May 1, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Can we believe that God ever modifies His action in
response to the suggestions of man? For infinite wisdom does not need
telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no urging to do it. But
neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents,
whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies
miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers,
bakers, and butchers; or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or
convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and
weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to cooperate in
the execution of His will. "God", says Pascal, "instituted prayer in order
to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality." But it is not only
prayer; whenever we act at all, He lends us that dignity. It is not really
stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of
events than that my other actions should do so.
- C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "The Efficacy of Prayer"
Encouraging Word For The Week From Brother Steve
This past Saturday, I was involved in the regular Spring-Summer ritual of mowing the lawn. Some people love this. For me, it is about as enjoyable as broccoli was for the former President Bush. I mow the lawn because it has to be done.
At the same time that I dislike the mowing season, I will agree that I am very fond of a freshly mown lawn. There are few things that dress up a home more than a clean looking yard.
To start the routine, I use the string trimmer to get all the weeds. I use it around the parameter of the house, near the central air unit, around trees, and every other nick and cranny the mower wont fit in. Because of the size of the yard and the large amount of area that can't be accessed by the mower, it took at least an hour and a half to get it all. Then, I mowed everywhere else and it took nearly an additional two hours.
As I was finishing, it struck me. In terms of total area, the mowing covered at least ninety percent of the territory, but only took about half of the overall time. Cutting large open areas are easy. It is the tight spots, rooted areas, and hard to reach places that cause the problems. They require personal attention. When I'm mowing in the open field, I can daydream all I want.
Imagine a visitor inspecting a neatly mowed yard that hasn't received a proper "weed eating". After a little examination, this observer wouldn't notice the consistent height and texture of the grass. Instead, he would see the weeds against the telephone poles, the dandelions next to the trees, and other random growth throughout the yard. The first thing that comes to such a person is -- "they're not finished!"
This is not much different than our spiritual lives. It is not attending Sunday School, participating in Worship, or supporting the church that gives me trouble. These come pretty natural for the average Christian. My problem comes in allowing God access to those "hard to reach places" that require His personal touch. This is where the weeds are most difficult to cut down. It is here where the sinful nature is most resistant and such is why it takes so long to finish the job.
Such places are found where we work, in our living rooms, and with our peers. Even more isolated are the clovers that grow in the mind. The thoughts and attitudes of the Christian are likely the hardest place for the Holy Spirit to do His work. The battle is always fiercest where the importance is greatest.
When I was riding on the mower, I didn't have to exert much energy. When I was maneuvering the string trimmer was when I got hot, thirsty, and sweaty. It takes more work to cut down hidden weeds than open grass.
In King David's familiar song of repentance (Psalm 51), we find several statements that relate to a yard getting a good "weed eating". He says, "blot out my transgressions"; "wash away all my iniquity", and "cleanse me from my sin." Furthermore, he calls on God to "cleanse me", "wash me", and "create in me a pure heart". David understood where the weeds were and was prepared to be made completely clean.
In Psalm 139, David makes this statement: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." He is giving God complete access to his yard.
Praise the Lord! We don't have to work on our yard alone. He is available to assist us in making it into a garden of His grace. This is why Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener." When I belong to Him and allow him full access, He will make my life beautiful and fruitful.
Is your life full of weeds? If so, let me encourage you to turn the job over to the Lord. Everywhere that you can cut, do so thoroughly. In the tough spots, rely on Him to help you do it.
Paul said it best in Romans 12:1-2: "I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Translation: Give God your yard and do everything in your power to make it beautiful for Him.
Cutting weeds,
Bro. Steve
First Baptist Church, Doyline, LA
May 2, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: If you are swept off your feet, it's time to get on your knees. - Fred Beck
Devoted to Prayer
Colossians 4:2-4
Your morning begins with a problem-you turn on the shower but no water comes out. In frustration you pick up the phone to call the repairman. However, when you dial the number, no one answers the phone. Now you have reached your breaking point. But your anger is justified, isn't it? After all, you need a solution to your problem and you need it right now.
In our fast-paced world, we have become accustomed to receiving messages, money, packages, and answers almost instantaneously. This may be why it is difficult for so many Christians to wait upon the Lord. When we lift our prayers to Him, we oftentimes treat God like the faucet-repair man-He should be ready and waiting to fix our problems in a moment's notice.
Though God is always with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16), He answers our prayers in a timeframe determined by His divine will and plan for our lives. (1 Peter 5:6-7)
Why does He do this? It is not to make our lives more difficult. Instead, it is to encourage us to trust Him and to rely upon Him completely. God is faithful to answer our prayers, but His answers come when we are truly ready to receive them.
When you feel anxious about an unanswered prayer, don't give up or get angry. Rather, seek God with a patient heart and trust His timing.
By Charles Stanley
www.intouch.org/
Copyright � 2002, In Touch Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
May 3, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, "I cannot do anything else until God appears to me"? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for those exceptional moments-they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life-our work is our standard. - Oswald Chambers
Your Lease on Life
"You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household." - Ephesians 2:19
The lease that the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong had with China expired in 1997, causing uneasiness in what is the third largest financial center of the world.
On a smaller scale, you may have seen a sign in a local store, "Lost Our Lease, All Goods on Sale."
People are beset by many uncertainties, and one of these pertains to the length of life. As it were, God has given us a lease on life. We are not the owners of what we have and are; we are lessees, stewards. Not only our goods but life itself is given us on loan. Only God knows when our lease expires -- when we must come before Him to give an account of our stewardship.
How do we feel about this? For one thing, we can be joyful and thankful that God has given us life and, with it, opportunities to serve Him. Not only when we work but also when we rest, when we go on vacation trips and see God's wonderful works in nature, we can be glad that God continues to give us a lease on life as a gift -- a gift to be used to His glory and the good of others.
Further, the thought that our lease on life will one day expire should not fill us with fear. We know that all our days and years are in God's hands, and when in His infinite wisdom and love He wants us and our dear ones to come home, we can say, "We are ready, Lord!"
We can say this when by faith in Jesus Christ we have become God's children. By His life, death, and resurrection Jesus has reconciled us. He chose us to be His disciples in this life, and He has made us the heirs of heaven. So, when the one lease expires, another much better one awaits us. We have a clear title to our place in the heavenly Father's house.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 4, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: How vain it is to sit down to write, when you have not
stood up to live.
- Henry David Thoreau
Jesus, the Rose of Sharon
"I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel." - Genesis 3:15
Some farmers complain about a certain thorny plant, almost a weed, that seems to destroy pastureland: the multiflora rose. It was deliberately introduced in the United States in the 1880s to deter erosion and serve as a wildlife cover. Apparently, it got out of hand.
Sin is like this plant. When sin was introduced into the world, the devil made it seem very attractive. Although it is a noxious weed, he made it seem like a colorful rose. From our first parents, sin spread to their children and then to all generations born after them. The first son ever to be born, Cain, became a killer. Now, whenever you go into God's world, you don't find one big, beautiful rose garden; you find instead a spreading weed patch of sin.
One dreads to think what this world would be like if God had not taken measures to counteract sin. In love and compassion He sent a Second Adam to atone for the sin of the first Adam. This Adam II is Jesus Christ, God's own Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born without sin from the virgin Mary. Through His preaching and teaching He bore witness to the reality of sin. Through His death on the cross He made also salvation from sin a reality. He broke the power of sin, which can no longer dominate us unless we want it to. Through faith in this Savior, we live in Him and for Him, bringing forth much fruit.
If sin is like the thorny, spreading multiflora rose, then the Savior from sin can be compared to a true rose. The Bible does in fact call Jesus the Rose of Sharon.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 5, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: I was frustrated trying to figure out the will of God. I was doing everything but getting into the presence of God and asking Him to show me. - All-Church Press
Responding to Life's Trials
2 Chronicles 20:1-30
Lucy's relationship with her husband was in jeopardy. The once happily married pair now engaged in heated arguments and petty disputes several times per day. When the tension reached an all-time high, Lucy decided to take action.
Picking up the phone, she began a series of calls to her mother, her sister, a friend from college, several co-workers, and her neighbor. She described her situation to each of them and asked for their advice.
"See a therapist and read this book," "Watch this television show," "Just try to relax and think positively." Each person replied with a different solution. Not wanting to insult anyone, Lucy tried all of her friends' suggestions. Yet, after completing the recommended tasks, she realized that her initial conflict remained.
When difficult situations interrupt our lives there is truly only one solution. Before we seek counsel from others, we must first reach out to God. No matter how large or small the issue may be, He is intimately concerned about-and absolutely greater than-all of our problems. (Ephesians 1:19-20)
Sometimes God's plan for our lives may lead us to follow practical courses of action. However, it is vitally important that we seek His will above our own and follow His direction instead of what may "feel" or "seem" right according to the world.
By Charles Stanley
www.intouch.org/
Copyright � 2002, In Touch Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
May 6, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: If your heart is disquieted about something, take care to
restore it to calm.
- Francis Desales
Learning to Live with Life's Loads
Philippians 4:6
How can we possibly restore our lives to calm when we have just experienced a particularly difficult time? The best way to restore calm to an anxious heart is to focus on God's truth. This means refusing to listen to the nagging voice of the enemy.
Satan tempts us to doubt God's goodness by telling us that we are not worthy of God's love. The enemy interjects thoughts of doubt, worry, and anxiety into our minds so that we will become paralyzed and melt with fear.
The enemy also assaults our minds with lies, but God's truth brings hope and restoration to our souls.
Are you facing a time of intense pressure? If so, you may wonder how you will get through it. Christ has the answer. When the storms of life hit, you can retain a strong sense of peace and calm by meditating on the fact that God is in control, and He has nothing but good in mind for your life.
When the burden you are carrying becomes too heavy, give it to God. He is your source of strength. In Telling Yourself the Truth, author William Backus writes that there are three steps to becoming a person of contentment and peace: 1. Locate your misbeliefs, those things that the enemy uses to discourage you. 2. Ask God to help you remove them. 3. Replace misbeliefs with the truth . . . God's truth!
By Charles Stanley
www.intouch.org/
Copyright � 2002, In Touch Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
May 7, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: I cannot imagine a much greater misfortune for a man (not to say a clergyman) than not to know, or knowing, not to minister to, any of the poor. - George MacDonald
Wine experts fooled into thinking white wine is red!
Psychologists have fooled a group of wine experts into praising a white wine that had been coloured red. The German magazine Psychology Today gathered 54 wine tasters in Bordeaux to taste the wine that had tasteless food dye added. It says none of them realized the wine had been doctored - they thought it was a legitimate red because of its colour.
The magazine said of the first experiment: None of them guessed that it had been a wine that we had tampered with. "It is a psychological phenomenon that they marked it down as tasting what their senses told them it should taste of because it was coloured red. Actually it tasted of hardly anything."
In a second test, it says the experts praised another cheap wine that had been poured into an expensive bottle. When it was offered in its real bottle, they criticized it. The magazine says the experts described it as "marvelous," "forward but charming," "fruity" and "robust." When it was poured into its proper bottle, the experts described it as "thin," "weak" and "too light." "It shows that not all experts should be believed," the magazine warned.
How WEAK is the human mind! How gullible the church world, and the world, can be......
We tend to believe ANYTHING, as long as it comes in a convincing and pleasing package! Everything is "good" - as long as it appeals to our minds and senses and emotions - whether it violates all sorts of things that are precious and essential to Jesus, or not.
But Jesus, and Jesus IN us isn't gullible, if we'd Listen...... :)
Yes, I'm picking on gullibility AGAIN. :) The test of Godly authenticity is NOT whether it makes us feel good, meets human needs, or makes the hair on the back of our neck stand up and our skin tingle. Jesus was clear that even miracles don't prove that He even KNOWS a man. Buddhists speak in tongues, Muslims pray, and Mormons do good deeds and emphasize "family values." SO?! :) Those things are not the Measure!
So, we're just asking you, all of us, always, to weigh your circumstances in TRUTH. And be willing to be appalled by the contradictions of "leaven in the batch," lukewarmness, and other Issues... and deal energetically and passionately and relentlessly and lovingly with these and other Biblical mandates from God. TRUTH, not sentiment. That's how Jesus did it and does it. And so shall He today, in our lives, in our environments, if we'll Listen and have the courage to risk for Him. Ah, times are changing, for those who will care more for the pillar of Fire than for the oasis of comfort, prestige, and avoidance of the Cross and controversy.
By Mike Peters
May 8, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of
celestial fire called conscience.
- George Washington
Encouraging Word For The Week From Brother Steve
On Sunday afternoon, we received an important phone call from my wife's sister. She called to say that my father-in-law was taken to the emergency room in Henderson, Texas and that his blood pressure had reached an outrageous level of 230/140. When we got this report, Tammilee quickly started packing up some things and within thirty minutes began the one hundred mile drive to see her dad.
In the next few hours, Tammilee's brother and his wife drove up from southeast Texas. The local family alerted the rest of our kin in the area. Before you know it, many of these converged on the hospital. I got on the phone and called our "prayer chain" and even called my mother in New Orleans and she called some of her friends to pray, as well.
All of these activities illustrate the urgency of the moment. The greater the significance, the more willing we are to drop everything to give it attention. Although my father-in-law will come home today in a much better condition, yesterday's emergency communicated a strong message to him: You are important and worth the inconvenience.
In less than a week, our church will enter Revival. Unlike the events of Sunday, it is expected, calendared, and familiar. If you have been to one in the past, you have a pretty good idea of the general format of this one. However, like the episode with Tammilee's father, our congregation must determine the urgency of the event.
Are these five meetings important? Is Revival an urgent need for our community and fellowship? Is the salvation of souls a priority? We answer these questions through our actions. This is measured through our phone calls, prayers, and face-to-face invitations. Urgency will be conveyed by changed schedules, welcomed inconvenience, and a personal longing to be in attendance. In times of the greatest concern comes the most profound openness.
In the days of Noah, the situation was grave. The scriptures say that "every inclination of the thoughts of (man's) heart was only evil all the time." In the desperation of the moment, Noah and his family responded to God's command and began building an ark. However, those who observed their work just went on with their sinful lifestyles until the day it began to rain. The situation was the same for everyone involved, but there was a vast difference in their response to the urgency of the day. For Jonah, he has a bad attitude about God's desire to bring Revival to a sinful people. So, he runs away from the urgency of the day only to later decide that preaching to pagans is better than being the first submarine captain. Through Jonah's reluctant message, God brings the Ninevites to their knees in repentance. The Bible says that even the king "rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust".
In Noah's day, the people ignored their need to the point of destruction. However, the treacherous Ninevites heard the Master's call and sought the favor of God. Why was there such a difference? The contrast is seen in the urgency of the people to the need of the day.
Members of First Baptist Church: is next week very important to you? Is Revival something you are willing to go to extremes to experience in your life and in our church?
Such a question is answered through actions, not words. For those of you outside of our congregation, the question is just as relative. Do you view each Sunday as a world changing opportunity, or is it just another experience in the calisthenics of religion?
Let me encourage each of you to see the potential of God in everything you do. If you will, then such will raise your level of expectancy and provide you with an urgency that God is getting ready to do something. Dear Jesus, bring us Revival!
Your servant and His,
Bro. Steve
First Baptist Church, Doyline, LA
May 9, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Lord, if You showed me a thousand things
Brand new about You everyday
I still would never see the fullness of Your glory
Lord, if You gave me a thousand years
To try and count up all the ways that You have shown to me
That You are not just enough...You are too much."
- Disciple ("Thousand Things")
Take A Deep Breath Of The Vapor Of Life - While You Can
I know Heaven will be a great place and all...... But, PICTURE THIS with me a moment..........
If you still felt healthy, and yet had been diagnosed with cancer and knew you would die soon, HOW WOULD YOU VIEW LIFE? If you KNEW as you drove down the road, or walked down the street, or to a neighbor's house - that it won't be long and YOU WILL NEVER WALK THIS WAY AGAIN... how would you feel? What would you think about? What would you do?
Wouldn't you NOTICE the unruly, frolicking cracks in the pavement, and then the five - no make that six - different kinds of birds, all singing their song at the same time, all around you? Wouldn't you notice the smile of a brother or sister, and appreciate the many kindnesses of Life all the more - knowing YOU WILL NOT PASS THIS WAY AGAIN? Maybe this is one of the last times you will see these faces in this life? Wouldn't you think of the good things, rather than be cranky and demanding? Wouldn't you view yourself, and others, more clearly... if you knew you were almost gone from this world, and it's lives and loves and colors and designs and nuances?
Oh sure, Heaven will be great for those who will be going there - but STILL. Wouldn't you be willing to get up early to see one more sunrise? And take that extra moment to Worship Father and be grateful for everything He's been and done for you, regardless of "how hard" you've had it? :) Would you enjoy a moment barefoot in the wet grass, laughing with children, looking each of them in the eye and REALLY caring about who they are, and who they'll become for Jesus? Wouldn't you find quiet delight and amazement in a dinner by dancing candlelight, instead of incandescent, with His Family? :)
Would there be time to lay on your back outdoors at midnight, and throw your heart up into the starry sky, while listening to "It's My Turn Now!" playing in the background? Would you enjoy sitting, just quietly, by a lake at sunset, with no one yacking? :) Is it so wrong to hold a hand, or to climb a tree WAY UP HIGH to pick apples? Would you rather be "on record" and in memory as one who loved others into greatness, without compromise of course - or someone who is always "smart" or "negative" or "clever" -- or have only yourself in mind and how everything effects "you"?
Is there time to let a child bury you in the sand, or to race down a hill -- ROLLING? Would you decide to LIVE in LOVE, while you could? Would you notice and make a note to remember the little things? Would you be a worshipper, with a smile?
What IF we were not going to pass this way again? One more day, or a few more weeks, and then no more. Would we be a bit more quiet, a bit more loving, a bit more humble, and bit more dedicated to others -- and to noticing Father and ALL THAT HE IS AND ALL THAT HE DOES? :) I think so. :)
Written by Mike Peters
May 10, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Men give advice; God gives guidance. - Leonard Ravenhill
What an Exchange of Roles!
"Being found in appearance as a man, [Jesus] humbled Himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8
As a student in Magdeburg, Germany, Martin Luther was shocked at seeing a member of a religious order carrying a sack and begging in the streets. Because of the discipline to which the man had subjected himself, he was a thin, wasted figure -- nothing more than "animated bones," as someone said.
What was remarkable about this man was that he had been Price William of Anhalt, a German state. He voluntarily exchanged his luxurious life as a nobleman for a miserable existence.
Far from approving of what this man did, we can refer to his self-denial as somewhat descriptive of someone else's far greater exchange of roles in our behalf. Saint Paul declares that Jesus Christ, who was God's true Son and thus "in very nature God," equal with the Father, took the form of a servant, not only to serve but to become obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
When you read about Jesus in the gospels -- how He was rejected, despised, hated, spat upon, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross -- you get an inkling of what it meant for the Son of God, the King of the angels, to leave the glory of heaven in order to become our Savior here on earth. Christ's self-chosen humiliation and poverty were far greater than that of Prince William of Anhalt. The latter probably did it to earn his salvation. Jesus did it to earn someone else's salvation -- ours! -- for we could not save ourselves. What love!
How do we benefit? Saint Paul tells us, "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9) -- rich in forgiveness and peace with God!
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 11, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: It is not that we keep His commandments first, and that then He loves; but that He loves us, and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace, which is revealed to the humble, but hidden from the proud. - St. Augustine
A Mother's True Beauty
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." - Proverbs 31:30
Helen, the wife of Sparta's king Menelaus, was acclaimed the most beautiful woman of Greece. The Greeks fought the Trojan War in order to get her back from Troy, where Paris, the son of King Priam, had taken her. In Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus," the question is asked concerning Helen, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Ilium?"
In May, we honor women with another kind of beauty -- the beauty of Christian virtue and of devotion to maternal duties. We ask, concerning our mother: Is this the face that smiled on us, her children, guided us, and launched us for life's voyage? Are these the hands that served us in a thousand ways and taught us to fold our own hands in prayer? Are these the feet that moved swift and beautiful under the impulse of love? Are these the lips that spoke to us about our Savior's dying love to make us His own? Indeed they are! A mother's sincere devotion far exceeds Helen's beauty, for it is the inner beauty of love.
What a wonderful tribute the book of Proverbs gives to the godly mother!: "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 'Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.' Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate" (Proverbs 31:28-31).
Having given our mothers such praise, all that remains is that we who are children, young or old, support our words with actions, with loving deeds, as our Lord would have it.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 12, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: No man is poor who has had a Godly mother. - Abraham Lincoln
An Inspiring Example of a Godly Mother
1 Samuel 1
When you think of mothers, do you view them as "women with children," or as valued caretakers? Many examples in the Bible suggest that God views motherhood as an important, godly commitment.
One such example can be found in the story of Hannah. Unable to bear children, she cried out to the Lord to give her a son. As she prayed in the temple, she vowed to commit her child solely to priestly service if God would allow her to be a mother. (1 Samuel 1:11)
When God granted Hannah's request, she was faithful to honor her promise. After giving birth to her son Samuel, she delivered him to the temple and dedicated his life to serving the Lord.
Though in our modern culture we are not asked to deliver our young children to be raised by our church leaders, we can learn from Hannah's example. Clearly she trusted God and believed He would answer her prayer. She fulfilled her promise to God and was rewarded for her obedience.
Because of her diligence and faithfulness, Hannah's son Samuel became an important biblical figure. God chose him to call Israel to revival, and to anoint its first two kings.
Never underestimate the influence a godly mother can have upon her children. Find time to say "thank you" to a special mother in your life today.
Written by Charles Stanley
www.intouch.org/
Copyright � 2002, In Touch Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
May 13, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: A man's personality actuates and quickens his whole body. If anyone said it was unsuitable for the man's power to be in the toe, he would be thought silly, because, while granting that a man penetrates and actuates the whole of his body, he denied his presence in the part. Similarly, no one who admits the presence of the Word of God in the universe as a whole should think it unsuitable for a single human body to be by Him actuated and enlightened. - St. Athanasius (293?-373)
A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
"Garbage Where It Doesn't Belong"
Numbers 11:1
I am the waste management engineer at our house - I get to collect and take out the garbage. Take it from an expert: do not buy cheap garbage bags. Or maybe don't wait as long as I do sometimes to collect the garbage. Here's the problem. You've just tied up a brimming bagful of things you really don't want to see or smell any more. They're supposed to be in the garbage can. But sometimes they don't make it to the garbage can - when the bag rips open and dumps it all over the kitchen floor, let's say. Now, garbage isn't bad ... garbage dumped in the wrong place is.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Garbage Where It Doesn't Belong."
From God's perspective, there's way too much garbage that gets dumped where it should never go. In the hearing, in the lives of people who have no business having to deal with your garbage. God really doesn't like it.
You can tell that from our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 11:1. It says of God's ancient people, "The people complained about their hardships (now here comes the sobering part) in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them, His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."
Now, this passage could be entitled, "How to Make God Really Angry." It's called complaining - which amounts to dumping your garbage out in front of the people around you. It's not uncommon to check and see who's listening before we go ahead and start complaining, or whining, or criticizing. When you do, don't forget the One who's always in the room - your Lord. And He obviously doesn't like it at all.
One big problem with our complaining is that it focuses on what's frustrating us and it forgets about the big picture. For example, these people in Numbers 11 went on to complain about their wilderness diet. They went on to talk about what great food they had in Egypt for, as they said, "no cost." No cost? You were slaves, guys! But when we get all nearsighted and just looking at the irritations and the frustrations in front of us, we lose our perspective, we blow today's little messes way out of proportion, and we forget the larger picture of the great things that God is doing in our lives. We miss the big tapestry.
But God isn't expecting us just to ignore our frustrations, or bury our frustrations. He just wants us to dump them out in the right place - which David spells out in Psalm 142:1 - "I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble." Bring your complaints straight to God. First, He's not going to be hurt or poisoned by them like the people around you will. Secondly, He can do something about your complaints - much more than the people around you can do.
Now, we all go through some garbage in our lives - and it's true we often need a place to dump that garbage. And God has offered us a wonderful place to do that - in His Throne Room. But if you've been dumping on the people around you, you've been unloading garbage where it's not supposed to be and probably polluting them in the process. They don't need it ... it makes your Father very unhappy ... and it really pollutes the environment!
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 14, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Bad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is leading, with the thoughts he is thinking, with the deeds he is doing; when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is still, in spite of all, the child of God. - Phillips Brooks
A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
"Setting the Temperature"
Genesis 39:2
It was so cold in the house when I woke up that bitter winter morning. The thermometer announced to me that it was forty-some degrees in the house! Oh, my kids had some good laughs and some rare comments when they saw me praying that morning in front of an open stove in the kitchen - hey, it was the only warm place in the house. Well, Mr. Furnace came over, and he checked things out and informed us that we needed a new thermostat. As soon as our thermostat was working, the thermometer had better news for us - the house was warming up again! Now, it is amazing what a difference a functioning thermostat can make!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Setting the Temperature."
Now, in your family ... or in your church ... where you work ... with your friends - you are either a thermostat or a thermometer. A thermometer simply reflects the temperature around them. A thermostat sets the temperature. Too often, we're thermometers, aren't we? If it's hot around us, we get hot. If people are cold, we're cold. If things are stressed, we're stressed. If things are dark, we're discouraged. If things are tough, we're defeated.
But with the God of the universe living inside of you, you have the power, you have the responsibility to be the thermostat in your situation. God has given us a wonderful picture of what thermostatic living looks like in our word for today from the Word of God in Genesis 39, beginning with verse 2. Joseph has been attacked by his jealous brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. He becomes a slave in the home of one of Egypt's top military leaders, Potiphar.
The Bible says, "When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes.Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned." Now, Joseph's great situation suddenly turns ugly when Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him and he refuses her. She accuses him of what he had refused to do, and Potiphar has him thrown into prison. So the Bible says, "While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him ... and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there."
Amazing. Put Joseph in a great situation and he's the trusted person, the one who says yes to responsibility. Put him in a terrible situation, he is the same man - making things better, changing his environment, setting a positive climate. That is a thermostat. And, that's what the people around you need you to be. Grownup people, godly people, make a difference people respond to situations, not from the environment around them or the feelings their feeling, but from the character inside them. The Lord who's inside them!
Why don't you try being what you want others to be - don't wait for them to be that way. Treat the people around you as you want to be treated and as you want them to treat others. Keep your commitments, carry your load, spread joy and hope and gentleness and encouragement - no matter what everyone else is spreading.
The Lord was with Joseph in the great place and in the awful place. Just like He is with you. Which means that you can be the stabilizer, the thermostat, the climate-setter wherever you are. And you will set the temperature where God wants it to be!
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 15, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: One of the highest of human duties is the duty of encouragement. - William Barclay
Encouraging Word For The Week From Brother Steve
As I write, we have finished three of our five Revival services. During these meetings, we have seen 17 souls make professions of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN! Hallelujah!
What these decisions have done for me, and many others in our church, is remind us of the joy of seeing someone saved. I have noticed dozens of our folks, including myself, crying in joy over the work of God in the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls. To see the looks on their faces, and observe the peace that they have experienced in receiving Christ, brings those of us who know the Lord a feeling of fulfillment.
In Luke 15, we find the stories of three things that were lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son. At the conclusion of all three stories, the lost items are found, and celebration is discussed.
After the finding of the lost sheep, the scripture says, "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." In regards to finding the coin, Jesus says, "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Finally, after the prodigal son returns home, the story concludes with the boy's father throwing a celebration. When he is asked by his faithful son why he did this, he responds, "we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found."
For me, our Revival has been a great boost to my heart because it has caused me to celebrate the reaching of the lost and has also heightened my desire to see others receive Christ. It is my prayer that throughout our congregation these meetings would produce a hunger to see others come to Christ well beyond the Revival meetings.
I asked Brother Jack to come this week specifically to speak to the lost in our community. In the past, God has used him in the ministry of a "harvester". Whereas others may have planted the seeds and watered, the Lord has used Jack to be present when God gives the final increase and brings salvation.
This week, let me encourage you to look beyond our formal Revival meetings and envision our church when things get back to "normal". Set your mind on the following things: seeing the lost, praying for the lost, inviting the lost, sharing with the lost, expecting the salvation of the lost, and celebrating the salvation of the lost.
The success of our meeting this week can be summed up by saying that many in our church practiced this process in the weeks that preceded the Revival. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that a continuation of this will produce the same fruit after out special meetings are over.
If we do this, we'll become a church that produces fruit for God and has a spirit of celebration because of it. The only way this can happen is when we seek God's face and invite the Lord to be with us. When God meets with His people, the result will be what we desired to begin with -- REAL REVIVAL.
Celebrating God's fruit,
Bro. Steve
First Baptist Church, Doyline, LA
May 16, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: As you walk through the valley of the unknown, you will find the footprints of Jesus both in front of you and beside you. - Charles Stanley
Uphill Struggle or Downhill Crash
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13-14
Sin is easy, much easier than righteousness. So easy, in fact, that if I were to compare the two (committing sins vs. living righteously) I would say that trying to be good is like pulling a heavy wagon full of our life potenial up a steep hill and committing sin is like getting in that wagon and riding breakneck back down the hill.
This proves to me that there is a God and such a thing as right and wrong. If there were no moral absolutes and all my choices were neutral sinning and doing good works would be equal and I could just as easily do one or the other; but since sinful choices come so easily and I find it so difficult to do the right thing, I acknowledge a natural resistance to righteousness and it comes from within me. The Bible tells us our inclination to sin is rooted in the sinful nature we are born with: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:18-19)
It's hard being "good" - but the alternative of riding a sin wagon that can't be steered and has no brakes down the steep hill of life will lead to nothing but disaster and an inevitable crash. But HOW do I do the right thing? How can I be good when my very nature is so bad? Paul said: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24) and then he answered himself with: "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (vs. 25).
How do you stop sinning? Let's be real, you won't in this lifetime; but God has promised forgiveness for every sin through Jesus Christ and has provided the power we need to live for Him through the Holy Spirit whom He has given to everyone who believes in Him. He tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that He created us to do good works "which He prepared in advance for us to do." And the Spirit within us transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ and produces the fruits of righteousness within us: "...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23)
A tree produces fruit based on what kind of tree it is. Let's face it: we'll never produce the fruit listed above unless we are righteous to begin with; but God takes sinners like you and me and make us righteous in Christ. As it is written: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
You don't have to ride the sin wagon toward an inevitable crash---there is a way out and it's in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God who died to take away the sins of the world.
"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:3-7
Gary Zanow
The Grace Cyber Cafe
www.new-mercies.org
May 17, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: If we do not at least try to manifest something of Creative Charity in our dealings with life, whether by action, thought, or prayer, and do it at our own cost -- if we roll up the talent of love in the nice white napkin of piety and put it safely out of the way, sorry that the world is so hungry and thirsty, so sick and so fettered, and leave it at that: thou, even that little talent may be taken from us. We may discover at the crucial moment that we are spiritually bankrupt. - Evelyn Underhill, The School of Charity (1934)
A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
"Sleeping Through Your Wakeup Call"
Matthew 23:37
I saw an ad the other night for one motel chain that had an interesting slant. Apparently, they wanted to highlight how very restful a stay at their motels can be. So as you watch the front of one of their facilities, you hear only the persistent ringing of a room phone. It continues to go unanswered as the narrator points out that you may sleep so soundly at their motel that you may sleep right through your wakeup call. Now, assuming the motel guest has a flight to catch or appointments to keep that day, that is not a good idea.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sleeping Through Your Wakeup Call."
Now, sleeping through a wakeup call from your hotel can lead to serious consequences - like missing something you really can't afford to miss. Sleeping through a wakeup call from God can lead to deadly consequences - like missing the meaning of your life on earth - as well as the heaven we hope to go to when we die.
Only hours before Jesus was crucified, He asked His close friends this haunting question - "Are you still sleeping?" (Mark 14:41) It might be a question Jesus is asking you today - "Are you still sleeping after all the wakeup calls I've given you? After all the reminders and opportunities I've given you to get things settled with Me?"
Jesus loves you so much that He gave His life on that cross so you wouldn't have to die for your sins. He is not asking you to join a religion or go through some rituals. He's asking you to commit your life to the One who gave His life for you. But you've been putting Him off, pursuing other things, maybe hiding behind some excuses, or hoping that all the Christians and Christianity you know will somehow be enough. You can lock Jesus out rudely or you can do it politely. Either way, He's still not in your life and you're still what He calls "lost."
But because Jesus does not want to lose you, He's sent you wakeup calls. They may have been delivered through a Christian friend or maybe your spouse or family member who knows Christ personally. But you've put them off, blown them off. Those calls weren't from them - they were from Jesus. Sometimes, Jesus will even allow you to run into a wall to get your attention - a crisis, a loss, a medical emergency, a close call. Wakeup calls to show you your need for a Savior.
In Matthew 23:37, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus wept over the people of Jerusalem and said, "How often I have longed to gather your children together ... but you were not willing." He may be saying something like that to you right now - "How many times I've called you to Myself, but you were not willing."
I don't know how many more times He's going to call. I don't know - you don't know - when your time is going to be over. Bottom line - this is heaven or hell we're talking about. Today - right now - Jesus is calling one more time. Please, don't sleep through His call again. There's way too much to lose.
Open the door to this Man who loves you more than anyone has ever loved you. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."
The Bible puts it this way, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6) That implies you may not always be able to find Him. He may not always be near. But, He's near right now. Please, grab Him while you can.
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 18, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: The humblest and the most unseen activity in the world can be the true worship of God. Work and worship literally become one. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever; and man carries out that function when he does what God sent him into the world to do. Work well done rises like a hymn of praise to God. This means that the doctor on his rounds, the scientist in his laboratory, the teacher in his classroom, the musician at his music, the artist at his canvas, the shop assistant at his counter, the typist at her typewriter, the housewife in her kitchen -- all who are doing the work of the world as it should be done are joining in a great act of worship. - William Barclay
"While it is Day"
"As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me.
Night is coming, when no one can work."
- John 9:4
Said of a man who passed away in the prime of life, "His sun went down while it was yet day." But for all of us, including those approaching eventide, it still is day, and we have the opportunity to do worthwhile things. Whatever we do is made more pleasant when we look at it as an opportunity rather than an obligation.
Our work is whatever we do, not only hard work in the fields and factories but also other worthwhile activities: reading a good book, writing a letter to a lonesome person, helping the neighbor with a project, making life a little more pleasant for someone. Now is the time for doing this, for we know one thing for sure: Night is coming when we can no longer do it. It is yet day for another important thing: Becoming reconciled with someone with whom we are on the outs. Saint Paul writes, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:26). Make peace while you have the opportunity!
For all this we have the example of Jesus, who said, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work" (John 9:4). In going on to say, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world, " (v. 5), our Lord is not only our exemplar but also our enabler to work while it is yet day. As the Light comes from God, Jesus enlightens us, enabling us to follow in His steps. He became the Light of the world when, by His reconciling ministry all the way to the cross, He overcame the darkness of sin and the fear of death. With the light of the Gospel He shines into our lives while it is yet day.
PRAYER: Lord God, give me wisdom and strength to do Your will while the sun of my life is still shining. Amen.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House
May 19, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Who belongs to the Church? Who is my true brother? We
cannot always tell whether or not a man believes in Christ; but we can
always ask -- Christianity is not a secret society. And if a man says he
loves the Lord, why should I not treat him as my brother? If I should
happen to welcome one who is only a professing Christian, who has not given
his heart to Christ, what harm has it done? I will have offered the love of
God to one who rejects it, and I will have given a few hours of my life to
an enemy -- but our Father holds out His hands all day long to a rebellious
people, and our Savior gave His life for me when I was His enemy.
- Robert
MacColl Adams ("Receiving One Another")
"On Being Well-Dressed"
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." - Revelation 7:14
In Revelation the Lord declares through Saint John the Divine, "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed" (Revelation 16:15). Thus Christ describes His sudden coming, calling on us to be prepared to meet Him.
The garment in which we appear before God as well-dressed people is the robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our Savior, by His obedience of the law for us and by His endurance of the death penalty we as sinners had deserved, has gained a righteousness which is ours by faith. Our concern as Christians is to be clothed in this garment. Saint Paul speaks for us all when he expressed the earnest desire to "be found in [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (Philippians 3:9).
Do we really need this garment? In one of his books, the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy says this about someone who had renounced his Christian faith in favor of a philosophy: "He felt suddenly like a man who has changed his warm fur cloak for a muslin garment and, going for the first time into the frost, is immediately convinced, not by reason but by his whole nature, that he is as good as naked."
One cannot endure a Russian winter dressed in a flimsy muslin material; nor can one endure the rigors and hardships of life -- the coldness of peoples' hearts, the frost of affliction, the freezing temperature brought on by the fear of death -- unless he or she is properly dressed in the robe of Christ's righteousness. Wrapped up in the love of Christ, we are warm and safe from life's cold climate.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House
May 20, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Your difficulties are not almighty. The Lord alone is almighty. - S. Hughes
The Power of the Triune God
I don't know if this was plain coincidence or a "God-thing" but I had the exact same Bible verse come up in two different devotions I was reading two days in a row. What makes this especially unique is that one of the devotions (My Utmost for His Highest) is based on the actual day (in this case, May 15th) whereas the other (Luther for the Busy Man) is based on the Liturgical Calendar (Thursday of Exaudi was May 16th, 2002 this year). Had I been reading this last year, Oswald Chamber's devotion would have been identical, but Luther's would have been different because the Thursday of Exaudi last year would have been June 4th, 2001.
Now that I've entirely confused you, let me quote the Bible passage to you:
"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way." Ephesians 1:15-23
This passage is RICH in many ways, but I want to focus on that verse which says "that you may know...His incomparably great power for us who believe" (v. 18-19) and then explains "That power is like the working of His mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead..." (v. 19-20ff.)
Did you know the very power which raised Jesus Christ from the dead is available to us who believe in Him? Did you know God wants us to know that power so that we might have hope in Him who called us through His Spirit, saved us by the death of His Son and gives us eternal life through Christ's resurrection?
Dr. Luther says of this verse: "What can any creature do against us when the Creator is at our side?" What can separate me from the love of Christ? Death? Yeah, right! Jesus rose from the dead and I shall rise too! NOTHING can separate me from God because the same power which God exerted in Christ is available to me.
Spend some time this week thinking about what it means to have "the power which He exerted in Christ" available to you in your life. God in His mercy has given us forgiveness, mercy, His love, His Word, His presence through the Holy Spirit and the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ. No matter what your station in life: rich or poor, healthy or sick, young or old, male or female, red or yellow, black or white...in Christ we ALL have this same promise of His power through faith in Christ Jesus. Praise God! Amen.
Gary Zanow
The Grace Cyber Cafe
www.new-mercies.org
May 21, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Prayer opens our eyes that we may see ourselves and others
as God sees us.
- Clara Palmer
Controlling One's Love
"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
Love is sometimes misdirected, misapplied. People sometimes lack proper judgment and a right sense of values -- as in the case of an oil heiress in Florida who left her $12 million estate for the care of stray dogs. The last dog to survive was Musketeer, who lived in a $26,000 dog house. Or consider the millionaire who opened a hotel window and threw fistfuls of dollar bills to the crowd below.
The Bible speaks of misdirected love that values things more than persons, like the rich man who let Lazarus starve, and the rich farmer who was concerned about crops and barns to house them. They loved all right, but they loved things.
Jesus also speaks of people who love darkness more than light. With wrong love often goes wrong zeal, with the result that good intentions are claimed for doing wrong deeds, as Jesus said, "A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2).
How are you handling your love? Keeping it locked up inside? Extending it only to friends and to such who can return the favor? Withholding it from the needy at your door?
What about in your family? Love is misapplied when parents lavish material gifts on their children but fail to give themselves. The meaning of love is misunderstood when parents practice a soft love, a love devoid of discipline, a permissive love of anything goes. True love considers the well-being of the person to whom it is directed.
True love comes from God, Saint John tells us. God is not only the source of love, God is love. This He proved when He gave Jesus Christ, His Son, into death for the salvation of all people while they were yet sinners. Such divine love awakens the power of love in our hearts, and with it the wisdom to use it rightly.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House
May 22, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: It was not a marriage only, but a marriage feast to which Christ conducted His disciples. Now, we cannot get over this plain fact by saying that it was a religious ceremony: that would be mere sophistry. It was an indulgence in the festivity of life; as plainly as words can describe, here was a banquet of human enjoyment. The very language of the master of the feast about men who had well drunk, tells us that there had been, not excess, of course, but happiness there, and merry-making. Neither can we explain away the lesson by saying that it is no example to us, for Christ was there to do good, and that what was safe for Him might be unsafe for us. For if His life is no pattern for us here in this case of accepting an invitation, in what can we be sure it is a pattern? Besides, He took His disciples there, and His mother was there: they were not shielded, as He was, by immaculate purity. He was there as a guest first, as Messiah only afterwards: thereby He declared the sacredness of natural enjoyments.... For Christianity does not destroy what is natural, but ennobles it. To turn water into wine, and what is common into what is holy, is indeed the glory of Christianity. - F. W. Robertson
Encouraging Word For The Week From Brother Steve
Last week, I wrote you about our wonderful Revival. In my 12 years in the pastorate, this is the greatest response I have ever experienced. I just praise the Lord that He allowed us to be part of such a harvest of souls. Even with all the glory of the week, I hit Friday as a man who was worn out. Although a lot of good took place, I heard several voice their weariness from the week.
In life, most folks dedicate themselves to activities that they love. I guess this is why Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." He knew that people pour themselves into what pleases them most. On the flip side, if something doesn't have my time, talents, and money, then it doesn't have my heart.
Using this criterion, what do you love?
Granted, spending Sundays in church doesn't mean you love God with all your heart, but it does indicate that you love the place that He meets with His people. Reading the Bible daily doesn't mean that you are walking correctly with God, but it does illustrate that you place value in what He has commanded. Spending daily time with the Lord in prayer isn't a sure sign that you know Him, but it does communicate that you consider His presence to be a privilege that deserves your attention.
Over time, if I work on these things I have mentioned above, it will be very difficult not to have a deep, intimate relationship with the God of heaven and earth. When He has my time, then He will get my talents and money. Why? When He has me, He will also have everything I possess. Most of you profess to be Christians. However, your life indicates that you love fishing, car races, gardening, and baseball games more than Jesus. This is clearly conveyed in the hours you spend wearing yourself out in these activities. In scripture, the Lord never said such things are bad, but only that they become a problem when they take preeminence over the things of God.
Several years ago, I spoke to a man about this very issue. It was around February and I was visiting at his home. He wasn't actively attending church nor was the rest of his family. In the course of our conversation, I asked him if his two boys would be involved in baseball during the summer. To this, he replied, "yes". I responded by telling him that it would take more time and commitment to have his kids in the summer baseball program than it would to have them in Sunday School and church each week. They would have to go to 3-4 games and/or practices per week if they were to play ball. It would require them to drive all over the region to go to away games. For the balance of 2-3 months, their spare time would be consumed with baseball.
The result of my visit was that this guy's kids continued to play baseball and that entire family has yet to get active in a church. Why? They chose to get worn out with the things of this world rather than the things of God.
This week, I want to encourage you to examine what you are pouring your life into. Are the things that are "wearing you out" eternally significant? When you lay your head on the pillow and think, "I'm whipped", is God pleased with the way you spent yourself?
I'm not suggesting that you stop going down to Lake Bistineau and catching perch or quit the work on your garden. However, don't let these things wear you out to the detriment of your relationship with God and His church. It is my prayer that all of you will one day be able to say what Paul did in II Timothy 4:7 - "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." This statement was his way of saying, "I wore myself out on the right thing!" Are you?
Seeking Jesus,
Bro. Steve
First Baptist Church, Doyline, LA
May 23, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou
be the friend of Christ?
- Thomas a Kempis
A Word With YOu
By Ron Hutchcraft
"The Strategy for Bringing You Down"
John 15:5
Karen and I passed a sign for a town with what I found to be an amusing name - "Girdletree." Now, if you live there, I'm sorry - but I did get a chuckle out of that name. And then my wife let me know that "girdletree" really described a process I had never heard of. She said, "When I was a kid, my Dad used to girdle trees on our farm." Now without further explanation, that's going to get some ridiculous images going in your overactive imagination. Now, what Karen described to me was a process her Dad, and other farmers, used to soften a tree so it would be easier to bring down the next year. He took his ax, and he cut a ring in the bark that "girdled" the entire trunk at that point. The idea was to cut off the tree's sap delivery system. And it worked. The next year, that tree was softer and pretty easy to bring down. So, I'm not laughing anymore.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Strategy for Bringing You Down."
That strategy for bringing a tree down actually can work on people, too - especially on those of us who belong to Jesus Christ. Cut the tree - or the believer - off from its life-supply. Before long, it will be relatively easy to bring that believer down. Without even knowing it, that softening, weakening process may be happening in your life right now.
To head that off, you need to remember where your spiritual life-supply comes from and to protect it fiercely. That's what our word for today from the Word of God is about. In John 15, Jesus is comparing our relationship with Him to a branch's relationship with the grapevine - probably as He and the disciples were looking at a grapevine. He says, beginning in verse 5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing ... If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."
Now, clearly, the issue in remaining spiritually strong and alive is "remaining" in Jesus - staying in close touch, not getting disconnected, not drifting away. Your enemy the devil knows that you can, as Jesus said, do nothing spiritually apart from Jesus. So how is the devil going to bring you down? He's going to keep you away from Jesus, of course. And for someone who's listening right now, you've been falling for it - and getting weaker as time goes by.
I'm talking about your personal Jesus-time - the time you set aside each new day to be with Him and Him alone. Could it be that your times with Him have increasingly been abbreviated ... postponed ... even cancelled or ignored? Notice that Jesus ties together "remaining in Him" with His words remaining in you. The focal point of your Jesus-time is supposed to be daily hearing His heart for you through His words in the Bible. This whole business of being a follower of Jesus is all about a relationship with Him that is going strong. But you've been busy ... or down ... or preoccupied - for whatever reason, your time with your Savior has been shrinking or vanishing.
Before you get any farther from Him, before you get any weaker and more vulnerable, you need to move your time with Jesus from "when I can get to it" or "when I feel like it" to being non-negotiable. That time with Jesus is your life support system. Every other demand in your life has to fit around your time with Him! Let Jesus be the highest priority of your personal schedule. Without Him, you're just too easy to bring down.
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 24, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence. - George Elliot
A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
"Human Files"
Matthew 18:6
Our daughter called the other day and told us that we had to hear what our 3-year-old grandson had just said to her - totally unprompted, out of the blue. He got on the phone and simply said, "Ronald." Karen and I cracked up. That's exactly what Karen says to me when I'm doing something weird - which, of course, is very, very rare. It's her lighthearted way of trying to correct this crazy guy she's married to. But our grandson had even mastered the tone of what she says - "Ronald." All this time he's been listening, recording - and now reproducing. Like we should be surprised?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Human Files."
Now, all the time our kids were growing up, we had this tapestry hanging up in our room - it said, "Children learn what they live." I guess. Our recent amusing experience with our grandson was only a reminder of the truth of that. Except the results of children learning what they live often are anything but amusing. Whether you realize it or not, your child, your grandchild - any child you're around very much - is listening ... recording ... and sooner or later reproducing what they have experienced or witnessed with you.
And if that weren't sobering enough, we have what Jesus says in our word for today from the Word of God to make us think seriously about how we're marking the children we influence. In Matthew 18:6, Jesus says, "If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Wow. Jesus says, "Whatever you do, don't mess up a child."
So, it is obviously very important to step back and consider what we are putting on the video and audio tapes in our kids' minds. The angry words. The names we call them or other people. The racial prejudice that diminishes someone God created - or a whole group of people God created. The children are picking up how we talk about other people ... they're absorbing all that church gossip they hear and forming feelings about the people and work of God. They're learning how to handle stress, and conflict, and disappointment - by watching you. They're learning to respect or disrespect your spouse by the way you respect or disrespect your spouse.
I wonder what our children are learning from us about money - about how important it is ... about giving it generously to Jesus ... about how to handle those times when the money isn't there. Are they learning faith in a God who's a wonderful provider or fear and complaining? And what are our children learning from what they know we watch or listen to? Are they taught that certain things are wrong - and then see you watching those things portrayed or laughed about on TV? They are learning, not so much by what you say, but by what you live.
Think about what you're writing in the wet cement of that child's heart. It may be that you need to go to a child and actually apologize for some of what they have seen and heard - to let them know it isn't right and you're trying to change. And concentrate on giving them the kinds of experiences you want them to copy - praying together, calmly talking through things, listening before talking, putting the other person first, treating people with respect.
The children in our lives are human files - storing what they experience and ultimately reproducing it. They learn what they live - and then later they live what they learned. Jesus said, "Do not mess up the children, or you'll have Me to answer to." Be sure they're learning what you want them to live - what He wants them to live.
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 25, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good. - John Milton
A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
"The Good Thing About Bad Storms"
Acts 27:14, 18-19
When my wife gets her hand on the TV's remote control, she usually chooses something educational. The other night she was watching a feature on what the host called "good things hurricanes do." Well now, having seen some of the bad things hurricanes do, I was intrigued to hear about this. The feature told about these Australian pine trees that had somehow taken root in a place in Florida that hosted attractive plants which, in turn, attracted many beautiful birds and small animals. Well, as those pines grew and got tall (by the way, that's an experience I've never had personally!), they literally created a canopy over those plants, and blocked out the sun. What had once been an area thriving with plant and animal life became a stretch of sterile underbrush - until the hurricane hit. The storm literally snapped those trees in two. And the sun is back. The area is now a beautiful park with pools, greenery, flowers, herons, and lots of interesting wildlife. But it took a hurricane.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Good Thing About Bad Storms."
The storm blew in and removed what didn't belong there. I understand that. God has sent or allowed storms to come roaring into my life over the years, often with that same effect. It's true in nature, it's true in our lives - what devastates can also be God's tool to cleanse and improve!
There's a picture of that in Acts 27, beginning with verse 14, our word for today from the Word of God. The Apostle Paul is being transported to Rome for trial on a large cargo ship that is carrying 276 passengers. They suddenly get hit by a massive storm system that batters them and threatens to destroy them for two weeks.
Paul writes, "A wind of hurricane force ... swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm ... and we were driven along ... We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands."
Eventually, Paul is visited by an angelic messenger. Here's how Paul reported that visit to his fellow passengers: "Keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'"
Storms clarify the things that really matter and the things that really don't. In this case, they threw overboard cargo they thought they needed but they didn't really need. That may be what God is trying to get you to do as the storm batters you - set some new priorities ... get rid of some cargo you've accumulated - even some sin you've taken on - your stuff that needs to go. Just as God clarified for Paul what really mattered - his life mission and the people on the ship - it could be that God wants to use your personal hurricane to get you to focus on the things that really matter. The ship may not make it, but it's the people who matter anyway! Maybe people you've been neglecting because you've been all about the ship and the voyage. And your life mission is what matters - the things God has given you to do that also may have been marginalized recently and that too will survive the storm.
The hurricanes of God seem devastating sometimes - but He sends them to accomplish things that might not happen any other way ... the cleansing that your life needs. The new priorities your life needs. He's removing what's been blocked the sun - so something beautiful can grow there.
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
www.gospelcom.net/rhm/
Copyright (c) 2002, Ron Hutchcraft
May 26, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: I cannot tell you how much I love you. But that which of all things I have most at heart, with regard to you, is the real progress of your soul in the divine life. Heaven seems to be awakened in you. It is a tender plant. It requires stillness, meekness, and the unity of the heart, totally given up to the unknown workings of the Spirit of God, who will do all His work in the calm soul that has no hunger or desire except to escape out of the mire of its earthly life into its lost union and life in God. I mention this out of a fear of your giving in to an eagerness about many things, which, though seemingly innocent, yet divide and weaken the workings of the divine life within you. - William Law
If God Is So Powerful...
"If God is so powerful can He make a rock so big even He can't pick it up?"
Has anyone ever asked you that question? I think the first time I heard it was in seventh grade. At 12 years old I was stumped, to say the least. How can you answer without demeaning God's omnipotence? It's a trick question...no matter how you answer it the person asking is going to say "Then I guess God's NOT all-powerful."
Later, when I was older and wiser, I came to the conclusion that I can answer the question "NO, He cannot make a rock so big that He can't pick it up" without demeaning His power because God will not contradict Himself. God is all powerful. He can create anything, but He will not create something that would demean His own power; so therefore He would not make a rock that He couldn't pick up. Are you following me? Kind of like saying "God cannot sin" because He holds Himself to His own laws. God cannot lie because He is Truth. "...if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself" (2nd Timothy 2:13).
So from that angle I would say "NO, God cannot make a rock so big He can't pick it up" and not feel like there's any contradiction at all. God cannot deny Himself.
But then I got to thinking about how God Himself took on human flesh and became man and humbly gave His body over to be whipped and beaten and allowed Himself to be demeaned and physically and verbally abused eventually being nailed to a cross and DYING there...and I decided that "Yes, God CAN choose to make Himself weak without disowning Himself" because that's exactly what He did out of love for us. Jesus told His disciples: "Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53) And then He allowed Himself to be arrested and led off to a trial ending in His death.
He was beaten, abused and nailed to a cross because He chose to be beaten, abused and nailed to the cross. As He hung there naked and broken before the world, humiliated and surrounded by people calling Him names and challenging to come down off the cross He easily could have leapt off the cross in power and glory and surrounded by a great, blazing ball of light destroyed everyone within a hundred mile radius of Golgotha...but He didn't do that. Instead He "made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-8)
So YES, God can make a Rock that even He cannot pick up (sort of). Jesus is that Rock...the Rock of our Salvation. He willfully became weak for our sake and the Father willfully rejected Him for our sake when He became what He never was...He who knew no sin became sin for us (see 2 Corinthians 5:21) and God let Him die full of our sin, our sickness and our shame ---but the story doesn't end there.
What appeared to be God's weakness was actually a display of His strength. Jesus didn't hang on that cross because the nails were holding Him there but because of His love for the sinners gathered at the foot of the cross and His love for you and me. Which of us would endure pain and torture if we knew we could just walk away? What kind of strength did it take to hang there when He easily could have come down whenever He wanted? But He hung there until it was over. He hung there until it was finished!
And the story doesn't end there. Three days later He rose from the dead and in one, fell swoop He conquered sin, death and the devil and proved that He really is who He said He is: Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, Son of Man and Son of God, God Himself in the flesh, our Savior and our Redeemer, Christus Victor - Christ Victorious!
He is the Rock of my salvation, and there is no other! "...for their rock is not as our Rock, as even our enemies concede." (Deuteronomy 32:31) Amen.
Gary Zanow
The Grace Cyber Cafe
www.new-mercies.org
May 27, 2002 (Memorial Day)
QUOTE OF THE DAY: Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's
life for his friends.
- Jesus Christ (John 15:13)
"Who is a Success?"
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." - Ecclesiastes 9:10
A West Point graduate once tried to make a living on his farm near St. Louis, Missouri, but he failed. Then he tried to sell real estate, but again to no avail. So he moved to Galena, Illinois, to go into business with his brothers. Soon after, the Civil War broke out, and the West Point graduate finally shone. He became the top Union general, then the President of the United States -- Ulysses S. Grant.
Most people have to put up with some failure. The question is, however, how do we deal with it?
Christians try to put their life and life's work into perspective. First, they do their best, bearing in mind what the Bible says, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" -- do it with wholehearted effort, put your mind to it.
Second, Christians realize that they need God's blessing on their work, and they pray for it. The psalmist declares, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). We recall the words of Peter the fisherman, "Master we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything" (Luke 5:5). That happens to other people as well: salesmen, businessmen, farmers, housewives. But Peter went on, " But because you say so, I will let down the nets." How different was the outcome then, for the Lord abundantly blessed the efforts of the fishing disciples.
Christians keep also this truth in perspective: Success in this world isn't everything. So they seek first Christ's kingdom and His righteousness. True discipleship is of the greatest importance to them, for they want to live for Him who redeemed them with His blood. By Christ's standards, all who are strong in faith and rich in good works are a success.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 28, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: O Lord, Thou givest us everything, at the price of an effort. - Leonardo Da Vinci
"Our Father Lives"
"Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity." - Psalm 93:2
In her book "Changing," Liv Ullmann, A Norwegian actress, writes, "The void that Papa's death left in me became a kind of a cavity, into which later experiences were to be laid."
Ullmann is not alone. The death of a dear one always affects the members of the family and shapes their lives for good or ill. This is even more true when the departed one is the father, the mainstay of the family.
It is different with our heavenly Father, who in distinction to human fathers has immortality. God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning and end. Death will never take Him away from us.
Yet we sometimes act as if God were dead. We are no different from the man who worried a lot because his business was failing. He said for him God was dead. So his wife pretended a great and deep sadness. When her husband asked about it, she told him about a dream. In it she supposedly saw God with silver-white hair lying in a coffin, angels weeping as they looked on. The husband assured her that her dream was impossible, for God cannot die, and God cannot lie, for He is faithful. While he was still speaking, he realized his error -- and thanked his wife for the lesson.
God alone has immortality. He has eternal life in Himself. What is more, He shares this endless life with us, His children. Jesus Christ, His Son, went into death for us and thereby "has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). God promised, whoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have eternal life. God is alive, and He wants you to live in Him through Christ.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 29, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: To be out of harmony with the things, acts, and events, which God in His providence has seen fit to array around us--that is to say, not to meet them in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit--is to turn from God. And, on the other hand, to see in them the developments of God's presence, and of the divine will, and to accept that will, is to turn in the opposite direction, and to be in union with Him. - Thomas C. Upham
Encouraging Word For The Week From Brother Steve
For the students of Doyline, school ends tomorrow (Wednesday). This is the moment so many of them have been waiting for. I'm sure that a large percentage of these have been counting down the days for the last several weeks. Why? Not having school means they can sleep late, lounge around, play games, go swimming, ride bikes, and a host of other things that are synonymous with being a kid.
Twenty-Five years ago, I was the same way. I couldn't wait to get out. It was an exciting time to be alive. Freedom was in the air. Things were great until I got BORED. This sense of chronic boredom usually hit about the second or third week after school let out. I can just hear it now -- "Mom, I don't have anything to do. I'm soooooo bored." To this she would give her patented parent answer: "I'll be glad you're back in school." Although I didn't want to admit it, I was looking forward to school too.
Human beings are a strange bunch. We get want we want, and then once it is possessed we don't want it anymore. In fact, the thing that we can't wait to get rid of becomes the very thing we long for after a little while. In other words, it is hard to make people happy.
In terms of this boredom thing, I was wondering how many Christians are bored with being Christians. I suppose you could look at this from the perspective of "churchy stuff". Do you ever get weary of attending church? Does singing the same songs and hearing the same stories ever get monotonous? Do the people of the church ever tire you out? If you answered "yes" to any of the previous questions, then congratulations --You're not alone.
Frankly, the church will become boring at times because it is an institution full of people. Wherever people are there will be boredom.
However, a relationship with Jesus Christ should never get boring. Unlike human relationships that sometimes breakdown due to familiarity, walking with the creator of the universe is a different story. Three or four weeks after accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, a new believer should never say, "I'm tired of this and want something new." It takes a lifetime to scratch the surface of knowing God. Therefore, being a disciple of Jesus is a new adventure everyday.
In Psalm 8:3-4, King David is pondering what it means to know God: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" David realizes that it is an awesome things to be loved of God.
On the day Isaiah is called into the ministry of being a prophet he has a vision of God. His response tells us that it was a life-shaking event: "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" The rest of his life was consumed with knowing his Lord.
Walking with Jesus is an exciting adventure of living in the presence and power of the Divine. It is nothing to yawn at or overlook. This is illustrated in Peter and Andrew leaving their fishing nets, their life's work, to follow a man who said he would make them "fishers of men". Paul was never the same again after Jesus called his name on the road to Damascus. He would span the world of his time and leave an impression that would change history. He was never bored with the Messiah who changed his life.
You see, being a Christian is the work of transformation. It takes more than a minute-long prayer of commitment to be what God desires. The "Sinner's prayer" will redeem the heart, but it will take the rest of ones' life to pursue God's plan. Paul conveyed this when he said, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)
I mentioned earlier that the things of church can become boring. This is true when I'm not pursuing Jesus. Singing "Set My Soul Afire" becomes boring when my heart is cold. "Holy, Holy, Holy" can be a dull song when I'm not experiencing the glory of the presence of God in my life. I regularly find fault in sermons when my appetite is focused on worldly things. Strangely enough, the closer I get to God, the better the pastor will preach. Even those same old folks at the church house become more beautiful to behold when Jesus becomes more wonderful to me.
I don't have a remedy for the summertime blues of boredom, but I can help you get out of your spiritual dull drums. Get closer to God and He will get closer to you. Seek Him, desire Him, and allow Him to be the abiding passion of your life and you'll find how quickly things can get exciting.
Serving Jesus,
Bro. Steve
First Baptist Church, Doyline, LA
May 30, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: The acknowledgment of our weakness is the first step in
repairing our loss.
- Thomas � Kempis
"Making a New Start"
"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved ... But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us ... because of His mercy." - Titus 3:3-5
"Medea," a play written by dramatist Euripides some 2,500 years ago, features the eternal triangle: Medea's husband, Jason, falls in love with a younger woman. This so angers Medea that she murders Jason's two children and her youthful rival.
Human nature today is what it always was: marked by love and hatred, joy and sorrow, sympathy and insensitivity, ambition and the lack of it. As in times past, so today. Some people are diligent, while others think the world owes them a living.
There is an unevenness in human behavior, and this has always been so. At the same time, all people have a common denominator, a common trait. There has never been an exception to that. What is it? The psalmist declares, "They are a people whose hearts go astray" (Psalm 95:10). To emphasize that believers also have this common fault still in them, the prophet Isaiah writes, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). Isaiah is talking about sin, a straying from God's guidelines for true goodness and righteousness.
We are probably right in saying that moral straying is more pronounced in one age than another. But it has always been there, because human nature hasn't changed basically. And from that self-same fountain -- the corrupt heart -- proceed all evil thoughts, words, and deeds that Jesus enumerated.
There is only one way out: conversion, regeneration, the new birth, the coming to faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Through the Gospel the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ and makes us a new creation in Him. Now we get off the old treadmill of repeating the age-old sins, and we walk in the newness of life. What a pleasant journey!
PRAYER: Lord God, help me to break the old molds and to live my life anew in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.
May 31, 2002
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Does not all nature sing? If you were to be silent, you would be an exception to the universal adoration! Does not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? "Does not the ocean praise Him as it claps its thousand hands? Does not the sea roar with the fullness thereof? Do not the mountains praise Him when the shaggy woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Do not the lightnings write His name in letters of fire upon the midnight darkness? Does not this world, in its unceasing revolutions, perpetually roll forth His praise? "Has not the whole earth a voice, and yet will we be silent? "Will man - for whom the world was made, and suns and starts were created - will he be dumb?
"No! let him lead the chorus!" - Unknown
"The Pursuit of Peace"
"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." - 1 Peter 3:8
While General Lew Wallace was writing his book "Ben Hur," United States president Rutherford B. Hayes ordered him to put down a violent feud in Lincoln County, New Mexico, in which the outlaw Billy the Kid was involved.
Many other people who are pursuing peaceful pursuits also have been interrupted by outbreaks of violence. Abraham had to pull his 318 servants off their peacetime work to rescue Lot, a prisoner of war. David could no longer play the harp for King Saul when the latter threw a spear at him and made war against him. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying when an armed band came to arrest Him.
Life today is full of peace-disturbing happenings such as burglaries, break-ins, family feuds, racial disturbances, to say nothing of unrest in the world at large.
It is necessary that we do what we can to promote peace, lest violence increase. "Live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18), the apostle tells us. This we can do individually and together with other peace-minded people, as the Bible says: "Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22). Note that peace is not isolated; it goes together with righteousness, faith, and love. When Saint Peter tells us "Whoever would love life and see good days...he must seek peace and pursue it" (1 Peter 3:10-11), he speaks of the context in which peace occurs: the seeking of unity, the keeping of one's tongue from speaking evil, the turning from evil to that which is right.
Before us we have the example of our heavenly Father, who is a God of unity and reconciliation. He is "the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20). He enables us, who in Christ are forgiven and at peace with Him, to pursue peaceful relations with others -- in the family, in church, in the community, at work.
Taken from "Each Day with Jesus"
Copyright 1994, Concordia Publishing House.