Thursday, June 30, 2011

Prov. 23:23

"Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding" Prov. 23:23

In a Beatles song, the wizards of rock sang these words, "Money can't buy you love." Despite the truth of these words, most of us continue to accumulate wealth hoping that we can buy, if not love, at least happiness. It amazes me how fast purchased happiness drains into the mundane then into the realms of drudgery.

Solomon, in his vast wisdom, tells his son that two things can, and should, be bought - truth and wisdom. The two are not the same, though many people try to make them that way. Nor is wisdom gained at the same time that knowledge is attained. Wisdom is based upon truth. Wisdom is the life application of knowledge in a good and just way. Money can buy knowledge; that is why we send our children to the best university we can afford. We want them to gain knowledge, vast amounts of knowledge, because we know that they will need it in the every day life of adulthood.

Wisdom is purchased with a currency that is not printed by the Government of Hong Kong. Nor does any government or set of government coin that currency. The currency with which one buys wisdom is time. Effective use of the time currency begins at birth as the mother and the father begin the decades long instructions that will mold an infant into a productive adult. The parents invest the initial currency because Junior has nothing to invest. He is more interested in eating, sleeping, and dirtying diapers. Eventually Junior learns to sit on Daddy's knee and listen to stories that Daddy and Mommy tell about their youth. He is now investing his own currency. If everything works out right, Junior will gain the seeds of wisdom in these precious moments. In due course, Junior will have gained enough wisdom in this manner to be able to water the seeds planted by his parents and reap sufficient harvest along the way to keep himself in God's paths. All the time he continues to gain more wisdom because wisdom begets wisdom.

Sad is the youth who ignores "the old man" and grows into adulthood as a fool. He saddens the heart of his parents. He makes a mockery of all that has been invested in him by family, teachers, pastors, and friends. His currency is wasted on debauchery and self-indulgence.

Let us buy truth and wisdom. It is never to late to begin our collection. Our collection can never be too big. And wisdom never goes out of date nor does it "spoil"! Amen and Amen.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Heb. 11:3

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" Heb. 11:3

I've heard it and I'm sure you have too. "You must step out in blind faith." I've always wondered what "blind faith" is. Is it limited to those who are physically blind? Does one have to be totally blind to reality to have it? Exactly what do people mean when they use the term and is it a biblically based concept?

I had a dream once. I was walking in a pitch-black night. Nothing could be seen; even my hand was hidden from sight if I held it inches from my face. As with most people, after a while I became totally disoriented and was afraid to move anywhere. This was especially true when I heard the sound of rushing waters immediately in front of me - or was it all around me? The sound seemed to move from front to back to side and back again. Darkness does that to a person's senses. It seems like I prayed in the midst of that dream for I heard a voice saying, "Take one step at a time." I questioned the wisdom of that advice ... until I looked down and saw a faint glow on a rock immediately in front of me. I stepped out and the light became brighter illuminating the single step I was to take. As I moved each foot forward, a light illuminated the next step, and the next. Never was more than one step lit. Always the light glowed as I took the next step. I don't recall reaching a destination, but I do know I was filled with a peace knowing that the Light, which I know is Jesus Christ, directed each step of my path.

Was that "blind faith"? Some might say it was. But I know the truth. My faith was founded on two things. The first was the Voice. The second was the first glimmer of the faint light on the first rock. No, this was not blind faith. It was faith in Someone I had confidence in.

The Hebrews writer tells us that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1) He would assure us that there is no such thing as blind faith. In today's verse, he tells us that our faith, our confidence, is in a power much greater than ourselves. We look at the world around us and know that it was made by the spoken word of God out of apparent nothingness. Liberal thought would have us believe that the world "just happened" when for some reason a single particle of something unexplainably moved out of its predetermined path and struck another particle of something - they call it the "big bang theory." Yeah, sure. And where did the particles come from? And why did one of them deviate from its ageless path? The answer is vague stammering because there is no answer in neither scientific nor philosophical thought.

True faith is never really blind. It is founded upon the power and authority of one we can trust - the God of creation. While it may seem to be "blind" at times, the truth is that faith is based upon a reality that is more real than the keyboard I am using to write this epistle. When we have learned to trust in God, the most outlandish sounding command from Him is nothing but a foregone conclusion. He has made it possible. He will make it come to pass. All we have to do is take the first step... and the next ... and the next... until we reach the destination He has set for us.

Blind faith? The world might think so. But you and I know that the faith we have is never blind, but built upon the creator of all reality. Go ahead. Take the first step. See the light glowing dimly? Trust in the God who created the light and the rock and the river and you. He works all in perfect harmony. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

2 Tim 1:5

"When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also" 2 Tim 1:5

There are many accounts of "little people", the common man or woman, being used of God in mighty ways. We could talk of many of the prophets. We obviously recall a young woman, Mary, and her betrothed, Joseph. We might call them "salt of the earth" type of people. James and John, Peter and Andrew, fishermen with no other life in sight until Jesus walked down the beach near their boats and called them to follow Him and He would make them "fishers of men." Stephen, the disciple who became a deacon and suffered martyrdom for his preaching and Phillip the evangelist transported from the wilderness to the heart of another revival are two more of the small folk made huge by the call of God.

There is one more individual I believe we should look at. He was the offspring of a Jewish woman and a gentile man, raised in a gentile nation to follow God's laws. Timothy was called by Paul to be a companion and a student. He had little to offer except willingness to learn and the heritage of a godly mother and a godly grandmother. As a youth he began to serve Paul the Apostle. He followed him throughout the Middle Eastern and European countries of the day, absorbing the vast knowledge stored by God in the heart of Paul. Finally, Paul began to send Timothy on errands of great import until Paul made Timothy the pastor of a church that needed a gentle but firm hand.

Timothy was on his own, but not without the prayers and instruction of the great Apostle. We are fortunate to have two of the letters Paul wrote to Timothy because in them the Apostle taught Timothy, and the church as a whole, how to organize and grow a powerful local congregation. In due season, church history tells us that Timothy became a very influential bishop (elder/pastor) of the whole region, leading the churches and training men in the ways Paul was taught by Jesus in the wilderness.

Timothy had one major asset: a willingness to serve ... to be used... by God. He apparently had no great wealth. He had just a basic education. He was nothing outstanding to the world, but Paul saw something in him and assisted God in bringing it out in the open. God can do the same for and through you. He takes the simple things and makes them great. A few small fish and a handful of little loaves fed 5,000 men. A simple gold coin was used to teach about taxes and God's will for His children. A little child was the object of a lesson on the simple faith. A grain of mustard seed taught about the kingdom. A grain of salt taught us about how important we are in the world around us. And twelve simple men started a church on the Day of Pentecost.

You, my brothers and sisters in Christ, are the salt of the earth, and God wants to use you to enhance the Kingdom in your neighborhood, your state, your nation, and your world. He will take whatever small offering you have to give and multiply it over and over until multitudes are fed from what you give. But you must give it in order for Him to multiply it. You must be willing to be an offering, poured out, so that He can fill you with His glory. You must obediently raise your hand and place it in the nail-pierced palm of Jesus so He can lead you in the ways only you can tread. You ... must ... willingly... yield ... yourself ... to ... Jesus. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Isa. 6:4-5

"And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts" Isa. 6:4-5

Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to all on that day?
Traditional Folk Song

I am positive that this is the way Isaiah felt when he saw the vision of the Lord. He wanted to hide. You and I would have wanted no less. Being in the presence of God would be a frightening event - and Isaiah knew more than anyone that he was a "sinner man"! He even recorded his thoughts for us to read nearly 2500 years later. "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." He was ready to die. He knew the consequences of seeing God. He knew it was death - it always had been. And it would have been this time except for one very important action. An angel flew to him and touched his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar of the Lord. The burning coal cleansed our budding prophet and made him fit for an audience with the King of Kings. (I'm certainly glad that I have been redeemed by the blood of the Messiah. I'm not sure I am ready to have my lips touched with a burning coal from anything!)

Isaiah made himself available when God called for someone to go for Him. "Here am I, send me." We know Isaiah as one of the "Major Prophets," the author of one of the most read of the Old Testament books. In his writings, he foretold the coming of the restoration of Israel, the coming of the Messiah, and the nature of the new Kingdom of God. In the process, he tells us part of the history of the world and the nature of the conflict of which the earth and its human inhabitants are the prize to be won. Isaiah is a great man! But it wasn't always that way.

He was just a simple man like you and me. He was a sinner looking forward to the saving Messiah, "sometime," and until the Messiah came he was prepared to offer his peace offerings to the God of Abraham in order to roll his sins back for another year. That all changed when God called him. And Isaiah's response to God's call was the moment that Isaiah ceased being a "simple sinner man" and became a "mighty man of God."

That event is the only thing that makes Isaiah different from you and me. He answered the call. Then again, you and I may have already answered the call of God. I know I have... several times, for the call of God is seldom a one-time event. And it is seldom static. When God finds a person willing to be used of Him, He continues to use that individual for many other events. The only two questions remaining for us are these: 1)have we heard the call, and 2)are we willing to say "Here am I, send me"? Amen and Amen.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Genesis 22:1-14 and John 3:13-17

"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen.

Many of the people I know or talk to have problems with the Old Testament reading which you heard this morning - the story of God testing Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah.

It is a shocking story.

And people today, as in centuries gone by, have problems with it, problems with understanding it, problems with accepting it, problems with interpreting it.

Scholars have debated and marvelled over this story throughout the centuries, just as have ordinary people like you and I. Indeed the tale - told as a story about God and about Abraham and about God and you and I evokes for us all some very deep feelings.

Did God really ask Abraham to sacrifice his son upon an alter?
How could God ask that?
What kind of God would ask that?

The feelings that we have - they fuel our questions - our debate:
- Our sense of horror as Abraham sets on his trek - Isaac beside him.
- The awful suspense when, near to the end of that trek, we hear Isaac address his father, saying:

"Father, the fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And we hear Abraham respond with what seems to be an awful lie, saying, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."

Our sense of relief when as the knife is about to descend - God speaks and stays Abraham's hands and indeed provides the sacrifice for the alter which Abraham has built.

A lot of feelings and a lot of thoughts are evoked by this story: thoughts and feelings about God and thoughts and feelings about Abraham.

What kind of Father was Abraham?
What kind of man could offer up his own son?
Should he really be held up as a model of faith for us all?

Powerful, potent, questions. Powerful, potent, feelings.

And yet consider. Consider in the midst of your thoughts and feelings the story for what is - for what it purports to be with it's opening line:

"After these things God tested Abraham."

We may not understand why God tested Abraham, but do we not understand that fact that tests come to us?

Do we not pray each day as Jesus taught us "and lead us not into temptation" - lead us not into the time of trial, but deliver us from evil?

What faith had this man - this man whose son came from God by a promise?
What faith had this man - who, as he leads that son towards what seems to be his certain death, says to him when asked about the lamb for the sacrifice - "God will provide"?

Would that we would never have this trial, this test. Would that no one would ever ask of us - in the name of God - to give up our children. But would that we would be like Abraham, able to trust God that far, that much; would that we would be like Abraham and be able to say: "God will provide."

But the story is not for me just about Abraham's faith It is about God and what God does.

In Abraham's giving up of his son, something marvellous happens. His son comes back to him. God provides the sacrifice - as Abraham tells Isaac he will.

We have no way of knowing just what Abraham meant by that comment he made to Isaac, what it is that Abraham expected to happen - or to not happen, but the fact is, that in this tale of Abraham, we see something new about God emerge.

We see a God unlike the gods of Abraham's neighbours - those gods who not only demanded the sacrifice of the first born from time to time, but who took the sacrifice and gave nothing back for it.

The God of Abraham provided the sacrifice. The God whom Jesus believed in did not let Abraham down. The God who was the father of Jesus showed that despite the awfulness of the
test he set Abraham, he was a God who could be trusted utterly.

The scripture says, "After all these things" - after all that Abraham and Sarah and Lot and his wife had experienced from the hand of God over many years, "God put Abraham to the test".

We don't know why. We may not approve of the kind of test it was. But in the midst of it - God provided.

The story of Abraham does not end with Isaac being restored however. For the God who asked Abraham to give up his son - and who then gave the son back to him, ends up giving up his own son, giving him up out of love for us - as Abraham was prepared to give up Isaac out of love for God.

And in the process of God giving up his son Jesus for us - something marvellous happens. His son comes back to him - as did Abraham's. He comes back to him and in coming back to him, brings to God all of us - each one of you here today.

God has provided.

The story of Abraham is the story of God. And it is our story.

The God of Jesus, who said "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" has provided - and will provide.

The God of Jesus, who said, "Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me" has provided and will provide.

Loving God more than we love ourselves - more than we love our family is not easy. Taking up a cross - it is not pleasant - it is work - indeed it is work unto death, but you have provided and will provide. And no other god does that.

God - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jesus, provides.

And more.

We see God do what no other god has done, what no idol, no demon, no power, that hold the misguided in thrall has done. We see God give up his own son rather than demand the sons of those who worship Him.

God provided the sacrifice for Abraham. And God provides the sacrifice for us as well. A sacrifice, made on our behalf - once and for all, forever.

That is part of the meaning of the table spread before us this morning. We celebrate God having provided the perfect sacrifice. We celebrate God giving back to us not only our children and their children after them, but God giving back to us the very life that we owe to him.

There is a mystery to God. A mystery to Christ. His suffering redeems our suffering and through him, our suffering also redeems the world.

People can talk and debate and argue about what God might or might not expect of us - they can go on for hours about how a loving God would never ask Abraham to give us Isaac - they can even cast doubt upon the necessity of Jesus dying upon the cross so that our sins might be forgiven.

They can and they will.
And much of the debate is good.

But good - or bad - the fundamental fact is that in the situation in which Abraham found himself - and in the situations in which we find ourselves- God has provided and will provide - now and forever.

My God is a mystery. But my God is a mystery of love. A mystery of love that calls me to give up all that I treasure - even myself - and then provides to me something that is such much better.

May your God be the same to you.
May your God be the God of Abraham and Isaac - the God of Jacob and of Jesus - both now - and forevermore. Amen

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Psalms 103:12

"As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us" Psalms 103:12

Something strange happens when we are forgiven. Though God forgets, we don't forgive ourselves. How often we think about our past sins. How frequently we pray, "God, I've sinned the same thing again!" All we are saying is that we haven't forgiven ourselves. We still have our eyes set upon our past. Don't get me wrong. It is not bad to look at the past. We must learn from our mistakes. We must realize how we got into the mess that caused us to "fall" into sin. If we don't, we are condemned to continually repeat our sins. The truth is that we must remember our past, but in remembering, we must grow beyond it.

The thing that is wrong is dwelling upon the sins of the past - continually feeling condemned because of those sins. After all, when you are forgiven, YOU ARE FORGIVEN! Get that? The psalmist says that God removes our sins "as far as the east is from the west." Think about it. Can you ever go so far east that there is no longer an east before us? Absolutely not! We can never come "full circle" and become reattached to our sins. Can't be done. Our problem is that we cling to them. Perhaps they are a crutch we think will help us hobble into God's ways. Maybe we hold to them as a lifeline - thinking that if this "God thing" doesn't work out that we can follow that line back to the old ways. We might even think that we need to punish ourselves by pondering what we were, constantly whipping our spiritual selves so that we can be forgiven. We may even think that we can straddle the fence and live a bit in both worlds. WE CAN'T!

It is time to realize that when God forgives us, we need to forgive ourselves and quit dragging up those sins. It is time that we understand that when we ask to be forgiven, the guilt is gone. Any further guilt we fell is not conviction which leads us to reconciliation with God, but is condemnation which comes to us from Satan and leads to eternal damnation.

If you've sinned, ask God to forgive knowing that He will. Then move on into the future knowing that God is your right hand, your strength, your salvation. All things past are forgiven. All things are made new. This day is like God's grace. It is new, fresh, and clean just waiting for us to make it into a good day! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Psalm 103:13-14

"As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust" Psalm 103:13-14

Wouldn't it be a scary thing if our God was not compassionate? Could you imagine the fear we would live in if our God were mean like the false gods? You borrow a penny from your wife's purse without her knowing. Is it stealing? Will God strike you with lightning - or worse yet - a lingering fatal illness? You say an angry, hateful thing to your mother. Do you duck for fear of some celestial punishment? Talking about living in fear, that would do it.

Fortunately our God had great compassion on those of us who have a healthy fear of Him. That fear is a healthy respect for, not a breath wrong and you die type of fear. Because of this great love, we live in peace knowing that forgiveness is always available should we sin.

Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten that God can be a severe judge. We take for granted that He will love us no matter what. We have not seen an Ananias and Saphira type of incident in our churches lately. So what is there to fear. We can neither see God nor feel Him nor hear Him with an audible voice. This all gives rise to the question "Does he really exist? And even if He does, is He really interested in what I do? "Sure, we never really ask those questions. But we all too often live like we did. Think about it. What do you really think about God? Who is He really? What is your real relationship with Him? Do you really know Him? Do you really care about what He says? I urge you to honestly answer these questions. If you do, you may be surprised about how much you have to grow in your spiritual life. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Amos 5:4

"For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live" Amos 5:4

A question has been inside my head lately. I've thought a lot about it. I've asked others about it. I'll ask you about it. " OK, Pastor Edwin, what's the question?" Thought you would never ask. Here it is: "Who are you living for?"

To be honest, I have to say that I live a large part of my life for myself. I'm not proud of that fact. I'm rather ashamed, to be honest. If I were to add up the minutes of my day on a ledger with two columns the first being labeled "The Lord's Minutes" and the second "My Minutes" - well, come midnight, I don't really think I want to check the totals. I'm not trying to lay a guilt trip on myself or you or anyone else, but I do have to ask myself these questions:

1.. "How many minutes a day do I read my Bible?"
2.. "How many minutes a day do I pray?"
3.. "How many minutes a day do I share my faith with others?"
4.. "How many minutes a day do I thank the Lord for His kindness towards me?"
5.. "How many minutes a day do I sing His praises?"
6.. Then there are these questions: "How many minutes a day do I over eat?"
7.. "How many minutes a day do I think about what I want?"
8.. "How many minutes a day do I do what I want to do?"
9.. "How many minutes a day do I promote myself?"

Well, that's enough questions because they reveal too well that I tend to live for myself much more than I live for Jesus. What about you? Amen and Amen.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Eccl 2:11

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun" Eccl 2:11

Solomon was an amazing man. As a young leader, he renounced gold and power in favor of wisdom when God offered him a choice. He chose wisdom so he could lead his nation in right paths. He thus became the wisest man ever to live. In the process, he was granted both wealth and power. And what did he do with it?

Read the book of Ecclesiastes and you will certainly have your eyes opened! He squandered it all in search of pleasure. He had more wives than any man could enjoy. He topped that with concubines to serve his every wish. He amassed great wealth and spent it upon himself. He built beautiful cities as monuments to himself. He spread his influence around the known world - to draw attention to himself. All of this and more did he do - to please himself.

Near the end of his life, he penned the words to this revealing book. Multiple times he repeats some variation of today's verse. "All was vanity." There was no profit in it. It served no lasting purpose. After all. Where are all of Solomon's buildings? In ruins. And his military accomplishments? In dust. His great wealth? Gone with the wind. Even the majestic Temple he built as a dwelling place for God was destroyed, smashed to bits, plundered, and hauled away by Israel's enemies. In the end, Solomon realizes that all earthly things are "vanity."

The only thing that lasts is what a person does for God. Serve God. Live for Him. Spend all the energy you have in His service and you will be building up great treasures - not on earth, but in Heaven where it really counts! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

1 Peter 1:13

"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:13

Do you want to win? Do you really want to win? Then you must train. No boxer will enter the ring without proper training. It would be suicide. So with us, if we want to win the important battles, we must train.

Fortunately, Peter gives us a training schedule - the things that need to be worked on the most if we expect to win. First, gird yourself for action. This involves putting on the proper garments - We need to be wearing the full armor of God. We must prepare our minds with the weapon of our warfare - the Word of God. We must allow it to flood our thoughts so that we may fight effectively with our best weapon.

Second, keep sober in spirit. This doesn't mean that we can't have fun. It means that while we go through our lives, we need to keep alert. Like a soldier on the field of battle, we must keep our spiritual eyes always open - always looking this way and that for sneak attacks from the enemy.

Third, fix your hope completely on the grace of Jesus. There is nothing more important than realizing that the battle is ours. No matter how out numbered, how under powered, how grim the vision is, our hope and our faith is to be in Jesus Christ. If we will keep that in mind at all times, we shall remain strong in Him. And the battle will be ours - we will WIN!

You say you have no vision of grace? Sure you do. It was given to you the day you accepted Jesus as your Savior. Remember it? Remember how clean and fresh you felt that day? It is still there. Look to it. Attach your hope to it. It is a lifeline that you will never consume - it will always be there. Follow these three steps and victory is assured. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Psalm. 57:1

"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by" Psalm. 57:1

We've probably all watched a mother and father bird bring food to their young as they cry for nourishment in the nest. I had, as there is a pair of swallows on our veranda. The parent creatures always seem to care more for their young than they do for themselves.

On the other hand, turtles given no concern for their young. After mating, the female will dig a hole in the mud, lay her eggs, cover them with a mound of sticks, mud, and/or sand... and waddle away never to see her young hatch. Fortunately for us, God is not like the turtle. He even describes Himself in terms of winged fowl. God has wings!

That's what David says in today's verse. "... in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge ...." What a perfect picture of protection. David wrote this psalm after he fled from Saul. In particular, it was after David had hidden in a cave to elude his pursuer only to watch Saul enter the mouth of the cave and use it for his personal restroom. He was so close to David that our young hero took his knife and cut a piece off the hem of Saul's cloak!

David realized that he was not hiding in the cave. It was not the darkness that protected him. It was not his wit that kept him from harm. David realized it was the protection of God that hid him from the clutches of a deranged king. "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, For my soul takes refuge in You ..." David realized there was only one hiding place for the soul - in the presence of God.

Most of us are just "chicks" in this world. The term is not used in relationship to "age." It is used in relationship to our ability to take care of ourselves. Oh, we try. We gain great amounts of knowledge and think we have something. We achieve great heights in our field of expertise and believe we have climbed a great mountain and have acquired greatness. We work hard and retire with sufficient wealth to live the remainder of our years in comfort and leave some for the kids, and we feel that this is what life is all about. But we are just fooling ourselves. We cannot work out anything of lasting value. Where is our wealth when we die? Where is our success in business, or education? Are we remembered a generation or two after our death by anyone other than a random great grandchild? Few of us are.

No, our measure of success is determined by what lasts for eternity. What have we done for Jesus? What have we accomplished for God? How have we allowed the Holy Spirit to lead us? Those are the questions we must ask. And the answer always returns, we are nothing ... except for God. And when the times really became rough, we hide in the shadow of His wings. As Twila Paris wrote: "They don't know that I go running home when I fall down, they don't know who picks me up when no one is around; I drop my sword and cry for just awhile. 'Cause deep inside this armor the warrior is a child." Amen and Amen.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4; Romans 1:16-23; Matthew 28:16-20

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday - the first Sunday after Pentecost a time of year that Popes and Bishops, Councils and Synods, Preachers, Pastors and Teachers have, for more years than this church has existed thought it good and wise to remind the millions of seekers - the millions of faithful - for whom they care - that God is a mystery which is best understood in three ways:

As creator - or Father
as redeemer - or Son
and as sustainer - or Spirit.

God is one. Yet God is three.

God is here. Yet God is everywhere.
God is mighty. Yet God is tender.
God is just. Yet God has mercy.
God is spirit. Yet God takes on flesh.
God is in Christ. Christ is in Us.
God is Spirit and the Spirit blows where it wills.
Yet the Spirit abides in our hearts.

God is one. Yet God is three.

The Apostle Paul writes this about God

"Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."

When you go outside after this worship time, take a little bit more time to worship - look at the bark of an old tree, at the greening fields, the scudding clouds, the running waters,
and give thanks - to the power - to the grace - to the beauty that made it all.

You know and understand what I saying - that's why you're here, because God is - and God is good, and you want to remind yourselves of that - and share and celebrate that truth with your brothers and sisters in God and before God.

But there are others, and they are many, who stop just there - with the clouds and the trees - with the land and the sea and the creatures that inhabit them, and while they get a spiritual message from them - they don't get the same message of goodness and of beauty that we do - we who know God is One, Yet God is three.

Paul writes that although they know God from what has been made:

"they neither glorify him as God nor give thanks to him, but their thinking becomes futile and their foolish hearts are darkened. Although they claim to be wise they become fools and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

My friends - the truth of creation is that there is more to it than meets our eye, that there is a design and purpose that is greater than the sum of the parts that we see around us.

God most surely is.
And God is good.

But there is more yet. More ways of experiencing the mystery that is God, more ways of understanding than that which regarding God as the creator can give to us.

God is One, Yet God is Three

Last week we celebrated the pouring out of the Spirit of God upon the followers of Jesus the Christ. We celebrated that presence - that force - that all of us here have experienced that power, that person, who gives shape to much that we see and hear, what we do and say.

Just as only a few weeks earlier we celebrated the resurrection of a man who is somehow more than a man, one who was a child of promise - one whom our minds and our hearts tell us was more than a good person - more than a saint - more even than an angel - and yet - was so much one of us.

Jesus our teacher and guide - our shepherd and our friend. Jesus our Lord, and our God.

God the creator, God the redeemer, God the sustainer.

God is One, Yet God is Three.

It is our experience is it not.

For me the Trinity is something like atomic theory. We all learned in school that everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of tiny particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. That protons and neutrons together make up a nucleus, and that the electrons orbit around this nucleus sort of like the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun.

But there is no scientist who really believes that this simple model fully explains the substance of matter. Nuclear physics is much more complex - so much so quantum mechanics asserts that we can create things by simply observing them into existence. The most educated physicist will tell you we will probably never know everything about atoms and subatomic particles. The atomic theory is just a model that explains something about how atoms work. It doesn't tell everything about what they are.

So it is with the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity tells us something about how God is revealed to us, how God works in human events. But it doesn't fully tell us WHO or WHAT God is. And I guess that is the secret of this experience we have of God - this understanding we have of God as a trinity - it doesn't tell us fully - but it tells us some important stuff none-the-less. Life changing stuff.

How much better an understanding, than none - or worse, a misunderstanding, a view that leaves a person in a situation like which Paul describes when he writes:

"claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles."

You know sometimes you just have to celebrate the faith we have. And yes - the doctrine we have. The understanding we have of the God that made it all. The understanding we have of how it all works.

The story is told about a young medical student who spent his summer vacation working as a butcher in a large supermarket during the daytime and worked as an orderly at the local community hospital at night.

Both jobs involved his wearing a white smock. One evening he was instructed to wheel a woman from her room down into surgery. He entered the patient's room and said, "Mrs. Johnson, I have come to take you to surgery." The woman, who was already frightened turned to her husband and said, "Harry, don't let him take me. It's the butcher!"

Mistaken identity can be a real problem.

That is why we as Christians ascribe to the doctrine of the Trinity. It helps us to identify God.

The doctrine of the Trinity is not a mathematical puzzle or an academic formula for theologians to debate - as they have done for so many centuries.

Instead, it is a belief born out of the experience of ordinary Christians as a real life answer to the question, "Where do we find God?"

It is an answer that we believe God has given us - God has made God's self know to us in three unique ways, that there is only one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One God who is Loving, Just, Holy, Intimate, Powerful, Wrathful, Forgiving, Life Itself, Light. And More.

Think of the words of Psalm 8 that we read this morning.

"When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established, what are human beings that youare mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"

Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet.

It is incredible is it not. And don't our hearts echo the truth of these words even as we understand and applaud the story of creation itself: "O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

God is one, yet God is three.

God is a mystery my friends - a mystery so big, so awesome, so holy that our limited minds can never grasp the wholeness of it. Yet God has placed in us a capacity to appreciate and know the mystery that God. And more. God has taken on flesh in our midst.

In Christ, God reveals himself. In Christ God became Incarnate.

I tell you my friends, without this one, without this revelation of God whom we call the Jesus the Christ - you and I would not have the promises nor would we have the inheritance to come

Jesus is the one who reveals the way to us, the one who speaks the truth to us, the one who gives life by his touch and by his word. Jesus in the one who died and who rose again. Jesus shows us the way - and is the way. Jesus is the child of Mary. Jesus is the child of God. In him the fullness of deity dwells.

God is One, yet God is three.

We have - in God - the three in one - and one in three - something that is very precious. We have the gospel - the good news - of the salvation that is for all humankind.
We have the message concerning God's love and his desire to grant wholeness to all his children.
We have a light that shines into the darkness of human hearts and brings healing - a light that shines forth from thence into the life of all those around.

It has seemed good to hundreds of generations of our Spiritual Ancestors to remember this truth on this day of the year in a particular and special way.

And so we do today.

We remember Jesus' own words, the words he spoke shortly before his ascension into heaven, when he said to his followers

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

We remember - and we go forth - not simply because it has been commanded, but because as Paul wrote in the letter to the Romans - "In the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed".

Blessed be the name of God. Day by Day. Day by Day. Amen

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Psalm 81:7

"You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah." Psalm 81:7

It's scary! It's a disease that most men have. It seldom seems to strike women, and little children are totally immune to the infection. The disease is known by its scientific name,

"Honeyicantseemtofinditanywhere."

Women, you know what I mean. I can put something down and return to pick it up in ten minutes - and it is gone. After careful non-scientific analysis and observation, I have come to the conclusion that what I am looking for is not what I see. I may be looking for my wallet - black, flat, about 3-4 inches square. But, if I have placed my wallet on the nightstand and it slides off an item there and lands - in plain sight - on its side on the nightstand top, I can't find it. It is there, totally visible, but I am looking for a flat, black, square not a black item about 3-4 inches LONG and a half inch thick! Carmel walks in after my frantic, fifteen-minute search and finds it in ten seconds. How does she do that?

Sherlock Holmes, in one of his masterful mysteries, finds a stolen letter that has eluded the meticulous and repeated searching of Scotland Yard - and he does it in one short visit to the perpetrator's home. That's right. It was hidden in plain sight. The obvious is often overlooked.

Asaph, in today's verse, tells us that God sometimes hides us in a place we will never recognize: "in the secret place of thunder..." In a different Daily Word, I discussed the way God hides us FROM the storm. Today we see that we can be hidden IN the storm.

"That's crazy!" I can hear you already. "Why would God hide us in the middle of the storm? I need protection from it and God puts me IN it?"

Can you think of a better place to hide? Who in his right mind would hide from the storm IN the storm? Oh, but God has a purpose. He uses the storm to make us strong. When we are vulnerable, we learn to trust the Father. That total trust, that total confidence in the Father is something that will serve us well in coming adventures. But that trust is not learned in the comfort of our living rooms. We don't develop it in the pew on Sunday morning. We will never grasp this gift if we are always in our "comfort zone". No, we learn trust when we have no other choice - in the storm.

Asaph continues by telling us that God tests us "at the waters of Meribah." Meribah means "place of strife". In that place where trouble seems to be all around us, God proved us, He tried us, He strengthened us. You see; God never promised us a life of ease and luxury. What He did promise is that He would "be with us always." When we are in the midst of great trials and tribulations, instead of asking God to deliver us, we should ask the Father to teach us and make us strong! He gives us refuge in the storm for that very reason. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Friday, June 17, 2011

1 Peter 1:8-9

"Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls" 1 Peter 1:8-9

"Stop it!" she cried indignantly. "I will not do that! Now go away and leave me alone." Silently, ashamedly, dejectedly, the interloper backs out of the door, but a smirk crosses his face as he turns to leave, "I may go now, but rest assured, I will return." He whirls and saunters down the hallway to the bank of elevators.

The struggle this woman faced is one we face every day...the trying of our faith. It may have been a perverted temptation that caused our heroine to cringe. It could have been the temptation to lie or steal or cheat or speak falsely, but she was victorious... this time. Will she be equally firm when temptation visits again? She did the right thing. She stood firm. She denied the tempter entrance into her domain. How long can she hold out for surely the visitor will return again ... and again ... and again? If she continually turns her back on the fatal attraction, she will find her faith and her resolve strengthened and the accuser will visit less frequently. But he will use the time to devise more subtle temptations. Will she be in tune with her God enough to see the new attempts and flee from them?

Ah, the troubles and trials of the believer in Jesus. Have you ever wondered why God doesn't save people, let them preach in their new found zeal for a few months, then "take them home"? I have. Many of the people I have ministered to in the past have. It is not an uncommon thought - one that often comes to us after a failure. That's when I ask "why?" We don't like to fail. We don't enjoy falling. When we sin, we feel miserable wondering if we will ever "get it right." Those are times when our faith is tested. Those are times when we must dig deep into our spiritual reserves and find the strength to start over again. We all struggle with temptation. We all stumble from time to time. We all fail to meet God's expectations... that is what sin is.

The difference is this: God forgives and forgets; we degrade ourselves and ponder the nature of our sinful lives. It isn't God who condemns us. He forgives. It isn't the Holy Spirit that makes us feel like failures. His lifts us up and leads us into righteousness. We are the ones who cast condemnation upon ourselves because we listen to the accuser of our souls. The accuser would have us cast ourselves upon the spear of blame and impale ourselves condemned to die in the lost condition from which God redeemed us through Jesus Christ.

The object, the goal, of our faith is salvation. We need to take our sight off of our failures and focus on the beaming face of God as He sees us, as He wants us to be - perfect. And if He sees us whole and blameless, we must believe that, that is what we are through the blood of Jesus. In this way our faith is made whole and strong and perfect and we are victorious. Amen and Amen.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Prov. 22:17-18

"Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips" Prov. 22:17-18

Our elders used to say, "Be careful what you say, you may have to eat your words." At least twice in the Bible prophets had to eat a scroll or book. Ezekiel had to eat a scroll in Chapter 3 of his book. John ate a book in Revelation 10. In both cases the word was the Word of God. Also in both cases the taste was like honey - sweet. However, John's book gave him a stomach ache! I have had to eat my words - and they didn't taste like honey either. Few of us like to admit that we said something that was wrong. Another proverb tells us that it is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open our mouths and prove it!

I admit. I used to be a know-it-all. (Carmel, hush. Don't you dare tell them that I still am!) OK, she is right. But at least I try to keep my knowledge to myself unless it is asked for. It is times when I open my mouth and volunteer my "wisdom" that I get into trouble.

Solomon has a bit of wisdom for us. If we will listen to his advice, and if we will seek knowledge, and if we keep his advice, it will be pleasant for us. I don't know about you, but that kind of struck home with me. Solomon was, and is, the wisest man to ever live. Why don't I read more of his words? Proverbs is not on my favorite reading list. There are some who read a chapter of Proverbs every day - there are thirty-one chapters and about half of the time there are thirty-one days. That makes for a nice combination. But it has been years until now that I have read the whole book. I sometimes pick and choose what I want to read from Solomon's little book of wisdom. We should all read Proverbs. That way we would be getting some of the wisdom that Solomon has to offer us. Amen and Amen.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Phil 3:20-21

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." Phil 3:20-21

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We cling far too hard to this life. We all claim to want to go to heaven - but not today! We become ill with a possibly terminal disease - and we fight it with all our resources. We want to stay alive. Why?

There is the need of family and responsibilities. We want our children to grow up with a mother and a father - and that is good. We want to make sure our children and grand-children are able to go through university if they want to - and that is good.

There is the need of excitement. I don't know what life has to offer tomorrow, but I want to try it. I've not done all the things I want to do yet. I haven't tried sky diving, or bungy jumping. I haven't seen Spain, or Greece, or Israel. I haven't even been to Singapore, although it is not too far from Hong Kong.

There is the need of fulfillment. I don't think my life is finished. There is still a lot of work to do. I have a house to build, a boat to buy, a job to finish. We could even be spiritual - I haven't had time to become a missionary yet. I haven't preached the perfect sermon yet. I haven't . . . and the list could go on and on and on.

The simple fact is this: if we didn't cling so hard to this life and all its needs, and clung instead to God, maybe we would be living life fuller. We have our life mapped out. But don't you think that God could map you a more exciting route? I suspect He could - and would if we let Him. We want so much to get from point A in our lives to point B, that we forget that God may have some special things for us along the way. If we will let Him be our guide, if we will claim our citizenship in Heaven instead of on earth, if we won't cling so hard to this life, then God will make our lives much richer than we could ever dream possible. And all that stuff that keeps us on earth? It is nothing compared to what God has in store. The BEST is yet to come. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Prov 6:2-3

"You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend" Prov 6:2-3

Ben Mattlock is famous for it. Perry Mason and even Denny Crane used it as a tool quite frequently. Sure, these are characters in made for TV dramas, but the truth is still there. These men use the guilty person's words to trap them and force a confession.

We certainly have been trapped by our own words in times past. I know I have. That little white lie, the bending of the truth to satisfy my own desires, the twisting of a story to shed the best possible light on my position, all of these are traps that we lay for ourselves. Do you know what the biggest problem liars have? Keeping track of their lies! I'm reminded of the verse that says, "be sure your sins will find you out." That is never more true than with lying. Lies will eventually get you into deep trouble. One particular politician, no names mentioned has gotten himself in many jams with his stretching of the truth.

There is only one cure for lying - tell the truth. That is Solomon's advise. If you are caught in a trap of your own words, go to the person you lied to and confess your sin to him. Plead with him to forgive you. Swallow your pride and admit your guilt.

Ouch! That hurts! We don't like to swallow our pride, it sticks in our throats like dry cornbread. We hate being humbled. But, I ask you, "Which is worse? Being humble before the one you sinned against? Or being caught in a lie (or more likely a series of lies) and have your dishonesty made public in a court of law?" I think Solomon had a good thing going. Best not to stretch the truth - but if you do, confess it quickly. Honesty really is the best policy! Amen and Amen.

Monday, June 13, 2011

2 Cor 1:20

"For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us" 2 Cor 1:20

Some things in life have to be predictable. Imagine a world where the forces of gravity change every morning. One day you get out of bed and can't move because you weigh 600 pounds. The next day you weigh 35 pounds and can jump 100 feet high! Or, suppose from one day to the next the traffic laws changes. Today you drive on the left side - tomorrow you drive on the right. Imagine the turmoil when we forgot which day was which.

We have come to expect some consistency in our lives. Without it chaos would reign supreme. Now think about our world as it exists today. Moral values are based upon what the "majority" (more likely a group of people who choose to be the morals police of the nation) of the people think they are. When I was a youth - back in the dark ages - TV standards didn't allow people to get into bed with each other. Even husband and wife slept in separate beds or always appeared with one foot on the floor. Now, because people have changed their moral foundation to meet their present expectations. Anything goes on TV. Husband and wife, boy friend and girlfriend, man and man, woman and woman, it makes no difference, they get into bed together - and not just to have a nice conversation!

Not so with God. Today's verse says that when He makes a promise, He keeps it. Whether it is a promise of blessing, or a promise of discipline, or a promise of destruction, God keeps his promises. You can count on it. You can also count upon His grace and mercy tempering the promises of evil. God is very patient with us - He gives us sufficient warning - but He always follows through. Ask the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ask King David. Ask Ananias and Sapphira.

Isn't it good to know that something - no - Someone in this world is consistent? Amen and Amen.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Acts 2:1-21; I Corinthians 12:1-13

Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen.

There is this story that I told before, an amusing story, about a boy who was wandering around the narthex of a cathedral here in Hong Kong one Sunday morning, and stopped and examined a large bronze plaque that was hung on the wall.

"What are all those names up there?" he asked one of the ushers.

"Those are the names of people who died in the service." the usher replied.

Curious, the boy asked the usher - "which service, the 9:00 service or the 11:45 service?"

I am happy to report today that we are about, what we are celebrating, is a birth - not a death - the birth of the church - the birth of Christ in you and me - and in all who call on his name.

It is a very important day - the day on which the first believers came alive in their faith, the day when the Rock upon which Christ planted his church began to support and uphold an incredible new life - a life that has existed since the world began, but which was poured out in a special fashion and took on flesh in you and me much as it took life in Jesus, the Son of God so long ago.

Pentecost is an event that the world has long been promised and which the people of God have long awaited.

Pentecost is the reversal of what occurred at the Tower of Babel when, because of our sinfulness, we became unable to understand one another.

It is the gifting of God to make us one - and to make us one in the way he is one.

Pentecost is our becoming Christ in the world. It is God taking on flesh - not only in the least of those to whom we give water to drink or clothes to wear; but taking on flesh in us.

Praise be to God. God keeps all his promises.

Pentecost gives us the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

The eyes to see that God is in the details, that God is in the flesh - as well as in the Spirit. And the ears to hear him speaking in our hearts and upon the lips of others - in the rush of the wind.

The eyes to see and the ears to hear - as one - and as unique persons valued and treasured so much by God that God comes to us as we are and makes us even more truly who we are when we are His.

The story of the birth of the church, of that day some fifty days after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus that Jews and Christians call Pentecost - tells us that this what God has done - and is yet doing.

The followers of Jesus are given the ability to speak the languages of all those who are assembled in the city and beyond. God grants that we might understand one another and that we might understand the good news - in just the way we need to hear it.

Much as God communicates to each one of us here today.

We hear the gospel in our own language, in our images, with our own metaphors, with our own ears.

Some today will be encouraged to spend more time in praise and wonder to thank God for blessings, others will hear that the power that they need for tomorrow's trials and tribulations will come, still others will take heart - knowing that God is present to them at all times.

Whatever it is - it will be filled with God - and uniquely yours.

Pentecost is the birth of the Church. It is God amongst us in power making us not simply a group of believers, but Christ in the world, unafraid, empowered, bearing the cross out of love, and being raised from the Grave in glory.

I began with a story - I would like to end with another. One that I pray that God will use in your life as you meditate upon it from time to time. It is a very simple, but true story about a man called Yates, but who could be you and me - and this congregation - or any of a
thousand and one other congregations, a thousand and one other persons.

The story is told of a man called Yates who, during the depression, owned a sheep ranch in Texas in the United States. He did not have enough money to continue paying on the mortgage - in fact he was forced like many others to live on government subsidies.

Each day as he tended his sheep he worried about how he was going to pay his bills. Sometime later a seismographic crew arrived on his land and said that their might be oil on his land and could they test drill. After a lease was signed they went ahead.

At 1115 feet a huge oil reserve was struck - subsequent wells revealed even more oil than the first well revealed. Mr Yates owned it all. He had the oil and mineral rights. He had been living on relief - yet he was a millionaire. Think of it - he owned all that oil with its tremendous potential, yet for many years he did not realize it.

How often are we like Mr. Yate's? Considering ourselves poor and helpless yet all the while unaware of the extraordinary power that we have available to us - that which is lying just below the surface in our minds and our hearts.

We here today are a Pentecost People. The Spirit has been and is being poured out upon us. The gift of God is just below the surface in our minds and hearts, and to the right and to the left of us - above us and below us, to the front and to the rear.

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be the church which his victory has won. Amen

Prov 8:19

"My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver" Prov 8:19

I've been to the one of the local supermarkets and seen some fruit that is like Solomon's in today's verse! It sure seems like the cost of living keeps rising by the week.

But that is not the fruit that Solomon is talking about. He is talking about the same thing Paul was writing about in Galatians 5, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (Gal 5:22-23 NKJV) These are the fruits that have a value far greater than gold for several reasons.

1) Each fruit can only be raised at great expense. Ever found a "love" tree from which you could pick a bit of love and put it in your basket? Of course not. Love is expensive. It costs the human spirit a great deal to acquire. It can only be purchased by giving it away. That's right, give love away and you are sure to gain more than you give. The same is true of joy, peace, all of the fruits. They are acquired at great cost to the collector.

2) Each fruit has value that cannot be counted in gold. What price would you put on a pound of love, or a quart of peace? The giver of love is relinquishing something that has cost him blood, sweat, and tears. The person who receives it receives a great honor as well. Love is not thrown to the wind to be sown on the roadside. It is planted with love, suffering, and pain. It is literally the very life of the giver. And peace comes right with love - especially the love that comes from the Father, for that love is the most costly of all.

3) Each fruit is in such demand that the cost is high. Not that there is a shortage of supply! No, there is sufficient for everyone to get all he or she wants and needs. The problem is that few people want to give up what they have. Many are there who are "fruit hoarders"! They get a little love, peace goodness, gentleness, and it's like they put it in a fruit jar with a tight lid. Then, then the jar is full, they clamp down the lid and bury the jar and all in some dark, dank hole. The only problem is that when the gifts are treated so, they rot away. When the hoarder returns to his cache, he finds nothing there but an empty jar.

Indeed, my fruits, your fruits, our fruits are much more valuable than gold. And the income from them is much more valuable than silver! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Gen. 1:11

"Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so" Gen. 1:11

"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" That philosophical question has its roots buried deeply in evolution. The biblical answer is simple, God spoke and it happened. Just as Adam was created out of the dust of the earth, vegetation and animals came into being at the spoken Word of God, that was the seed.

The Word of God has always been the seed. Jesus tried to tell us that when He spoke the parable of the soils. When the disciples admitted that they did not understand what the Master was talking about, He told them. "The seed is the Word of God." (Luke 8:11) Of course Jesus had an allegorical message hidden in His earthly story - because the soil was the hearts of men.

Again, we could return to John 1 where we discover that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." In verse 14 John makes it clear that the Word of creation is the Son of God, Jesus. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among men." The Word planted the vegetation in the soil at creation and the seed of God was again planted in earth before Caesar Augustus announced a worldwide census. And that seed became Jesus, the son of Mary, the Savior of the world!

Isn't it amazing what God can do with the spoken Word? He spoke and there was light. He spoke and the light separated from the darkness and the heavens were formed. He spoke and plants sprouted on the face of the earth and produced fruit after their own kind WITH SEED IN THEM. At the spoken Word, the order of the earth came into being that caused the seed to drop into the ground and sprout and bring forth carbon copies of the parent plants.

Amazing, simply amazing, and "modern" scientists are seeking to discover how to make life. The story is told about a conversation between God and a mighty scientist. The two were talking about life and its origin when the scientist told God that he could produce life just like God did. "I can take a lump of clay and plant certain chemicals in it and it will bring forth life, just like you did." With this the scientist knelt on the ground and began his work. "Wait a minute," God said, "make your own clay."

While science is discovering that they can "create" life via cloning, they have yet to discover how to make the cell they empty and the DNA they inject into it. They need donors for both parts of the process! And where did the donors come from, don't let them fool you; they really don't know. But you and I know. They came from God who SPOKE them into existence!

Let us remember that Jesus is not only the LIGHT of creation, but He is the WORD that spoke the light into being. As such, He can shed His light on our darkness and speak into being His likeness in us, He can re-create us into His image again and restore us to God's fellowship, the fellowship broken when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. We can, and we will walk with the Father and talk with Him face to face because the Word has purified us and planted His seed in us, His Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Esther 4:16

"Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!" Esther 4:16

Preparation is the key to success. The more complicated the task, the more preparation is needed. It takes very little preparation for me to clean the floor of the house. All I have to do is to sweep the floor. It took more preparation for us to say go camping. We had to get the tent, the sleeping bags, the air mattress, the food, clothing. And this is just the big stuff! It took hours to prepare for this short trip - and then we forgot a few things!

Esther was getting ready to put on the performance of her life. Everything depended upon what she did - not just for herself, but for all the Jews in all of captivity. Even though she was queen, she knew she had to prepare. She dolled herself up. She ordered special food to be made ready - that means the cooks had to get all the ingredients and tools to do Esther's wishes. She cleaned her quarters. Her maids pressed her best dress. But this was just the outward things.

Esther knew she had a lot of spiritual preparation to do as well - and she could not do it alone. She asked all the local to fast and pray with her and her maidens. This was all out war for the welfare and lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews. After the three days of spiritual warfare through fasting and prayer, she was ready to walk in on the King - something that was very dangerous. If the King was not pleased - she would die immediately.

What preparation are you making for your life? No, I'm not talking about the Inland Revenue Department and the children's educational fund. I'm asking about the spiritual battles you are facing - or are soon to face. Do you spend any time fasting? Praying? Studying the Word? If you should come under spiritual attack today, would you have the strength needed for the battle? Are you interceding for your kids' spiritual lives? Do you spend time in prayer for your Church services each week? Or do you just show up on Sunday morning hoping that something good happens. When is the last time you prayed and fasted for your community? Your country? Your national government?

I'm afraid that most of us just stroll through life, taking it as it comes, with little or no preparation. We wouldn't do our employer that way, but we seem content to let our spiritual lives develop as they may. And our spiritual lives are much more important than our jobs - jobs are temporary, life is eternal. How many jobs have you had in the past 10 or 20 years? How many lives will you spend in eternity? See what I mean? We take it for granted that we will get to heaven, but we make little preparation to get us there. Amen and Amen.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lam. 3:24

"The LORD is my portion, says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him" Lam. 3:24

It's not unusual. It happens all the time. Two little boys fight over the biggest piece of cake. Two little girls struggle over who has the most candy. Even adults have their own version of the same conflict. It is not unusual for an employer to tell a trusted employee, "Don't tell the others what kind of raise you received." Inevitably the information "leaks" and someone is offended. "How could he get that kind of raise? I have been here twice as long as he has." We all seem to want the largest piece of the pie whether it is figurative or literal.

Jeremiah has his own version of the eternal battle over portion size. "The Lord is my portion" Therefore I hope in Him." In this short poetic sentence the prophet puts to rest the struggle for himself, and sets the example for us. Let's look at what he means.

First, Jeremiah says that God is enough for him. He will not participate in the selfish frivolities of the average man. He is content with what God wants him to have. He may be given a luxury villa on a prestigious street in Jerusalem. Or, he could live in a humble shack on the edge of the Kidron Valley.

Paul said something similar, "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" (Phil. 4:11) Both Paul and Jeremiah have learned the key to success in God. Be content with whatever God give you.

Second, Jeremiah has placed his expectations for the future in the God who supplies his every need. "I hope in Him." He doesn't place his trust in the Jerusalem Stock Exchange. He doesn't insist on a large MPF to provide for his retirement. He isn't looking to climb over anyone's back to reach the next rung on the "prophetic" ladder. Jeremiah has placed his total dependence on God who brought him safe thus far.

There is great peace in Jeremiah's position. Think about it. That confidence in God prevents ulcers. Prilosec, eat your heart out. Jeremiah didn't worry about anything. He trusted God, God was his portion, his provision, his all-in-all. What did he have to worry about? He didn't need to wonder whether the rain would water his crops. He didn't have to worry when the boss invited him into the office for an "update." ("Is he downsizing me? How will I pay the bills? How will I feed my family? Why did he have to set the appointment five hours from now?") Jeremiah took life one day at a time knowing where his provision came from. He knew that if something happened to him, God would provide for his family.

We can learn a lot from Jeremiah's simple statement. If we can learn to trust in the Lord like he did, we won't have a worry in the world, but most of us continue to seek our provision in our own efforts. We work hard at worrying ourselves into reflux city. Then we complain to God that we can't sleep at night because the antacid hasn't kicked in. It would be wise if we would, with Jeremiah, say that God is our portion therefore we will have hope (trust, confidence) in Him. Amen and Amen.