Sermons

Therefore, Choose Life!

18 Aug , 2020  

The Shepherd's Fool Tulips in the sunFor this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”   (Deuteronomy 30:11-20 ESV)

God Loves Us and Wants Our Love

This commandment is not too hard for you.

The Shepherd's Fool Wild flowers in the sunGod is Creator. He is, therefore, Sovereign. He gets to call the shots. In the obscurity of eternity past, He conceived of a mortal companion that would be capable of love. Almighty God already had companionship and love in the Trinity. He had all that there was to be had. He was a companionable, loving Trinity of three Persons in One Almighty God. And yet He wanted something other that was not God to Love God.

Why, is a mystery. He had all the love. He had all the fellowship in and of Himself. He did not need anything more. He was, is and always will be complete in Himself and in Himself. Nevertheless, He desired to have another who could love Him.

He could have created another spirit. Perhaps the Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels and angels were His first Creation. They loved the Almighty, but they had one limitation. They were Created to love and obey. They were not volitional.

Someday I will have to do the research necessary to discover how Lucifer had the volition to not only covet God’s throne, but also to corrupt a vast number of angels to join in Lucifer’s rebellion.

We Are Created to Love God

The Shepherd's Fool Leaves in the sunStill the Almighty wanted some “other” to love Him. He determined it would have to be material. That in turn required God to Create laws for the material to hold together. Electrons swirling around in the infinitude of space needed cohesion to form substantial things. God Created Gravity, Laws of Motion, Magnetic Attraction, Light, Energy (and therefrom Heat). All this was “without form and void”. God moved and created light, and brought the formless to coalesce into liquid and solid. He exploded the light and heat into an extremely vast number of flaming stars as centerpieces of solar systems. And then, God expanded the solid exponentially. He coalesced the solid into a great number of earths to orbit around the stars. All perfectly following God’s “thermal-kinetic” laws

Still all this was insensible. That “other” needed being and sentience. It needed electrons to coalesce into a shape. It needed a place to inhabit. The habitation was delineated by the earths available. These formed the first layer of foundation for the other that God desired. He focused in on a mediocre star; and then on the third planet from that sun. There the Almighty chose to plant a garden of multiform plants – trees, bushes, flowers, lichens and molds. They formed the second layer of foundation. On that basis, the Almighty brought forth sentient creatures – insects, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. They formed the tertiary layer of foundation upon which the Almighty could create that other.

God Creates Humans to Love

The Shepherd's Fool Wheat grass in the sunTo this moment in eternity all God’s Creation had been impersonal. He had conceived and he had spoken it all into existence. But with the “other”, the Almighty got His hands dirty. He selected some of the basic elements and based on the excellent design of the mammals, He personally formed a human being. Animals he had spoken into being and into life. Humans, He said not a word, but personally formed the first; and then the Supreme being the Trinity, the Almighty God, in a kiss of love, breathed into man the Spirit of Life.

Man opened his eyes and beheld the most magnificent, infinitely loving Maker and Master. The Almighty filled all of this other’s first living sight.

Man’s heart was stirred and he knew, as the absolute first knowing, that he loved his Creator. God introduced him to the earth, the garden the animals. As man began his work, he felt joy in his obedience to the Almighty’s instructions. This was the second knowing – joy of obedience.

Still as he claimed mastery over all the animals in the naming of them, he saw them in pairs, each kind having a mate. But he had none. God was wonderful, a magnificent companion who loved him completely and who man loved completely. Nevertheless, God was not a mate.

God Creates Woman

The Shepherd's Fool Woman watching the sunsetThe Almighty was not surprised by that lack. For His reasons He created Mankind male only, at first. As the man’s sense of lack of a mate grew, the Almighty anesthetized him. God, the Divine Surgeon, opened Man’s chest cavity and removed a bit of bone and flesh. Again personally, hands-on, created a mate to complement and fulfill man; therefore, she was called Woman. Adam opened his eyes and there stood Eve and God, the two beings he loved in all the world.

Adam and Eve shared the tending of the garden. After a day of labor, they relaxed setting aside the work until the next day. They were never rushed. There were no schedules. The work was satisfying in itself. The rest at the end of each day was just as satisfying. They would first bathe in the River Gihon. Then the Almighty joined them and the three strolled through the evening in loving companionship. Adam and Eve pointed with innocent pride at all they had accomplished. God was pleased with their obedience and industriousness. Life was such a joy – filled with love, accomplishment, peace and God’s Presence.

Adam and Eve Sin

I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.   (Deuteronomy 30:15)

There were two trees in the Garden of special note. The Holy Spirit has not given us any indication that Adam and Eve sampled the delights of the Tree of Life. The thrust of the information was The Fall. Eve and then Adam both disobeyed Almighty God, their loving Father. They chose to sample the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

How could they be that stupid? Well, they weren’t really stupid. They were innocent, naive, inexperienced. They knew nothing of deception, having lived only in the Truth of God. Nevertheless, just as soon as they actuated their disobedience, their righteousness was stripped away along with their innocence. The close, loving fellowship with their gracious Father was severed. They knew the burden of guilt. They sought to hide their sin deceiving God, hiding from Him.

Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” It was a half-truth. They would not immediately die physically. But they immediately died spiritually and physical death was immediately in the future; whereas before sinning, death had not even been known. Satan gave them a half-truth that was a whole lie.

After being exiled from the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve drop out of the story, except the Holy Spirit makes record of some of their, likely, many children. The sins most other children committed were not recorded.

The Sons of Adam and Eve

The Shepherd's fool Pink flowers in the sunTheir second son, Able, gives us an indication of his parents’ righteous teaching. He was the “good” son. In obedience to Almighty God, he offered a lamb as a righteous sacrifice, i.e. life for life. It was a lamb of sacrifice to cleanse Abel of sin.

The elder son, was of a different character. He apparently was not listening to Adam’s or God’s instructions. He thought the offering to God was a ceremony. He brought the best he had. But it was not an atonement for his sin. What Cain needed to do was obtain a lamb from Abel.

Abel’s name means “something transitory”. Cain’s name comes from a root meaning “provoke to jealousy”

Cain thought his offering was good enough, so when God honored his baby brother, instead of Cain, he took offense.

Despite their loss of righteousness, God was intimately involved with the humans He Created. Knowing that murderous sin was in Cain’s heart, the Almighty God took a personal interest and spoke directly to him, “If you obey me in the manner of sacrifice, your offering will be accepted. If you persist in disobedience you are open to greater sin. Satan is waiting at your door, but you have the ability to triumph over him.”

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”   (Genesis 4:6-7)

But, tragically, Cain liked the feeling of jealousy and resentment. It gave him a sense of power, so he chose to embrace that, The enemy of our souls lied to Cain and he, like Eve, believed Satan, rather than God. Satan said, “You know, if Abel were dead. You would be the only one, so God would have to approve your offering.” The logic was there, except for one slight detail. God doesn’t have to do anything by man’s logic.

Cain chose to eliminate Abel. He hid the body and covered Abel’s blood with dirt – the “Perfect Crime”, no evidence, no body.

God has a way of asking questions He already knows the answers to, “Cain, where is Abel? I miss him.”

Cain compounded the felony with a lie and an accusation against God. “I don’t know! And besides he’s a grown man, I don’t have to keep track of him.” The implication is that God was exceeding His authority expecting Cain to keep track of his brother.

Cain chose a series of evils, when the good was so easy. By setting aside his pride, Cain could have gone to Abel and asked for, or even purchased a lamb for offering. It would take humility and acknowledging that Cain had to learn from Abel. Instead he preserved his pride at the price of Abel’s life and Cain’s banishment from God’s Presence – and loss of his pride anyway.

Obey by Loving the Lord your God

The Shepherd's Fool boy on swing in the sunNow let’s leapfrog over several millennia to the time of King David and after. David loved Almighty God! He had grown to be intimate with the Almighty as David, in solitude, tended Jesse’s flocks. He chose to obey and follow the Almighty exclusively with all his heart. In battle, David followed the Lord God, and God gave him victories against superior forces time and again, over Goliath, over Saul (David refused to slay Saul despite two separate opportunities), over the Philistines, and all the rest. By example He led the People of God to worship YHWH exclusively. During David’s and Solomon’s reigns Israel honored YHWH, exclusively, so they had peace and prospered.

However, beginning in the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, idolatry cropped up and began to flourish. The people chose to worship nothingnesses, building places of worship on “every high hill”! From the division of the nation into Israel and Judah, Israel completely rejected Almighty God and worshipped nothingnesses, particularly Baal and Ashtoreth.

Judah had a checkered history. Under the evil kings they abandoned God Almighty, but under the righteous kings, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzzah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah (even though several of these “good” kings committed grievous sins) they reformed the nation and eliminated idolatrous worship. Under those latter kings Judah was spared defeat by the bully nations.

Israel and then Judah were clear object lessons for us today. When a person or a nation commits his, her or their hearts to the loving Almighty God, he, she, or they are protected and prospered by the Almighty.

If Your Heart Turns Away

When individuals or nations turn their back on Jeshua, He as the righteous Savior, gives them up to their desires. Paul instructs us in Ch. 1

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  (Romans 1:22-25)

The Shepherd's Fool Calendula flowers in the sunIn our nation, today we have chosen to feed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We are living by human logic and understanding.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.  (Proverbs 14:12)

We have begun to bow down at the altar of science. We have worshipped screen stars and rock stars and sport stars, as if they had wisdom, when all they have is fickle human emotion. They declare the latest politically correct craze, regardless of the truth that God reveals, and theydecry the “deniers” as pariahs.

We are sacrificing our pre-born babies on the altar of Moloch, which we have re-branded as “convenience” and “birth control”.

We are being told that we must embrace the abomination of homosexuality and all its spawnings. The laws of the state are enforcing our compliance with fines and suits that bankrupt believers who adhere to their faith in Jeshua.

We are indoctrinating our children in public schools and colleges to turn them into idolaters and away from Jeshua.

We have ignored past history. Very few are even cognizant of Biblical history. Even the history of our nation is unknown. America prospered and was victorious as long as we looked to Jeshua as the Lord of our nation. In the middle of the last century faith in Jeshua began to be eroded and now three generations later believers are just a faithful remnant.

You May Dwell in the Land

America is not ours. All the world, all the cosmos belongs to our Creator God. He gave this land to the faithful Pilgrims and their successors the Founders of this nation. America was founded by men and women who believed in Jeshua as their Lord and Savior. They knew that as long as the People adhered to faith in the Lordship of Jeshua our nation would prosper. As long as we were submissive to the will of God Almighty, we could keep this land, living in peace and prosperity.

The Shepherd's Fool Wildflower Seed Pods in the sunWe introduced the scourge of slavery to pollute the nation and we reaped the whirlwind of God’s judgment. A war to free the slaves cost America the blood and lives of 623,026 of our youth. BUT GOD! … accepted that sacrifice and allowed us to keep this nation.

From the 1850’s to the 1930’s, America has sent hundreds of missionaries to the far corners of the globe to evangelize the not yet reached with the Gospel.

In 1917, we sent our men to rescue Europe from stalemate and likely defeat during WW I

In 1941-45, We fought again, sending our men to Europe to save the nations from the Nazi scourge and at the same time sent our men into the Pacific to destroy the Japanese attempt to take over those nations.

After we had brought our victorious men home, leaving thousands in graves all over the world, we spent Billions of dollars rebuilding the war-torn nations of our enemies and our friends.

But since those godly sacrifices, America has turned away from God. We have been increasingly excluding Jeshua from sector after sector of our society.

Jeshua, the One who will judge nations and peoples with righteousness has, in his mercy, withheld His just condemnation, giving America the space to repent and return to surrender to the Lordship of the Mashiach. If we do not, He will cast down our nation and allow another to have a go at living under His rule.

He gave the Jews a millennium and a half to see if they could live under God’s Law that He gave to Moses. They could not. God sent His Son, Jeshua to give them one last chance. They rejected Almighty God’s only Begotten Son: therefore, Jeshua sent His Disciples to the Gentiles throughout the world. Christianity has spread across the globe by faithful missionaries. Many, if not most, were sent and financed by America.

He has given America 400 years. We began strong, and yet, in the last century we have drawn away from Jeshua.

Living in His Blessings

Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,  (Deuteronomy 30:20)

The Shepherd's Fool Queen Anne's Lace flowers in the sun.What must we do? We must take Jeshua seriously. He said,

Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.   (Mark 16:15)

You are charged with an evangelical mission.

Jeshua said,

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.   (John 17:20-21)

It is your word of testimony that will:

  • Lead others to Jeshua
  • Give them the foundation to believe in Jeshua
  • Bring them into the family of Almighty God and make us all one in God and one with one another
  • Make the conditions right for the Holy Spirit to send belief in Jeshua to every corner of this globe

We cannot bring in the Kingdom of God by our efforts, but we can proclaim salvation to all who will hear that wonderful news, that Jeshua is the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is to Him we must all surrender and be saved, clothed in righteousness and be given a place for eternity in the Presence of Love inestimable, joy unspeakable and peace unceasing.

Go in the power of the Holy Spirit to change your friends and neighbors, to change our nation and to change the world!

Prayer for Grace and Service

Lord God Almighty, You sent Your Son to transform our lives and to give us Your message to the world

You sent the Holy Spirit to empower and embolden us to seize that message of salvation through Jeshua ha Meshach, and proclaim it from the housetops.

You have adopted us as Your beloved children. You are asking us to follow Your Son and the Holy Spirit into a hostile world and give them your love.

We choose to obey. We choose to comply. We choose to be Your hands of mercy, Your feet to serve and Your mouths to proclaim the love of God for all people.

Amen

Benediction for Choosing God

“Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and in the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.   (Romans 16:25-27)

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Glad Tidings

Indoctrination Education

1 Aug , 2020  

GT—Volume 17 Issue 8

Indoctrination Education

“William Temple characterized this as a ‘cut flower civilization.’ It appears beautiful, but is cut off from its roots, the value system that nourished it. Signs of withering may be detected in increased criminality, salaciousness, profanity, vulgarity, and uncontrollable drug culture. Instead of emphasizing values proven by years of societal experience, liberal education has frequently capitulated to the demands of pressure groups that have never been exposed to, or have never gained an appreciation of, these values. Legitimate criticism has asserted that often in the past morality has been taught but not practiced. But it is infinitely more difficult to practice if it is not taught. Freedom of inquiry need not be accompanied by freedom from morality.” (W. Ivan Hoy, “Education and Morality” Baker’s Dictionary of Christian Ethics, Carl F.H. Henry, Ed. Baker Book House Company, 1973, Pg.200)

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:7)

Our public educational system has been overcome by educators who either do not know or do not care what children need to know to live effectively in the world. They have promulgated a curriculum that omits the basic responsibilities of schools and teaches curricula that usurp the responsibility of parents.

Unhappily too many parents are complicit. They have abrogated their responsibility to train their children, opting for the schools to be the baby sitters, so both parents can work.

I witnessed the genesis of the parental side of the problem. In the 1960’s, I worked in mortgage living. Our culture expected that the men would work outside the home and the women were mothers, they raised the children. Our lending practices expected a home to be purchased on the basis of the man’s salary. The wages a woman earned were extra. So, lending policies were to assess whether a woman was in the child-bearing ages and whether her job was “professional”. To secure a loan, lenders had to consider that women who were likely to have children were also likely to stop working when children were born. That would necessarily decrease the security of the loan. Women who were professionally employed were less likely to have children interrupt their earning capacity.

Then the Law changed. Lenders were required to assess a woman’s earnings the same as a man’s. Thus, the “extra” when included allowed couples to by a better home or have more money for other things.

I watched the consequent escalation of home prices, so that after five or more years, women were forced to work in order to afford a starter home.

That put strains on young families, causing homes increasingly to be out of reach for young couples. The snowball effect was that children were raised by childcare agencies, because their mothers needed to work to afford a home. That in turn eliminated the home nurture and the loss of family values inculcated in the children from the beginning of life. In addition, young couples were forced into apartment living, instead of a home with a yard. The children in early development had no place to play outside on their own; no opportunity to explore more broadly, no place to make mud pies (don’t discount the value of mud pies). dove-vector-clipart

Public School Curricula

The Federal, Government acknowledge the problem in our public schools. Our children are getting an inadequate education to compete with children of other nation’s schools. My wife, Ruth, when teaching Middle School, several years ago, pointed out to her class that they were not competing against one another for jobs. When they grew up, they would be competing with people educated in other nation’s schools.

A 2004 report, titled Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts, found that employers and colleges are demanding more of high school graduates than in the past. According to Achieve, Inc., “current high-school exit expectations fall well short of employer and college demands.” The report explained that the major problem currently facing the American school system is that high school graduates were not provided with the skills and knowledge they needed to succeed in college and careers. Furthermore, “While students and their parents may still believe that the diploma reflects adequate preparation for the intellectual demands of adult life, in reality it falls far short of this common-sense goal.” The report also stated that the high school diploma itself lost its value because graduates could not compete successfully beyond high school, and that the solution to this problem is a common set of rigorous standards. (“Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma That Counts”Achieve, Inc. December 10, 2004.)

Over the last 20 years, the Federal Government has passed several laws in an attempt to rectify the failure of the public schools:

I have not been able to find any significant improvements in student outcomes.

Another hindrance to student education is the teachers’ union. They refuse to allow financial rewards for excellent teachers. They also protect inadequate teacher from being fired. Thus, the quality of teaching is generally lower that it should and far less than optimal.

A further problem it the hazard that students and teachers experience. Discipline is hamstrung by political correctness. Teachers cannot exercise corporeal punishment, cannot even touch students. If a student chooses to be rowdy and disrupt the class. The teacher has few options. She can send the student to the Principal’s office, if she or he willing go. If they will not, she can call in the Principle, who is also under the same restraints. In the meantime, no education goes on, so all the students lose out.    dove-vector-clipart

Alternative Schools

The three main types of alternative schools are

  • Charter Schools
  • Private Schools
  • Home Schooling

Charter School is “a public school that operates as a school of choice. Charter schools commit to obtaining specific educational objectives in return for a charter to operate a school. Charter schools are exempt from significant state or local regulations related to operation and management but otherwise adhere to regulations of public schools — for example, charter schools cannot charge tuition or be affiliated with a religious institution. (because they are publicly funded)

In other words, charter schools are publicly accountable—they rely on families choosing to enroll their children, and they must have a written performance contract with the authorized public chartering agency. Charter schools are also autonomous—they have more flexibility in the operations and management of the school than traditional public schools.

They are generally more effective in teaching and in producing competent graduating seniors.

A study conducted by the Washington State Charter School Commission showed that on average, median rates of growth were higher at Commission-authorized charter public schools, as compared to the schools that students would have been assigned, based on their home address.  (https://wacharters.org/our-why/)

Private Schools are privately funded and have curriculum independent of public schools. They are able to focus on the student’s needs and to guide the students to a better education. Generally smaller, they are able to fewer children in their classes, giving students more personal help. They challenge the students to higher achievement. The do not let slow learners fall behind. Classes are taught by independent teachers that can often write their own curriculum.

We thrive on competition and challenge. We are dynamic, innovative, decision making, action oriented people.  We like nothing better than to spot an emerging need of families or society and respond to it quickly with an appropriate program or service.

“We cherish autonomy. We can act, unfettered by Boards or Trustees or elected officials. Of course that does not mean that we have no one to answer to for our actions. Far from it, we are governed by the free market. If we provide the quality of programs and services that families want and need, we attract and retain students: if not, students go elsewhere. We know of no better regulator that that.  (National Independent Private Schools Association)

Home Schooling is increasing in popularity.

… parents educate their children at home instead of sending them to a traditional public or private school. Families choose to home school for a variety of reasons, including dissatisfaction with the educational options available, different religious or educational philosophies, and the belief that children are not progressing within the traditional school structure.  (What Is Homeschooling? A Guide for Parents and Students)

While the overall school-age population in the United States grew by about 2.0 percent from spring 2012 to spring 2016, data from 16 states from all four major regions of the nation showed that homeschooling grew by an average of about 25 percent in those states. If the data from these states are representative of what happened in the other states during those four years, then homeschooling is continuing to grow in both absolute numbers and as a portion of the overall school-age population.  (Homeschooling Growing: Multiple Data Points Show Increase 2012 to 2016 and Later)

In far too many cases, parents do not have a choice. The public school is “free”, but parents still have to buy all school supplies and there are costs for lunch and activities, etc. Most cannot afford private schools. There are far too few publicly supported Charter Schools. Too many parents are engaged with work, so home schooling does not fit their schedules.

Further the teacher’s unions fight hard, spending large amounts of money to advertise and lobby to keep the status quodove-vector-clipart

What’s A Parent Gonna Do?

Our culture has changed drastically. When I was growing up, parents were expected to train their children. They instilled in their sons and daughters basic morality. They taught them to be generous to others, to be respectful of elders, to be polite. to not hit, to not lie, etc. They taught by example, by correction (when given something, “Say, ‘Thank you’. “Say, ‘Please’, when asking for something.”) We were also taught by discipline. Spanking was common. The joke was, “The board of correction applied to the seat of the problem.”

We grew up in a polite society and we continued to make it polite. Because of common morality taught, the culture was safe for children. Adults looked after children in the absence of their parents. That was because the social interchange was based of the Judeo-Christian morality, i.e. the Commandments of God.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind.  And a second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”   (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

This meant we treated (and were trained to believe) everyone was equal.

Parents were the first “school teachers”. In our fragmenting society, parents are losing the responsibility of training their children. In three generations we have gone

Today young Christian parents, believing parents, that is, need to depend greatly upon the Holy Spirit to give them wisdom. He knows the godly way to raise their children. That takes time, repetition, both home education in Christ’s life and teaching, and in addition, a faithful church school to reinforce the parents’ godly instruction.

Teens need a strong faith to counter the peer pressure to adopt the immorality rampant in the culture. They need to be able to stand up to the ridicule for keeping pure. They need to have ready answers for the Hope that is within them.

Tragically all believing children need to understand from an early age that most of the authority figures will be teaching them ways of living that are wrong according to their parents and God. Parents must be engaged in the public schools more diligently that in previous generations. They MUST know what the schools are teaching their children. Parents must demand that their sons and daughters be excused form improper and/or sinful instruction.

While we all pay taxes to support public schools, parents must face the financial sacrifice of educating their children in alternative schooling. Charter schools are often a good alternative, but there are so few of them (only 14 in all of Washington State) that there are likely none available. A private Christian school either Protestant of Catholic, is likely an expensive option, but they are worth the sacrifices. I can personally testify to both – sacrifice and worth. Home schooling (with sacrifices) allows the parents to continue their godly influence through High School. It also makes possible family exploratory outings.    dove-vector-clipart

God Is Alive And In The Family

Parents are not alone. That is what is so great about Omnipresence. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are with each one of us all the time. Believers have merely to turn their attention to Him and they have the resources of the universe at their disposal. Parents have the privilege of additional help, because the Almighty God is keen on educating children in the most holy faith. Our Father wants His wee ones and children and teens to be comfortable in turning to Him often for instruction, for help, for deliverance from threats, and just because they love Him. Jesus has many lessons to teach children of all ages, so He is there with parents giving them what they need. The Holy Spirit of truth, will manifest gifts of wisdom, discernment in parents as they are open to Him. He will teach all about Jesus and help the children remember what they need when they need it.

God has not gone away to tend sheep in other pastures. He is right here now and always, listening to you, regardless of whether you are listening to Him. He is deeply concerned with the correct teaching of children. The Holy Spirit is not a teacher of “Christian things” exclusively. He is co-Creator, along with the Son and the Father, of the universe. He knows math and all the sciences, history, geography, reading and writing, current events. He knows everything that children need to know to function in and alongside this society.

He can and will teach “bad stuff’ to train children what to avoid. It is not enough to train in what is bad, He also trains in what is good to replace the bad.

God loves Children. He loves parents. He loves Believers. Put them all together and you have a winning combination. Parents can be confident that Their Gracious Lord will guide them to the best Schooling for their children. They can trust that Their Savior will lead them through all the sacrifices, struggles, threats and attacks to a successful and well-rounded education for their children.  One that will give them a good foundation and get them started on the right path.

There is no power in Hell or on earth that can withstand the family that prays, all well- trained and one in the spirit. Our Farther is glorified in their praise. Jesus is triumphant over the world the flesh and the devil through them. The Holy Spirit will build up the children to be world-beaters as they mature. Which also means they will be world-changers, making this a better place to eagerly await His Coming.

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus to rebuild the world as it was in the beginningperfect in glorifying God!    dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

This is a recurring feature. I pose a question in one issue. You have the opportunity to send me answers. I publish the best ones in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep you answer within 250 words.

QUESTION: Have you been saved by Jesus?  Have you been released in the Holy Spirit?

ANSWER: Obviously these are personal questions that only you and Jesus can answer truthfully.

You must face yourself in the mirror each day and in so doing you will know the truth. You are either in bondage to the self and Satan, or you are in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul taught,

… and being made free from sin, ye became [bond]servants of righteousness.  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as [bond] servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as [bond] servants to righteousness unto sanctification.  (Romans 5:18-19)

All who are not saved are lost. But what are the lost saved from? There are only two kinds of people in the world, children of God and enemies of God. You know, when you think of it, it does not make good sense to be an enemy of the greatest force in the universe, the one who created you and has your life in His hand.

In John’s Gospel he states,

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.  (John 3:36).

This points out the Jesus, Who is God’s Son is the deciding point. You are either surrendered to Jesus and saved or surrendered to Satan and lost.

John made it more explicit,

He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.  (1 John 5:12).

Therefore, to be saved is to be delivered from God’s wrath and from eternal torment in Hell. It means that you are an adopted Child of God and have an eternal home with God your Father in love, joy and peace–and a lot more!

The second question refers to Jesus emphasis on “Baptism in the Holy Spirit”.

Read Acts 2 for the initial coming of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who is saved has the Holy Spirit living in his or her spirit. The “release of the Holy Spirit” refers to the believer recognizing the Holy Spirit within and then giving the Spirit permission to fill her or him and overflow in the manifestations of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11 for one of the lists).

The Holy Spirit is the power of God. When He is released the believer has power to testify to his own salvation, witnessing to unsaved people. The Spirit gives the believer power to withstand attacks, both physical and spiritual. He is a boon companion in joy and in trouble. He comforts, guides, teaches. He is a very powerful friend that is always at hand. Believing in Jesus starts one on the journey to God’s Kingdom. Releasing the Spirit gives you help along the way.

QUESTION: Where is the Prince of Peace when people are rioting and destroying and killing?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

Jesus, You said, “Let the little children come unto me, and forbid them not.” You said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better to tie a millstone around your neck and be cast into the depth of the sea. You said, “Except you become as a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”

That tells us that You are deeply concerned with children. They are most vulnerable, because they are innocent. Their innocence endears them to You. That is why You call all of mankind to come to You in the innocence and vulnerability as a child. 

Father, You love children so very much, it is a wonder that You put them in our clumsy hands and charge us with the responsibility of being stewards to start them on their lives. You have charged us to nurture and train them to be fit to take on the responsibilities as an adult. You have given us the responsibility to nourish them; to feed them healthy food, to feed their spirit with godly nourishment, and to train their minds to think critically, so as not to fall for deceitful allures that lead to evil thoughts, words and deeds.

We are struggling upstream against the current. The world is so full of evil, with wrong thinking, temptations of the body, the mind, the will and emotions. Strengthen our spirits to stand in the evil day (that is every day in this fallen culture). We would be faithful to You and to be a beacon of truth, righteousness, godly sense and an island of peace in the stormy waters of our society.

We can only do that in Christ. Give us the desire to seek after Jesus to the extent that we with Paul can truly say, “For me to live is Christ!” Only with Your help (or more properly) only in Christ can we stand in the hurricane of immorality, sectarian politics, inter-racial hatred, dishonesty of our leaders. and the pernicious people that assault us each day seeking to delude us offering bogus help.

Jesus, I need You every hour. You are my gracious Savior. In You I need have no fear. Thank You for teaching me that fear is a failure to fully trust my Father, and depression is losing track of Jesus my Savior; further, that worry is another manifestation of failure to trust my Father. My children are raised and thanks to You they love You and serve You. And so, it is with my grandchildren. 

My lovely Lord, these blessings are mine because of Your coming into my life. Holy Spirit, Your power and gifts have drawn me into Jesus and out of the world. I am deeply grateful to You as well. Thank You Father. Thank You Jesus, Son of God and Savior. Thank You Holy Spirit my Guide and Counselor.

Hallelujah!! Hallelujah! Amen!

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Sermons

Anxious About Nothing

12 Mar , 2020  

Fill your mind with Scriptures; your mouth with prayers, and your hands with helps for those around you in need. When you do, you crowd out the negative thoughts.

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.   (Philippians 4:1-9)

Life Changes

When I was in seminary, the class that teaches how to preach was called Homiletics. The Professor gave us a Scripture, and we each had to write and deliver a 15-minute sermon. Upon completion the student sat down. The class then critiqued his writing and his delivery. Next the Professor gave his critique. For our first sermon, Dr. Cook gave us Philippians 4:6-7 as the text.

As I opened to Paul’s letter to the Philippians and read the passage, I realized Ruth and I had lived it! Just months before I entered seminary, while our family was on vacation, one evening when Ruth and I were praying, the Holy Spirit told us that we were going to be involved in a ministry together. God gave us no idea what.

The day I went back to work after vacation, the boss called me into his office, “Ted, you are at liberty to seek other employment.” Our company was closing the Seattle office, but no one in the office was to be retained. I loved that job. The rug was pulled out from under me, but much to my surprise, nothing moved.

I went right home to tell Ruth. She was in the kitchen doing the dishes. “What are you doing home?”

I was smiling when I told her I had lost my job, so she didn’t believe me at first. When I convinced her it was true, she dried her hands, we went into the living room, and knelt down to pray. We affirmed our trust in Jesus, and then laid out all our financial needs. Just as verse 6 says,

… but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And He gave us that peace. It was not an attitude that was normal.

First the shock of painful reality. Then the grief at loss. Then the frantic preparation and search for another job. Tense days and worried sleeping (sort of) nights.

No! We knew that Jesus had something for us. We had peace that surpassed human understanding. I didn’t even look for another job. I was offered the same job with another company – same pay, benefits, company car, but I couldn’t take it. I had to call him back and say that I would not take the job, because Jesus had something else for us.

On my last day of work, I went into our denominational office here in Seattle to ask after a job as a camp counselor or old folks home host couple, any kind of lay person job with the church. Our Conference Minister asked me if I would consider the ministry, going to seminary. I told him no, but he pointed out a seminary that had a ministry to men who had been in business and then decided to pursue the ministry. When he said that the average student was 30 years-old and had a wife and two children, it described me to a T. I took the information and sent for their catalog. When the catalog came it was clear that it was a liberal, unbelieving seminary. That was a downer, but God made it clear that was where we were to go!

God put it all together! That was July 31st. We obtained tenants for our home, stored furniture, packed up and left just 5 weeks later. Just after Labor Day, we were on the road east 3,500 miles to Bangor, Maine.

My sermon in that class was a testimony sermon, emphasizing our trust in God and His provision for us. When it came time for the Professor’s critique, he asked, “Mr. Bradshaw, When you finish Seminary, do you think you will still believe as you do now?”

I was a bit nonplussed at the question, but God gave me the answer, “Well Dr., Cook, if I don’t, I will be wrong!”

Jesus is Faithful

Essentially, what I am saying to you is that God’s word is true. It is something you can found your life and decisions on. You can trust Jesus to be faithful to His Word.

There is a lot more I could tell you, but now let’s dig into this scripture to see what the Holy Spirit has for us.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.   (Philippians 4:4)

“Always” is an operative word. Paul’s standard is to rejoice in good times and in bad times; in sickness and in health; when rich and when poor. Paul and Silas were in a Philippian jail, their backs bruised, torn and bleeding, feet in stocks. He and Silas had to sit up all night, because the floor was too filthy to lay back on. They spent the night singing and praising God.

Rejoicing is a stance of life. Regardless of what occurs in your life, you can rejoice. Consider this: Jesus went through agony in the preparation for crucifixion, with beating, flogging, humiliation, and then crucifixion is an excruciating way to die. Should believers rejoice in Jesus’ horrific death?

Of course!

  • We rejoice that He bore our sins.
  • We rejoice that He won our freedom from condemnation.
  • We rejoice that He paved the way for us to enter into eternal life.

Yes, it is not only appropriate to rejoice, it would be an affront to God if we were to lament.

Paul, who experienced many agonies for Jesus instructed us strongly – he repeated it “Rejoice and again I say “Rejoice!”

What agonies? It was in A.D. 53, Paul and Silas were beaten bloody and thrown into a Philippian prison and spent the night singing praises to Jesus. I suspect many of the Philippian believers, would remember that night, particularly Lydia; and the Jailor, specifically. He and his family accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior that night, because of Paul’s rejoicing in that terrible situation. In A.D. 60, Paul wrote a 2nd letter to the Corinthians citing…

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.   (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).

This letter to the Philippians was written when Paul was in a Roman prison awaiting adjudication that would most likely (and did 2 years later) result in execution.

Paul had every reason to live in regret, lament, anxiety. All that was nothing to Him. Instead he wrote and underlined, “Rejoice!”

Life for many of us is uncomfortable, to say the least. And yet, those who are triumphant over the afflictions of this life are able to rejoice in the knowledge that Christ has overcome the world and all its sufferings.

Live Without Anxiety

“Do not be anxious about anything” – What! Are you crazy, Paul? Life without anxiety? You’ve got to be kidding, Paul! You must be talking to the dead. They’re the only ones without anxiety. Right?

Wrong! That is absolutely the way for Christian believers to live! Without anxiety! When we live in Christ, we are confident that…

“all things work together for good to those who are called according to His (God’s) purpose.”   (Romans 8:28)

Anxiety is a sign that a person is not depending upon Jesus. Paul is calling, and I am calling for a radical surrender of your life to Jesus.

Job had that attitude,

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:” (Job 13:15)

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Babylon had that attitude,

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”  (Daniel 3:17-18)

Jesus had that attitude,

“He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.”  (Matthew 26:42)

When we realize that we

“… are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”  (Colossians 3:3)

… then there is nothing anyone or anything can do to harm us. We belong to God and nothing can change that! No more anxiety!

Prayer and Thanksgiving

“but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” – Our appeal is to God. Everything is in His hands. Actually, that is true whether we recognize it or not. God is Sovereign. He is in control. It is foolish to wrest control from Him. When, however, we surrender to that truth, and live according to His will, we will readily bring everything to Him in prayer. We will appeal to our loving Father for all our needs and let Him sort out our desires.

Then in appropriate politeness we thank him for His provision. Thanking in advance is an act of faith. We are saying to our Father that he is faithful to provide for us and we rely upon Him to do so.

“let your requests be made known to God.” – I liken this to tossing everything up to God and knowing that what is according to His plan for me, He will return. The rest I will right-off as unworthy human desires.

Receive God’s Peace

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – This is where the anxiety is eliminated. Jesus’ gift of peace is that unworldly peace that when everyone around you has logical reasons to panic, you can be a spreader of peace. Everyone who sees your equanimity, your calm, your composure, your self-control, and your poise, will be drawn into your sphere of influence and experience your God-given peace, too.

Paul adds a final touch to his teaching on rejoicing anxiety-free. He encourages us to transform our thinking from the difficulties, hardships and evils of this life, instead fill our minds with upbuilding thoughts.

Think About These Things

“Finally,” – 

  • “whatever is true,” – Truth is reality, but not all reality is visible. God is not visible, but He is true. His truths are the way to live an anxiety-free life.
  • “whatever is honorable,” – anything that honors God is worthy to fill your mind.
  • “whatever is just,” One of the characteristics of the image of God in us is our natural sense of justice. We feel satisfied when we see an injustice righted. If we concentrate on what is just in the world, instead of the injustices, we will keep a blessed frame of mind.
  • “whatever is pure,” – Uncorrupted, wholesome, holy thoughts will be healthy because God blesses that which is pure. So, concentration on pure things gives us a pattern of life that maintains God’s blessings.
  • “whatever is lovely,” – We rarely think of godly things, or even God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit as “lovely”. But Jonathan Edwards did. He was the Colonial Pastor and Theologian who was instrumental in sparking the Great Awakening, a revival that swept the Colonies in the 1740s, creating a revival and a phenomenal turning back to Jesus. He described Jesus as “lovely”; His love for us as ravishing; the pursuit of Jesus as beautiful.
  • “whatever is commendable,” – All godly acts are worthy of honor. They build up the receiver, the giver and honor Almighty God, Who prompted them.
  • “if there is any excellence,” – All those things we think, say and do that the Holy Spirit inspires are supernatural; and therefore, above the human level, i.e. excellent.
  • “if there is anything worthy of praise,” – Of course, our LORD is worthy of praise. The godly works of believers are worthy of praise, not only in the doing, but also in the conception.
  • “think about these things.” Those are things to contemplate.

Nature abhors a vacuum. So, if your mind is not busy, it will dwell on the lowest common denominator – gossip, criticism, judgmental-ism and the like. Instead contemplate:

  • The beauty of Christ,
  • The blessings of His sacrifice,
  • The times He has saved you,
  • The glorious future ahead,
  • Ways to bless others – believer and unbelievers,
  • How to tell others about Christ’s love.

Fill your mind with Scriptures; your mouth with prayers, and your hands with helps for those around you in need. When you do, you crowd out the negative thoughts.

God’s Peace

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” – Look to Paul for the example to follow in living for Christ:

  • “For me to live is Christ!”  (Philippians 1:21)
  • “Nevertheless, no more do I live, but Christ lives in me.”  (Galatians 2:20)
  • “We have the mind of Christ.”  (1 Corithians 2:16)
  • “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.”  (Romans 8:2)
  • “Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,”  (Philippians 3:8)

God’s Confidence

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” – This is a bold statement.

Paul was confident in Christ. He knew Who Jesus was – Son of God, very God, Himself – Almighty! Paul believed not only in Christ, but he believed Christ! Paul believed there was a transfer of authority to all believers, when Jesus said,

“And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:”  (Matthew 28:18-19)

That giving of authority included Paul, and it included us!

God’s Supply

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” – There are two points to make about this verse.

  • God is Omniscient – He knows our needs. He is generous – He will supply everything we need. All we have to do is rely upon Him and take the first step of faith.
  • It is not out of His riches. That would be depleting Christ’s riches. No, it was “according to” His riches. This means that Christ’s riches are the guaranty that we have the resources of Almighty God, our Savior to provide for our needs.

You are Precious to God

My brothers and sisters, you–each one of you–are precious in the sight of your Lord Jesus Christ.

You women are Princesses, each one of you, daughters of God Almighty the Creator of the cosmos. Do you believe that Your Father loves you? Therefore, you not only have His protection throughout life, but you have no reason to be anxious about any need in your life. So, rejoice always, and again I say rejoice!

You men are Princes of The King of Kings and the Lord of lords, the Sovereign of the universe. You have no excuse for anxiety about your future. It is secure in Christ. He knows your needs before you do. He has already made provision for you; therefore, rejoice now and for evermore, and again I say rejoice!

Now repeat with me:

I rejoice in You, my Lord Jesus. I rejoice in Your provision for me! Hallelujah!

Thank You, my Father. I rejoice that You have adopted me as Your child.

Hallelujah!

I love you My God, Holy Spirit. I rejoice that You have taught me about Jesus.

Hallelujah!

I rejoice in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah!

Prayer for Peace

We are Yours, our God and King. We have given our lives to You. Now, my Lord reveal to us what peace You have for each one in the congregation. Reveal how You are taking the anxiety out of each one’s heart. Reveal the goodness that You are placing in that empty place, filling our minds with the good, the true, the beautiful, the worthy and with joy. Yes, Father give each one of us joy unspeakable and full of glory! To the honor of our Savior, Jesus. Amen

Benediction for Peace

May God

… grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:16-19)

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Sermons

Peace with God

15 Dec , 2019  

Finding Peace with God

Sermon, December 15, 2019

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.   (Romans 5:1-11)

Died in Service

One Sunday morning, Pastor McGee noticed 6 year-old Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The plaque had crossed American flags over the words “Honored Dead – Rest in Peace”. It was covered with names. Alex had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside him and said quietly, “Good morning, Alex.”
“Good morning, Pastor,” replied the boy, still focused on the plaque. “Pastor McGhee, what is this?” Alex asked.
“Well, son, it’s a memorial to all the men and women who have died in the service.”
Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Alex’s voice was barely audible when he finally managed to ask, “Which one, the 9:00 or 10:30 service?

Owning the Peace from God

The Apostle Paul was a purveyor of peace. In 12 of his 13 Epistles, he greeted his recipients in variations of “grace and peace be unto you.”

The foundation of His theology is that all men are enemies of God, but through Christ and the believer’s acceptance of the Savior’s offer, we who were enemies are received as sons and daughters. That means that the war is over. It means that we have peace with God.

The fact that we have peace with Almighty, Omnipotent God is the dominating truth of our lives. Nothing compares with the magnitude of this reality. It is true that from the moment we place our lives in Christ’s hands, we have what Jesus promised:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  (John 14:27)

In possession of the peace of God, nothing in this world can trouble you. You notice I said “can trouble you”. The word “can” carries the intent of authority, the scope of possibility. None of the cares of the world have the authority to trouble us. In Christ, it is impossible for lack of money, the enmity of other people, disease, the vicissitudes of old age, or even threat of death to steal our peace in Christ.

But you also notice that Jesus gave us the responsibility to preserve the peace He gives,

Let not your heart be troubled.   (John 14: 1a)

It is by permission that the troubles of this fallen world plague us, and cause us distress, anxiety and grief. Peace is a gift we must own.

Receiving the Gift of Peace

Imagine that you have a very rich and generous relative. With Christmas coming, she gives you an extraordinary gift. The wrapping is exquisite. The paper is so beautiful that you don’t want to tear it. The bow is so lovely that you don’t want it destroyed by untying it. You place it under the tree to admire. Christmas Day comes, but the present is so beautiful that you leave it under the tree. When you put away the Christmas decorations, the present so admirable you place it on display.

Since you have not opened the wrapping, you have not possessed the gift. Until you make the effort, the gift will never really be yours. That is the way with God’s gift of peace. God has given it to us, but we must own It. We must accept it and make it our own.

Paul’s Great Ladder of Peace

In Romans 8:1&2 Paul states the truth for the believer,

There is therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.”  (Romans 8: 1-2)

This follows from Paul’s great ladder of peace in Romans 5:1-5:

  • 1st rung: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
    • Peace is a foundational gift God gives as a part of our faith.
  • 2nd rung: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
    • God, through our faith has given us access to His grace that includes his gift of peace.
  • 3rd rung: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also”
    • We can glory, because He has given us an unworldly peace that surmounts the anxiety that tribulation brings.
  • 4th rung: Knowing that tribulation worketh patience;”
    • Patience comes out of a heart settled in the peace of God.
  • 5th rung: And patience, experience;”
    • Having possessed the peace of Christ, we can hold onto it in confidence.
  • 6th rung: And experience, hope”
    • As His peace covers our soul it gives us hope, confidence that His peace will always be in our hearts.
  • 7th rung: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
    • The Holy Spirit comes to reside in our spirits from the moment we believe. One of His fruit is peace; therefore, so long as He is present in us, we have God’s peace available to us.

Keeping Our Mind on Jesus

Paul was not speaking in a vacuum. He was a Pharisee, a scholar of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings, what we have called the Old Testament. Isaiah taught Paul,

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah 26:3)

This is a conditional promise: perfect peace is the nature of the believer; however, it is necessary to keep that perfect peace by keeping our minds “staid on” Christ. To have our minds focused on the Father, on Jesus, on the Holy Spirit makes all the world recede in importance.

Years ago, in Guidepost magazine, I read the testimony of a woman who was washing dishes, praying and looking at the clouds through the window over the sink. There appeared the smiling face of Jesus superimposed on the clouds. His face was vivid, His smile filled her heart with joy. After several minutes of gazing she turned away. Jesus’ smile was like the bright spot that remains after looking at a bright light. He with His smile was superimposed over everything she saw. It didn’t interfere with her sight, it just kept her in perpetual joy. It was after a few days that the world distracted her so she gradually lost His smile.

Keeping our mind and heart “staid” on Jesus is the proper stance of life for the believer. Our main problem with doing that is that we are material beings in a material world. The tactile, the feel of our bodies and the world around us dominates our senses. We are constantly being bombarded by sense stimuli and ideas that demand our attention, drawing us away from a “staid on Jesus” stance of life.

Keep God in Your Thoughts

I find that I am easily distracted. I will be in the midst of prayer, notice something that I haven’t done, yet. I immediately begin to think about doing it. I have a stack of unfinished work on the corner of my desk. As I am worshiping, I find my attention drifting so my prayer and worship become rote and my focus is on the work. As soon as my inattention to God comes to my attention, I apologize to my Savior and concentrate on Him. It takes constant effort to focus on the Holy Spirit’s purposes. “Staid on Jesus” comes about only by discipline, by repetition, by self-correction, and by the Holy Spirit’s reminding.

Brother Lawrence was a 17th century French monk. He desired to live constantly in the presence of God. His book The Practice of the Presence of God, gives important insight into a life of consecration, being “staid on Jesus”. He was not a contemplative, or a hermit sitting alone and navel-gazing all day. He was a menial in the monastery. He scrubbed floors, washed dishes, tended the garden, did hard manual work twelve hours a day.

Nevertheless, he developed a life in the Presence of God. It took effort, but he loved God and wanted to be with Him. He began by bringing himself into the awareness of God at least once and hour. When that became a habit, he found his heart eager for more.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God.  (Psalms 42:1)

He began to keep God in his thoughts for 5 minutes each hour. When that goal was achieved, Brother Lawrence, tried 10 minutes an hour. With the background of that discipline, he was able to expand, again and with discipline, to hold God in the forefront of his attention all his waking hours. This, despite all the worldly and social obligations that come with living in the world.

Live in Peace with God

God will keep any believer in peace, who longs for His Presence in his or her life. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is the source of peace. But the concerns, difficulties, frustrations and troubles of the world evoke anxiety, which disrupts the peace that God gives.

Paul taught us that we were to have no anxiety.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 4:6-7)

  • Commit everything to God.
    • “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.”  (1 Peter 5:7)
    • “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11: 28-30)
  • Pray with thanksgiving. In faith we thank God for relieving the burden that threatens our peace.
    • “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

Share God’s Peace

Thus, as we live in peace, staid on Christ, we have peace to give to others that are harried and fretting. When we pass our peace on to others, it pleases God. The joy He gives fills us with thanksgiving. Trusting in future grace settles peace in our hearts.

Once we release all our cares to God, He will bestow his peace. It is not the peace of the world, i.e. the lack of conflict. There may very well be conflict raging around us, but it doesn’t engage us. Why not? Because we have God’s peace at heart.

How was it that Paul and Silas could sing and praise God in prison with their backs beaten bloody, their feet in stocks (Acts 16:25) ? They could sing and praise, because their hearts were staid on Jesus. They were not free from pain and suffering, but their hearts were at peace.

Multiple persecutions swept periodically through the Roman Empire. How is it that early Christians could walk into the Coliseum to face ferocious, hungry animals, face being burned at the stake, face being crucified, but had the perfect peace to sing and praise God? They could, because they had already died in Christ. The deaths that faced them, although horrific and agonizing, were doorways to Christ. They were walking into terrible danger, but they were safe in Christ, and had peace at heart.

Believers Have Peace with God

What’s so special about a believer? Paul makes that clear. We, who have given our hearts to Christ, have become new creatures. We are no longer of this world; we are only in it. What is the new creature we have become?

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  (Romans 8:5)

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  (Romans 8:9)

Let me repeat, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Paul was hearkening back to the Isaiah:

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is staid on You.”  (Isaiah 26:3)

One thing special about believers is that they have peace with God and therefore have access to the fruit of the Spirit, one of which is peace.

Believers Have a Relationship with God

Another thing that is special about believers is our relationship with God – He is our Father!

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.   (Romans 8:5-9 & 14-18)

Believers are adopted by a loving Father. Our God has called us to everlasting life as his sons and daughters. His promise is that we will have a place with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, one God. That is our secure future.

His peace engendered by that secure future is ours to possess, when we live in Christ. Keeping our minds staid on Jesus, living constantly in His Presence is a matter of choice, and discipline.

We have eternity of peace before us; therefore, the troubles of this life are not worth getting anxious over or upset about. We will be with our gracious Lord and Savior Who will wipe away our tears and who will cause us to forget our grief and sorrow. There we will live in joy, love and peace.

Prayer for Peace

Lord God, Jesus Christ, give us a hunger for Your Presence. Give us a healthy disregard for all that is ungodly in our lives. Teach us so to be in Your presence that we will be the calm in the center of the storm. Grant us the Fruit of peace to grace our lives, so that not only will it give us security in life, but will enable us to share peace with those around us who are troubled by the world and difficulties of life.

Thank You our Father. Hallelujah! We Praise You!

Amen

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Sermons

Be Ready, For You Know Not When

14 Oct , 2019  

Stoning of Saint Stephen by Giovanni Battista Lucini

Sermon

October 13, 2019

The Story of Stephen

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said:

Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,”

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”   (Acts 6:8 – 7:2 & 7:51-60)

Hearing the Gospel

Pastor James Corban was called to a small-town church. After the first several Sundays, he noticed that one man, an Elder, who sat in the back would get up and leave about two-thirds of the way through the sermon. Just when, in his sermon, he would get to applying the teaching to their lives, the Elder would walk out.

Pastor James met him on the street one day. “Hello, Mr. Smithers, do you have time for a cup of coffee and a visit to get acquainted?’

“Sure, Preacher.”

The conversed for several minutes, until Pastor James thought it appropriate to ask, “I have noticed that you leave the church every Sunday before I finish my sermon. Do you have to get home to do chores?”

“Naw, Preacher. I jist leave when yah stop preachin’ ‘n’ start meddlin’.”

Controversy at the Start of Christianity

There was a controversy in the early months of the newly constituted Christian Church. The Gentile widows were not receiving a just share out of the contributions. To resolve the concern the Disciples, prompted by Peter, chose seven men to administer the contributions. Their credentials were “honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom”.

The Holy Spirit was not content to leave these men “serving tables”. Luke details two who were especially active in broader ministries. The Holy Spirit led Phillip to Samaria, where his preaching of Jesus created such a spiritual awakening that Peter and John went up to investigate. They found Phillip’s ministry was genuine, but not complete. He had not introduced the Samaritans to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The two Disciples completed the ministry by laying their hands on the Samaritans and praying for the release of the Holy Spirit. They encouraged the Samaritans to completely surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to have free reign in their hearts.

After Phillip’s successful ministry in Samaria, the Holy Spirit sent him to the Ethiopian Eunuch near Gaza on the Mediterranean coast. There Phillip to delivered the truth of Christ to him more completely. Next, the Holy Spirit sent Phillip to evangelize each town, north along the coast to Caesarea.

Stephen, another of the Deacons, was going about Jerusalem doing the works of God. He was blessing the people with the good news of the Gospel and healing the sick. As people expressed to him their gratitude, I suppose Stephen had said things like, “In the name of Jesus, get up and walk,” or “Don’t thank me. It was Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, who did this for you.”

You never know who is watching and listening. It was several years ago, that I was up in my, large, front yard fir tree stringing Christmas lights. Our neighbor teen stopped at the corner of our property with her friend. Their conversation was within earshot, so I could easily hear all they said. So, from out of the branches, I said, “Be careful what you say. You never know who is listening.” They jumped and searched around but saw no one. I greeted her again. Only then she saw me up in the branches.

In Stephen’s case it was members of the Synagogue of the Libertines that were listening. Stephen was offending no one. He was blessing many. Nevertheless, he was violently set upon by the Synagogue of the Libertines. They were a gathering of Greek-speaking Gentiles, formerly slaves from foreign lands, who had adopted Judaism. Because they were Gentiles, they could not go to a local synagogue, so a synagogue had been established for them alone.

Often proselytes are more zealous for the faith they have just adopted, than those raised in the faith. These fiercely held onto the Law and Jewish practices.

Hearing in Stephen’s preaching something that differed from the doctrine they were learning, they argued sharply with Stephen. The Libertines accosted Stephen and accused him of teaching false doctrine. The proselytes heard Stephen preaching “another Gospel”, testifying that Jesus was the Messiah and more, He was God. The libertines came unglued. They could not best Stephen’s arguments, and that frustrated them! They became infuriated!

Stephen, however, was raised as a Jew and had a thorough grasp of the Scriptures. More importantly, he was empowered by the Holy Spirit. Stephen was able to thwart all their arguments. The Libertines could not win by their understanding of Scripture, so they cheated. They turned to deceit and perjury. Those frustrated proselytes spread false accusations against Stephen of blasphemy.

When they realized he continued to best them out of Scripture, they hauled Stephen before the authorities and testified falsely to convince the Elders that Stephen was a heretic and should be stoned. Suddenly, without any preparation, Stephen was standing before the Council and the High Priest. “Are these charges true?” the High Priest demanded of Stephen.

Jesus taught us,

But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.   (Luke 21:12-15)

As Stephen was thrust into the council chamber, he felt the power of the Holy Spirit come upon him. Luke records what the council members saw,

“And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:15)

The light in his face was the Shekinah of Almighty God. Every word he said was prompted by the Holy Spirit.

“And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

Stephen did not have to meditate. He did not have to grab a scroll to read the passages of holy writ. The Holy Spirit drew upon the resources that Stephen had stored up over the years of his Bar Mitzvah studies and study since salvation.

When asked to defend himself, Stephen began a thumbnail history of the Jews, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. He touched the burning bush and the exodus. Then Stephen emphasized that Moses prophesied of a mighty prophet, the Messiah that would arise in the latter days. Then he moved on to David and Solomon’s construction of the Temple.

Finally, he editorialized. Then he “stopped preachin’ and started meddlin’,”

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”  (Acts 7:51-53)

Those were not words of a peeved Stephen. They were the Judgment of the righteous God, the Holy Spirit.

That did it! Those unsaved Jews were convicted, but in rebellion against their own consciences they refused to hear any more. “They stopped their ears”! In mob fury they seized Stephen, dragged him out and stoned him.

Cultural Challenges for Christians

We are entering – have entered – a new social environment. When we grew up, an atheist was a rare thing. Most everyone went to church, but those who didn’t had no resentment toward those who did study the Bible and sought to live by their Christian principles.

Not so much, today. Christians all over our nation are being sued for living out their Christianity. The vociferous unbelievers are attacking Christians for refusing to adopt the mores of the culture. More and more we are living in an environment hostile to Christian morality and Christians.

But it is not only in government confrontations that we are challenged for our faith. Even in otherwise normal conversations, as we allow our faith to show, non-believers will ask for the reason for our stance of faith, which in this culture, appears to be aberrant.

Peter teaches us,

 … but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15)

We are all getting older. Sickness is the lot of the aged. Despite limitations and pain and sickness, we need to keep our faith. We need to be able to cheerfully live out our faith in the presence of unbelieving caretakers. Evidencing the reason for our hope in the face of belying circumstances.

Peter makes several points here

  • Honor Christ – We are children of God. He has demeaned Himself to become an ongoing part of our lives, and we owe him our gratitude and obedience
  • Be Prepared – Know the scriptures, know your Saviour
  • Make a defense – Know what God teaches us in His Word
  • Be certain of why you believe that Jesus is God;
  • That it is faith in Christ alone that gives you the welcome into eternal life of blessedness with God.
  • That your sin would keep you out if not for Blood of Jesus
  • That the Holy Spirit is at work in you “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2)
  • Anyone who asks – Look for God’s appointments. You will encounter questions that indicate an opportunity wide enough to drive a truck through
  • Reason for your hope – our faith is not only spiritual, but also intellectually sound. Each believer has experiences with Jesus, initially and as we spend time each day with Him.
  • Gentleness – We feel strongly about our faith. When opposed, we are likely to get intense. We can easily become abrasive. We must seek the mildness Jesus had when He was opposed.
  • Respect – never take away another’s dignity. Jesus treated as worthy individuals the vast numbers of those who came to Him. If for no other reason, since every person is God’s creation, we must treat others with respect, never demeaning them or discounting them.

Preparing to Make a Good Report of Faith

How to prepare:

  • Seek God’s Power through being filled by the Holy Spirit
  • Recognize that we live in a society that seeks to force us to deny our faith. We must have that power that only the Holy Spirit, living in us, can exert. In His power we can respond.
  • Build up your relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, by spending “quality time” with God. Pray and praise at some designated time each day. Pray often through the day. Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing”. Spend more time in praising and in adoration than in petition.
  • Accept the reality that any one of us or each one of us may be required to publicly take a stand for Jesus or to deny our Lord.
  • Prepare by steeping your mind in the Scriptures:
    • Read the Bible daily
    • Study – check cross references. Study parallel passages as He directs. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Expect Him to give you rhemas, which are personal revelations out of the passages you read. Take notes.
    • Inwardly digest – make the passage your own by seeing how it fits into your life
    • Memorize – commit verses and short passages to memory. Rehearse them to others. From the bank of Scripture, you have stored in your mind, the Holy Spirit will draw upon when it is needed.
  • No one is immature in Christ.

“Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lordsaid to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:6-9)

  • Take seriously the call to prepare

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

  • Embark on an intentional plan to improve your delivery. Make it a part of your devotions. Give a block of time to polish your testimony. Memorize Scripture, discuss your delivery with mature believers.
  • Finally, pray for the House of God. Pray for one another, because you are your brother’s and your sister’s keepers. We are members one of another. We are individual parts of the Body of Christ.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone? And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Pray with me:

God of our fathers, You brought forth this land conceived in liberty that comes from You. Father, You raised up men who believed in Jesus as God, LORD and Savior. They set this nation on a godly track. We are their heirs, so we need Your Spirit to be active in our lives so we can do our part in preserving America as a godly nation. Give us holy boldness to speak the name of Jesus aloud before the world. Give us grace to declare Your warm truths to a nation grown spiritually cold.

We honor You by depending completely upon Your Spirit both in times when we are confronted by a hostile world, and in times of peace in the normal humdrum of life when a question of faith comes out of the blue. Do not allow our love to be suppressed by either retaliatory anger or complacency. Keep us humbly dependent upon our Savior for peace in the midst of chaotic fury, as well as, an active spirit in the doldrums of life.

Most of all, never allow us to grow cold in our adoration of You, our Majestic, Gracious and Loving Father.

Amen.

Benediction:

May God …

“grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:16-19)

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Sermons,Teachings

Comments Inspired by the Death of a Loved One

28 Apr , 2017  

Ted Bradshaw  April 28. 2017

Sadness of Loss is Not the End of the Story

We grieve when a loved one leaves for an extended trip, but it is grief mitigated by the strong expectation that it is just a separation for a time. We can be confident that we will soon be in one another’s arms again.

“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

Paul has been given a great and glorious revelation of the Lord’s return.

Day of Ascension

“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11

Prior to this, all the believers had was the early revelation to the Disciples on the Day of Ascension.

“And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

While it was a fantastic promise that Jesus would return, it revealed nothing of what the believers would experience when they died.

We Will Rise to Be with Jesus

God in His mercy for the concerns of the ignorant believers, gave this revelation. Again, it is sketchy, but enough to give us hope in our, and our believing loved ones, personal resurrection 2,000 years later.

The Sequence Revealed

  • Jesus, the Son of God will descend from the Kingdom of God
  • With a shout! The voice of an Archangel will declare the end and the beginning
  • The trumpet call of God will sound
  • The dead in Christ will rise first, leaving behind their graves
  • We that are alive will be caught up in the clouds
  • The living and revived will meet together “in the clouds”, somewhere between earth and God’s Kingdom
  • Our gracious and loving Lord will meet with all His saints
  • Finally and eternally, we all will ever be with Him in His Kingdom and with the Father, the Holy Spirit and with all the Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangels, and Angels

The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First

There has been a concern that cremation instead of burial would interfere with this glorious resurrection.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.   (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

God plans that we will have new bodies. These will be “celestial bodies”.

“But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other kind; but God giveth it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” (1 Corinthians 15:35-40)

150402celestial-bodiesthe-districtGod does not need the material atoms of our fleshly bodies to give us celestial bodies. Cremation with its dispersal of gasses and the reduction to ash that may blow away the wind is irrelevant. Just as those bodies of sailors who drown in the sea and are eaten, or the bodies of those who die in the wilderness and become carrion are irrelevant.

Our bodies are simply vehicles to transport our persons, our immaterial souls and spirits.

God knows the person that is each one of us. The Creator does not need the elements of our physical bodies to give us new heavenly bodies. He will reclothe each believer’s soul and spirit in an eternal, imperishable celestial body.

What Age Will We Be?

People ask what age they will be in heaven when they die. Will babies still be babies? Will youth retain their youth? Will the elderly retain their wrinkles? These are questions from our fixation with time and material. On the contrary, these physical bodies are disposable.

Jesus said,

“For in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30)

Relationships will be different in Heaven, in a similar way, our spiritual, celestial bodies will be different.

“Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

woman-571715_960_720Since these bodies are irrelevant to God’s kingdom our new bodies will be designed by God.

When the Trumpet sounds and the Archangel shout, then Christ Jesus will appear. The dead in Christ will rise! Dead and alive, alike, will be rescued from global, eternal destruction.

Those who have died will rise first. I do not know if those, who are living will see the dead in Christ arise since it will be the souls and spirits of each deceased believer that our Lord will resurrect. But I expect we will sense them rising because we are soon (immediately) to follow.

I suspect the popular idea of the empty clothes left behind is false. My conception, since we will have celestial bodies too, is that the living believers will, to the eyes of unbelievers, just disappear as Jesus did several times.

Another possibility is that our earthly bodies, no longer needed, will be shucked like snake’s skin, left behind to dissolve with all the material world.

Regardless of the mechanism, the living and the dead will meet beyond the physical world, “in the air”.

A Glorious Reunion!

Can you imagine the grand a glorious reunion! Believers from Adam and Eve to Abraham and Sarah, to Ruth and Obed to Mary and Joseph, to Aquilla and Priscilla to Martin and Katharina Luther, to Johnathan and Sarah Edwards to George and Martha Washington, to our parents and siblings and children and all our believing friends, meeting together!

“For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

I believe we will know these brothers and sisters intimately just as God knows each one of us.

After glad-handing one another, then and finally, we will be united with our God and Savior, our Father, our Lord, and our Guide and Counselor.

“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Hope does not disappoint believers since it is founded on God’s Word.

“Being, therefore, justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.” (Romans 5:1-5)

woman_1-black-worshipping-godThe Promise for All in Christ

Do you not see the promise in this?! Nothing can separate us from the love of God. And nothing can separate us from the ones He loves. Death is but a temporary absence one from another. Death is no more than an “extended-trip-to-the-grocery-store” absence from one another.

Just so, in a believer’s death. Jesus has promised, We WILL be in one another’s arms again, and soon!

Yes! There is great comfort in this promise for those who truly trust in Christ!

 

Read a Prayer for the Deceased.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sermons

Who Am I? Whose Am I?

16 Sep , 2016  

Sermon for Maltby Congregational Church

May 28, 2000

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face   (Matthew 6:13-17)

Jesus Asks His Disciples

Jesus asked his disciples “Who am I?” They answered various things, until Peter nailed it, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”

Men and women live their lives with the same question, “Who am I?”

  • “What are you going to be when you grow up, Mary?”
  • “When I graduate from high school, should I work for a while or go on to college?”
  • “I’ve been working in this field for 20 years. Is there enough future here, or should I retrain for another field?’
  • “The children are grown and gone, and I can make some changes in my life. What should I do?”
  • “Now that I’m retired and have more time, what I am I going to do with it?”

While usually phrased in terms of what we do, these questions usually mean, “Who am I?”

The Seattle Phone Book lists about 300 Psychiatrists and about 350 Psychologists. These practitioners have perhaps 25 clients a week—over 16,000 people who are basically asking, “Who am I?”

Whose Are We?

While this is a basic question, I submit it is not foundational. Actually, who we are is based upon WHOSE we are.

photo-1473294312123-83488e2f8e8fWhen I was ordained, one of the ministers in a neighboring church gave me an owl. He said that I was to always listen to the question the owl was asking me, “Whose, whose, whose?” In response I should always question whose I was, whose voice I was listening to and whose demands I followed.

Peter was impetuous. He embraced Jesus as his teacher and became one of the Disciples. His wholehearted commitment placed him at the center of Jesus’ ministry. He tried to argue with Jesus about Jesus death, and was chastised for it. Peter stoutly affirmed his loyalty, but he was the one who publicly denied his Lord. Peter and John raced to the tomb. John beat Peter there, yet it was Peter who had the temerity to be the first one inside. It was Peter whom when he saw his resurrected Messiah on the shore, jumped naked into the water and swam to him.

So when Jesus asked, “Who am I?” Peter blurted out not only the right answer, but the whole answer. He not only stated who Jesus was, “Thou art the Christ…”, but also stated WHOSE Jesus was, “…the Son of the living God.”.

Self vs. Others

The “Who am I?” question is really self-centered. It focuses us in on ourselves, out talents, our feelings, our needs, our goals. The problem with that is that we live in a world of others. Those around us have feelings, needs and goals too. We live in a spiritual world as well—whether we recognize it or not.

The better question, “Whose am I?”, focuses us on the people around us and on God. It allows us to see ourselves in community. We can work out how we fit in. When we include God in this question, we tap into His inexhaustible resources for discovering who we are in this world and in His.

So let’s get beyond the question of who, and investigate WHOSE. To whom do we belong.

While there are myriad possible answers to, “Whose”, I propose three categories. Each of us can belong to self, each of us can belong to other people, or we can belong to God or Satan.

I suppose belonging to self is most appealing to people generally. I also claim that it is ultimately self-destructive. While belonging to other people is in some sense better, it is still very limiting. It is temporal and temporary. We have a sense of wholeness only so long as others live or so long as they are satisfied with us.

We Can Belong to God

Belonging spiritually means we have two choices. Because of the world into which we all have been born, we belong to Satan by default. It is only through God’s action and our choice that we can belong to God.

Jesus’ death on the cross had several purposes. He paid the penalty for our sin. He showed us the way to the Father. And He purchased or redeemed us from Satan. Thus, once we surrender to God and ask Jesus to become our Lord and Saviour, we are cleansed from our sin, justified in God’s eyes, purchased as bond slaves from Satan, adopted into God’s family, and given eternal life.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  (Romans 8:14)

Because we are children of God, we belong to Him. We are joint heirs with Christ. We share his inheritance. We can do all that He could do—that is, if we believe Jesus.

He that believes on me the works I do he will also do; and greater works than these will he do. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do for you, so that I will glorify the Father.”   (John 14:12, 13)

We Share in God’s Kingdom

We also share His priesthood. Peter in his first Epistle tells us in 2:9, “you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” So we are kings and queens and priests of Almighty God. We hold exalted places in this world and the next.

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;    (I Peter 2:9)

I Belong to God

So the best possible answer to the foundational question, “Whose are you?”, is, “I belong to God and he has made me His child. As a result I am a prince or princess of Almighty God.” Because we belong to God we have all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining.

In addition we have duties and responsibilities as children of God.

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, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, 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.   (2 Peter 1:5-8)

Live diligently—really working at it, instead of drifting with the tide.

Be diligent in faith—seeking actively to increase your faith; to believe God is greater than you think He is. Expect more of God. Understand you are His child and a joint heir with Jesus. Trust He will do more with you and through you.

Be diligent in virtue—stay honest before God asking Him to guide you into living righteously. Ask Him to cleanse your life of anything that displeases Him.

Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.   (Psalm 139:23, 24)

Be diligent in knowledge—learn more about God. Study the Bible daily. Test the things you read by trying to live them.

Be diligent in temperance—learn where you tend to stray from God’s way. Control you temper, your diet, your tongue,

Be diligent in patience—become aware that, since you belong to God, He is in charge of your time. You don’t have to fret.

They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.  (Isaiah 40:31)

Be diligent in godliness—learn to emulate God in kindness and undeserved love and loving generosity.

Be diligent in brotherly kindness—look for opportunities to do good deeds for one another, grant unmerited gifts.

Be diligent in love—love is not a “special way of feeling. Love is a choice. Love is the most difficult of God’s virtues, because there may be no reward. The majority of the world does not love Him and does not respond. Yet loving the unworthy is the way of victory and the way to God’s own heart. We can begin to understand why love is at the end of this chain of growth.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.   (John 3:16)

Doctrine of Christ

As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us in Chapter 6 there are foundational principles of the doctrine of Christ.

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting,we will do so.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.   (Hebrews 6:1-12)

The Certainty of God’s Promise

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.   (Hebrews 6:13-20)

Understanding these, incorporating them into our lives and growing beyond them toward perfection is the mark of belonging to God.

These foundational principles are:

  • Repentance from Dead Works—stop believing that we can do something to earn God’s love.  Instead live godly lives, doing good works in thanksgiving for all that God has done for us and to bless those around us.
  • Doctrine of Baptisms—know what baptism means and knowing about the two baptisms God provides.
  • Laying on of Hands—knowing that God acts through us when in faith we place our hands on another and pray for various blessings.
  • Resurrection of the Dead—knowing that all who die in Christ will be raised together at the last day.
  • Eternal Judgment—Knowing that all will be called before God to answer for their lives and what choice they made about Jesus.  Understanding that ALL who do not live perfect lives or have embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior are to be eternally separated from God – eternally separated from love and blessing.

Children of God

As children of God we are called to grow in Christ.  Never be satisfied with milk and pabulum, but earnestly seek to understand meaty issues of Christian doctrine and Christian life.

We demonstrate to the world WHOSE we are by our lives. Living in a way that blends into society communicates that we belong to society. Living in a way that satisfies our own needs and desires communicates that we belong to ourselves. However, living godly lives in opposition to society and in opposition to ourselves communicators that we are not only bond slaves to Christ, but also children of God and heirs to Christ’s Kingdom. It is likely we won’t fit in. It is likely the world will hate us. But this is a small price to pay for an eternity of blessedness.

When you look into the mirror at the end of the day, look into your own eyes and ask, “Whose were you today?”

Let Us Pray

We are here, Jesus, because we know you are God. We we need you. Show each one of us when we are living as if we belong to you. Show us when we are living as if we belonged to another.

Holy Spirit, guide us into the way of righteousness. Make our lives reflect Jesus so much that people will come to us and say, “Please show me the way to Jesus.”

Now the God of Grace, who has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered awhile, make you perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

Amen

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Sermons

Live with Faith in Jesus

18 Aug , 2016  

Jesus IS the Messiah

  Matthew 16:13-28

But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art and offence to me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”   Matthew 16:23

“Hey, Jesus! Cut him some slack.” Peter understands. He gets it–Jesus IS the Messiah, and more. He is born of God, the Son of God. Jesus has been calling himself the “Son of man”, but that’s just to identify himself with other men. Peter has discovered that a man or woman must see beyond his manhood, to fully know Jesus.

When Peter confessed his understanding and proclaimed this truth, Jesus blessed him. “Peter you have stopped looking with your eyes. You have stopped operating out of the motivation of your soul. You have listened to the voice of God. You are seeing with spiritual eyes, and are being motivated by the Holy Spirit.”

All Who Confess Jesus

Then He further honored Peter. Jesus stated that the revelation Peter proclaimed, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!”, will be the foundation of Christ’s Church. All who confess this, all who submit to Jesus as God will be members of Christ’s church. Without this proclamation, there is no foundation and no Church.

Jesus bestowed two gifts on the Disciples. He gave them entry into heaven and the method to allow others to enter.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  (Romans 10:13)

Then, Jesus gave them and all disciples authority on earth and in heaven.

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven  (Matthew 16:19)

The holder of keys has the right to lock and unlock doors. He has the authority to allow or disallow entry. Jesus has entrusted that high honor to the Disciples and to all disciples who follow.

Jesus Died for Us

Next, the Messiah offered something even more precious. He shared with them His mind and the intention of Almighty God. Jesus began to reveal to the Disciples the mystery, the hidden truth, that Jesus must die for the Sin of mankind; that He will be in the grave for three days; and that God will raise Him up (v. 21).

Peter was stunned! Here he was basking in the glow of Jesus blessing and praise. Likely, Peter was only half listening as Jesus continued speaking. Maybe he was caught up in a vision of Christ’s Church. Maybe Peter saw himself, as one of Christ’s inner circle, bestowing grace upon thousands. Perhaps his heart was overflowing with love for this wonderful, special Man.

Suddenly he returned to the present. “What did he Say!? He’s going to be murdered – And by the chief priests!? That can’t be! He just said He’s going to found a new Church. The chief priests had been grumbling against Jesus, but murder Him? NEVER! Not on my watch!” Jesus wasn’t making sense.

Shadow of Death

Peter was yanked from the glow of a mountain top experience and plunged into the valley of the shadow of death. Peter’s extravagant love for Jesus, his absolute loyalty to the mission as Peter saw it, made him forget his position. He was a disciple at the feet of the Teacher. His heart overcame his head. Peter’s protective impulse, while noble in the abstract was inappropriate due to his ignorance. Peter leapt out to shield his Master from folly. Where immediately before, Peter had responded to the Holy Spirit; now he was controlled by fleshly emotions. Peter would die before he allowed anyone to harm Jesus – even Jesus Himself!

Blind to everything, but his fear of the danger Jesus was intentionally walking into, Peter rebuked Jesus, “Don’t be a fool! If the priests will endanger you, don’t go to Jerusalem. Have you lost your mind! I won’t let you! I’ll save You from Yourself”

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!

Just when Peter thought there could be nothing lower than this valley he had plunged into, His beloved Master turned on him. “Get thee behind me, Satan!” “He called me Satan!” Peter must have been crushed. Here he was, just trying to save Jesus, and Jesus calls Peter a tool of the devil. Confused, humiliated, dejected, Peter felt lower than a whale’s belly, scratching on the seabed.

Jesus said Peter was hindering Him, obstructing His mission, interfering with Jesus plans, undermining his purpose. Jesus was saying, “You are living limited and unthinking, controlled by your emotions. Whereas just before you were listening to the voice of God, now your emotions have blinded you to the mind of God. Now you are allowing your emotions to crowd Him out.”

You see, Peter couldn’t yet get beyond death as finality. His emotions, while noble – love for Jesus and desire to protect Him – and ignoble – fear of death, fear of the loss of a dream – overcame his understanding that Jesus is God! Peter lost track of the fact that God knows everything, that He can raise the dead (He’d seen it several times), and that Jesus is not limited to man’s resources.

We are Like Peter

Truth be told, we are much like Peter. You and I, too often, operate in the realm of emotions, rather then the realm of the Holy Spirit. If a loved one or a dear friend becomes gravely ill, so that we fear for his life, we become desperate. The movie, John Q, explores this. The hero’s child needed an immediate organ transplant to save his life. Insurance wouldn’t pay for it. John Q and his family didn’t have the resources to pay for it. In desperation, his wife railed at him to do something. So, our hero took hostages and threatened the lives of many people to force the hospital to perform the transplant for his child. He is shown to be operating out of the best of motives–love for his child and willingness to make any personal sacrifice, even prison, to save his child.

Isn’t this is noble? Can’t we all identify this as moral high ground? The end of saving this child’s life justifies John Q’s desperate and life-threatening behavior.

Or does it?

God is Always Here

Let’s speculate on God’s view of this situation. He is left out of the movie in any real way, but in real situations He is always here. God is well aware of the suffering that sickness and death puts people through. He suffers, too. He knows the heartbreak of losing a child to death. God experienced both sides of it–as Himself and as the Son. We are not dealing with an esoteric, unfeeling God. In the Gospels, we see that Jesus hates death. The Rev. Canon Dennis Bennett said, “Jesus broke up every funeral He attended.” When He arrived at Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus’ spirit was deeply grieved. He groaned under the burden of mourning. He wept (John 11:33-35) in sorrow along with Mary and Martha and the Jews. Even though Jesus knew He would be raising Lazarus from the dead, He wept. He hates death. That’s why God took on death nose to nose, toe to toe–and defeated it!!

Jesus Victory over Death

Jesus’ victory has transformed death from an irretrievable dead end to but a threshold to enlarged life. We can’t conceive of all that means. Perhaps, that is why the Bible gives such a sketchy view of life beyond the grave. Jesus knows that death, even in the most dire and hopeless and despairing situations, is not certain. God has the power to intervene. God can deliver from the jaws of death; He can stay the progress of disease; He can even turn death to life. If you and I will look to Him with our whole hearts, He will replace fear with trust, grief with joy – in the midst of loss.

Trust in God’s Help

Thus, to John Q, to Peter, and to us, God says, “Trust in me, follow me, submit to me, and your life will be full. Trust me to bring your circumstances out of the valley into the light. Follow me through the darkness of confusion and sorrow and I will lead you into assurance of life everlasting. Submit to my command to love me and love others. Don’t limit your life to your own understanding. You will be given the victory over dire situations. I will uphold you by my Almighty Hand. And I will fill you with abundant joy.”

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.   (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Peter’s emotions conquered his trust in Jesus, conquered his obedience to his Master, and conquered his will to follow Jesus anywhere Jesus would lead. As a result, Peter became the tool of Satan. Peter had not grown enough in the spirit to require his emotions to submit. The Disciple tempted the Master to turn aside from the God-ordained path.

Do You Trust Jesus?

Do you identify with John Q? Do you feel he was justified in the extreme measures he took to save his child?

  • Many are saying after “9/11”, our lives have changed and will never be the same.
    • NOT SO! The world is the same fallen world as it was before. Our God is just as much God as He was before. As Christians, we have the authority of Jesus in the same measure as before. In Christ’s name, we can change the world.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  (Colossians 11:17)

  • Many live in fear of burglars breaking in, being attacked in the street, losing jobs or homes or family, of getting sick, or becoming destitute. Fear is natural, so it is acceptable for Christians to live in fear.
    • NOT SO! God is our fortress and high tower, a certain bulwark in time of trouble. God is our provider of food, clothing, shelter – yes, but so much more! He provides love, eternal life, new life fresh every morning, and God’s acceptance that completely overwhelms all shame.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. The waves of death swirled about me: the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. (2 Samuel 22:2-7)

  • Many are infirm, disabled, sick, and suffering. This is the natural progress of life. This is the cross we must bear.
    • NOT SO! “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Jesus tells us. This means He has won the victory and presented us with a fete accompli, an accomplished fact. He has won the victory over sickness, addiction, infirmity, disability, poverty, and death. And more wonderful still, Jesus has given that victory to His adopted brothers and sisters – you and I who love Christ and long for his appearing.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Hope in Time of Trouble

When you feel you are walking in Peter’s footsteps,

  • “Jesus you can’t do that!”
  • “Lord I can’t bear it any more!”
  • “The Lord’s not doing anything, I’ll have to do something myself.”
  • “After what has happened between us, I can’t love that person any more.”
  • “I’ll never get out of the hole I’m in”

That’s the flesh talking, and it’s precisely the time to tune your spiritual ears to the Savior. Embrace and learn from His rebuke, “You are an offense to me, because you are clinging to the habits of men and forsaking your inheritance with God; an inheritance I bought for you with my blood!

Receive Comfort

Recognize your emotions for what they are. Recognize that the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). Face your emotions. Don’t hide from them or deny them. Just don’t allow them to dominate your spirit and dictate your actions.

You are a princess of the Almighty King.

You are a prince of the Lord God.

Do not be led astray by emotion. Instead, lead your emotions into the light of Christ and let the Refiner’s Fire purify them.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matthew 16:25-26)

I hear you thinking, “Easy for you to say.” On the contrary, no change in life habit comes easily. They are hardly won. Change begins with a step.

The most dangerous step is out the door. You never know where it will lead.  (Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien)

Because change is hard and dangerous, most choose to sit by the fire. That causes us to turn our backs on the offerings of Christ. It leads to ignoring the call of the Holy Spirit. It results in rebellion against God.

Here is how it works

  1. Confess to God each time your emotions take charge
  2. Admit your own powerlessness
  3. Ask Jesus to apply His wisdom and strength to each situation
  4. Submit to what He tells you
  5. Thank Him for delivering you from the tyranny of your emotions
  • Now start praising God. Praise of God in the midst of difficulty and crisis is an act of faith, a sacrifice of praise (Jeremiah 33:11; Hebrews 13:15). God is always worthy of praise.
  • Build yourself up in the knowledge of the Word. Jesus resisted the tempter in the wilderness by quoting scripture. We can hold on to our trust in God through any situation bolstered by the Word of God.
  • Pray without ceasing. Paul adjures us (Romans 12:12), “…continuing instant in prayer:” This is the life of prayer to which God calls us.

Start New Each Day

A photo by dan carlson. unsplash.com/photos/oTQVwECws8oBegin fresh each day, and if necessary, each minute. The more we actively seek to live in the victory of Christ, the more we have the mind of Christ. The more we have the mind of Christ, the less we will be subject to the domination of the flesh. The less we are subject to the domination of the flesh, the freer we are in the spirit and the more the joy of the Lord will permeate our lives.

For Christ is the Victory!

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Prayers

Faith is God’s Gift

7 Aug , 2016  

April 15, 2012

Faith in Jesus

After Jesus’ entry into Capernaum, a Captain came to Him, and entreated Him. “Sir,” he said, “my servant at home is lying ill with paralysis, and is suffering great pain.” “I will come and cure him,” said Jesus.

“Sir,” replied the Captain, “I am not a fit person to receive you under my roof: merely say the word, and my servant will be cured. For I myself am also under authority, and have soldiers under me. To one I say ‘Go,’ and he goes, to another ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this or that,’ and he does it.”

Jesus listened to this reply, and was astonished, and said to the people following Him, “I solemnly tell you that in no Israelite have I found faith as great as this. And I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west and will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Heavens, while the natural heirs of the Kingdom will be driven out into the darkness outside: there will be the weeping aloud and the gnashing of teeth.”

And Jesus said to the Captain, “Go, and just as you have believed, so be it for you.” And the servant recovered precisely at that time.  (Matthew 8:5-13) (MSNT)

Prayer for Faith

Holy Father, It is eye opening to realize that faith is both a manifestation within our hearts of the Holy Spirit and it is a fruit that grows within us by Your Spirit.

Precious Jesus, You imparted faith to each one of us and sent the Holy Spirit to quicken in us the faith to believe that not only are You real, but You love us.

Holy Spirit, no one of us can believe in Your reality, except by the faith that You instilled in our hearts to respond to Your invitation to love You.

Gracious God, our desire is to show Your glory to the world, to give people a taste of what Your faith can do in and through a believer, so that those who witness our lives will hunger and thirst after You.

Loving Savior, fill us with a holy covetousness to yearn for more of You, and expect by faith to be empowered in serving You and those who need You.

Spirit of God, embolden us to have faith to believe that we can do greater things than Jesus did so that we can be markedly different from those who are worldly.

Hallelujah, What a glorious God we serve!

Now stir up Your faith in our hearts as we pray for those in need in our Fellowship and among our families and friends.

AMEN

Faith Offerings

In faith, LORD, we present You with our offerings. We fully acknowledge that this money comes from you. Without Your generosity to us we would have nothing to tithe; therefore in gratitude for the faith to believe and for Your grace given to us we present this portion of Your bounty.

In the name of our Gracious Savior we pray.

AMEN

Glad Tidings

GT—Volume 13 Issue 5

1 May , 2016  

Exclusive Offer! One to a Customer!

I’m sorry, but I cannot change the offer. Everyone gets one. The Scripture tells us that it is given unto man once to die; and after that the judgment. I suspect that most will want a second chance after they will have an opportunity to review their lives before the Divine Judge, who is righteous and just. Everyone who stands before his court He will judge by a perfect standard. Each will receive his or her perfectly just deserts.

Once a person sees his choices set off against what he should have decided, it will be clear why it would have been a better choice than what he made while living in this material life. But—and it is a life changing “but”—despite the resolution to do better next time, there are no “do-over’s”. This is all we get.

Life is a one-way street from cradle to grave. There is an absolute end of life, just as there is the absolute beginning at conception. We talk of remains. This refers to the dead body, which our family or society must dispose. Of the person, nothing is left in the carcass. Therefore, what is done in his or her life is finished. Every body dies. No exceptions (well, One).  dove-vector-clipart

Bad, Good, Bad, Good News!

The Bad news is that everyone dies. There is no escape in the foreseeable future. Some graveyards are so full of those who have died that they are having to double stack the bodies. There are upwards of 7,000,000,000 people on earth. Everyone can expect to end the same way – in death.

Human skulls and bones stacked in rows in the underground Catacombs, Paris, France.

We live our lives in a material world. For everyone that lives, that world has an end sometime, either early or late.

As I said, the body dies, but the good news is that we live on. God, in His wisdom, made us both material and immaterial. Our body He created for time. It ages and wears out, until it has outlived its usefulness. The good news is that He also gave us living souls that are immaterial. They do not wear out; thus while not eternal, since they began their being beginning in conception, they are everlasting. This means that in our persons, but not in our bodies, we have life that continues beyond the existence of our flesh.

That is a fact that too few consider. They live in the now, without thought of the hereafter.

That Good news is offset by further bad news. With one’s material life behind, the question is what happens next. For the eastern religions, the goal of this material life is to live in such a way as to end in a passionless peace. Islam has a paradise for those who appease Allah and a hell for those who do not.  dove-vector-clipart

The Truth Lies in Christianity

The truth lies in Christianity. The one true God has created all to be perfect, but man messed it up; thus we have two choices to embrace God’s way or follow our own way through this life. The further truth is that according to God’s perfect standard we are all under condemnation. The reality is, “To err is human.”  Scripture says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

“To err is human.”  Scripture says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

The Bad news is that none of us qualify (qualification is living a perfect life) for Heaven, God’s blessed place of joy, love, and complete peace. That is pretty bad news, because the alternative to eternal blessedness is eternal torment in Hell. If you think life in this life is bad, you want to avoid the infinitely worse Hell.

OK, I said “bad, good, bad, good news.” Now it is time for the Good news again. Picture you are standing before the ultimate supreme court. Flashing on the screen for all of humanity, all the archangels, all angels and all other heavenly beings to see are every imagination, every thought, every word and every deed you have thought, uttered or done. It will be all the unvarnished truth. Every lie (white or black), every condemning thought about everyone, every theft from petty to greater, every lusting idea, every time you injured another, whether physical or emotional, everything will be broadcast.

This means that no a single second of your life and thoughts will be excluded. The record will have no blank spots – the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will be available for all to see and hear in full color and stereophonic sound. Also shown will be all the hidden acts of generosity, all the encouraging words, all the help you gave others, all your loving thoughts and deeds and gifts—everything will be exposed.

There will be no balancing scales, however, no offsetting of the good with the bad, or vice versa. I said earlier, the standard is perfection. Who will God allow into His perfect eternity? Only those who have lived perfectly, i.e. lived 24/7/365/80+/- years, only those with a perfect record (not one black mark).   dove-vector-clipart

How Does That Work Anyway?

Did I say this was good news?  Actually it is. This is how it works. In the world, ethics says it should not be whom you know, but what you know that gives success. The reason is that it is important that all people be treated according to their ability. People consider it unjust for a boss’ relative or friend to be hired or promoted instead of someone who has earned the advancement by dint of hard work. Favoritism in the world is unfair.

However, in God’s Kingdom, it is WHO you know that gives you entry into an eternal life of God’s blessedness—of love, joy and peace.

How can, what in human terms is unjust, be in spiritual realm the opposite? It is a question of justice, not fairness. Justice implies getting one’s deserts. Justice indicates that those who worked harder be favored, and those who produce less be passed over.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:23

In God’s perfect view of all men, not one measures up to His standard. Every human that has ever lived and all that will live in the future fail to qualify for God’s Kingdom and must be cast into Hell.

That desperate situation called for God’s mercy. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit knew before they created mankind, that all, every last one, would be unworthy and barred from entry into God’s Presence. To satisfy God’s justice, and yet to fulfill God’s purpose in creating mankind for God to love, required a tremendous sacrifice. According to God’s character, an innocent life can substitute for a sinful life, providing atonement for the sins. The Trinity agreed that the Son would be born, live a sinless life and die as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Also according to God’s character, the unworthy sinner cannot be forced. He or she must voluntarily submit to cleansing by the atoning blood of Christ. Ultimately each person who chooses to belong to Jesus, becomes spiritually known to God. Therefore, those who know that Jesus is their only salvation and cling to Him become the privileged who are allowed into Heaven.

In this way, justice and mercy are both served; at the same time, He preserves mankind’s freedom of choice. It is amazing how He can make it all work together to preserve His order and to bless the people He created to love. He is a loving Father, as well as being omniscient. At the same time, He is just, so all who choose to live their own way get to live without God eternally.  dove-vector-clipart

The Court of Last Resort

Thus, knowing Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the key to entry onto God’s Kingdom.  Come back to that court where He will judge all the people of the world.  The Father and the Holy Spirit sit behind and above the Judge overlooking the whole process. At the bar sits the Judge, you must look at Him.  You see that He is the Son of God, to whom the Father gave all judgment.  There, also, are two books.  The book of Works – every deed, word and thought is recorded for each person.  That is a gazillion gigabytes of data, but in God’s infinite capacity it is all there.

Next to the book of Works is the book of Life.  It is open to the blank page where your name could be written. You hope, fervently your name will be entered in and you will escorted by your guardian angel into glory.

As you approach, the recording angel (we can suppose) opens to your pages.  He runs his finger down the right side and smiles at you.  Then as his finger runs down the left side, he begins to frown, and then to sigh, and after a long list of negative entries, he looks at the Judge and just sadly shakes his head. The Judge looks at you and you quail, for His decision will be final and you eternal destiny hangs on His judgment.  The negative total in the book of Works bears no appeal.  That truth indicates a guilty verdict.

Jesus in clouds

“Father, this is one of mine, who believed in me and testified for me in the world. The guilty verdict is just; therefore I accept that verdict as my own.”

As the Son looks at you, He smiles and turns to His Father and says, “Father, this is one of mine, who believed in me and testified for me in the world.  The guilty verdict is just; therefore I accept that verdict as my own.”  He then turns back to you, raises His gavel and declares “Justified!” and brings it down with a heaven rattling finality.  In humble gratitude and deep love for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you enter into glory, shouting praise to Almighty God for His love, mercy and forgiveness.  dove-vector-clipart

Bitter Truth And Better Truth

What happens to our sin? We saw that the total of the good and bad in your life tipped the scales of justice to the left. This meant that you would be left out of Heaven. However, with Jesus’ justification God admitted you. There are several answers to “What happens to our sin?” We will investigate them.

Scripture says God will remove our sins. He will sovereignly make our scarlet sins as white as snow. It says He will remove our sins as far as the east is from the west. It says He will cast them into the depth of the sea. It says He will cast them behind His back. It says He will remember them no more.

All of the above seems to indicate that He will eradicate our sins in some way. That sin which existed, has no more in existence, gone forever.

Jesus ransomed believers from their debt of sin. His blood cleanses us from all sin. Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross. We go free. Jesus took our sins upon Himself. They died with Him. Jesus is the agent, releasing us from sin’s penalty, to bear it no more.

God in the Garden of Eden slaughtered animals to make coverings for Adam and Eve. God shed the blood of innocent animals to cover the nakedness of our first parents. Thus, God established the sacrificial system in which the blood of an innocent victim is atonement for sin. It cannot be human blood, for no human (but One) is sinless and therefore innocent.

It is significant to note that within a generation after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Messiah, the Jewish sacrificial system ceased. The Romans destroyed the Temple. Thus, while Jesus was not the last sacrifice for sin, He was the culminating sacrifice. His human life was sinless perfection, so Jesus could willingly give His life as atonement for all sin. Through Jesus Christ, sins are forgiven.

It the sad truth that not only evil people sin, but believers, who have accepted Jesus’ death for their sin, continue to sin. That is what sanctification is all about. Sanctification is the process whereby we seek out sin in our own lives and work to eradicate it by the power of the Holy Spirit and the dint of our effort. Because none of us is God, therefore total sanctification is impossible. Thus, we all come to that Judicial Bench guilty.

Zechariah 13:9 Refine them like silver

“I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.'” Zechariah 13:9

The Apostle Paul teaches us an interesting truth. He points out that we all stand before God with all our accouterments, our gifts, abilities, our record of blessings and of sins. For those who have embraced Christ during their lifetime, there is a pass into heaven. However, since nothing impure can sully the perfection of heaven, all that remains in our life that we have not purged in the sanctification process, must be eliminated before we can enter. Paul states there is a purging fire that we pass through. All that is gold and precious jewels will be unscathed, but that which is unworthy, the “wood, hay and stubble” of our lives, the sins will be purged by holy fire. He warns that the burning away of sin will be excruciatingly painful, but since we belong to Jesus we will embrace the fire and come forth as much fine (as in refined) gold.  dove-vector-clipart

Better and Better News

Since this is the last of the mailed editions of Glad Tidings, many of you will no longer receive these mailings. Therefore, under “‘editorial privilege” I will give you my swan song.

Do not wait a moment longer, run, do not walk into Jesus’ waiting arms. Throw down every reservation, humble your heart before Jesus the Son of God and accept Him as your only Savior. Confess your need, your sins and seek His ready forgiveness.

I have staked my life on Jesus, and have discovered it was the best decision of my life. It will be yours as well. It is not hard. A simple prayer with a truthful heart, “Jesus I want You.” will do it.

To you who have been living in Christ, I adjure you – go deeper! Do not allow your pride to keep you from your knees. Do not allow your tradition to prevent your whole-hearted and enthusiastic surrender to the overflowing joy that is in Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to pour living water into your souls and flush out the sin that so easily besets you.

Finally, pray for family, friends, acquaintances and people you see on the street or in stores that surround you and I. Their current lives may eternally separate them from the one true source of love and all that is gloriously good. Do not skip any opportunity to tell them about the love, joy, peace and wonder of the life in Christ. You are the ones that God is calling to evangelize. Take advantage of the privilege to bless them and receive blessing for the glory of God. Amen.   dove-vector-clipart

Questions Demanding Answers

In each issue, I will pose a question. You may send me your answer. I will publish the best one in the next issue. Please cite Biblical authority, and keep your answer 250 words or less.

QUESTION:  How can we have a great revival?

ANSWER: The Holy Spirit fires all revivals. I believe those who have researched past great revivals. They agree that revival comes because God’s people engaged in a concerted prayer effort to call for revival.

Prevenient Grace is the doctrine that the Holy Spirit works in individuals and society to lay the foundation for a turning to Christ. A revival occurs when multitudes of the lost and sinful become excited about Jesus and turn in droves to believe in Him. They abandon their former sin-filled lives and embrace holiness.

In 1740’s Great Awakening in the American Colonies, masses of people confessed faith in Jesus and the result was a positive impact on society. Church attendance skyrocketed. Taverns closed because they had no business, brothels disappeared. Families were strengthened, relationships were healed.

More recently in 1960’s, the Holy Spirit revival swept through the churches, reintroducing the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with attending manifestations. People in all denominations converted from the “frozen chosen” into ecstatic, joyful believers.Then in 1850’s our nation experienced the Second Great Awakening. It was marked by the masses of people who were convicted of their sin and publicly confessed. The revival swept through this young nation restoring the Christ-centered culture.

With our nation officially turning its back on Jesus, if America is to be saved we need a revival, desperately. Pray for revival!

QUESTION: How much do you love Jesus?

The Holy of Holies

Join me in bowing before our God in gratitude that we can speak directly and personally to Him. He is our loving Father, so we can embrace Him boldly, but respectfully.

My precious God, I am surrounded by people who do not know You. There are children growing up that do not know who Jesus is. There are two generations around us who have never learned any Bible stories in their youth. 

What is your will for me? Do I make a fool of myself by going up to strangers on the street to tell them they need Jesus? They do!

Do I write to my neighbors and friends to tell them about Jesus?

Holy Spirit, My loving Father has placed You in my life as the earnest of my inheritance in God’s Kingdom. You are working in me to produce Your fruit in my life. I surrender to Your work in transforming me into a wholly owned servant of my precious Savior. 

Convince me of my sin that I may confess and receive Your cleansing. Convince me of my resistance to my Master’s voice. Make me more malleable to His will in my life. Convince me of my ungodly attitudes that I justify. Fill my Heart. Make me a joyful, humble, loving servant to You and the people in my life.

You are my God and I will praise You.  You are my Father and I will honor You. You are my Savior and I will thank You. You are my comforter and I will cling to You

You have come to live as a part of my life and I will pay attention to Your dwelling with me. I will submit to You for Your approval all that I think, say and do.

Your wisdom is important to me for all I do.

Now, my gracious God and precious Lord, I offer you my praise. I will glorify Your name by proclaiming it abroad. Blessings and honor and majesty and power and wisdom and glory are Yours, O God, most holy!

Amen