DUDE! THAT’S HUGE!

 

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

 

DUDE! THAT’S HUGE!

 

Luke 1:15-16

15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

 

Luke 1:31-32

31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

 

          Only twice in our English Bible do we read “he shall be great.” Both times the phrase was part of an angelic announcement of a miraculous birth. The announcement to Elizabeth that she would be the mother of John the Baptist was enormous in its significance.

 

          The only Bible the Jews had ended with a promise that Elijah the prophet would return to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:5, 6) This is what the angel said to Elizabeth. “He shall be great” [Greek: megas].  Jesus declared that John fulfilled the promise of the return of Elijah in Matthew 11:13, 14. John signaled the end of the Old Testament system and the beginning of the New. John’s ministry was pivotal; huge.

 

          The second announcement regarded the birth of Jesus. He too would be great, even greater than John. In fact, John said that he was unworthy to unloose the latchet of Jesus’ shoes, apparently a reference to the servile washing of feet. (See Luke 3:16)

 

          How “great” are you? It is probable that you can’t answer or even know. Few of us can properly evaluate our real worth, but the good news is that Jesus loves you and thinks highly of you. He died in your place that you might have His righteousness and salvation. Dude! That’s huge!

 

Savior, your love for me is huge. I can’t fathom it. It defies calculation or comprehension. Thank you, Lord. AMEN

WORK WHILE IT IS DAY!

 

Monday, May 30, 2022

 

WORK WHILE IT IS DAY!

 

John 9:1-7

9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

 

          Seven particulars leap from the page as you read these words. [1] There was a blind man. [2] There was an earnest question. [3] There was a clarifying answer. [4] There was a miraculous anointing. [5] There was a call for personal action – Go, wash. [6] There was an instant obedience – he went his way. [7] There was a dramatic result. Now, as we say in the business, “that’ll preach!”

 

          Sandwiched in the middle of this wonderful story is a comment by the teacher to his students. We must be busily engaged in work while we have an opportunity to do so. There is coming a time, called “the night”, when no man can work. I’d like to dig a bit deeper into this thought.

 

          Our English Bible includes the definite article in verse four. The commentaries and concordances indicate only that “night doth come!”  “The” night then seems to represent a future period when work either can’t be done or a time when work will not be as productive. I do not read Greek; I only read those who do! I feel it a huge handicap because I suspect that the proper tool might reveal this mystery to me.

 

          It was the Sabbath Day when Jesus made the clay (verse 14). Yet the light of opportunity did shine upon this blind man and the many that watched. Some concluded that “this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.” However, the miracle itself sliced through the binding ritual to present a truth that could not be ignored. It is humorous to watch the Pharisaical contortionists try to prove that the Son of God was “not of God.” Their blindness was darker than that of the blind man and no clay could cure it.

 

          The night is coming! My thesis is that there is a period of time when darkness will be so deep as to frustrate “the works of him” and it appears that we are in the midst of it now. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of harvest will send forth laborers. Dare to become a laborer yourself! The window of opportunity may soon close.

 

Lord of Harvest; give us a little light so that we may work. Give us a little work that we may share the light.  AMEN

SEEING THE FUTURE!

 

Sunday, May 29, 2022

 

SEEING THE FUTURE!

 

Acts 9:6

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

 

Acts 9:10-17

10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

 

When Paul, bruised from his fall and blinded by the sight of the Almighty, asked regarding his future God sent the answer to someone else! I find myself often, almost desperately, asking “Lord what wilt thou have me to do?” I wonder if one of my friends may have been given my answer! When God does not immediately answer such a prayer it may not be that He has not answered but that the answer has been given to another. That person will come into your life to guide you through your temporary blindness and to instruct you regarding God’s purpose.

 

It is both frustrating and merciful that God does not answer our questions regarding our own future as quickly and as thoroughly as we would like. We are both eager and anxious to know but God knows that the information is too strong to be taken in gulps, so he reveals it to us in sips!

 

Saul/Paul was a doer! His deep convictions spurred him to action. Because he felt that this newly formed Christianity was a threat to his beloved Judaism, he requested and was granted authority to pursue and punish the followers of “this way.” The action somehow confirmed his belief. Now that he had so dramatically met the Lord, his belief had changed. In an instant he knew that he had been wrong about Christians and the Christ. Now he asks “what wilt thou have me to do” because his actions no longer paralleled his belief system. A new belief system, Paul thought, mandated a new course of action. He was right!

 

God did not answer his question but told him to go into the city and “it shall be told thee what thou must do.” God is consistent! Throughout the Old Testament God led step by step instead of mile by mile. To Abraham it was told that he must follow before he knew the destination. Heb 11:8 tells us that “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”

 

God does not withhold information to tease and torment us but to protect us. For Paul his future included suffering! He was transformed from the tormentor to the tormented, from the hunter to the hunted. The same kind of pain he had thought to inflict upon believers would one day be inflicted upon him. He did not need to know it all immediately, but God would gradually reveal it to him.

 

Ananias saw Paul’s future clearly and it may be that God will show us the destiny of others more clearly than our own. If He does, then he has selected us to be a guide to that person and a mentor. We have been given a great gift of seeing someone else’s future along with an assignment to help them find it.

 

Which are you today Paul or Ananias? Are you desperately seeking your future? If so, be on the watch for your guide. Are you watching a life that Jesus is changing? Do you see someone’s future more clearly than they see it themselves? Then you have been given the gift of both knowing and guiding. You are the Ananias in the life of someone else.

 

Dear Lord, while I desperately await someone to guide me, help me to be a guide to someone else. AMEN

THINGS TO REMBER AND THINGS TO FORGET!

 

Saturday, May 28, 2022

 

THINGS TO REMBER AND THINGS TO FORGET!

 

Ps 25:6-7

6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.

 

Christians are always forgetting the important things!

 

We forget that God is a good God, that he knows everything and can do anything. We forget, in our daily distresses, that He loves us with an immeasurable love and that He wants only the best for us. We forget His tender mercies.

 

The Hebrew word for “tender mercies” means the "inner parts" regarded by the Hebrews as the seat of the affections.

Literally it is “remember thy bowels of mercies.” David is asking God not to forget His “gut wrenching” care of us.

 

Christians are always remembering the wrong things!

 

We can not seem to forget those youthful sins committed in the heat of passion. They haunt us, take us captive and remand us to the tormentors. We pray for forgiveness over and over again, but we cannot forget them. David asks that God forget his youthful sins and God has responded.

 

Isa 43:25

25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

 

Heb 8:12

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

 

Dear Lord, today help me to remember thy goodness and thy tender mercies. Help me to forget those sins you have already forgiven. AMEN

THE CROSS – OUR MEMORIAL WALL!

 

Friday, May 27, 2022

 

THE CROSS – OUR MEMORIAL WALL!

 

John 19:25

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

 

Heb 12:2

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982. In the first 15 years, 54,000 items were left at the Wall. It still takes almost an hour every night, [and much longer on Memorial Day,] to collect all the mementos-a teddy bear, a photo of a soldier's grandchild, a letter from a daughter who never knew her dad.

Every item is labeled and taken to a warehouse. No one knows quite how to deal with it all. "No one ever expected this to happen," a park ranger says. "It's so personal. It caught everyone by surprise."

 

Who would have thought, on that day so long ago, that the rugged Cross of Calvary would be the memorial wall for so many through the ages? If you search the Scriptures for the phrase “take your burdens to the cross” you will not find it written there. Yet we use this so often we are emotionally certain it should be. What we DO find is this following verse.

 

Col 2:14

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

 

Think of the “warehouse” needed to hold all the “handwritings” which have been nailed to His cross! Now think of all those that are nailed there day after day. It is very personal and would surely take you by surprise!

 

Approach the cross with reverence and respect! Remember the One who died to give you true freedom. Place before the cross all those personal things that so strongly connect you with it. Pause a while and say thank you. Let the tears flow for a few minutes and remember!

 

In John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian finally reaches the place of the cross. “Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death. Then he stood still awhile to look and wonder, for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his Burden.” Then his heart burst with praise and he said:

 

Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me.

 

The Cross – where my restless heart has finally found a home!

 

Oh, my Lord! Thank you for your sacrifice on the Cross. AMEN

DEALING WITH LOSS

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

 

DEALING WITH LOSS

 

Ps 34:18-19

18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

 

Matt 12:20

20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

 

          You have suffered loss. Perhaps a friend or loved one has died either recently or their passing still haunts you. A lost job or a broken relationship perhaps has left you feeling diminished in value and bruised in soul. That is loss.

 

          Your energy is depleted! You have stuck to duties that, by themselves, are not hard but you have had no break between one and another. You are simply tired. Jesus wisely called his disciples away when they ministered so that there was hardly time to stop to eat. (See Mark 6:31).

 

          Take time to grieve! Loss that can’t be recovered requires grief. Plan for it. Find a place to be alone and weep. This is not a time to analyze the reasons or for self-incrimination. Neither is it a time to point an accusing finger at others. Simply feel the loss.

 

          Take time to pray! Cry out to God whose gentle nature is not to destroy a bruised reed or to snuff a smoldering lamp. This is not a time to blame God. This is a time to engage God in your own personal pain.

 

          Take time to wait! Disappointment does not last. God is near to those who are of a broken spirit. He will come and rescue you. Wait for it.

 

Ps 27:14

14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

 

Dear Lord, let me spend quality time with you so that my weary heart may rejoice in due time. AMEN

IT MATTERS TO GOD

 

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

 

IT MATTERS TO GOD

 

Ps 55:22

22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

 

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

 

          The New Testament church had an Old Testament Bible! Peter quotes from his Bible and reminds us that God cares for us. His focus was on the Psalms where the “thy burden” is the Hebrew for “what is given.” The idea is that God has given to us, or upon us, a situation that is heavy. It is our lot. It settles upon our spirit and slows our steps. Sometimes it brings us to tears.

         

          The Hebrew word for “sustain” indicates a supply equal to every need. It means “to maintain.” It means fuel when needed and repairs if necessary! The word “cast” is different in Psalm 55 than in First Peter. In Hebrew it means “to throw down” while in Greek it means “to cast upon.” In either case it means relief and companionship with One who is more able to carry the load.

 

          Peter adds an explanation and a motivation for casting down or casting our cares upon the Lord. It is a sublime but simple truth. He cares for us. Literally, it matters to Him. The story of the Good Samaritan first introduced those who chose not to shoulder the burden of the wounded traveler. Finally, there was one who made the suffering of another his own business and incurred a debt that was not his until he chose it. Suddenly, it mattered to him.

 

Dear Lord, the world is full of immeasurable burdens and even unspeakable horrors. We are wounded by them. Thank you for not passing us by on the other side. Thank you for caring for us. AMEN

IF IT WEREN’T FOR GRACE!

 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

 

IF IT WEREN’T FOR GRACE!

 

Rom 5:15

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

 

          A choir song by Rose Aspinall and published by Praise Gathering Music runs through my mind today. The truth of it is immense and amazing. Where would I be if it weren’t for grace?

 

          Grace is that attribute of God that allows Him to relate to us as though we had no sin. No, it is not the same as ignoring our sin! That produces spoiled bratty children. Grace is possible because the punishment has already been exacted. My debt is paid. Grace is the parental hug after the spanking.

 

          The gift of grace is “by one man, Jesus Christ” and it is abounded unto many. Why only many? Why not all? Certainly, Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient for all sins and all sinners! Universalism says that all will eventually be saved but the Bible says otherwise. But it does say many will be saved. That, sadly, is because some will not receive this grace. The answer is in the word “whosoever.”

 

          “Whosoever” is found 183 times in 163 verses. The final time it is used is Revelation 22:17 and it is the final invitation.

 

Rev 22:17

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

 

Dear Lord, thank you for your grace which was purchased by Jesus Christ. AMEN

PRAYING FOR OTHERS!

 

Monday, May 23, 2022

 

PRAYING FOR OTHERS!

 

Eph 3:14-21

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

 

          Paul’s final words to the Ephesians suggests a form for praying for our friends. After rehearsing his testimony and his troubles, Paul goes on to explain how he prays for others.

 

          He prayed for spiritual strength. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life is evidence of salvation. Once we are saved we are immediately thrust into a spiritual conflict. Our human strength and abilities will not be sufficient against a spiritual foe. Paul reminds us that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; not human or physical” (2 Cor. 10:4). When you pray for your friends, pray for their spiritual strength.

 

          He focused on their inner man. Some people seethe with anger and frustration. Paul understood that, not only is this warfare a spiritual one, it takes place within the inner man. The battlefield is our mind and our emotions. Peter referred to it as “the hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4). We have now learned that many of our illnesses are due to improper thinking. We are not just ill; we are mentally ill. So, when you pray for your friends, pray for peace within their inner man.

 

          Paul also prayed for their understanding. He wanted the Ephesians to understand God. He wanted them to comprehend the incomprehensible; to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Since “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17), he wanted them to read and study their Bible. I find it interesting that, after fifty years as a pastor, the two things I still recommend most is Bible study and prayer yet those two things are most neglected.

 

          Paul prayed that they might understand and experience “the power of God that works in us.” God never rests in His quest to make us conform to the image of His Son. He is always chipping away the rough edges and sanding until the surface is smooth. Often this process is painful to the subject, but the product is worth the pain. So, when you pray for your friends, pray that they will experience the power of God in their lives.

 

          Paul prayed that the Ephesians might glorify God in the church. “Glory in the church” is how he put it. When you pray for your friends, pray that they might be both useful and satisfied in their church. Too few people understand or experience a mutually satisfying church relationship.

 

Heb 13:20-21

20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,

21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Dear Lord, today I pray for my friends. I pray that they might know you and experience your power. Give them not only their daily bread but their daily portion of your Spirit. AMEN