(From sermon of December 4, 2005) A teenage girl got lost in her car in a snow storm. She remembered what her dad had once told her: “If you ever get stuck in a snow storm, wait for a snow plow and follow it.” Pretty soon a snow plow came by, and she started to follow it. She followed the plow for about forty five minutes. Finally the driver of the truck got out and asked her what she was doing. She explained that her dad had told her if she ever got stuck in the snow, to follow a plow. The driver nodded and said, “Well, I’m done with the Wal-Mart parking lot. You can follow me over to …Continue reading →
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… – Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) I’ve been thinking about God’s mercy and grace lately. He doesn’t deal with us the way we deal with those around us. It’s easy to say we prefer grace and mercy to justice until someone steals the car or robs the house… then suddenly we want justice! Sometimes we seek justice when we shouldn’t: Ibn Saud, king of Saudi Arabia (1932-1953), once had a woman demand the death of a man who had killed her husband. The man had fallen out of a palm tree while picking dates and fell on …Continue reading →
(We recently hosted a couple’s fellowship/retreat in Beatty. The following comes from a talk I gave on the last day of the retreat.) Practially speaking, all marriages are based on one or more models. Much of what we think marriage is supposed to be like came from observing the relationship between our parents when we were children. If we are very loving towards our spouses, there’s a good chance that we saw that same kind of love in mom and dad. If we fight all the time, chances are it’s because mom and dad did too. It can be a sobering thought to realize that we’re also setting the prime example of marriage for our children. But parents are not …Continue reading →
“…I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down out of heaven: if any one shall have eaten of this bread he shall live for ever; but the bread withal which I shall give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” – John 6:48-51 (JND) While the Israelites were in the wilderness, God miraculously sustained them with bread from heaven for forty years. Manna was not a supplemental food source – it was something God’s people had to rely …Continue reading →
Two people, joined together into one flesh by God. This is a picture of our union with Christ. Paul wrote: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. – Ephesians 5:31-32 (ESV) The bond between husband and wife is a great picture of the Church’s union with Christ. But in an age of easy divorce, this image may loose some of its significance in our minds. Today, many couples split up because the marriage was one of convenience. Living together becomes difficult for various reasons, either internal or external. So …Continue reading →
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I once heard someone put what Jesus said this way. It is like an advertising slogan that the carpenter's son put on a sign outside of his shop: "Jesus Christ's Easy Yokes." You may think of a yoke as a big wooden contraption that is placed on the neck of oxen to harness them to do work. You may think of a yoke as work, but it is actually something designed to make work much easier. In some countries people bear a yoke, a stick, …Continue reading →
And Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, which is the ninth hour; and a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they placed every day at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who were going into the temple… – Acts 3:1-2 (JND) We’re going through the book of Acts on Sundays in adult class, and while looking at this portion of the book, it occurred to me that Jesus never healed this man during His earthly ministry. It says here that the lame man was laid daily at the temple to beg money from those going in to worship. This …Continue reading →
There was a discussion at one of our Wednesday night Bible studies over this question. The pastor said it was impossible for Jesus to have sinned, but not all agreed. While the majority focused on Jesus’ deity, some focused on His humanity. It helped them to identify with Jesus’ temptation to know that Jesus could have sinned. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. – Hebrews 2:18 Here’s my view on this question: Jesus had a human body just like ours. It had the same “tools” that we use to commit sin: Jesus had a tongue that was able to lie, hands that could steal, and a brain that …Continue reading →
A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. He strictly warned him, and immediately sent him out, and said to him, “See you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so …Continue reading →
When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ – Luke 15:6 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ – Luke 15:9 ‘…for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate. – Luke 15:24 There are two ways of experiencing “lostness”: subjective and objective. In this chapter, subjective is the experience that the lost one has (i.e. me). Objective is the experience that the possessor has (i.e. God). Most of us see …Continue reading →
