, that His name is to be hallowed, mentions His kingdom, and for His will to be done. These are all important matters; so important that the example prayer starts with this first.
So the conclusion to all of this is that it matters to God how we show our respect to Him. We must put Him and His wishes above all else. And if we study His Word, we learn what He wants from us.
Thanks for reading again. Have a great week!
Sunday, May 18, 2014
They Pierced His Side
In this article we will examine why they pierced the side of Jesus.. It should be said initially that we don't have all the answers to this; but some answers are certain. We will look at what we know for sure...and maybe even make a few conjectures.
It must be noted that the only account of this in the Bible is found in the book of John, chapter 19. The other gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke do not mention the piercing of His side. "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." It was common practice to conclude crucifixion with the breaking of legs, bringing sudden death.
"Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs." So we know at least two reasons why they did not break the legs of Jesus. The first is that He was already dead. The second is in fulfillment of Scripture, Psalm 34:20, "He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken." This is just one of the many prophesies from the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus.
Back to John 19, "But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out."There could be several reasons for this piercing, but what we know for sure is that it is the fulfillment of Scripture. Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
In addition to the spiritual reason given above, there could have been other reasons. The soldier may have just wanted to be sure that He was dead; or he could have done it for no good reason.
The reasons for there being blood and water could be spiritual or physical. Physically, there could likely have been a build up of fluid from the beatings or from the crucifixion itself. And there could be a spiritual connection involving blood and water. This part is too much conjecture for this writer. We do know that much of this account is in fulfillment of what had been prophesied, all brought to us directly from the Spirit of God who gives all knowledge through His Word, the Bible.
The writer John, speaking of himself, says further: "And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.' And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.' " John insists that he was an eye witness and that he is telling the truth. And that is the end of the matter.....
Thank you for reading. Feel the love.
It must be noted that the only account of this in the Bible is found in the book of John, chapter 19. The other gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke do not mention the piercing of His side. "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away." It was common practice to conclude crucifixion with the breaking of legs, bringing sudden death.
"Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs." So we know at least two reasons why they did not break the legs of Jesus. The first is that He was already dead. The second is in fulfillment of Scripture, Psalm 34:20, "He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken." This is just one of the many prophesies from the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus.
Back to John 19, "But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out."There could be several reasons for this piercing, but what we know for sure is that it is the fulfillment of Scripture. Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
In addition to the spiritual reason given above, there could have been other reasons. The soldier may have just wanted to be sure that He was dead; or he could have done it for no good reason.
The reasons for there being blood and water could be spiritual or physical. Physically, there could likely have been a build up of fluid from the beatings or from the crucifixion itself. And there could be a spiritual connection involving blood and water. This part is too much conjecture for this writer. We do know that much of this account is in fulfillment of what had been prophesied, all brought to us directly from the Spirit of God who gives all knowledge through His Word, the Bible.
The writer John, speaking of himself, says further: "And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.' And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.' " John insists that he was an eye witness and that he is telling the truth. And that is the end of the matter.....
Thank you for reading. Feel the love.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
A Good Goal For Us All
This blog has mentioned this before, but the topic seems important enough to mention again. A great goal for us all would be to Seek God; this is what He expects from His people. Many passages make this point throughout the Bible. We will look at some of these rather briefly.
One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." For our purposes here, the emphasis is on "...those who diligently seek Him." God wants to be sought. In fact, He demands it if we are to be His people.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." God will provide.....but He requires that we seek Him.
Psalm 9:10, "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." Emphasis is on seek.
And Deuteronomy 4:29, "...you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
God wants us to seek Him. And if we seek Him, we will find Him.....and he will reward us! There is our goal.
Thanks for reading. You are important.
One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." For our purposes here, the emphasis is on "...those who diligently seek Him." God wants to be sought. In fact, He demands it if we are to be His people.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." God will provide.....but He requires that we seek Him.
Psalm 9:10, "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." Emphasis is on seek.
And Deuteronomy 4:29, "...you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
God wants us to seek Him. And if we seek Him, we will find Him.....and he will reward us! There is our goal.
Thanks for reading. You are important.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Cyrus, Persian King
It is amazing how much ancient history is given to us in the Old Testament. The book of Chronicles ends with a few words about Cyrus, the first Persian king of the Persian Dynasty: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!" Cyrus is talking about his plan to see that the temple of God is rebuilt in Jerusalem.
Going back a bit in time, the Persian Empire follows the rule of the Babylonians. The Babylonians had taken the Jewish people of Judah into captivity and removed them from their land, taking them to Babylon. But when Cyrus comes into power, he makes this decree, stated above, that he wants to let the Jewish people return to their homeland and rebuild. This seems like a noble thing for him to do, but we will find out that God is directing Cyrus, that God is control....as He always is.
It is particularly interesting to note that the prophet Isaiah had predicted these events, this return of the Jews to their homeland and rebuilding. But we must remember that Isaiah lived some 150 years before this occurred. Isaiah was prophesying at the direction of God; he even named Cyrus as the king, well before Cyrus was born, even before Cyrus' mother was born. We read the words of Isaiah beginning in Is. 44:28, "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," and to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." ' Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held--to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings to open before him the double doors so that the gates will not be shut: I will go before you.....that you may know that I , the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.....I am the Lord, and there is no other...."
In this passage where Isaiah is predicting the king of Persia, he is also quoting God, stating that God is in control; that God controls kings. We are assured of this in Proverbs 21, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes." God is in control; He was then...He is now. God is amazing! The Bible, the Word of God, is amazing!
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Going back a bit in time, the Persian Empire follows the rule of the Babylonians. The Babylonians had taken the Jewish people of Judah into captivity and removed them from their land, taking them to Babylon. But when Cyrus comes into power, he makes this decree, stated above, that he wants to let the Jewish people return to their homeland and rebuild. This seems like a noble thing for him to do, but we will find out that God is directing Cyrus, that God is control....as He always is.
It is particularly interesting to note that the prophet Isaiah had predicted these events, this return of the Jews to their homeland and rebuilding. But we must remember that Isaiah lived some 150 years before this occurred. Isaiah was prophesying at the direction of God; he even named Cyrus as the king, well before Cyrus was born, even before Cyrus' mother was born. We read the words of Isaiah beginning in Is. 44:28, "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," and to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid." ' Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held--to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings to open before him the double doors so that the gates will not be shut: I will go before you.....that you may know that I , the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.....I am the Lord, and there is no other...."
In this passage where Isaiah is predicting the king of Persia, he is also quoting God, stating that God is in control; that God controls kings. We are assured of this in Proverbs 21, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes." God is in control; He was then...He is now. God is amazing! The Bible, the Word of God, is amazing!
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Genealogy of Jesus
We don't usually enjoy reading genealogies where someone begets someone who begets someone and on and on. But in the Bible we find that genealogy is especially important. There are many ways that we can describe the main theme of the Bible. One of those ways is to say that it tells of the family of Jesus, beginning all the way back to the first man. And it is interesting that the Bible is the only book that gives the complete history of man, starting with the creation and the first people.
As we look at the Old Testament we see that it begins with Adam and Eve. They had sons Cain and Abel, but Cain killed Abel so the Bible has a bloody beginning. The third son was Seth; and Seth is important because he is in the lineage of Jesus. If we follow the lineage of the family of Jesus through the OT, we see that it goes from Adam to Seth to Seth's son, and his son, and his son....right on down to Jesus. Along the way we read of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, later David the king and on down to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.
The importance of genealogy is emphasized when the New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus. The very first chapter of Matthew gives a complete summary of the family of Jesus. The first verse says, "The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." We know that Jesus is not directly the son of these two men; the Bible uses this language to mean that He is a descendant of these. And the fact that these two men are referenced in this way is a credit to each. Abraham was a great man of faith, the father of the Jews and the one who received the promise from God that is first given in Genesis 12. David was the greatest king of the OT and one described as "a man after God's own heart."
And so, while we don't usually like to read long lists of names, we can see that this is quite critical to understanding the Bible and how it all ties together.
Thanks for reading again. I hope you have a great week.
As we look at the Old Testament we see that it begins with Adam and Eve. They had sons Cain and Abel, but Cain killed Abel so the Bible has a bloody beginning. The third son was Seth; and Seth is important because he is in the lineage of Jesus. If we follow the lineage of the family of Jesus through the OT, we see that it goes from Adam to Seth to Seth's son, and his son, and his son....right on down to Jesus. Along the way we read of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, later David the king and on down to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.
The importance of genealogy is emphasized when the New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus. The very first chapter of Matthew gives a complete summary of the family of Jesus. The first verse says, "The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." We know that Jesus is not directly the son of these two men; the Bible uses this language to mean that He is a descendant of these. And the fact that these two men are referenced in this way is a credit to each. Abraham was a great man of faith, the father of the Jews and the one who received the promise from God that is first given in Genesis 12. David was the greatest king of the OT and one described as "a man after God's own heart."
And so, while we don't usually like to read long lists of names, we can see that this is quite critical to understanding the Bible and how it all ties together.
Thanks for reading again. I hope you have a great week.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Easter
Most of the Christian world is celebrating the holiday of Easter today. And it is a beautiful and powerful story; a story of sacrifice by a perfect man in order to bring salvation to His people. A story of not just death in a cruel way, but of triumph over death, of being raised from the dead. This raising showed that Jesus is God, a part of God, the child of God. But it also showed that Jesus cannot be held by death, cannot be stopped by death. And it showed that just as He cannot be held by death, neither can we. We, as Christians, as followers of Him, will not die, but live on with Him forever, just as He promised. He promised that He would be raised....and He promised that we would be raised if only we follow Him and His teachings.
Where I worship, in the church, we basically observe Easter every week. We don't call it Easter, nor does the Bible. We observe it every week because that is what we see early Christians doing as recorded in the New Testament. Just before His death, Jesus took the Jewish Passover with His apostles. While He did so, He taught them to take the bread and fruit of the vine in the future as a remembrance: "Do this in remembrance of Me." This is taught in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 11.
We see an account of Paul and His companions taking the Lord's Supper to remember His sacrifice in Acts 20:7. "On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread." The early Christians worshiped on Sunday, the first day of the week, and made a point of remembering the death and resurrection of the Lord each week.
Praise be to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for us, suffering and dying, but then conquering death. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
Where I worship, in the church, we basically observe Easter every week. We don't call it Easter, nor does the Bible. We observe it every week because that is what we see early Christians doing as recorded in the New Testament. Just before His death, Jesus took the Jewish Passover with His apostles. While He did so, He taught them to take the bread and fruit of the vine in the future as a remembrance: "Do this in remembrance of Me." This is taught in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 11.
We see an account of Paul and His companions taking the Lord's Supper to remember His sacrifice in Acts 20:7. "On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread." The early Christians worshiped on Sunday, the first day of the week, and made a point of remembering the death and resurrection of the Lord each week.
Praise be to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for us, suffering and dying, but then conquering death. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15
Thanks for reading. Feel the love.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
The Legacy of Abraham
One of the most significant, if not the most significant, figures of the Old Testament is Abraham. He is described in Hebrews chapter 11, the chapter of faith in the New Testament. A number of different people of faith are named in this summary chapter, but the most acclaim is given to Abraham. The two main reasons cited for Abraham's noteworthiness are: 1) Abraham was willing to follow the instruction of God to leave his country and go to a new land, all at the direction of God. "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents...." This took great faith. And 2) At the instruction of God, he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. God stopped him before he took the life of Isaac but not before God could be sure of the faith of Abraham.
It is interesting that Abraham is considered the founder of three religions. He was the founding father of the Jewish race and religion. As such, he was in the lineage of Christ, Christ being a Jew and a direct descendant of Abraham. But the Muslim religion looks to Abraham as its founder as well in that Abraham had another son, Ishmael, who went on to be the beginnings of the Arab nation from whence came the Muslim religion. So we see that Abraham was a key figure in Christianity, Judaism, and the Muslims.
It might should be noted that Ishmael is described in the Bible as a "wild donkey of a man," and it says that there will always be a problem between his people and the Jewish people. We, of course, see that this is still true today. There has always been friction between the Arab nations, often called Palestinians, and the Jewish nation, Israel. While peace talks are a noble gesture, there will never be a lasting peace there....and the Bible says so.
Abraham was a great man of faith and likely the most important of all men in the Old Testament. There are others of great significance such as Adam, the first man, and king David, perhaps Moses or the prophets. But there was none like Abraham. We can follow his example of faith, dedication to God.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
It is interesting that Abraham is considered the founder of three religions. He was the founding father of the Jewish race and religion. As such, he was in the lineage of Christ, Christ being a Jew and a direct descendant of Abraham. But the Muslim religion looks to Abraham as its founder as well in that Abraham had another son, Ishmael, who went on to be the beginnings of the Arab nation from whence came the Muslim religion. So we see that Abraham was a key figure in Christianity, Judaism, and the Muslims.
It might should be noted that Ishmael is described in the Bible as a "wild donkey of a man," and it says that there will always be a problem between his people and the Jewish people. We, of course, see that this is still true today. There has always been friction between the Arab nations, often called Palestinians, and the Jewish nation, Israel. While peace talks are a noble gesture, there will never be a lasting peace there....and the Bible says so.
Abraham was a great man of faith and likely the most important of all men in the Old Testament. There are others of great significance such as Adam, the first man, and king David, perhaps Moses or the prophets. But there was none like Abraham. We can follow his example of faith, dedication to God.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Carrying the Cross
We all know the story of the day that Jesus was made to carry His own cross, headed toward His crucifixion. And we know about the man who was made to carry the cross of Jesus when Jesus could go no further with it. But in this lesson we will examine this latter man a little closer and the circumstances of his involvement.
The accounts of this event are found in the first 3 gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke and can be found one chapter back from the end of each book; thus, Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23. Note Mark 15:21, "A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country; and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha....." One can see that not a great deal is said about him in the New Testament.
So the man's name was Simon the Cyrene. Cyrene is a city in Libya, in northern Africa, so this man was a long way from home. We see that he just happened up on this scene and suddenly found himself carrying a heavy load. He was "forced" to do this by the Roman soldiers. They were in power at the time and had the right to grab a citizen and force him to do a job.
It might be significant that it says that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The implication is that the writer mentioned these names because the reader might already be aware of these guys. There is a good likelihood that these men were Christians, making the reference to the father of them meaningful to those who read the account, particularly at that time when these men were still alive.
Imagine what it must have been like to be forced into carrying a heavy load like this, leading a man to His death. Then imagine what feelings he must have had later when he realized what a significant event this was.
And we can extend this story to ourselves. The Bible teaches that we must carry our own crosses. And if we sacrifice, if the load is heavy, we can remember the love of Jesus and the reward that awaits us.
Again, thanks for reading and have a great week!
The accounts of this event are found in the first 3 gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke and can be found one chapter back from the end of each book; thus, Matthew 27, Mark 15, and Luke 23. Note Mark 15:21, "A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country; and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha....." One can see that not a great deal is said about him in the New Testament.
So the man's name was Simon the Cyrene. Cyrene is a city in Libya, in northern Africa, so this man was a long way from home. We see that he just happened up on this scene and suddenly found himself carrying a heavy load. He was "forced" to do this by the Roman soldiers. They were in power at the time and had the right to grab a citizen and force him to do a job.
It might be significant that it says that he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The implication is that the writer mentioned these names because the reader might already be aware of these guys. There is a good likelihood that these men were Christians, making the reference to the father of them meaningful to those who read the account, particularly at that time when these men were still alive.
Imagine what it must have been like to be forced into carrying a heavy load like this, leading a man to His death. Then imagine what feelings he must have had later when he realized what a significant event this was.
And we can extend this story to ourselves. The Bible teaches that we must carry our own crosses. And if we sacrifice, if the load is heavy, we can remember the love of Jesus and the reward that awaits us.
Again, thanks for reading and have a great week!
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Large Crowds
The central figure of all the Bible is Jesus Christ. We read in the Bible that Jesus was there at the creation of the world, participated in the creation. But He wasn't on the earth until the time came for the Father to send Him. But all through the Bible we read that it was in the plan of God for Jesus to come and bring salvation to the earth, to all who would follow Him. It was made clear that this would include all people, Jew and Gentile, men and women, slave and free.
It is interesting to see the reaction of people to His coming. Jesus was born in a lowly estate, born to poor parents in a barn among animals; and yet He was a king....and His arrival as a baby was noticed by the shepherds and the wise men and many others. But as time progressed He was simply a carpenter's helper in an unimportant town like Nazareth, unnoticed, with no following.
When the time came for Jesus to start His ministry, everything changed. Note this passage at the end of Matthew 4: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed Him."
Think how significant these large crowds must have been. These people were from a broad area. He was in Galilee, but the crowds were coming from all over Syria to the North, and from Judea to the South and from Jordan to the East. The word was spreading about Him and about what He was doing. People were traveling great distances to be with Him....and to receive the healing that He was doing...and even to hear the news that He was bringing.
As He approached the end of His life, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey with people, crowds cheering Him on, throwing palm branches down in front of Him in tribute, and shouting "Hosanna." He was Lord; He was their King!
But we know that this mood didn't last. As Jesus spent His last days in Jerusalem, the crowds vanished. As He was brought to trial, there was only shame and disbelief. And the followers dissipated, the crowds no longer were there to support Him. That is how we are; far too quick to desert, to fall away. But Jesus triumphed over death, brought new life to His followers, and brings life to us today. We must now be committed to Him; to be His followers whether we are among crowds or standing alone.
Thanks for reading again. May God bless you!
It is interesting to see the reaction of people to His coming. Jesus was born in a lowly estate, born to poor parents in a barn among animals; and yet He was a king....and His arrival as a baby was noticed by the shepherds and the wise men and many others. But as time progressed He was simply a carpenter's helper in an unimportant town like Nazareth, unnoticed, with no following.
When the time came for Jesus to start His ministry, everything changed. Note this passage at the end of Matthew 4: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed Him."
Think how significant these large crowds must have been. These people were from a broad area. He was in Galilee, but the crowds were coming from all over Syria to the North, and from Judea to the South and from Jordan to the East. The word was spreading about Him and about what He was doing. People were traveling great distances to be with Him....and to receive the healing that He was doing...and even to hear the news that He was bringing.
As He approached the end of His life, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey with people, crowds cheering Him on, throwing palm branches down in front of Him in tribute, and shouting "Hosanna." He was Lord; He was their King!
But we know that this mood didn't last. As Jesus spent His last days in Jerusalem, the crowds vanished. As He was brought to trial, there was only shame and disbelief. And the followers dissipated, the crowds no longer were there to support Him. That is how we are; far too quick to desert, to fall away. But Jesus triumphed over death, brought new life to His followers, and brings life to us today. We must now be committed to Him; to be His followers whether we are among crowds or standing alone.
Thanks for reading again. May God bless you!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Optimism
Many people look at religion, Christianity, in a negative way. We can't do this; we can't do that. But in fact, the New Testament is an extremely positive book with a positive message.
We should begin with Jesus. One might say that the crucifixion of Jesus was the worst; was the worst event that could be imagined. Jesus was to be the king, the savior, the ruler of the world. But He endured the worst of punishment from the Jews, His own people, and from the Romans. After suffering greatly, He was put to death on a cross in the worst way. But even in this awful circumstance, we see redemption. We see Jesus being raised from the dead, triumphing over death. And as a result, we too have confidence that we triumph...or will triumph. Jesus didn't lose; he won; and we too will be winners if only we follow Him. He told His disciples right before His death, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." And further down in the chapter, he tells us, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.......What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
And Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
And one of my favorite passages is in Hebrews 11. He begins with a definition of faith; but notice that it is positive. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for....." As Christians, we have confident hope in the future. That is OPTIMISM. We are optimistic people. We are confident, trusting in our God, assured that our efforts are not in vain. We tell others about the Good News because we believe that it is the answer. And we know that there is a better life awaiting. Life! Real life....life forever. Let's be sure that we follow our Lord.....right into heaven.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
We should begin with Jesus. One might say that the crucifixion of Jesus was the worst; was the worst event that could be imagined. Jesus was to be the king, the savior, the ruler of the world. But He endured the worst of punishment from the Jews, His own people, and from the Romans. After suffering greatly, He was put to death on a cross in the worst way. But even in this awful circumstance, we see redemption. We see Jesus being raised from the dead, triumphing over death. And as a result, we too have confidence that we triumph...or will triumph. Jesus didn't lose; he won; and we too will be winners if only we follow Him. He told His disciples right before His death, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." And further down in the chapter, he tells us, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.......What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
And Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
And one of my favorite passages is in Hebrews 11. He begins with a definition of faith; but notice that it is positive. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for....." As Christians, we have confident hope in the future. That is OPTIMISM. We are optimistic people. We are confident, trusting in our God, assured that our efforts are not in vain. We tell others about the Good News because we believe that it is the answer. And we know that there is a better life awaiting. Life! Real life....life forever. Let's be sure that we follow our Lord.....right into heaven.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
True Wisdom
True wisdom only comes from God. Wisdom of man, even from the best minds we can find, is weak, untrustworthy. We read about this in 1 Corinthians 1: "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ....For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men...."
We all know that God is wiser than man; and we know that there really is no comparison since He is the creator and we are the creature. Let's look at a few passages in the Bible that demonstrate the wisdom of our Creator.
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 2:6 "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly..."
Prov. 23:15 "My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself; yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise..."
Proverbs, as well as many of the teachings of the Bible, are full of wisdom...and it is wisdom from God, Himself. Let us heed the great teaching of our God!
Thanks for reading and keep the faith!
We all know that God is wiser than man; and we know that there really is no comparison since He is the creator and we are the creature. Let's look at a few passages in the Bible that demonstrate the wisdom of our Creator.
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 2:6 "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly..."
Prov. 23:15 "My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself; yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise..."
Proverbs, as well as many of the teachings of the Bible, are full of wisdom...and it is wisdom from God, Himself. Let us heed the great teaching of our God!
Thanks for reading and keep the faith!
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Controversy
There are a lot of situations in the New Testament that give insight into how Christians deal with controversy. In this article, we will look at some of the ways that controversy is handled in the Bible.
Initially we will look at how Jesus dealt with difficulties that were presented to Him. We recall that Jesus became angry with the money changers, driving them out of the temple. He also became angry with the Pharisees in the temple as recorded in Mark 3:5, "And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts...." So we see that Jesus had His angry moments, what we might call 'righteous indignation.' But we also must note that under great challenge, Jesus kept His cool.
Matthew 22 is an interesting chapter that we could describe as a day of controversy. We see the Pharisees challenging Jesus, asking if it is lawful to pay taxes or not. Later the Sadducees tested Him by asking who a man would be married to in heaven if he had married multiple wives on earth. Then a lawyer asked Him what the great commandment was in the law. In all of this, Jesus stayed calm and gave brilliant answers, destroying any possibility of controversy before it could become a problem.
In Acts 15 we find a controversy arising over the teaching by some who insisted on the practice of circumcision by Christians, wanting some to keep some aspects of the Jewish Law. "Therefore, when Paul and Barnabus had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabus and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question." Later, Paul and Barnabus had quite a disagreement about whether to take John Mark with them on the 2nd missionary journey. It is noteworthy that strong Christians had controversies, serious ones, that had to be resolved. We see that solutions were found without further trouble.
Then there is a lot said about the importance of Christians being of the same mind, cooperating, unifying and doing all things in love. We can learn a lot about how to handle controversies when they arise. They will arise....and we should act appropriately to avoid a further problem.
Thanks for reading. Have a great week!
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