Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of celebration on many levels.  Certainly it is a fun time for children who look forward to Santa Claus, presents, and fun times with family.  And families enjoy the togetherness that can come from getting together.  Often there are many memories from past Christmas celebrations.  There are a few observations from a spiritual stance that we can notice here.

It can be noted that the Bible does not teach us to observe the birth date of Jesus.  Jesus Himself taught in Matthew, Mark and Luke that He wanted His death to be remembered in the partaking of the communion, the Lord's Supper, after He was gone.  But there was never any mention of remembering His birth.  Still, we see detailed accounts of His birth in Matthew and Luke.  And certainly His birth was an amazing series of miracles; a wondrous event. 

We also can easily conclude that the birth of Jesus did not occur on December 25.  This date does not fit the circumstances, especially noting that shepherds would not be in the fields at that time.

And we can research the fact that Christmas did not begin until generations after the life of Christ.  It wasn't a true Christian beginning, one sanctioned by Christ.

But the birth of Jesus Christ was amazing, exciting, and miraculous, though humbling and lowly in the setting of a barn. 

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.' "

And thus began the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Born there in that barn with the animals in the lowliest of beginnings.  Praise the Lord God and His only Son, Jesus Christ!

Thanks for reading.  Have a blessed week!

Memorizing the Bible

I am working on memorizing some key verses in the Bible.  And must say I am the worst at that.  I have never really tried to memorize much of anything and don't find that easy.  But I mention it here because I might encourage someone else to try it also.  In fact, in the last couple of weeks of work at it, I am finding it quite stimulating.  So in this lesson I will mention a few verses that you might try. 

Psalm 1:1,2   "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners
nor sits at the feet of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and he meditates in the law day and night."

This very beginning of the book of Psalms says a lot about the importance of following God.

Genesis 12:1-3   "God had said to Abram (Abraham),
'Get out of your country,
from your family, from your father's house,
to a land that I will show you,
and I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great.
And you will be a blessing.
Whoever blesses you, I will bless.
But him who curses you, I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.' "

The blessing here is referencing the fact that one day a Messiah would be born, a descendant of Abraham, who would bless the whole world.

1Corinthians 10:13  "No temptation will overcome you, but such is common to man.
And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

Memorization can be fun; give it a try.  Thanks for reading. 

Hosea....and Harlotry

I have been reading the book of Hosea.  It is the first of the last 12 books of the Old Testament.  These 12 books that conclude the OT are called the Minor Prophets; minor, not in importance, just in length.

The prophet Hosea is an unusual character.  He prophesied during the latter days of the Northern kingdom of Israel.  The nation had gotten away from God and had gone to worshiping idols; and we know that God hates that.  When problems arose, they would seek help from other nations like Egypt and Assyria, not from God.  And God did not like that.

What makes Hosea unusual is that God instructed him to marry a harlot....a ho in today's vernacular.  And it appears that she continued her evil practices even after marrying Hosea.  But Hosea was patient and determined that he could restore his wife, Gomer.  It is clear in the book of Hosea that this marriage was symbolic of God trying to restore the wayward nation of Israel so that they would once again be reliant on Him, be His people....and quit their spiritual and physical harlotry.

Like all books of the Bible, this book has significance to us today.  God is not happy when His people stray; when His people seek other solutions, rather than follow Him.  But the beauty of this is that God always provides a solution to the problem.  God always allows His people to come back to Him; to restore and be accepted back fully.  In fact, God calls us to do that; encourages us.  Note Hosea 14:1:

"O Israel, return to the Lord your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;
Take words with you,
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him,
'Take away all iniquity;
Receive us graciously...' "

And the book concludes:

"Who is wise?
Let him understand these things.
Who is prudent?
Let him know them.
For the ways of the Lord are right;
The righteous walk in them,
But transgressors stumble in them."

The lesson is clear to us.  We need to do things in God's ways....and avoid the ways that are evil....and destructive to us.  We need to love our God!

Thanks for reading.  Have a blessed week!

Life

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..."  Let's focus a bit on Life.  God is good at life.  And I am sure that Jesus was speaking of spiritual life, eternal life, life after this life.  But God is good at life here in this life as well.

It was 2 years ago this month that I had a terrific traffic accident, previously described here.  A semi truck swerved into me on I-75.  I hit it with an explosion of metal and glass, went all the way under it in my little car, crossed 2 lanes and ended up in a ditch on the side of the highway.  The car was totaled and I didn't get a scratch. 

I suppose that we have all had our close calls and wondered if God had stepped in...and yet we couldn't be sure.  But on this one, I am sure.  There is just no way to go under a semi as it is going down the road at over 60 miles an hour, go all the way through and not be killed.  I tried to steer the car and save myself, but the car would not steer.  But I did call out to God to help me...just before hitting the truck....and it worked.  Praise God.

So no one could convince me that God doesn't get involved in our lives, even if it isn't always in the way or at the time that we want.  And so, God is great at life, in this life.

But even more important, far more important, is the fact that God provides each of us a life beyond.  He wants us to be with Him forever in that perfect environment.  He wants us to be followers of Him, trusting in Him, seeking Him.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.."

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.

Why Go To Church?

So if a person is a Christian, loves God, loves Jesus, and is a good person, why go to church?  Maybe it just isn't necessary at all.  Maybe a person can find a relationship with the Lord by himself; or maybe in nature; or maybe by just taking a walk with his dog on Sunday morning.  Maybe there are too many hypocrites in church.  Or maybe there are too many questionable practices or attitudes there.  So why?

The best reason is that Jesus instituted the church.  He didn't start it in His lifetime....but He made preparation.  We see in Matthew 16 where He said, "...I will build My church.."  From this statement it is clear that the church was coming and that it would be His church.  This shows that it was important to Him.

Then we see the words of Paul in Ephesians 5 where he says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it...."  We see the passion that Jesus had for His church, so much so that He gave His life for it.
  
And finally there is Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

There are many other passages that talk about the church, both in an overall sense and in a local group sense.  But the point is clear that we benefit from the association with other Christians;  but more than that, the Lord expects it of us.  If we are able to get there and be a part, we should.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Healing the sick

Jesus performed all kinds of miracles during His 3 year ministry.  We know that He could have healed every sick person in the world during this time.  But His real purpose was to seek and save the lost.  His was a spiritual ministry. 

There are different ways to learn the Bible.  One can spend time in study, or just read.......or lately I have been just skimming.  My purpose in skimming through was to learn better, or memorize, the location of key passages.  I decided to start with the book of Matthew.  It is hard to do this because there is a tendency to get bogged down and start studying in more depth.  But I have been trying.

In Matthew we have the sermon on the mount in chapters 5-7.  Then there is a healing of a leper that comes up soon after.  But there is a really neat story about a Centurion's servant who gets sick, a servant who is dearly loved by the officer.  First, note that a Centurion is an officer over 100 men, a respectable and well paid position.  And note, too, that this story is also told in Luke 6.  The accounts quote the officer saying that if he tells his men to go...or stay....or do, they will do that.  He says that because he realizes that Jesus is of much higher authority.  In fact, he doesn't even feel worthy to go to Jesus directly, but sends some of his Jewish friends to appeal to Jesus to save the servant.  But the key to this story is that he knows,  he knows,  that Jesus has the power to save his servant, even from a distance.  Jesus, realizing the great faith that this Centurion has in Him, is so impressed that He says, "I have never seen such great faith."

The point of this story can be well applied to us today.  Jesus was impressed with this man because of his belief in Him.  It wasn't anything that he did, any great work.  In fact the Centurion did nothing of himself; he stayed home and just sent messengers.  But it shows that Jesus wants first and foremost from us all our faith, our confidence in Him.  It reminds me of the verse in Romans 11:6, "For 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."

God wants us to be servants, to work for Him, to do good.  But mostly God wants us to be people of faith; people who completely trust and believe in Him.  The rest will follow.

Lets do it!    Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

The Unknown God

The apostle Paul went to Athens, as recorded in Acts chapter 17, and found a lot of idol worshipping going on.  It is interesting to note how Paul taught these people about the real God.

"Men of Athens I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

                            TO THE UNKNOWN GOD

Therefore, the One whom you worship with out knowing, Him I proclaim to you:  God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.  Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising.  Truly, these time of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent...."

Even today, people worship everything but the one true God.  And many of those who claim to be religious do not truly know God.  We also see a large portion of the people of the world, and certainly in our country, not believing that there is a god at all. 

Those of us who are believers must be sure that we are clear as to who God is.  I like the verse in 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."

Let us diligently seek Him.....and know that He rewards His people.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love......

Jesus

Jesus made His position on this earth clear.  He said in John 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." This is a bold statement, but is the absolute truth.  There were times that Jesus did not speak so boldly.  These were times when He felt that His words would not be believed or understood anyway.  But there were many times when He was quite clear.

In John chapter 4 we find a verbal exchange between Jesus and a woman that He encountered at a well.  The woman was surprised that He would even speak to her since she was a Samaritan woman.  Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  And later says, "...but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."

Toward the end of this discussion, the woman says to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things."  "Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.' "  Jesus spoke quite boldly to her, letting her know (us, too) that He was truly the Messiah that had been promised for generations.

In John chapter 12, Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

Jesus made it clear that He is the Son of God.  We should listen carefully to His words and give Him the glory.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

The Gospel

The "Gospel" simply means "good news."  And the good news is that Jesus has arrived.  And He not only arrived, but He had come to fulfill all of the prophecy of His coming that had been made over many centuries.  But more than that, He had come to save people, people of that day and people of every generation to follow.  We see this plan developed over the centuries as we look at the Old Testament and see how it all leads down to the coming of Jesus.  Here are the words of Jesus regarding His central purpose:

Luke 19:10, "...the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."   Here Jesus has just been impressed with the change in the man Zacchaeus.  Z. had been a rich tax collector and had defrauded the people in doing his job.  But Jesus came into his life to effect a change...to "save that which was lost."

Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost."  Jesus is speaking in this context of "little ones,"  followers of Jesus.  He follows this statement by saying that if a man has a hundred sheep but one goes astray, he will leave the 99 and go find the one. 

It was all important to Jesus that every single person have the opportunity to be saved.  And of course, He is talking about the after-life, eternal life, real life.  Our time on earth is just a fleeting thing, a short passing...and we must seek the Lord and His Way.  A favorite verse 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."

We must seek Him in order to enjoy His salvation.  But He wants us to do that, to seek Him, because He came to seek and save the lost.  Praise God!

Thank you for reading.  Have a great week.

Jews, Hebrews, Israelites

The three words, Jews, Hebrews and Israelites are very closely related and are used interchangeably by most people.  They are not technically the same, but the distinction is minor.  The Jewish faith and people all began with Abraham, as recorded in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.  And the Old Testament follows the history of the Jewish people down through time.  The reason for the emphasis on these people is at least two-fold.  These were God's chosen people to whom He gave a special law to follow.  And these were the people of Jesus.

As the New Testament begins, we read of the genealogy from Abraham down to Jesus.  So Jesus was born a Jew, of the tribe of Judah.  Jesus kept the Jewish law all through His lifetime, as did His family and those around Him.  Jesus had to die before the new religion of Christianity, following after Christ, was to come into effect.  So during Jesus' life He only taught in preparation of the coming change.  But a change was coming....and we read of this in the books of the NT.

The documenting of the change from the Jewish Law to the Law of Christ is shown in the book of Acts where we see the apostles going forth to teach the new way.  They were doing what Jesus had taught them to do when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved...."(Mark 16:15-16).  The gospel was the good news that Jesus was the Son of God, that He died for all people, and that through following Him one could be saved eternally.

After the book of Acts we find that the other books, written to Christians to further help them in growing their faith, show clearly that the Jewish Law is no longer in effect.  Colossians 2:14 says it was "nailed to the cross."  Galatians 3:28 says that "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."

Anyone practicing the Jewish faith today is surely in error for several reasons.  One is that Jesus and His followers as written in the NT made it clear that Judaism is over.  And Jesus Himself pointed out that those trying to follow the Jewish Law were not keeping it fully, accurately; and no one trying to do that today would do so correctly.  But it is interesting to go back and to study the religion and the history of the Jews.  After all, this is the family of Jesus.

Thanks for reading.  Keep the faith.

The Church

The subject of "church" is an interesting study, and will be discussed here briefly.  The word is thrown around rather lightly and often incorrectly in our society today.  Many speak of it as a building, as in the question, "Where is your church?"  And yet we know that it is spoken of differently in the Bible. 

"Church" is a Biblical word.  Jesus introduced the subject in Matthew 16:18.  Peter had just make the declaration that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God."  The Jesus followed that by saying, "...on this rock I will build My church..."  Jesus was not saying that a physical building would be built, but rather, that the institution "ecclesia" meaning gathering or "group" in Greek would be built on the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.

It is interesting to me that Jesus didn't try to form this group during his lifetime.  I would think that anyone trying to start something like this would try to do it in their lifetime.  Jesus chose simply to teach and prepare His followers to build the church after He left them.  It is with this approach that Jesus taught His apostles to wait in Jerusalem after His leaving (Acts 1:8) and, "...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."  The apostles did just that and thus the church was born, beginning in Acts chapter 2.

To be clear, let me restate that the church of Jesus Christ began with the major event in Acts chapter 2 as we see the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, just as Jesus had promised.  The church was planned and discussed before this, but had not begun.  At the end of Acts 2 we read that the new converts, numbering in the thousands there in Jerusalem, were "praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

Wow!  What a beginning.  We might note in passing that the word "church" is used in two senses in the Bible, one being the local group, and another the overall group of Christians everywhere.  But they/we are just God's people who are trying to follow Jesus.

And they/we are taught to meet together and work together to accomplish the spreading of the Word of God to others....and to worship.  The church was important enough for Jesus to die for it, and we must show our love for it, as well.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great, God-filled week.

Prophesies

The Old Testament is full of prophecies.  God chose to speak to His people through the voice of other people.  And this is true in the NT, as well.  The NT is written by mere men with their own styles and their own way of writing and expressing themselves.  Yet, God is directing the writing, inspiring ("God-breathed") the writers to say what He wants said.  This, of course, is what is happening throughout the OT, too.  In fact, we see that in the OT there are many cases where God is not only directing these writers as to what to say, He is telling of the future events to come.  We will mention a few of these here as examples of future prophecy.

The book of Nahum, a book not familiar to most people, is written to warn the people of God that calamity was coming at the hands of the Assyrians.  We might remind ourselves here that God is always in control.  He is in control of the rise of nations and the fall of nations.  And we might prefer that He always supports the good nation and brings down the bad.  But what we see happening, as recorded in Nahum, for example, is that God will sometimes use a bad, evil nation to punish His people for their transgressions.

Another example of a book that prophesies doom on His people is the book of Habakkuk.  Again, this is a book, often described as a Minor Prophet because of its short length, that is not so well known.  But in this book of the OT, prophecy is being made of the coming power of Babylon.  The term "Chaldeans" is used in some places, which is the same as the Babylonians.  God is warning His people that they are about to face the terror of the Babylonians. 

In both of these cases we see that the prophecies came true.  The Assyrian Empire was huge and the captors vicious.  Following that, the Babylonian Empire conquered much of the known world including God's people, the Israelites. 

There are many things that we can learn from this.  One is that when God speaks, even through His prophets, it always comes true.  Another is that God is, in fact, in total control.  And we can apply these warnings to ourselves; that is, we need to draw closer to God to avoid the punishments that can come....as individuals and as a nation.  We learn that God will only put up with just so much rejection from His people.  His is very patient....more than patient...but there are limits.

We need to pray that God will give our country, and our world, leaders that will help us get back closer to following Him and His ways.  And we can approach Him for His help so that HE will be praised.....not for our benefit....but for HIS.  He wants to be praised....and He deserves to be praised.  Let us praise God!

Thanks for reading.  May you receive all of God's blessings!

Three Great Emotional Events

The Bible is full of heavy emotion, great emotional events that tug at our souls.  In this blog I will mention 3 great events that are particularly so to me.  Keep in mind that the whole Bible centers around the coming of Jesus.  That is, the Old Testament builds to the coming of the NT, the coming of Jesus.  And of course, the NT is all about Jesus and what we are to do as His Followers.  So it is not surprising that no matter how far back or forward in the Bible we go, we see that the emotion of Jesus is shown.

We begin with the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22.  God told Abraham to take Isaac to a place that He would show him and sacrifice Isaac on an altar.  As they journeyed for three days and proceeded to climb Mount Moriah, Isaac turned to his father and asked, "Father."  "What is it, my son?"  "We have fire and wood, but where is the sacrificial lamb?"  We can feel the emotion building in this trip and this conversation.  And we can see that this is a type of God giving His only Son to be sacrificed.  We know the end of this story is God stopping the sacrifice of Isaac......but not stopping the sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus the Christ.

This brings us to the most emotional of all events, the betrayal and torture and trial and death of our Lord.  You know the story so I won't try to tell it all here....I couldn't do so anyway.  But think of not only the pain and emotional stress of our Lord, but even the effect on His mother, His family, the apostles, the women that had helped Him, on all of the followers who had to stand by as He died.

That brings us to the final event to be cited here.  It has always been a very emotional scene to me of seeing the great event recorded in Revelation 19.  Here we see the Lord sitting on a white horse, draped in a cloak that is soaked in blood amidst an army of people on white horses, all draped in fine linen, pure and white.  This is a view into heaven, a look into the future, of God's saved people who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.  It is us.....all clean and pure...because our Lord has taken our sins upon Him; thus, the blood soaked cloak He wears.  That is an amazing sight!  He is called "Faithful and True" and His name is Word of God.  Written on Him is "Lord of Lords and King of Kings."  And there is a name on Him that no one knows.  To me this is a most emotional sight.

Thanks for reading.  Keep the faith.  Follow Him.

Proof of Creation

It is interesting that God told us immediately at the beginning of the Bible that He created the earth.  You are familiar with the wording:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  He continued by telling in some detail the process, the order, by which He did that.  But there are many other references to the creation in the Bible.  We look at a few mentions in this blog.

Psalm 19:  "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

Isaiah 40:21, "Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  Has it not been told you from the beginning?  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in."

And here is the purpose of man:  "..For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  Ephesians 2: 10

And how do we know that there is a God...and that He created the universe?  Romans 1:20, "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse..."

The Bible makes clear that God's power and creation can be seen just by looking up...and around you.  His creation is obvious.  And those who don't know if there is a God are without excuse because these things can be "clearly seen."

God made sure that we are told that He created the world...and He made sure that we can see that He created the world and all around it, all of the universe.  Let us praise Him!

Thanks for reading.  God bless.....

Practical Advice

Sometimes practical advice is practical, but not much fun to give....or receive.  Today we look at Romans chapter 12 to see the teaching of Paul to us as Christians.  We will put this advice into 3 categories:

Consecration

"I Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

We are taught that our bodies are the "temple of God."  Often, we would like to just do what we want to do.  But we learn from God's Word that this isn't what is best for us; and it isn't what pleases God.

Transformation

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

The solution to do what God wants of us starts in the mind.  As we think, so do we do.

Evaluation

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

The following verses to this would seem to put the emphasis on "not thinking of himself more highly than he ought to think" in our relationship to other members of the church.  People are given various gifts, but we are not all the same.  Still, each is important...and each relies on the strengths and abilities of the others. 

God wants our bodies, our minds, our service, our all.  If we do His will, we will do much better.  Only in serving God do we find real meaning in life.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.....

The Greatest Promise Ever Made

I always enjoy superlatives: the greatest, the least, the first, the last.  Here we will look at the greatest Promise ever made.  And the beneficiary of that promise was you and me.

We go to Genesis 12, early in the Bible, to see the promise that was made there.

"Now the Lord had said to Abram (Abraham): 'Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' "

This initially was a promise just made to Abraham.  It would later be repeated to Isaac, Abraham's son, and to Jacob, Abraham's grandson.  We find at the time of this promise that Abraham and all of his family are living in Ur of the Chaldeans.  This is in southern Mesopotamia, today the nation of Iraq.  And we see that this promise was really several promises; that he would be given a land (today the land of Israel); that his people would become a great nation; and the final promise was that through Abraham all of the families of the earth would be blessed.  This final promise is the one that has great significance to us, since this promises the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

In order to be true, this promise requires that Jesus be a direct descendant of Abraham.  And when we look at the history of the Old Testament we see that this occurs.  The OT follows the family of Abraham down through the ages.   It follows Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Judah all the way down to the parents of Jesus.  Now we know that Jesus is actually fathered by the Holy Spirit.  But from an earthly sense, Jesus was born of a father of the tribe of Judah, directly descended from Abraham himself.

One thing we learn from this story is that God always keeps His promises.  Note this passage from 2 Peter 3:  "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

The Lord loves us, promised that He would bless us through the seed of Abraham, sent His Son to die for us....so that none of us would perish.  But He expects us to do His will.  And thus...we must.  What a great blessing!

Thanks for reading.  Have a blessed, God-filled week! 

Separation

Did you ever just open your Bible and see what is before you, what message might jump out from the arbitrary page?  I did that this morning and landed on Daniel chapter 12.  My first thought was "There is no way that I am writing about Daniel 12."  But I looked at the page and here is what it said:

"At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.  And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.  Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever."

Now, I don't know when these things will occur, but it seems clear that this prophesy, written hundreds of years before Christ, will happen....and there will be a great separation between those who followed the Lord and those who did not.  It reminded me of other passages in the New Testament that teach the same thing.  This passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 tells of some of these end-time things:

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died), lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from the heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words."

This teaching is comforting, but only to those who are "in Jesus."  And there is a great separation to come...as we read here.

There are many other passages that teach about this subject, but we will look at one more only.  Note the end of the Sermon on the Mount at the end of Matthew chapter 7:

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."

The message is certainly clear.  There are two choices in life.....and only two:   we follow Jesus or we don't.  Lets "do."

Thank you for reading.  Have a great week!

Adoption

Adoption is a beautiful thing.  Yes, I guess we would all like to be born into our family, a full blooded member.  But anyone who has ever adopted a child knows how special this one is.  There is just nothing like it.  The Bible calls us adopted children of God.  Now, how special is that?

Note how Ephesians addresses His beloved Christians:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will...."

This passage shows that God planned to have His special people before He even created the world.  He didn't specify then which people would accept His adoption, but He planned a great adoption to come.  We know from other passages that God will accept any and all who will come to Him. 

We see a discussion in Galatians 4 about the adoption process that God has provided.  "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

It is a wonderful thing to be adopted into the family of God.  Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ can enjoy this privilege.  And from all that we learn in the Bible, God takes care of His own.  He knows His people (note John 10) and provides eternal life for his people.

The only challenge then for us is to be one of His people...a follower of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Remember that He loves you....more than you or I can possibly know. 

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.

Who Will Be In Heaven

I personally can't judge who will go to heaven, but I know where to get the answer.  This subject is covered in many places in the Bible, but we will look at the end of the book of Revelation for our purposes here.

When one reads the obituaries it becomes clear that most people, if they care at all, believe that virtually everyone is going to be in heaven.  So we will see a different story as we look at Revelation.

Chapter 21, excerpts:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth...
Then I, John, saw the holy city...
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying....
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

Chapter 22:14, "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.  But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie."

It is evident that God cares about saving those who have dedicated themselves to Him, to those who have done His commandments.  That, for sure, is harder than some people think it is going to be; i.e., many think that God just loves everyone and will save everyone.  We see in His Word, the Bible, that there is more involved than that.  He loves everyone, but He is going to save only those who have served Him in this life.

So, thank you for reading again.  Feel the love.  Serve the Lord.

Real Religion

Sometimes we wonder what is real religion.  What does God really want from us?  We get some answers from James chapter one.  Let's look at a few of these thoughts. 

"Therefore, my beloved brethren:

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath...."

"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."

"If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless."

And then the final kicker:

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

We must realize that this is not a complete list of what it means to be a Christian.  But there is no question either that these are valuable thoughts to bring us closer to God.  These are action thoughts.  They require that we be genuine people, clean of mind, and serving others.  Being a Christian is not just about doctrine....or going to church...or saying the right words.  It is about all that we are, that we do, that we think....where our heart is.

Have a great week.....a God filled week.....

We Are Spirit

We tend to think in a material, physical sense.  We are born physical, live physical lives, think about our bodies a lot, watch our diet, exercise, health, medicines, doctors, sleep.  We tend to think in a physical sense.  And yet we are spiritual beings.  There is a spiritual sense to us all that needs to be recognized, exercised, and fully utilized. 

I will have to say that I do not feel fully qualified to discuss this subject.  I don't know all about this.  But I know that this is true because of what I read in the Bible.  God knows all about this and has given some specific direction to us.

We hear people say, "I am not religious, but I am spiritual."  The answer to this is that we are all spiritual.  There are a few people who fight this concept by saying that they don't believe in such.  But looking at the world in total, at all peoples in all societies, we see that people are basically spiritual.

So the Bible speaks a massive amount on this subject, but we will look at some excerpts from a passage in John 3 for purposes here.  Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a prominent Jew:
 
"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' "  His point here is that we are actually spiritual beings.  But if we want to further that by being followers of God...and recipients of all that He offers we must take on His Spirit...by being "born again."

The writer then goes on to explain the role that God, Jesus and we must play in this process.  "even so must the Son of Man (Jesus) be lifted up (die on the cross), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

We are spiritual beings not matter what we believe.  But when we are born of the water and the Spirit as we read in the book of John, when we are born again, we take on the Spirit of God.  And now we are really living!

Thank you for reading....again.  May God bless you.

John The Baptist

It is interesting that John the Baptist is referenced in both the Old and New Testaments.  In fact, the OT ends with the mention of John the Baptist coming.  So we will look at a few passages that talk about him and his purpose in revealing the Lord Jesus.

Right at the end of the OT, at the end of the book of Malachi, it says:  "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."  We would not know for sure that this is talking about John except for looking at some supporting passages.  For example, we go to Malachi 3:  "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me."  This is Jesus, long before He was born on this earth, predicting that John would be a preparer, preparing the way for Jesus. 

We see in the preceding passages that there is reference to Elijah.  He had lived in the OT time and wasn't literally going to be returning again.  But here it says that he is coming again.  What it is saying is that one like Elijah is coming, that is, John.  This is all made much more clear by reading the words of Jesus in Matthew 17, beginning in verse 11:

"Then Jesus answered and said to them, 'Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things.  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."

And we must note John 1:6, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light."  The Light here is, of course, Jesus Himself.

We know that John suffered an early death because of his dedication to our Lord.  We cannot be John the Baptist......but we can tell of Jesus, tell of His greatness, and tell of His importance in our lives.  We can tell of the salvation that He offers and of His great love for each of us.  And if we ever face adversity--John certainly did--we must stand up for Jesus!

Thank you for reading.  Please keep reading....and feel the love.   

Freedom

On this July 4 it seems only appropriate to think a bit about freedom.  Certainly we appreciate the freedoms that come with living in our country today; that is not the case, of course, throughout the world.  Here we will discuss a few Bible thoughts on the subject.

First, we should recognize that we as citizens have some responsibilities to our government.  Note this passage from Romans 13:

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.  Do you want to be unafraid of the authority?  Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.  For he is God's minister to you for good.  But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil."

We must respect governing authorities, realizing that God is in control of all things.  But when put in a position of respecting God or respecting authorities, we must then respect God.  We see Peter and John in this situation in Acts chapter 4.  The Jewish authorities "called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.  But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' "  We need to speak the same things boldly, as well.

And no matter what comes, as Christians we have freedom.  Note this passage at the end of Romans chapter 8:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?....Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Thus we have nothing to fear....except God.  We can enjoy the freedoms that we have in our society knowing that the greatest freedom of all is in Jesus Christ.  Now there is a good reason to celebrate!

Thanks for reading.  Have a great day and a great week.

Details From GOD

When we look at the Old Testament, we see that our God is a God of details.  He was very specific with His people about what He wanted.  We see this in the book of Exodus where God gives His directions to the people about how to build a place of worship, the Tabernacle, and how worship was to be done.  The details are tedious...the reading is tedious...but one can see the point of this by reading Exodus chapters 25-30.  Here is an excerpt:

"You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood.  A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width-it shall be square--and two cubits shall be its height.  Its horns shall be of one piece with it.  And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and it horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around.  Two gold rings you shall make for it....."  This is the description that God gives for this one small part of the worship place, the Tabernacle.

Another example, speaking of the clothes that the priest shall wear:

"And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash.  So they shall make holy garments for Aaron you brother and his sons, that he may minster to Me as priest."  The writing goes on to give great detail in the making of each one of these items. 

One might ask why there is so much attention given to these items of worship.  There could be several answers.  But the first would be that this is what God wanted.  And He wanted to be praised.  He wanted anyone coming in worship to Him to be perfect in dress, appearance, and in the manner of worship.  He is God, and He deserves to be worshiped in His own way.  He also wanted obedience, wanted to see obedience in His people.

But then we go to the New Testament and look at the development of Christianity there, looking at the words of Jesus as He brought us a new way.  The question arises, Is God different in the new age?  And why don't we see this kind of detail being described in the NT?  The immediate answer is that God certainly isn't changed.  He is the same always.  But the NT does describe to us a new kind of law.  Here our Lord wants us to be priests, all of us (Revelation 1:6).  Just as the OT priests, a small percentage of the people,  were to approach God in a special way, a way beautiful to Him, the NT priests (we, as followers of Him) are now the priests that must approach God in a very special way.  But the new way isn't in the details of the OT.  The new way is in spiritual perfection.  He wants us to be spiritually beautiful.  We see this in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7, as Jesus taught the people to be special in heart, in nature, and in love.

Those of us who are followers need to be very careful in our approaching our Lord, to do so in great respect and praise, knowing that He is a God who cares about details, details of our lives, our hearts, our nature, our love....and our obedience.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.  Feel the love.....

In The Beginning

There are at least two places in the Bible that talk about "In the Beginning."  One is in the Old Testament and one in the New.  I suppose that there is no other event anywhere recorded more important than this one.  If there was no beginning of this world, then of course there would be no us...and no blog here to discuss it.  So perhaps it is worth our time to consider the beginning.

It has always been interesting to me that the Bible begins with this one powerful statement, maybe the most powerful statement ever made: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  That answers a lot of questions like, how did the world and heavens get made?  And is there a God?  And the verses thereafter tell us how it all happened and in what sequence.  Were it not for the first chapters of Genesis we would have no idea...except for the wild speculations that we sometimes hear from the "wise" of our day.

In the New Testament we read of the beginning in the first chapter of the book of John.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."  In this passage we learn something new about the Creation, the beginning.  We learn that the Word, Jesus, was there and not only there, but it was all made through Him.  Thus we know that Jesus was,  always was, always existed, always was active...and was active in the Creation.

For those of us who are believers, who are Christians, we know that these things are true.  But for much of the world, much of society, these teachings, these facts are not so known or accepted.  We know there is a God, that He made the world and all around it, and we are comforted in knowing that He is in control.

Praise be Him, the great and mighty LORD.

Thanks for reading and have a great and happy week!

The Lord

It has been mentioned in this blog before that the most often spoken phrase from God Himself is, "I AM the LORD."  It is obvious from study of the Old Testament that recognition of God as Lord is of extreme importance to Him. 

In reading the Psalms, I noticed this phrase in Psalm 81:10.  It says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.  But My people would not listen to Me; Israel would not submit to Me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices."  In this passage we see the rejection of God's people in old days.  Perhaps the question here is, "Are we doing this today?"

And reading this passage I cannot help but think of Moses.  He argued with God when God came to him and told him he would be leading His people out of Egyptian captivity.  Moses did not think he was the man for this job...and put up quite a debate with God over the matter.  But we know that God would not take no for an answer, and Moses was the chosen leader.  He even said to God, "When I go to the people to tell them, who shall I say sent me?"  And God said, "Tell them I AM sent you."  God is the great I AM; not was... or is to be... but just I AM.  He is and always is.

And Jesus addressed the importance of Moses several times.  One good example is John 5:45, where Jesus says, "Do not think I came to accuse you before the Father.  You have one who accuses you: Moses, on whom your hopes are set.  If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me."  All of the Jewish people of that day...and really any day....knew about Moses.  But where Moses wrote about the fact that a Messiah would come one day, they didn't really believe or take note.  And Jesus is saying that if they didn't heed Moses, they weren't going to heed Jesus.

And perhaps it is that way today to a large extent.  People don't really care so much about Jesus.  Yes, He is the only answer, but most don't care. 

Let us care!  Thanks for reading and have a great week. 

The Authority of Jesus

We find in the New Testament that Jesus had to establish His authority on speaking with the Jews.  They didn't want to believe that He was really the Christ, the Messiah that had been foretold in the old scriptures.  And so the Jews, especially the Jewish leaders, would challenge Jesus and His authority, saying that He had no right to claim to be the Son of God.

In John chapter 5 we find that Jesus healed a lame man, one who had been sick for 38 years and was unable to get into the healing waters. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath.  The man arises and carries his bed with him, prompting the Jews to criticize Jesus and the man.  By Jewish tradition this could be worthy of death for Jesus, so they sought to kill Him.

To make matters worse, Jesus said, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God."  Jesus was quite outspoken about His authority and position with the Father.

Jesus then followed this event with some very powerful statements that we should note:

"For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will."

"...he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."

Speaking to the Jews specifically, "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father, there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust.  For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"

In this last statement to the Jews He is referring to the fact that Moses, many generations before, had told them that a Messiah would be coming.  But they were not believing that Jesus is the one.  This hatred for Jesus would carry on through to the death of Jesus, to the insistence by the Jews on Jesus being crucified.

Jesus is truly the Son of God and is the only Way to truth and salvation. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

A Special People

In Exodus 19, God was speaking to Moses, his spokesman:  "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

There two points from this passage that we will consider in this blog entry.  The first is that the people of God are very special to Him.  For sure He loves everybody.  But it is different for those who are followers and believers. 

In the New Testament, Titus 2:14 speaks of Jesus, "who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people...."  God knows His people, and they/we are special to Him. 

Then there is 1 Peter 2:9 where the scripture says, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."

And Revelation 1:5, "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen."  To God we are kings and priests....pretty great stuff. 

But there is the second point in the initial passage: We must obey.  He will make us greater than we can even understand....but we must be true followers of Jesus, true to His covenant and His will.  We must do it His way.  We do that by reading and understanding His Word, the Bible....and then by following it, by following Jesus.  Let's do it!  Just do it!

And there it is....one more time.  Thanks for reading.  All the best to you!

Judah

I was reading the 78th Psalm where the poet is recounting the sins of the Jewish people down through history but especially during the time after God had led the people out of Egyptian captivity.  Speaking of God, it says towards the end of the Psalm, "Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved." 

There is a lot of significance to this statement.  It is noteworthy that much of the Old Testament follows the history of the tribe of Judah.  Remember that Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob had 12 sons.  One of the sons was Judah.  And the key significance of Judah is that he is in the lineage of Jesus.

We remember that Jesus was born a Jew.  His true father was God Himself, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.  But Jesus had an earthly father, Joseph, and a mother, a virgin, Mary, both of whom were of the tribe of Judah.  And all through the OT we see the centering of focus on the tribe of Judah.

It is interesting that the NT opens with these words, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers."  There were 11 other brothers but not one of them is named here....because the emphasis is on the lineage of Jesus.

And going back to the psalm first quoted, it mentions the tribe of Judah, "Mount Zion which He loved."  We read in OT history that when the 12 tribes finally located in the land of Israel, each tribe picked out the land that they wanted for their tribe.  Judah went to the South where Mount Zion is located and the city of Jerusalem was built.  So much Bible history is located in the area of Mount Zion and the city Jerusalem built upon it.  And in this psalm it is described as "which He loved."  God had and has a special love for this place.  And for what it is worth, today there stands a Muslim temple, the Dome of the Rock, right in the middle, right where the Jewish temple once stood.  But that is another subject for perhaps another day. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Disappointed

If we pause to look back at the death of Christ, if we take ourselves back to the cross and imagine what it must have been like to view the dead body of Jesus on the cross, what a horrible sight it would have been.  Of course, it was horrible for Him to have to endure the suffering and shame of all the events leading up to His crucifixion.  But beyond that, it had to be terribly disappointing to the followers to have to view their Savior, their hope, there on the cross.  And what a gory sight.  He is dead, His body limp, draped, bloody, torn and tortured.  The followers have left, as have the crowds.  He is all alone.  It is Friday...and oh, what a sad Friday it is.

But a new day awaits, for on Sunday everything will change.  Jesus will arise from the dead and prove once and for all that our God has power over the grave.  And just as Jesus had that power, He extends it to us.  What a blessing!

But on this Friday, the followers were down, sad, disappointed.  We see this attitude in the two guys walking on the road in Luke 24.  Jesus joined them in walking and asked why they were so sad.  They said: "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is third day since these things happened."

They said, "We were hoping...."  A lot of people were hoping that Jesus would be their king.  The people of Israel had been oppressed for generations, and now they wanted to be free.  What a disappointment this Friday turned out to be; their Lord was crucified.  What a bummer!

But the wonderful Sunday was coming!  They couldn't see it then.  They didn't understand the power that Jesus had over death itself.  What a great God we have.  He was great then....and He is great today, always and forever.

Praise God every day for His wonderful grace.  Thanks for reading....once again.

Seek Bible Answers

It is interesting to note that when Jesus was pressed about matters, He went to the Scriptures to make a point.  He began this practice in the earliest of His ministry when He was tempted by the Devil.  Three times He was tempted and three times He quoted from the Old Scriptures. 

At the first temptation, Jesus answered:  "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " 

As He was tempted the second time, "Jesus said to him, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' "

And finally, after the third temptation,  "Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." ' "

It was important to Jesus to go directly to the Old Testament Scriptures to quote the Word of God in His defense of truth.  We find the later writers of New Testament Scripture doing the same thing.  They often quoted OT scripture and sometimes the very words of Jesus.  An example of this is found in 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul is teaching about the practice of taking the communion, the Lord's Supper:

Jesus took bread and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Then He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

Paul, in writing this account, wanted to be sure that the words of Jesus were never forgotten in this important practice.  Over and over throughout the Bible the words of God and Jesus are quoted in providing true answers.  This is a practice that we are able to follow.  We need to give Bible answers to important questions of life, to questions about how to worship, how to live, how to please God. 

The way to be what God wants us to be is to go to His Word, the Bible, and just do it.  Thanks for reading.  Feel the love.....

Marriage

Discussing the definition of marriage would seem to be a complicated matter, one that is controversial in today's world.  But as with all things, we do best if we go to the source of all wisdom and knowledge for our answers, i.e., the Bible.  God has the answers to all questions, and in fact, gives us clear definition, clear answers to what marriage is all about.

We should note that God us supremely qualified to provide the answers to this question for a number of reasons.  But for purposes here, I will mention that God created marriage.  This point is made clear when we go to the beginnings of the Bible and the beginnings of man and read from Genesis 2.

"And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'........And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.  Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.  And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.'  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

We see that Jesus took up this discussion in Matthew 19 when He was asked about the matter of divorce.  He pointed out that God hates divorce.  But in doing so, He quoted from Genesis and said, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?' " 

It is not my intention here to get into politics and discuss who should be allowed rights.  But for definition of marriage there is no question that marriage is a relationship designed by God to be between a man and a woman.  We should always go to the Bible for our true answers...and to see what God says about a matter.  We don't see a dependence on the Bible in our world today.

May we seek to do things in the way our God wants.  Have a great week!

David the Prophet

I have written about King David before, but this article is more about David the prophet.  They are one and the same, but the perspective is different. 

For purposes here, we will be looking at the passage in Acts 2 where Peter stands up along with the rest of the apostles and makes a speech.  He is establishing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He rose from the dead.  He quotes David where David is recorded in Psalms 16 prophesying about the coming Christ.  Realize that when David spoke about Jesus, he was doing so many centuries before Jesus would be born.  Here are some of Peter's comments quoting David:

"Because You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence."

Without explanation, this writing would be difficult to understand.  But Peter in his speech explains that David is not speaking of himself...but of the Christ to come.  Here is Peter's explanation:

"Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."

David testified of Jesus, perhaps not even knowing what he was saying.  He made it clear that the Christ would not see corruption, decay, from the death process.  Peter in his speech is pointing out that David died and his grave was still in existence (still is today).  But Jesus has no grave because He rose from the dead and proved that He had the power over death.  And this is important to us, of course, because by proving that He could overcome death, He can carry us beyond the grave....to a heavenly reward.  How great that is!  Praise God!

Thanks for reading.  Praise God for His wonderful grace.

Authority

Authority is a subject that I do not like....on many levels.  It is like "rules."  Who wants rules, or restrictions, or authority?  But a realistic look at the reasons for all of this brings us to the realization that these are important....and necessary.  Our society would not work, and we personally could not properly function without rules and authority.  So let's take a brief look at what the Bible is teaching us about the subject.

Jesus speaks to us about this.  I think one of the best passages to see Jesus as our authority is at the end of Matthew.  In talking about the apostles, "Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on the earth has been 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.' "  Notice that All Authority in heaven and earth was given to Jesus.  That is truly a broad statement, but certainly a true one.

Jesus did not soften His words when He spoke of His role.  In John 14:6, He told them, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  This powerful statement did not leave any room for exceptions or loopholes.  Jesus meant what He said.  He is the only way.

These statements are quite direct and final.  There is no way to find salvation...heaven...without doing so through Jesus.  Those who believe that He was a good man, maybe a prophet, but not the Son of God, not God Himself, will not find salvation.

Jesus is the authority.  And we need an authority to give us guidance and direction and purpose and ultimately, eternal life.  Jesus is the Way.  He is the truth.  And for sure He is life, real life, eternal life.  Let us follow Him, serve Him, love Him.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Daniel

I could not do a complete job of discussing the prophet Daniel in this simple blog, but some discussion seems useful.  The book of Daniel in the Old Testament is fascinating and easy reading and is one of those fun books to just read through, especially the first 6 chapters. 

The person Daniel was a real person, as are others in the Bible.  And he wasn't just real, he was really great, one of the really great men in all of the Bible.  What made him great was his faith.  He decided early in his life that he was going to serve God.  Whatever seemed right, whatever he felt God would want him to do, he was going to do it.  If it meant going up against the government or rejecting a king's order or getting himself thrown in jail, he was willing to serve God first.  Daniel gives us an example of putting faith in God first.

Daniel is placed in a position of interpreting king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon's dream.  He explains his situation to the king: "But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart."  He gives the credit to God for his abilities.

And Nebuchadnezzar recognized the greatness of God, though it isn't likely that he ever fully repented of his evil ways.  Notice this: "This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen.  Now you, Belteshazzar (Daniel), declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you." (Daniel 4:18)

In Chapter 6 we find the story of Daniel being thrown into the lion's den because of his determined faith in God.  Verse 23 shows us the result of a night with the lions: "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God."

Life continues to work out for Daniel and his three friends in this story because of the great faith in God.  And the same will work for us if we dedicate ourselves to a complete trust in Him.  What a great example Daniel is to each of us. 

Have a great week...and keep the faith! 

Happy Easter

I truly wish you a Happy Easter and hope it is a good day.  And I hope that you took the opportunity to worship your God today.  He wants to be worshiped.  It is likely that some readers will not appreciate my approach to a blog on Easter, however.  I try to make all of my thoughts totally Biblical, as will be the case here.  But some of these comments run counter to traditional Christian thinking about "Christian holidays."

There is no reference to Easter in the Bible.  That is the truth.  If you look in the old King James Bible you will find the word used once, but actually referring to Passover, the Jewish feast.  The celebration of Easter is a man made idea, one that sounds like a good idea, but still is from man not God. 

So, what is in the bible about this subject?  For sure there is plenty of reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  These events are recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the first four books of the New Testament.  And the significance of these events cannot be overstated.  No other events have changed the world like the events of these few days.  But how are we to celebrate this is the question.

The answer comes from Jesus, Himself.  He got with his apostles right before His death and told them what He wanted from His followers in the future.  He told them He would be leaving them, that His time on earth was coming to an end.  Then, "After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, 'Take this and divide it among you.  For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.'  And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'  In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.' "

This account, repeated in Matthew, Mark and Luke shows what Jesus was wanting in the way of remembrance.  And how often should it be remembered?  We see in the book of Acts that the Christians would gather together weekly to observe this remembrance, this communion, this partaking of the Lord's supper.

So let's not just remember the death and resurrection of our Lord just once a year.  It is important...and important enough to be remembered weekly.

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love!

Thankful

I am going to start here with the worst expression in the English language today...and with the best.  The worst expression is "Oh my God."  This is so common, yet so demeaning to our God.  It is using the name of God in a useless, meaningless way.  It is taking the name of God in vain, and He doesn't like that.  Don't do it!

The best expression, I think, is "Thank you, Lord."  I say this all of the time, but no human ever hears it.  There are so many times in every day that we all have to thankful to our Lord.  When I had a car wreck about a year and a half ago, a semi swerved into me on the interstate, I hit it with a smash and I didn't get a scratch.  I was thankful, and I continue to be thankful.  And while life can be hard many times, we all have lots of good reasons to be thankful...every day.

We know that life is short.  James 4 says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow I will go to this or that city, live, do business and make a profit' when you don't even know what will happen tomorrow!  What is your life?  It is a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills I will live and do this or that.' "

There are two thoughts here:  One is that we need to put our trust in the Lord.  He sometimes steps into our lives.  We don't know when or why always...but we know that He does.  The second thought is that our lives are short and we need to use our time and resources wisely. 

But whether God steps into our lives here on earth, one thing that we know is that He does save us, all of us who follow Him, eternally.  He offers us salvation...forever....and that means everything.  This life can bring unbelievable pain and heartache; but He offers us freedom from all of that forever! 

So we can be thankful.....everyday....to our Lord.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, the life."  He is the way, the only way.  He tells us the truth.  And most importantly, He gives us LIFE, real life, forever life.

Trust in the Lord!   Thanks, for reading.  Have a really great..and thankful...week.

Self Control

There are so many things that beset us, things that tempt us, try us, entrap us.  The devil is real and out to get us....and he does sometimes.  Sometimes he wins.....and we let him do it....freely.  It is interesting that we all have different challenges in our lives.  We know that what tempts one person may not tempt us at all.  And sometimes we marvel that another person could be so weak in an area of their lives, knowing that what is so difficult for them to avoid doesn't look attractive to us at all.  But that is life.

The subject of self control is much broader than that.  It seems to extend across all aspects of our lives, all temptations.  Whatever tempts us, each of us, has one solution:  self control.  In all of the Bible, the one thing that is taught for us to control is Self.  We cannot control so many things in our lives.  Think about that.......politics, weather, traffic, other people's actions, even health sometimes.  Many things are out of our control.  But Self....now there is our challenge.

Peter in listing the things that we are to add to our faith, includes self control.  It is a critical ingredient to our service to God.  (2Peter 1:6) "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Notice Paul's teaching in Acts 24:24, "Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess.  He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.  As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, "That's enough for now...."  Felix was a man whose life was totally out of control, at least in the sense of righteousness.  But we also know that, while me may not be a Felix, we have our need for self control.

I wish for you all the best of God's blessings in developing more and more of the control of self...and the service to our Lord.

The teachings are many for our practice of self control.  But we know that it is easier said than done in controlling ourselves.  Let us each work on us; let me work on Me.  Surely I need it. 

Sons of Abraham

We are sons of Abraham.  That may seem a bit strange since Abraham lived several thousand years ago.  But in fact, Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation through his son Isaac and on down through the generations.  And Abraham is the father of the Arab world, the Muslims, through the son Ishmael of Abraham.  And since Jesus is a distant relative of Abraham...in an earthly sense, we too are children, descendants of Abraham...in a spiritual sense.

We see the latter connection, the Christian connection, by going back to Genesis 12 and seeing the promise of God to Abraham there.  Several promises were made to Abraham by God in this passage.  But the one of great significance to us says, "And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 

Galatians 3 makes the connection clear between Abraham and the Christian.  It is here in this Galatians passage that this Jesus, a descendant in an earthly sense, is the seed of Abraham.  Note verse 16: "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.  He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ."  And verse 29 sums it all up:  "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

We then, as Christians, are heirs of Abraham; not in a physical sense or any bloodline.  But we are heirs in a spiritual sense...through the gift of Jesus Christ..and heirs "according to promise,"  the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12.

Somehow this seems a bit complicated; but it is wonderful thing to be an heir to Christ and to the promise of Abraham.  Only a Christian, a true follower of Jesus has this comfort.  Yes!

Thanks for reading.....and have a great week!

Two Books Written by Luke

There are two New Testament books written by Luke.  In this blog we will look a bit closer at the author and the beginnings of these books. 

Luke was a physician and likely a gentile.  All other books in the NT were written by Jews.  Paul in Colossians 4 and Philemon referenced him as "Luke the beloved physician."  He wrote both of his books to Theophilus, a person that we know nothing specific about.  He is addressed as "most excellent Theophilus" indicating that he was of high social standing.  And it should be noted of Luke that he was not an apostle.  He was qualified to write because he had carefully gathered and researched information about Jesus and those who would carry on the work after Jesus left the earth.

Luke wrote the book of Luke.  It is interesting to note how the book begins: "Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which are most surely believed among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed."  Luke had one of his missions to be presenting a well ordered history of the things that Jesus did and were done to Him.

The second book that Luke wrote doesn't bear his name, but it becomes obvious that Luke is the writer; this is the book of Acts.  Acts begins: "The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also 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."  Here he is referencing the "former account" and picks up in his account where the book of Luke left off. 

The book of Luke tells of the birth, life, teachings, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus.  There is no better place to read of the events of Jesus.  To read of the occurrences after Jesus leaves the earth; to follow the apostles and their teachings, and to see the development of the church, there can be no better reading than the book of Acts. 

So in summary, the best way to get the flow of the New Testament history is to read the books of Luke and Acts.  And reading these books will strengthen our knowledge and faith in our Lord. 

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love....

The Word

The term "Word" in the New Testament is used to refer to Jesus.  It might seem a bit unusual that the Bible would use the term in this way, but it clearly does.  We will examine this use a little more in this blog entry.  Note John chapter 1:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

Skipping down to verse 12, we read more about Him: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name..."  And verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...."

In reading all of these verses there is no question that the "Word" is Jesus.  Then we read in Hebrews 1:  "God....has in these last days spoken to us by His Son....who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high..."

Thus we know that Jesus is the Word.....and that Word has brought us salvation.  Further, we know that He rules now in heaven at the right hand of the Father.  And further, we know that He allows us to be His children, children of God.  How great that is!

I love the verse in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith if is impossible to please Him, foe he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." To me, the key here is that we must "diligently seek Him." 

So let's do.....let's diligently seek Him throughout our lives, learning, studying, seeking to know the truth.....and following the Word.

Thanks for reading...have a great week!

The Apostles

The Apostles are such an important part of the New Testament that we should spend a bit of time examining their role.  They were there at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and carried on the work when He left this earth to return to the Father. 

Right at the beginning of His ministry Jesus went about selecting His apostles, choosing 12 men whom He would teach and challenge and send out.  These were men from different walks with varying capabilities, just average guys, local guys.  Acts 2 tells us that they were known to be local men from Galilee.  But one thing they had in common was their faith.  They each made a commitment to follow the Lord.  And we know that this was a major commitment on their part.  They had to forsake their jobs and families for a time to be completely dedicated to Jesus.

We know, of course, that Judas betrayed Jesus and ended up taking his own life.  Judas was the money keeper for the others, turned out to be greedy and ended up selling out his Master for 30 pieces of silver.  At the time that Jesus leaves the earth as recorded in Acts 1, the apostles are left to carry on the work, to spread the Gospel to all the world.  The first thing that they do is to appoint a replacement for Judas.  The qualifications are mentioned in Acts 1:21:  "Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."  Matthias was chosen.

In Acts 2, the Lord sent the Holy Spirit back to give power to these men to carry on the work.  Later Paul would be personally visited by Jesus (Acts 9) causing him to meet the qualification of having actually been with Jesus.  So we find that Paul is considered an apostle, as referenced in several NT passages. 

There would be no more apostles appointed, from what we read in the NT.  Thus, any person today who carries the title of apostle would be in violation of NT teaching regarding the qualifications and purpose of the apostles.

Their role was major in that Jesus didn't set up any churches.  Jesus didn't attempt to go into all the world and spread the word.  He turned it all over to these able men and challenged them to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16: 15-16)

Let us carry on the work...and spread the Good News....that was begun by Jesus and carried on by the apostles.  Have a great week!

Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is filled with small, wise sayings that are a part of what we often call the Wisdom Literature.  Wisdom Literature is considered the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.  All contain wisdom from the wise king Solomon who, according to the Bible record, received his extra dose of wisdom from God Himself.  Solomon didn't always follow his own advice,  but his advice is certainly good for increasing our wise understanding.

For example, Proverbs 23:23 says, "Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding."  And the book begins with this kind of direction:
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--
A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.."

The book is full of wise sayings that if we contemplate them...and follow them, we will increase in our knowledge and wisdom.  Here are a couple of examples:

"A wise son makes a glad father,
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother."

"Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all sins."

Proverbs 23 tells us of the danger of strong drink:
"Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who linger  long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
'They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?' "

Read the Proverbs.  Spend time in the Proverbs...and you will be wiser!

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

How the New Testament Begins....and Why

I love beginnings and endings.  To me, it is always important that any book begin with something significant, something that really matters, something that catches your attention.  And of course, the ending needs to be powerful as well.  We see that the Bible is the prime example of this principle.

The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ.  Now one might think this is a rather boring way to start a new book.  We don't usually think of genealogical records as being attention getting.  But in this particular case, it is quite meaningful that the book begins with this record.  We have just finished the Old Testament with all of its stories, people and nations, looking at the history of the Jewish people down through the centuries.  A close examination of the OT shows that one of the key things it is doing is to give the history of the family of Jesus leading up to the time that He will be born.  As we arrive at the NT, we see that it opens with a quick summary of what has been taught in great detail throughout the OT. 

Note the opening words, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob...."  This quick summary of the family of Jesus only takes 16 verses.  But in these verses we have a strong tie to the OT, and we have a message being given to us that this is important.  The family of Jesus, the history, the occurrences that got us to this point in the story are all quite significant. 

The book of Matthew then continues right into the birth of Jesus Christ.  We have the beautiful story of the parents of Jesus being told of the importance of the child to be born.  This story is told also in the book of Luke.  And in fact, the book of Luke gives an account in chapter 3 of the genealogy also.  The genealogical record is a little different in Luke, thought by most scholars to be due to following some of the family of Mary rather than the family of Joseph as recorded in Matthew. 

While most genealogies are not so interesting to most of us, this one is the greatest of them all.  And it is a powerful and meaningful beginning to the last part of the Bible. 

Thank you for reading..and for being a faithful follower.