PAUL'S "BAD HAIR DAYS" IN JERUSALEM

Have you ever been frustrated? Pretty silly question, right? We all find ourselves frustrated from time to time, if not all the time. Frustration can come from a multitude of occurrences in our everyday life: Spilled coffee, slow traffic, misbehaving children, plans thwarted, loss of control in situations where control was all we could count on.

Frustration has many side effects: Anger is one; confusion about where, what, why... is another; fear of what's next; hope for good results crushed; despair, depression, despondency, even deep self-deprecation and desire to just quit everything.

When Paul finally returned to Jerusalem, after many years of travel into Asia Minor and Greece, his biggest hope was to be able to preach and teach the Gospel of Christ to all who would listen; especially since he had such great news to tell them about the work of Christ in the hearts of the Gentiles. We might say he was “pumped” to get on with spreading the Gospel of Love and Grace back in Jerusalem where it all was completed many years before.

However, it seemed that he just ran into one brick wall after another:

First, he ran headlong into church leaders who had heard that “some” were spreading bad reports of what he was doing “out there” in Gentile land.These same men had collaborated with him on how to handle the subject of circumcision and had come to an agreement which was written down and signed for Paul to carry with him. Now they were alarmed that these false rumors were spreading throughout Jerusalem when they knew that Paul, himself, was true to the Jewish laws and traditions. They were not going to accuse him of anything – BUT – some appeasement was needed to dissuade these rumors. They suggested that he join a group of local men who were going to participate in a purification ceremony. That turned out really well for him. NOT.

When he was at the temple, toward the end of the time of purification, some of the complaining Jews from the province of Asia saw him. They accused him openly of defiling the temple by shouting lies about him and his teachings. “The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions.” There was a riot, during which Paul was dragged out of the temple and beaten, and nearly killed. The riot was only stopped by the appearance of the Roman Guard.

Not knowing what was going on, they came and arrested Paul, binding him in chains, as prophecied earlier in Act. As they were removing him, he spoke up in Greek and startled the guards who thought he was an Egyptian rebel.

I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cylicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.

Then he changed to Aramaic, which hushed the crowd. Then he gave his Jewish resume and continued with his testimony in Jesus Christ, ending with this statement:

Then the Lord said to me, “Go: I will send you far away to the gentiles.”

With that, the riot started all over again. And, once more, the Roman Guard stepped in to get Paul out of there.

Being frustrated themselves, they removed Paul from the situation, but tried to further the inquiry of him by ordering a flogging and questioning. Paul spoke up again and asked if it was legal to flog a Roman citizen without a trial and a verdict. It was not. They were, shall we say, astounded about what they had almost done, but the commander wanted to be sure and asked more questions. As these questions were answered, the ones who were about to flog him quietly backed out of the room.. “The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.”

I think we can be sure that this was not a good day for Paul. And, his night was surely a rough one as well.

The very next day, the Romans decided to find out the truth of all this by turning him over to the court of the Sanhedrins, the Jewish Court made up of Pharisees and Sadducees who were not even able to agree with each other about what the truth was in the laws of God.

Things went from bad to worse when they took him into custody and those near him where told to “strike him on the mouth.” - That was an illegal action according to the law to which these leaders held themselves.

Paul spoke up saying, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall...” He accused them, just as Christ had, of being clean appearing on the outside but filthy dirty on the inside; and willing to break their own laws. This did not set well with anyone and Paul was called out on failing to respect the High Priest.

Paul, being a faithful keeper of Jewish law, immediately confessed what he had done and what law he had broken. Then he challenged the Sanhedrin with the fact that he was being persecuted for believing in the resurrection, which the Pharisee half also held as a belief, but the Sadducees did not.

That did not help. The Pharisees and Sadducees began their own shouting match at each other and the whole thing became another riot from which Paul needed to be rescued. The Roman Guard once again had to step in:

“There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law stood up and argued... became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.”

They took him away by force and brought him into the barracks, like a prisoner. At this point, it can be said that Paul was beside himself with frustration over the whole situation. Even though he knew this was coming and that he would be sent to Rome, his plans to preach the Gospel in Jerusalem were shattered. His heart was breaking over the people of Jerusalem and what they were missing out on. He needed some encouragement.

Acts 25:11 – THE FOLLOWING NIGHT THE LORD STOOD NEAR PAUL and said, “Take courage. As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

If that doesn't grab your heart, break it and heal it at the same time leaving you with a conviction that you are not alone, then you are not paying attention.

Paul had just experienced the worst three days of his life and he was ready for some new energy and eagerness to go on with what was to come.

Is there anything more exciting in our lives as Christians, than the realization that Christ is at our side during every single trial that we go through; the realization that He is not off somewhere in Heaven tending to kingly duties while we struggle through life on this earth; the fact that Jesus is truly with us every step of the way as we remain bound by the forces against us on this earth? He is always at our side. ALWAYS.

THE FOLLOWING NIGHT THE LORD STOOD NEAR PAUL. He came in body form and stood right next to Paul. He is present with us ALWAYS, standing at our side, encouraging us to continue on the path He has set before us.

The riots and persecutions were not over; BUT Christ had already won this war.

Hallelujah! AMEN.

THE COURTSHIP OF CHRIST

I have many things on my mind this morning, but one thing is blossoming above the rest: Children being frightened into Salvation.

Some years ago, a four year old child told me that he had accepted Jesus as his Savior because he did not want to go to hell. I was disturbed by this, although I told him how happy I was for him that he accepted Christ as His Savior.

His parents were and are friends that I love dearly. They serve Christ unquestionably as He leads them down a road of wonderful and inspiring ministry in His name. But something about this profession of faith disturbed me and I could not put my finger on it.

Since then, I have heard other such testimonies and I have heard many mothers speaking in dismay because they fear their little one will go to hell if the do not realize Christ as Savior as soon as possible.

When you see this picture, what comes to mind? We know that Jesus called out for the Apostles to let the children come to him, and we see many images of what that may have looked like. But what do we think He is talking to them about? Do you hear Him saying to them, “Little Children, you are sinners and will go to hell if you do not follow me?” I doubt that anyone thinks that. So what DO you see and hear as you gaze at images such as that or this...

Can't you just see and hear Jesus telling them how much He loves them and how much His Father loves them and how beautiful they are in his eyes. Can't you just hear Him showing them the beauty around them rather than the ugly? Can't you feel the love and the children's excitement as they feel that Love?

I remember one mother telling me about her very young daughter and saying, “She just was born loving Jesus, and she is just bursting to live His love out in her life.” What a beautiful realization that the LOVE of Christ is enough to bring a child into a relationship with Him. He alone can make their little hearts long for Him and turn to Him just because they love Him and He loves them. That is definitely enough for the little ones.

They do not have to come laying out their sins before Him. They just have to answer the longing in their hearts for Him. Sins will be known and confessed later; right now it is all about love.

I know that it must be difficult for parents to take the burden of leading their children into a relationship with Christ. That has always been a huge responsibility. But I have a deep conviction that there needs to be an emphasis on Love over sin with young children. Knowing about sin will come. What they need at their tender age is a courtship with Christ.

Recently I was watching “19 Kids and Counting” and watching the attitude about dating and courting and even engagement and all the steps it takes to arrive at Marriage. I guess that is where I got this idea of the courtship of Christ in a young child's life. That, and my own testimony of His Courtship with me.

I had no actual concept of sin. I grew up in a family situation that was full of it, but I did not know it by definition.

God had known me even before my parents came into being, let alone into a sinful intimate relationship that was the beginning of me, the human named Cheryl.

We celebrated Christmas as Xmas with Santa Claus. We pretty much ignored Easter, except for the Easter Egg Hunt theme, and the big dinner. But because the Word of God says that God the Father desired me to be one with Jesus; and because Jesus, Himself was seeking after me, I am assured that Jesus was courting me even in my earliest days. I was chosen and I was intended to be His from before the beginning of my life. I had no idea of this and I just spent my time growing up a little; driving my mother insane with my constant howling; but otherwise pretty obedient to and respectful of her.

Finally, when I was eight years old, I had a chance to go to church. I had no idea that I wanted to do that, but I was very pleased with the doing. Mom sent us off to the corner church every Sunday Morning (I'm thinking... so that she could have a nice quiet Sunday morning all alone.). I loved going and I started learning about Jesus and His love for me. I was definitely interested in knowing more; so I kept going.

When summer came, Mom enrolled us in two DVBS sessions. That was her vacation, for sure. At the end of the second one, the Pastor asked those of us interested in joining with Jesus to come forward. I was ecstatic. I grabbed my brother and our friends and made them come with me. I do not know how they handled the situation, but I spent the time thanking Jesus for loving me and promising Him that I would love Him back.

I am sure they went through the required preparation prayer, but all I was concerned with was that Jesus asked me to be His friend forever and I accepted that invitation. I was in love and it was all about Jesus!

And for the next 9 years I lived on that and that alone. My connection to any church at all came to a halt when we moved away and I found that choosing a church to go to was impossible because they all had names; the churches I went to before were community churches without specific names. Mom and Dad were too busy to help me out, so I spent the next 8 years longing to go to Sunday school, but hindered by not being able to convince anyone to take me with them.

But the longing to know more about Jesus never went away. He was always there reminding me that He loves me and that He will be near whenever I need Him. I was still a little vague about sin, but I had a pretty clear view of right and wrong and God used that to keep me from many things that could have trapped me for life. He watched over me carefully.

But the point I am trying to make is that sometimes we allow fear to guide us in what we do; then we use it to try to accomplish what God can accomplish completely on His own. God is not the Author of Fear – Nowhere in His word does He tell us to fear; nor does He teach us to teach our children to fear. He tells us to give our children to Him and let Him court them into a full relationship with Him.

Sometimes we disregard the truth that Jesus knew these children LONG before the parents came to know them, and that He planted in them the longing for Him that He would use to bring them to Him. He did not plant a fear of hell in any of our children; and I think maybe we should not do that either.

All in all, it comes down to the idea presented to us this week in the sermon: God plants in us the way we should go and how we will be used for His Glory in this place.

There are many prophets and servants in Scripture who fill that bill in our minds: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Samuel, David and several Kings and prophets through the years.

And I always default to King Cyress, who was pre-instructed that he was to let the Israelites go from their bondage and to rebuild their lives back in Jerusalem; this even before his parents were aware of the blessing of a child to be born. And King Cyress admired the One True God, but may have never submitted to that God to worship Him alone. Still, God wanted to use him at that critical point and he was pre-instructed to do exactly what God had planned.

But the need is this: that we see ourselves and our children filling that bill as well. We, and they, are in God's hands and God's plans.

May we step back just a little from instilling fear, and get on with instilling LOVE and plenty of it. Children need love; Children respond to love; Jesus LOVES us into coming with Him and doing as He wills with our lives. We can never say enough about how much and how well God Loves us.

May we allow Jesus do His courting in the lives of those we love, and in our own lives as well. He will succeed where we may fail.

Is this the day I die? Am I ready?

Is this the day I die?

He'd asked himself the question every day since he was (his son's) age. Every day the answer had been no. But his father had taught him, “One day the answer will be yes, and on that day you must be ready."

Yesterday I went to the library at church and sought books that might give me new insights to write about. God handed me Safely Home, by Randy Alcorn.
 

I am excited about God handing me this book to read - it was on the shelf displayed as “new” to the library – and it was authored by a man I admire for his intelligent discussions of difficult issues, so I was immediately drawn to it. I also picked up a second book, but this one seemed to call me to read it first. Then on page seven I found out why: Is this the day I die? Powerful question.

I know where Alcorn is going with this question, but, before I read the rest, I need to dwell on this question awhile. I know the answer for me, but what about for you? Are you ready if this is the day you will die? This time I will not be including myself in the scenarios where I usually use the third person “we.” I do know that if today is the day, I am ready.

When I had my heart attack, I did ask God to consider those who where “under my care” at that moment before he let me die. I felt there was still a need for me here. But I was quite happy to go if that was His plan. It wasn't.

Most of my readers are mothers; and mothers, perhaps, will never be ready to die, so long as their children are alive. That is a God built-in response that mothers will have, always. It is an excellent response. But we all know that even mothers sometimes die before their children; in fact it is, to a point, the accepted way that as the parents get older they are destined to die before their children. No mother can ever quietly accept the loss of any of her children. She never quite gets over it, and carries an emptiness within her that just does not go away.

There in lies an intricate and difficult problem; children also carry an empty place in their hearts that will not go away if they loose their mother, no matter how old they are at the time. Let's face it – no one is truly ready to die when it appears that their time has not yet come. No one. And no one is ever prepared to loose a loved one to death, no matter if it is sudden or long expected. Death is the curse of sin in this world, and we are all born to eventually die; but we have never found delight in this fact. Nor should we.

“Is today the day I will die?”

This was a cultural thing in the book. Not everyone grows up thinking that thought everyday of their lives. But it is a thought we all should have now and then. Am I ready to die today, if that is what will happen? Am I prepared to die, knowing that I will be okay if I do? How about you?

There is only one way to be sure about the answer to that question and that is to ask another question: Have I secured my future after death through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?

In the world view of today (and yesterday) - “to live, live, live until I die,” because that is all there is - we might as well make the most of it and "live it up." But one thing  confuses me: most people think they are making the most of it, but they are really making the least of it by spending their lives drugged or drunk or chasing the fountain of youth or the almighty dollar, while finding 101 ways to sin, and always angry about every little thing; they never actually live life in any full or joyful way.

It seems to me that - if you are going to live, live, live until you die - you should do it with some abandon and glee; not angry and empty and half psychotic. So why don't people do that instead of rioting and rousting and doing damage to each other as much as possible? It certainly seems that not being ready to die is not helpful in actually living joyfully, and in fullness of life, such as it can be known here on earth.

The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes came to realize this and wrote his findings down for us to enjoy and meditate on. In his time frame verses it is clearly stated that there is “a time' for many things, but all things add up to just one: Life is short and the only way to live happily or joyfully on this earth is: Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

The only way to actually have something to live for is to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross to give us all a reason to live and a way to live:

John 10:10 The thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that (you) might have life, and that (you) might have it more abundantly.

So who is this thief? It is drugs, strong drink, addiction to looking and feeling young, living for sensuality and chasing after the mighty dollar. The thief is Satan with all his tools of distraction which bind us to him instead of to Jesus Christ. He totally robs us of the ability to live life joyfully or abundantly, appearances not withstanding. We are born sinners and as sinners we do not have any chance of living life well until we receive the offer of Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Lord:

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

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

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

And to find fullness of joy with abundance in this life as well as the next, we must have within us the source of all Joy and Fullness in life: The Holy Spirit who can guide us and teach us and give us the Joy, Peace, and Love that we cannot find for ourselves in this place or the next.

Romans 8:11

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

 

John 16:13

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

 

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness...

 

Romans 8:9

..if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him (Christ).

So... if you desire to live, live, live until you die and not be afraid of dying, you need to take a look at Jesus Christ and his Question of the Day: Who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

May you find the peace, joy and the fullness of life that you desire by listening to Christ's question for you; and answering that persuasive, beautiful voice which is calling you to be one with Christ, now and forever. And may your answer be – Yes, Lord, I believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that He alone can change my life completely. I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be washed in the blood of Christ, forgiven for my sins and forever changed into a person who leans on Him for everything in my life. Amen.

Now go and read His Word, starting in the Gospel of John. If you are not already connected to a Bible teaching/preaching church, find one and get involved with learning more and more about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who loves you more than you can ever imagine and who will be there for you always; as you journey on this earth in life and move on to heaven in death. So be it. God bless you.

IT HAS BEEN GRANTED UNTO ME AND YOU

I have been thinking of updating my profile on facebook and I grabbed a verse from my reading this morning that just might be my testimony: For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for His sake. Philippians 1:29

The suffering is questionable, but the part that fits is that “I was granted the opportunity to believe on Him.” I might say it this way: It has been granted to me on behalf of Christ... to believe on Him!

My conversion experience was not about my sins. I was not raised in fear of death and hell. I was not told anything about my “naughtiness” being sin. What I was told was that Jesus Christ loved me very much and that He lived as a human, died on the Cross, rose the third day and was back in Heaven waiting for me to realize that He wanted me to love Him back and to have Him as my best friend for the rest of my life. That is what I knew, and that is what I accepted.

I was changed that day into a child of God and a friend of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit confirmed that fact with me through my own spirit, and continues to confirm that fact to this day, and will continue to confirm it until I am taken from this earth to be with my Savior in Heaven.

The picture I see in my mind it that of Jesus Christ spreading out His arms and smiling at me (and you) saying please come and be my friend so that I can be your Savior and friend for eternity. Talk about a true BFF. Jesus Christ is the only one who really is that.

My life has been up and down; my faith has been tried; my walk has stumbled big time; but Jesus Christ is a Rock who never leaves my reach; who is never not on my “six”; who has stayed with me through thick and thin. He can be quite the nagger, and quite the super hero. His love never fails - not for one moment. His Mercies are new every morning, and He will nag and push and encourage and comfort and guide us through each day, if we will keep the line open to Him by talking and listening all day long. He is there and His arms are wide open seeking each one of us to come to Him and believe in Him and walk with Him, in Love and Joy.

On Christ's behalf, God the Father is granting us the privilege of knowing and lovng the One who loves us more than any human ever will or can.

Father, may all who read this today be assured that You are seeking them out to be your child through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And may we all share this love and knowledge with our neighbors whom we have been instructed to love even as we love ourselves. In Jesus Name, Amen.

GENTLEMEN: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

As I was reading in Psalm 38 & 39, I found myself wandering onto a strange road, and asking myself, “What do men think that God sees in them?”

David is pretty punked out. He is the King, and yet he sees himself as a great offender of God. He has sinned and he is suffering the consequences. He needs to talk to someone, but who? He is the King after all; to whom can he trust his personal thoughts? So he keeps quiet. He holds his thoughts close. But, eventually he realizes that he will break apart, spiritually as well as physically, if he does not talk to someone. So he finally opens up to God; spilling out the truths of what is bothering him.

While speaking about the sins in his life, he asks God to not bring down the punishment these sins deserve; but to give him Grace and to allow him to move among men again, showing that Grace to the people, once more before he dies. It is a prayer of contrition and submission to the righteous judgement of God. It is what God needed to hear.

I could speak all day about the implications of this in our lives, but what it really brought to my mind was all the verses in the Bible that declare a man blessed. 

David was a man “after God's own heart” and there was a reason for that: In all his troubles and successes, he never once thought of giving up on his God, the God of his Fathers and his personal guide and Lord.

One impression which may be just my own interpretation, but bothers me, is that men have very little to hang there hats on when it comes to “How does God see me?” I know that there are verses and I know that there are lessons taught that intend to give men a good perception of themselves, but I feel that sometimes the only people that guys have to measure against is heroes in the Bible and leaders in the church. I am sure that many have the feeling that when God looks at them, they don't look good at all.

As a woman, I have dealt with the issue of beauty over and over again. Women do that. And women go out of their way to help each other see the beauty in themselves because of Jesus Christ in their lives. There are all kinds of Bible studies on this subject and there are unending conversations going on in support of each other about this subject.

But what about men. Do men ever think of themselves as beautiful? Do men have any realization of being beautiful in God's sight. Would a man even consider thinking of himself that way? Men are supposed to be handsome, not beautiful.

I searched the word “handsome” in the Bible and I came up almost dry. The Revised Standard Version uses the word in Psalm 45:2, but other versions more commonly used, such a King James and NIV, do not use that word.

One verse – Song of Songs, verse 1:16 – is consistently translated handsome, but it is speaking of how a woman sees a man, not how God sees that man.

In my mind, I thought Saul was called handsome; it is not coming up; though he was definitely described in ways that add up to handsome. But it really doesn't matter, because most men do not consider themselves handsome anyway... most men.

Women are taught that they are no longer caterpillars, but are now butterflys – if they have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. Doesn't that apply to men as well? Doesn't it?

How many times does the phrase, “Blessed is the man who...” come up in scripture? More than I can count, that's for sure. But these verses come with a catch: being blessed requires living blessed. And everyone of these verses declares a life style of seeking God. This is not that we must live correctly if God is to see us as beautiful; it is about us being beautiful in Jesus Christ, and then showing our beauty and growing in our beauty by making God our focus as we live out our lives.

(Note: If we find salvation and then sit on our backsides watching the world go by, or refuse to listen to and learn from God – we will not be blessed or beautiful in our lives.)

So God sees us as butterflys because of the shed blood of Christ and the veil of Christ's blood between Him and us. We have been given a new existence, a new us. He sees us as beautiful when He looks at us. And he sees it now, not waiting for the day we arrive in Heaven, changed into our heavenly bodies. He sees us that way right now.

So how can manly men come around and begin to see themselves as beautiful, even though they may not think they are handsome in their own eyes? I'm thinking that they can make a point of remembering the verses that declare them blessed and substitute beautiful:

“Beautiful” is the man who... And that is not beyond probability. After all, the blessed men of Matthew are in a list called the “Beaut-itudes.” Okay... there is no “u”; but close, right? These verses, and others that use blessed, are telling us that the man who follows after Christ with his whole heart is a beautiful man. That man is a butterfly and that man will be seen as a butterfly by God for the rest of his life, here and in Heaven.

If you want to get the “feeling” of what I am saying, consider reading Psalm 119; substituting the word beautiful for blessed. David is telling us why he is blessed (beautiful) and how you can be too. Basically, if you seek after God with your whole heart, mind and soul you will be beautiful; to others around you, as well as to God. And don't forget my favorite, Psalm 1:1.

So what is the basic requirement for achieving beauty; Knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and aiming, every day, to keep his presence alive in your lives. Beautiful is the man who...

Gentlemen, allow yourselves to be beautiful. Seek after God throughout everyday; pray to live in the power and beauty of the Fruit of the Spirit; and enjoy being beautiful.

May we all, men and women, seek to be beautiful in God's eyes, and not worry so much how we rate among others. May we strive to be beautiful God's way, rather than man's way. And may we keep watch over the one whom we know really matters in our day. Amen

Consider this view:

Matthew West Hello, My Name Is

youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJWQzjfU3o&index=5&list=RDFtPmX7e_Rpw

HEAVEN: YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE

Today, in this world, we cannot imagine not being able to get wherever we want to go by one means or another. While studying or just reading about the past we easily learn that transportation has taken many forms and many unbelievable strides. Centenarians who passed away in the 20th Century had lived to see unbelievable change in modes of transport from horse and buggy to spaceships.

In the beginning, transportation was by foot. And that continues to be a popular mode, even today. Then came the domestication of animals and a whole new animal dependent transport system came into being; from oxen to horses to camels and even mules and donkeys, not to mention ostriches and elephants. Much of this type of transport was encouraged by the invention of the wheel and the development of the harness and yoke. It was a surprisingly long time before we moved beyond that type of transport. But when we did, we really did!

Today, we are “Trains, Planes and Automobiles” travelers; not to mention boats and ships of so many sizes and purposes they cannot all be named. And, beyond that there are rockets and spaceships and a “travel home” that circles the earth over and over again.

We have sent humans to the moon and we have sent equipment and sight-seer mechanical objects into space to see things closer up so that we can experience with our eyes what we cannot be present to see for ourselves, just yet. It would seem we can go just about anywhere now and even more places later on.

But there is one place we will never reach by man made means. We cannot get there from here on our own: That place is Heaven, God's Home, which is outside this universe; unseen and unreachable through the works of man. Not the works of our hands, but only by the Grace of God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord. The Way – the only way – “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “No man comes to the Father but by me!”

If you doubt what I say, “Google It.” Go out there and search for what the Bible actually says about how to get to heaven. But while you are looking, do not be led astray by your assumptions about the Law. The Law did not ever save anyone! It condemned them, and it condemns all of us. We are sinners and the Law was used to try to keep some order in the lives of those stiff necked people who kept wandering off from God and His Love: looking for love in all the wrong places. The Law was a reminder of the purity and Holiness of God; a standard to guide the people back to Him when they wandered away.

The Law never saved anyone, nor did good works teleport anyone into the home of God. Only God can bring someone into His Home, by invitation and acceptance. And His invitation has always been – Look to my Son!

But “keeping” the Law is not the only behavior that will not get you into God's family and into His home. Being a good person will not work either. Yes, Jesus wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to comfort and support the poor. But He does not ask anyone to do this in order to be saved. He is talking to people who are already following Christ about good ways to behave as a representative of Him. Being nice, being good, doing good deeds without knowing Christ as Savior will add up to zilch.

There is nothing a woman can do or say or design or build that will get that woman into God's Heavenly realm. The only thing that a woman can do that will get herself into heaven is to answer God's loving invitation to look to Him and to trust Him to forgive her sins and to make her a new person in, and through the shed blood of Jesus Christ His son; by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you do that you will know that something happened in your heart and spirit that is stunning and powerful and life changing.

From there you will start traveling down a road you never knew existed and you will do that in partnership with the Holy Spirit. 

 

You will still be bound, temporarily, to this earth and man made transportation; but you will have a hope in your heart for the transport of a lifetime, into the arms of Jesus Christ, and into the Heavenly realm that is His family home. Now, that is a trip to look forward to. And that is a trip that can only be taken by those who have surrendered to the Saving Grace of the One True God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ, His Son.

May we all be aware of this “limited time” offer and turn to God for all that we need. And may we all love our neighbors enough to share this message with them before it is too late. God bless you all. Amen

TOUGH LOVE FOR CHANGE

GOSSIP – information about the behavior and personal lives of other people.

But not all information about people is gossip. Nor is all gossip about people.

Take Paul for example: When he wrote his letters, it was generally because he had “heard” something about the church to which he was writing; good or bad. That is how news traveled in those days and that was an acceptable way to pass information on.

As we follow the life of Paul as told in Acts, beginning at Chapter 14, we find this in action. And when we read his letters we discover how “personal” these messages could be. Yet, they are not considered gossip, just reporting the news and responding to it. [As far as I am concerned, "gossip" is any information passed on to anyone who does not need to know it by someone who wants to gain by it.] Gossip is almost always mean. Information shared in love is almost never mean. But it can alert others to a problem that needs attention.

As I read the sinful practices going on in Corinth, particularly as found in 1 Corinthians, I take a moment to realize that, even with the horrors we deal with today, there is nothing new under the sun. I seems that all the things we are trying to strike out against right now were hugely present in Corinth at that time.

It can be clearly seen today that the issues that bring people away from God's Word now, are not any different than those which confused and tore at the churches in the early days of the Church. The prevailing pressures and sins are very much the same.

Yes, we have glaring sin going on all around us until we can hardly stand to read or listen to the news. Yes, we have abhorrent ideas being administered into our system of life. Yes, we have things happening around us that make us want to throw up when we hear or see the next ugly thing.

But, so did they.

They were “young” Christians, very young. Even though the Apostles, who were grown men of various ages, they were nevertheless also young in their faith. They had three years of walking with Jesus, but it was still an eye and heart opening event when they actually became the Sons of God that knew wholly and completely the salvation of Jesus Christ, revealed to them through the Holy Spirit. They were just babies when they first preached. Yet the power of God was in and with them and they spoke out like old souls in Christ. They also took on the responsibilities of old souls: seeing to the salvation and growth of new souls, babes in Christ.

Paul's opportunity came a little later, but it was no less miraculous and soul changing. He was put into immediate service and immediate training. He had to “grow up” fast. He was not on “milk” ever, I think. It was immediate steak.

A week ago the sermon was about Paul's travels and companionship with disciples traveling with him. In chapter 17, we were shown that for all his travel's and all his changes of companions, Paul never once veered from the central core of the Gospel: The death, burial and resurrection of Christ. And the result never changed: Some, even many, and many more, were saved. The Apostles preached and God handled the results. But it was necessary for the Apostles to preach the Gospel, and that alone, for the result to happen. Getting the church started was an enormous task that only God could ultimately accomplish.

However, raising these babes fell into the hands of those whom God allowed to bring them into the family of Christ through the preaching of the Gospel. The Apostles and their companions stayed with the new Christians whenever time allowed and with the help of the Spirit, proclaimed as much of Christ's teaching as they possibly could; using the minds and knowledge that God gave them, with power from God. There were more disciples in the crowd of believers that followed Jesus and stayed with the apostles than we actually usually think about. Many of those assisted in teaching and training as it went on.

Thus, Paul's letters.

And, by the way, the verbal “grapevine” of Gossip is obvious to me, as a reader of these letters; there definitely was a “grapevine” that served as a news network. 

But, back to the point, without gossip in those days, nothing would be known, whether good or bad. And Paul was hearing a lot of it, by letter and by word of mouth. This was a good thing. Even though some of the reports were bad news about bad behavior, it was what Paul needed to hear if he was to be prayerfully, or otherwise, influential in the growth of his children. Paul needed to know and Paul responded to what he was told: Good news or bad. And Paul's responses were sent in love, but not the wimpy kind. It was tough love all the way.

And when Paul knew, he wrote. He wrote to the Church at large (including us) by writing to individual churches and seeking to have them share the letter with other churches. It was never his intention to be secretive about these letters. He praised and admonished with the entire church in mind; so as to teach all of them the lessons that he taught to any single church. The truth had nothing in it to be secretive about. Perhaps sometimes the truth of a situation needs to be told publicly to inform and to stop gossip.

Anyway – I find the topics that Paul gets into to be quite relevant today. And I find that the things that break our hearts today, broke his in his day. Things like the list of sins that can be found over and over again throughout the Bible, Things like the rise of homosexual influence and power. Things like hate mongering. Things like human trafficking; the killing of innocent babies; the laziness of relationships that leads to many kinds of immorality; the crush of society by those who rise in wealth and power. It all goes on today just as it did then and before then.

But the example that Paul sets for us is that he paid attention and that he responded, good or bad. He never let anything ride. He never varied from aiming people's lives back to the Gospel, and to everything it means to us in our lives and in our deaths. He dealt with it all and he prescribed the remedy and sent it with much prayer and thanksgiving for the people he was addressing.

I think that in this day we must pay attention to the threats going on around us and around our loved ones, in and out of the church. And, in this day, we must speak up. We must take a stand: Paul told the Corinthians to “stand firm” against the evil invading the church and their personal lives. We must do the same. If we are to love one another and follow any of the “one another” commands that God gave us, then we must speak up for one another as if our lives depend on it – because they do. God is in control and could stop it all if He wanted to. But Paul knew that, too, and he did not sit back and let it all happen just because he knew what God could do.

He knew that it was his responsibility to speak up and to send out all the help he could possibly send to each and every crisis.

We are in crisis. We are in jeopardy. We need to speak up. We need to stop some of these things that are happening. We need to wise up and stop letting the Government and the world around us creep up on everything that can be good, but is being changed to bad. We need to take some lessons from Paul and the other Apostles and disciples and get the word out that we are not going to sit still for this; and then we need to keep moving, and moving hard to rid ourselves of these influences on us and on our neighbors and on our collective children.

WHY get involved? Perhaps because God told us to love our neighbors as ourselves and our neighbors need some serious protecting right now. Paul lived every single day knowing that his life would end early. He also lived every day knowing that Christ could come any minute, and praying for that to happen. But he never, ever, sat back and said, “Well, one way or another things are in God's hands, so I am going to stop what I need to be doing and sit and watch for His adjustments to these things. He is in charge. He will take care of it somehow.” Never, never, never, ever did he say or do that. And neither should we.

One continuous theme in Paul's letter is that we are to not only protect ourselves from this world, but we are to set out to protect this world from this world.

  

We have a responsibility to have a voice and a vote in what is going on around us. And to have a voice in declaring the same Gospel that Paul never veered away from. Love your neighbor as yourself means more than being nice. It means doing all that we can to protect them from themselves and from others who would take them down. Why? Because that is what we do for ourselves, if we love ourselves.

May we reach out and love our neighbors enough to try to help bring this country back to some semblance of itself: The country that was established on Judeo/Christian values and common sense; the statements of which were established in writing In the Declaration, the Preamble, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. So long as we are still here on this earth we must be actively seeking change to the good in this country – our neighbors. If we love them we need to protect them in every way we can.

May God bless us today and everyday as we struggle together to make a difference in Christ's name.