Well here it is Christmas Eve. This morning my sister-in-law came over to start the fig pudding. Had a chance to play with Andrew my nephew. The rest of the day was bringing in the wood, cleaning up in the family room and garage, along with puttering on projects around the house.
I now have a break to reflect on the significance of the celebration of Christ birth, while waiting on the kids to show up for supper. They will all be here the plan is to have supper, go to the Christmas Eve service at the church and then dessert at Heather's our oldest daughter.
I always have the same thoughts this time of year. I think of my family, friends and co-workers. Do they know that this isn't just a casual celebration? That the birth of Jesus is one of the most significant events since the creation. What God has done by sending His only Son is to demonstrate a love far beyond our imaginings. We are truly a hurting and sinful people. Despite injustice, violence, broken homes and relationships we live in a world that denies there is sin.
You might be thinking that faith is for some people. You might also think that Christianity is just another religion. I just want to call your attention to 2 verses only.
Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. NKJS
The news of Jesus birth is for all people. This is great news. We have a choice on whether to accept this good news.
The next thing I think about is that so many folks are hurting this holiday. Those I know, those I don't know. Some are lonely. Some have lost a loved one. Some have suffered abuse. Some have suffered from physical hardship. Some are in the hospital. Some are in the military overseas. Some can't buy presents for their kids. Some will go hungry. Some are dying. Some are lost. Some are homeless.
As we celebrate what God has done, I don't think we can simply ignore the suffering around us. Truly Jesus birth is good news. Truly He is the only hope we can have. As a result of God's gift to us we need to be praying for those who are suffering. We need to be reaching out to help. We need to be the light on a hill.
Please join me this night in praying for those who are lost, praying for those who are suffering and remembering to celebrate what God has done for us, by doing for others.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Power of Darkness
It's that time of year, I was at work at 4:15 and as I looked out the window it was dark. Not twilight but dark. As I head home after 5:00 I feel like I have worked overtime since I stayed over an hour after dark. Living in Maine at the eastern end of the eastern time zone the day ends early. I am not a big fan of the darkness at the end of the day. The days will only get shorter until we get to December 21st and then it shifts the other way. Don't get me wrong I love Maine. I like the seasons pretty much the same. If pressed I would have to pick fall as my favorite season. I just fall lasted just a little longer and the days were a little longer.
There are many aspects to this idea of darkness. We can be locked up as prisoners in a cell away from the light of day. We can be in darkness in living in a society where truth is suppressed and their isn't a freedom of thought and speech. We can be in darkness when our freedoms are restricted. We can also be living in the darkness of a broken relationship to God our creator.
There are many aspects to this idea of darkness. We can be locked up as prisoners in a cell away from the light of day. We can be in darkness in living in a society where truth is suppressed and their isn't a freedom of thought and speech. We can be in darkness when our freedoms are restricted. We can also be living in the darkness of a broken relationship to God our creator.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Growing Stronger Everyday
Last Saturday had a great ride with the Calvary Cruisers (Christian Motorcycle Club). We did something called a progressive supper (actually it started at 11:00 am and went to 7:00 pm). We traveled up to North Conway and had appetizers with dear a dear brother and sister in Christ who have retired to a development in that area. Appetizers might be the wrong word for a table spread for 10 people that included fruit dish, cheese and crakers, bread ball with cheese mix, bread pieces baked with cheese topping, ginger butter, apple butter, shrimp dip, veggie platter, eggs wrapped in sausage and baked, cream cheese, pumkin bread, spice bread, rasin bread and some other exotic dishes I can't remember. From there we traveled over to parsonfield where the Libby family served us brocoli salad and venison stew. If I wasn't so stuffed by the appetizers I would have had about 3 bowls of stew. We then traveled to our house for meatball subs, sweet potatoe and sausage casserole, and macaronin and cheese. Wow!! If that wasn't enough we then went to Rhonda's house for dessert. Apple Crisp, Fudge Brownies, cookies and something else that was real good but I forgot. We ate way too much and that is what contributed to our slow progress. A normal progressive supper lasts about 2 hours, ours lasted 8.
Friday, October 9, 2009
I Heard it Through the Grapevine
Well you might have heard the news today (maybe through the grapevine) the Nobel Peace prize was awarded. There was a lot of reaction to the news. And many people commented on the idea of peace. I heard references to:
Continuing on in that letter Paul is thankful for the news about the Colossians faith that Paul has heard about. Actually it is believed that Paul was in prison at the time he wrote this letter.
- Peace from war
- Peace among the nations
- The Coke commercial "I'd like to teach the world to sing..."
- Peace among groups
Continuing on in that letter Paul is thankful for the news about the Colossians faith that Paul has heard about. Actually it is believed that Paul was in prison at the time he wrote this letter.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Back in Touch
My last entry was from July and since then my life has been a little bit in overdrive. I can't say its one thing or another, just a lot of little things. But I hope you faithful have been praying for me and that God gives me the right things to share.
The first week of August Cheryl and I traveled with the Calvary Cruisers (Christian Club) to Vermont. We camped, made day trips, had devotions and I was able to hook up with an old friend. The last time I saw or talked to Pete was in the mid-70s, probably before I got married. Anyway ran across him on Facebook, where we exchanged a few pleasantries. When he saw my posting for the trip to Vermont he mentioned he would be there the same week. This was really cool since he is a real genuine brother in Christ. Anyway I passed onto him my cell phone so he could get a hold of me. Now here is the fun part. I am out with the group returning from church we are parked in the driveway of a house when my phone rings. I take it out but I have my helmet on so I yell "Wait a minute I have my helmet on". I then take my helmet off and say hello. Voice on the other end says "Hey, It's me". He didn't say his name but even after 34 years I knew it was Pete. We got together for a great lunch at the Bonaza resturant where we met his wife and one of his son's. What a special relationship we have with our brothers when you can pick up the relationship 34 years later as if nothing happened.
During the trip with the Cruisers we started a study in Colossians. It was kind of a whirlwind tour and we didn't quite finish. So I said I would use this blog to complete the study. The only way I can do that fairly is to start from the begining. Maybe some day when we get through Colossians we will return to Luke.
Well first of all lets just look at the first couple of verses:
Col 1: 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As you can see from these verses that the book of Collosians in the Bible is actually a letter. It tells us who wrote it and who they were writting to. The main author is Paul, but he acknowledges that the letter is from him and Timothy together. The recipients of the letter were the saints and faithful bretheren in Christ who are in Colosse. In this letter we see that Paul was an Apostle (someone who is sent). As a formal title it is someone who Jesus directly sends.
So there were the original 12 apostles and then Judas who betrayed Jesus committed suicide. After Jesus death he appeared to Paul and asked him "...why are you persecuting me?". Because Paul (who was then called Saul) was persecuting the christians. He was having them sent to jail. Long story short, Paul becomes a christian and travels throughout the Roman empire telling other about the savior Jesus Christ.
You might have noticed the term saint in these verses. You might be thinking wow there was more than one saint at the church in Colosse. You would be right. All the people at Colosse who sought and found the savior Jesus Christ are saints. As a matter of fact if you have accepted Jesus as your savior you are a saint. You are separated from the world and consecrated to God. It was not used as a distinctive title of the apostles and evangelists and of a "spiritual nobility" till the fourth century. So as you can see it is not a scriptural title to be applied to only some Christians.
My hope is that you will see as we look at scripture that it is good news for everyone.
So I am hoping after 2 months I can pick up this relationship of sharing information with you as you search for the savior.
The first week of August Cheryl and I traveled with the Calvary Cruisers (Christian Club) to Vermont. We camped, made day trips, had devotions and I was able to hook up with an old friend. The last time I saw or talked to Pete was in the mid-70s, probably before I got married. Anyway ran across him on Facebook, where we exchanged a few pleasantries. When he saw my posting for the trip to Vermont he mentioned he would be there the same week. This was really cool since he is a real genuine brother in Christ. Anyway I passed onto him my cell phone so he could get a hold of me. Now here is the fun part. I am out with the group returning from church we are parked in the driveway of a house when my phone rings. I take it out but I have my helmet on so I yell "Wait a minute I have my helmet on". I then take my helmet off and say hello. Voice on the other end says "Hey, It's me". He didn't say his name but even after 34 years I knew it was Pete. We got together for a great lunch at the Bonaza resturant where we met his wife and one of his son's. What a special relationship we have with our brothers when you can pick up the relationship 34 years later as if nothing happened.
During the trip with the Cruisers we started a study in Colossians. It was kind of a whirlwind tour and we didn't quite finish. So I said I would use this blog to complete the study. The only way I can do that fairly is to start from the begining. Maybe some day when we get through Colossians we will return to Luke.
Well first of all lets just look at the first couple of verses:
Col 1: 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As you can see from these verses that the book of Collosians in the Bible is actually a letter. It tells us who wrote it and who they were writting to. The main author is Paul, but he acknowledges that the letter is from him and Timothy together. The recipients of the letter were the saints and faithful bretheren in Christ who are in Colosse. In this letter we see that Paul was an Apostle (someone who is sent). As a formal title it is someone who Jesus directly sends.
So there were the original 12 apostles and then Judas who betrayed Jesus committed suicide. After Jesus death he appeared to Paul and asked him "...why are you persecuting me?". Because Paul (who was then called Saul) was persecuting the christians. He was having them sent to jail. Long story short, Paul becomes a christian and travels throughout the Roman empire telling other about the savior Jesus Christ.
You might have noticed the term saint in these verses. You might be thinking wow there was more than one saint at the church in Colosse. You would be right. All the people at Colosse who sought and found the savior Jesus Christ are saints. As a matter of fact if you have accepted Jesus as your savior you are a saint. You are separated from the world and consecrated to God. It was not used as a distinctive title of the apostles and evangelists and of a "spiritual nobility" till the fourth century. So as you can see it is not a scriptural title to be applied to only some Christians.
My hope is that you will see as we look at scripture that it is good news for everyone.
So I am hoping after 2 months I can pick up this relationship of sharing information with you as you search for the savior.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Sinners Wanted
Took another break or should I say have another break. Or maybe I am broken. Anyway I reinjured my hand a week and a half ago. I was playing 1 on 1 basketball with my son in the driveway. I realized I was way out of my league even though he was going easy on me. Well during a ungraceful (I was wearing motorcycle boots) cut to the basket I ran smack into Ben and went flying down on the driveway landing right on my right hand again. By the time I got home it had swollen up as big as an orange. The doctor wasn't sure but I might have a hairline fracture. So back to wearing a splint for 3 weeks.
So lets pick up where we left off in Luke chapter 5.
27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Well the Pharisees and teachers of the Law are still with us. Waiting and watching every move that Jesus makes. But now we are going to meet a new character Levi the tax collector. Maybe when you think of a tax collector you think of an IRS agent. You might think its bad enough someone poking into your finances to be sure that you are paying your taxes according to the law. However a tax collector during Jesus time represented something worse.
So it should come as no surprise to have the comment equating tax collectors and sinners.
So the question asked not directly to Jesus but to His disciples. At this point the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are cautious about confronting Jesus directly. As you remember from the last story they were caught muttering amoung themselves.
The religious leaders wanted to have a holy club where only those who were rightous would hang out. They believed that God would like them for thier good work, thier holy practices and the group they hung around with. But Jesus has come for the sinners. He is looking for sinners. He walked right up to Levi's tax collecting table and said follow me. Jesus has come to a party where sinners are hanging out to bring them too repentence.
In a sense though he is also poking at the illusion of the religious leaders. He says has not come for the rightous. But we know thier are none rightous by thier own works. So the Pharisees are in a sense being made fun of. They would have viewed themselves as rightous and deserving of the utmost respect from anyone sent by God. Jesus leaves them to consider the paradox of thier view. If they are rightous why is thier compassion for others absent. Jesus is saying sinners need help. The Pharisees think the rightous are to avoid sinners.
In reality thier we are all sinners. The dividing line is not between the rightous and sinners. But between those who know they are sinners and need the forgiveness of God. And those who believe they are not sinners, but are rightous in thier own eyes.
If you are really searching for a savior then in order to find Him you need to recognize that you are a sinner and cannot obtain rightousness on your own. Only through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the Cross can we be transformed from our old self to a new person.
So lets pick up where we left off in Luke chapter 5.
27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
31Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Well the Pharisees and teachers of the Law are still with us. Waiting and watching every move that Jesus makes. But now we are going to meet a new character Levi the tax collector. Maybe when you think of a tax collector you think of an IRS agent. You might think its bad enough someone poking into your finances to be sure that you are paying your taxes according to the law. However a tax collector during Jesus time represented something worse.
- They were hired under contract to deliver a certian amount of money by direct collection or levies.
- They were Jews who worked for the Roman government
- Their independence allowed them to abuse and collect more tax for their own use through extortion and physical coersion. Some control of excess reported to the Roman's could lead to persecution, but if the tax collector kept it small scale thier abuses were tolerated.
- Tax collectors worked on the Sabbath
- Considered unclean by associating with gentiles (non-jews)
So it should come as no surprise to have the comment equating tax collectors and sinners.
So the question asked not directly to Jesus but to His disciples. At this point the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are cautious about confronting Jesus directly. As you remember from the last story they were caught muttering amoung themselves.
The religious leaders wanted to have a holy club where only those who were rightous would hang out. They believed that God would like them for thier good work, thier holy practices and the group they hung around with. But Jesus has come for the sinners. He is looking for sinners. He walked right up to Levi's tax collecting table and said follow me. Jesus has come to a party where sinners are hanging out to bring them too repentence.
In a sense though he is also poking at the illusion of the religious leaders. He says has not come for the rightous. But we know thier are none rightous by thier own works. So the Pharisees are in a sense being made fun of. They would have viewed themselves as rightous and deserving of the utmost respect from anyone sent by God. Jesus leaves them to consider the paradox of thier view. If they are rightous why is thier compassion for others absent. Jesus is saying sinners need help. The Pharisees think the rightous are to avoid sinners.
In reality thier we are all sinners. The dividing line is not between the rightous and sinners. But between those who know they are sinners and need the forgiveness of God. And those who believe they are not sinners, but are rightous in thier own eyes.
If you are really searching for a savior then in order to find Him you need to recognize that you are a sinner and cannot obtain rightousness on your own. Only through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the Cross can we be transformed from our old self to a new person.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Healing
Right now I am sitting on the porch overlooking the bay on a nice sunny morning in York Beach, Me. My in-laws have a nice cottage bay side. The air is dry and just the right temperature in the shade. It has been a real blessing spending the time here the past few days over the 4th of July weekend with family visiting on Saturday. Also managed to swing down to Newburyport on Sunday to visit my brother and nephews.
I really missed my church family yesterday. Last week we were at His Mansion ministry in New Hampshire. This weekend vacation in York Beach. Next weekend riding with the Calvary Cruisers up to a church in Albion, ME to encourage the folks at Albion Bible Church. I don't think I have ever gone 3 Sunday's without being with my home church family. I hope if some of you are reading this that you know how much you mean to Cheryl and I.
We plan on heading out soon to get back home and do some chores with the remainder of the day. If the weather back home is nice enough I hope to take a spin with my motorcycle. I am hoping my hand is healed enough to be able to make the trip with my motorcycle up to Albion (about 2 1/2 hours away).
When I think of the whole idea of healing, I have been amazed at the miracle of how God designed the human body. The bone that goes from my wrist to the base of my thumb was basically shattered. The surgery that I had was to insert screws and plate to hold the pieces together while they healed on their own. We can say that our bodies heal themselves, but in reality they heal themselves because our creator made them to heal themselves. What a miracle.
But what about the man in our story?
Luke 5:24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
The man was paralyzed. Obviously beyond the natural healing that is built into the way our bodies are created. In this passage there appears to be a relationship between the man's need to be healed, sin in his life and Jesus authority to forgive and heal.
We live in a fallen world because of sin. There is sickness, disease and violence that cause our bodies not to be all that God would desire for us. Also specifically we may be sick due to our unrepentant hearts and rejection of God's grace. We may find healing through
The healing that takes place in this story is a demonstration of who Jesus is. He is the Son of God. He is God. Those religious groups that use the Bible as the cornerstone of their faith, yet deny the divine nature of Jesus would have real trouble with this passage. The proposition here is Jesus performed a miracle to prove that He had authority on earth to forgive sins. The Pharisees in a sense were correct that only God can forgive sins on behalf of God.
So what have we learned about our savior from this story?
I really missed my church family yesterday. Last week we were at His Mansion ministry in New Hampshire. This weekend vacation in York Beach. Next weekend riding with the Calvary Cruisers up to a church in Albion, ME to encourage the folks at Albion Bible Church. I don't think I have ever gone 3 Sunday's without being with my home church family. I hope if some of you are reading this that you know how much you mean to Cheryl and I.
We plan on heading out soon to get back home and do some chores with the remainder of the day. If the weather back home is nice enough I hope to take a spin with my motorcycle. I am hoping my hand is healed enough to be able to make the trip with my motorcycle up to Albion (about 2 1/2 hours away).
When I think of the whole idea of healing, I have been amazed at the miracle of how God designed the human body. The bone that goes from my wrist to the base of my thumb was basically shattered. The surgery that I had was to insert screws and plate to hold the pieces together while they healed on their own. We can say that our bodies heal themselves, but in reality they heal themselves because our creator made them to heal themselves. What a miracle.
But what about the man in our story?
Luke 5:24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
The man was paralyzed. Obviously beyond the natural healing that is built into the way our bodies are created. In this passage there appears to be a relationship between the man's need to be healed, sin in his life and Jesus authority to forgive and heal.
We live in a fallen world because of sin. There is sickness, disease and violence that cause our bodies not to be all that God would desire for us. Also specifically we may be sick due to our unrepentant hearts and rejection of God's grace. We may find healing through
- Medicinal care
- Natural healing of our bodies
- Prayer and repentance
- Or the miraculous power of Jesus
The healing that takes place in this story is a demonstration of who Jesus is. He is the Son of God. He is God. Those religious groups that use the Bible as the cornerstone of their faith, yet deny the divine nature of Jesus would have real trouble with this passage. The proposition here is Jesus performed a miracle to prove that He had authority on earth to forgive sins. The Pharisees in a sense were correct that only God can forgive sins on behalf of God.
So what have we learned about our savior from this story?
- He is in opposition to the established religious order as represented by the Pharisees
- He has compassion on those seeking healing
- He has the authority to forgive sins
- He has the Power and Authority to heal
- He is God
- He commends the faith of those who trust in Him
- He is concerned about our heart attitude
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Forgiveness
Just got home a little while ago, from spending time at His Mansion in Deering, NH. This was a trip planned by the Calvary Cruisers as an opportunity to minister through service. We went over on Friday night. Unfortunately we didn't ride motorcycles for several reasons:
Not only did we have an opportunity for service we were able to share several meals with the staff and residents. As is always the case when you go somewhere to provide encouragement and support, you end up being blessed and in turn more encouraged by God's grace than before.
In this post I would like to continue with a look at Luke 5:17- 26. As I mentioned several posting ago I wanted to look at this passage from several perspectives.
Luke 5:17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
The man mentioned in this story is paralyzed in such a way that he is unable to walk. His friends go to extraordinary steps to bring him before Jesus. The hope is that Jesus would heal him and the man would be able to walk. However the scribes and pharisees are present and looking to charge Jesus to expose Him as a fraud. He was treading on thier turf. So what does Jesus do, He looks at the man and says "...your sins are forgiven you.". We have already discussed the reaction of the scribes and pharisees, so lets look at our reaction.
We might be surprised that Jesus didn't heal the man right away. Why did he forgive his sins. How did Jesus know that the man needed his sins forgiven? In reality this is exactly what is needed by everyone. I will only include 2 more verses.
1 Kings 8:46 "When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly';
Rom 3:22b For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Everyone has sinned. Everyone has a broken relationship with God. We have all put ourselves first. We rebel against the authority of God. And we all feel that emptiness. We fill that emptiness with pleasure, abuse, selfish pursuits, vanity and so forth. But none of these bring satisfaction. We go around hurting, seeking healing. So the man that came to Jesus also had that hurt. The priority is the forgiveness of his sins. A restoration of his relationship with God.
The Pharisees made a good point, only God can forgive sins. When Jesus healed the man and demostrated His power. It signified He was God. He had the authority and power to forgive sins, heal the broken spirit and the broken body.
If you do not know Jesus as Savior, than you are in worse shape than the man who was paralyzed. You are walking around with a broken relationship with God. You have not experienced the incredible healing of His forgiveness.
To find out more on how you can know God's forgiveness and receive eternal life check out "The Bridge to Eternal Life".
- the weather the past several days has been on and off thunderstorms
- Got home from work too late to avoid riding at night
- Plus I don't have a motorcycle (that makes it tough). Actually have put down a deposit and am picking up a new one Tuesday night.
Not only did we have an opportunity for service we were able to share several meals with the staff and residents. As is always the case when you go somewhere to provide encouragement and support, you end up being blessed and in turn more encouraged by God's grace than before.
In this post I would like to continue with a look at Luke 5:17- 26. As I mentioned several posting ago I wanted to look at this passage from several perspectives.
- The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
- The faith of the friends
- The priority and power to forgive sins
- The healing
Luke 5:17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
The man mentioned in this story is paralyzed in such a way that he is unable to walk. His friends go to extraordinary steps to bring him before Jesus. The hope is that Jesus would heal him and the man would be able to walk. However the scribes and pharisees are present and looking to charge Jesus to expose Him as a fraud. He was treading on thier turf. So what does Jesus do, He looks at the man and says "...your sins are forgiven you.". We have already discussed the reaction of the scribes and pharisees, so lets look at our reaction.
We might be surprised that Jesus didn't heal the man right away. Why did he forgive his sins. How did Jesus know that the man needed his sins forgiven? In reality this is exactly what is needed by everyone. I will only include 2 more verses.
1 Kings 8:46 "When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly';
Rom 3:22b For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Everyone has sinned. Everyone has a broken relationship with God. We have all put ourselves first. We rebel against the authority of God. And we all feel that emptiness. We fill that emptiness with pleasure, abuse, selfish pursuits, vanity and so forth. But none of these bring satisfaction. We go around hurting, seeking healing. So the man that came to Jesus also had that hurt. The priority is the forgiveness of his sins. A restoration of his relationship with God.
The Pharisees made a good point, only God can forgive sins. When Jesus healed the man and demostrated His power. It signified He was God. He had the authority and power to forgive sins, heal the broken spirit and the broken body.
If you do not know Jesus as Savior, than you are in worse shape than the man who was paralyzed. You are walking around with a broken relationship with God. You have not experienced the incredible healing of His forgiveness.
To find out more on how you can know God's forgiveness and receive eternal life check out "The Bridge to Eternal Life".
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friends
You noticed I didn't get to fancy with the title of this post. It just seemed right to me to highlight the idea of friends as a simple concept with profound meaning to our lives.
Beside from our relationship to God as being the primary purpose in our lives, there is also a very real and important message conveyed in God's Word about our relationship with each other. The aesthetics (monks) who sequestered themselves away from other people in order to draw closer to God and lead a holy life, were pursuing a goal that is unobtainable. How can we possibly have a close relationship with God and ignore others?
Mt 22:35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
We are to love our neighbors, not shut them out. I could write pages on the trends in our society that break down relationships and are destroying communities. Instead though I would like to focus on the passage we looked at last time where one of the major themes was the faith of the paralytics friends.
I am not going to include the quote from Luke 5:17-26 in this posting. If you do not have a Bible handy you can refer pack to my posting on May 24th. In my last posting I mentioned 4 major themes from this passage.
Moving onto the second theme, what do we know about the paralytics friends?
Maybe you are my friends and family who do not know Jesus or you are a friend of someone who has forwarded this posting. I would urge you to follow the link below and read how you can know the salvation message.
Bridge to Eternal Life
Beside from our relationship to God as being the primary purpose in our lives, there is also a very real and important message conveyed in God's Word about our relationship with each other. The aesthetics (monks) who sequestered themselves away from other people in order to draw closer to God and lead a holy life, were pursuing a goal that is unobtainable. How can we possibly have a close relationship with God and ignore others?
Mt 22:35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
We are to love our neighbors, not shut them out. I could write pages on the trends in our society that break down relationships and are destroying communities. Instead though I would like to focus on the passage we looked at last time where one of the major themes was the faith of the paralytics friends.
I am not going to include the quote from Luke 5:17-26 in this posting. If you do not have a Bible handy you can refer pack to my posting on May 24th. In my last posting I mentioned 4 major themes from this passage.
- The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
- The faith of the friends
- The priority and power to forgive sins
- The healing
Moving onto the second theme, what do we know about the paralytics friends?
- They were helpful. They were willing to carry their friend. What a great picture. Friendship here isn't about sports, hanging out, watching a movie or going out drinking. Friendship is about helping. Here we see a picture of friends literally carrying the burden of their friend to Jesus.
- They were willing to persevere for thier friend. When the going got tough because of the crowds, they climbed on the roof of the house Jesus was teaching in. The opened up the roof and lowered their friend in front of Jesus. Their was a physical obstacle to overcome, getting to Jesus. And a social obstacle. I am sure some of the crowd were not happy with their bold move to get to the front of the line.
- They were faithful. I think they demonstrate faithfulness in two ways. First they were faithful in bringing their friend to Jesus no matter what the obstacles. The paralytic had friends that he could trust to standby him and help him. I also believe they demonstrated faith in Jesus, trusting that Jesus would take care of their friends needs. Jesus acknowledged their faithfulness in believing that Jesus could heal.
Maybe you are my friends and family who do not know Jesus or you are a friend of someone who has forwarded this posting. I would urge you to follow the link below and read how you can know the salvation message.
Bridge to Eternal Life
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Our Heart Attitude
As a reminder over the next several weeks I will be keeping these posting short until my right hand heels. I thank you for your patience as it will be especially difficult with so much to cover in today's passage.
We will be looking at Luke 5:17-26. I am not going to copy it into today's posting, if you do not have a Bible handy, you can see the quoted passage from the last posting.
Here are some themes from this passage that we will look at one at a time over the next several weeks.
When Jesus tells the paralyzed man his sins are forgiven, the Scribes and Pharisees immediately find their opening to condemn Jesus. Because of the crowds it would appear that their comments were made amongst themselves. They accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Essentially that Jesus is bringing insult to God. If they don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, then they will reject Jesus doing something that only God can do.
Though Jesus was not meant to hear the Scribes and Pharisees, he perceived their thoughts. He indicates that their thoughts are a result of their heart attitude. "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?"
Jesus is not concerned with the position that the Scribes and Pharisees hold in the community. Neither is he concerned with their memorization of scripture. He is not impressed with their holiness. Jesus is concerned with the heart. Jesus knew their hearts. He knew that their reasoning was a result of their heart attitude. As we will discover in later passages the Scribes and Pharisees were arrogant, proud, self righteous and eventually plotted to have Jesus crucified.
Our heart attitude toward God and the Savior can have profound effect on our reasoning. Is your attitude one of faith and trust in Jesus like the paralytic in this passage? Or are you skeptical, arrogant, proud and worried that a faith in Jesus will mean giving up your ability and authority to be in control? The chouice is yours. I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your heart to God's Word, so that you can find the truth as you Search for the Savior?
We will be looking at Luke 5:17-26. I am not going to copy it into today's posting, if you do not have a Bible handy, you can see the quoted passage from the last posting.
Here are some themes from this passage that we will look at one at a time over the next several weeks.
- The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
- The faith of the friends
- The priority and power to forgive sins
- The healing
When Jesus tells the paralyzed man his sins are forgiven, the Scribes and Pharisees immediately find their opening to condemn Jesus. Because of the crowds it would appear that their comments were made amongst themselves. They accuse Jesus of blasphemy. Essentially that Jesus is bringing insult to God. If they don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, then they will reject Jesus doing something that only God can do.
Though Jesus was not meant to hear the Scribes and Pharisees, he perceived their thoughts. He indicates that their thoughts are a result of their heart attitude. "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?"
Jesus is not concerned with the position that the Scribes and Pharisees hold in the community. Neither is he concerned with their memorization of scripture. He is not impressed with their holiness. Jesus is concerned with the heart. Jesus knew their hearts. He knew that their reasoning was a result of their heart attitude. As we will discover in later passages the Scribes and Pharisees were arrogant, proud, self righteous and eventually plotted to have Jesus crucified.
Our heart attitude toward God and the Savior can have profound effect on our reasoning. Is your attitude one of faith and trust in Jesus like the paralytic in this passage? Or are you skeptical, arrogant, proud and worried that a faith in Jesus will mean giving up your ability and authority to be in control? The chouice is yours. I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your heart to God's Word, so that you can find the truth as you Search for the Savior?
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Short and Sweet
A week and a half ago I was riding my motorcycle to work when the car in front of me stopped suddenly. i applied my brakes but my bike kept sliding. I crashed right into the back of the car. For the car it was less than a minor accident. For a rider on a motorcycle i don't think there are minor accidents. Some are real bad and some you get to walk away. Or in my case stumble away. I bruised/popped my ribs and broke the bone that goes from the wrist to the base of the thumb on my right hand. My motorcycle was drivable but the assessor counted it a total loss due to a bend in the front frame.
It just so happens I am right handed and received surgery this past Friday to insert a plate to hold the bone together. You might be wondering who is typing my blog. I am with just my left hand. It is very slow going thus the title of this blog entry "short and sweet".
The next blog entry we will be looking at a passage in Luke where we will meet some folks that are new. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law (or scribes) were not good buddies with Jesus. I had already had some notes on these two groups to include in this blog for background I will just cut and paste that in with the Bible verses that we will discuss next time.
Though I am banged up and not able to do a lot at this time, God has granted me his grace to draw closer to him and know that no matter what He is in control. Praise God.
Pharisees - a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, so called from perishin , the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word perushim , "separated."
While it was the aim of Jesus to call men to the law of God itself as the supreme guide of life, the Pharisees, upon the Pretence of maintaining it intact, multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numerous and trifling that the law was almost if not wholly lost sight of.
The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin.
Teachers of the Law (scribes) - The priests were therefore also in the first instance the scholars and the guardians of the Law; but in the course of time this was changed. The more highly esteemed the Law became in the eyes of the people, the more its study and interpretation became a lifework by itself, and thus there developed a class of scholars who, though not priests, devoted themselves assiduously to the Law. These became known as the scribes, that is, the professional students of the Law. During the Hellenistic period, the priests, especially those of the upper class, became tainted with the Hellenism of the age and frequently turned their attention to paganistic culture, thus neglecting the Law of their fathers more or less and arousing the scribes to opposition. Thus, the scribes and not the priests were now the zealous defenders of the Law, and hence, were the true teachers of the people.
Luke 5:17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
It just so happens I am right handed and received surgery this past Friday to insert a plate to hold the bone together. You might be wondering who is typing my blog. I am with just my left hand. It is very slow going thus the title of this blog entry "short and sweet".
The next blog entry we will be looking at a passage in Luke where we will meet some folks that are new. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law (or scribes) were not good buddies with Jesus. I had already had some notes on these two groups to include in this blog for background I will just cut and paste that in with the Bible verses that we will discuss next time.
Though I am banged up and not able to do a lot at this time, God has granted me his grace to draw closer to him and know that no matter what He is in control. Praise God.
Pharisees - a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, so called from perishin , the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word perushim , "separated."
While it was the aim of Jesus to call men to the law of God itself as the supreme guide of life, the Pharisees, upon the Pretence of maintaining it intact, multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numerous and trifling that the law was almost if not wholly lost sight of.
The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin.
Teachers of the Law (scribes) - The priests were therefore also in the first instance the scholars and the guardians of the Law; but in the course of time this was changed. The more highly esteemed the Law became in the eyes of the people, the more its study and interpretation became a lifework by itself, and thus there developed a class of scholars who, though not priests, devoted themselves assiduously to the Law. These became known as the scribes, that is, the professional students of the Law. During the Hellenistic period, the priests, especially those of the upper class, became tainted with the Hellenism of the age and frequently turned their attention to paganistic culture, thus neglecting the Law of their fathers more or less and arousing the scribes to opposition. Thus, the scribes and not the priests were now the zealous defenders of the Law, and hence, were the true teachers of the people.
Luke 5:17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
Monday, May 11, 2009
Make Me Clean
This past week I was at an event that took place at Walt Disney World in Florida. The company I worked for sent us to a team building and recognition event from Sunday to Wednesday. I really appreciated the time to go with others in the company. My wife was able to join me on Wednesday and we had our own mini-vacation together through Saturday.
The team building and training was facilitated by the Disney Institute. There was a discussion on the perception or stereotype of what people expect when they come to Disney World. Some of the stereotypes are positive and some are negative. One of the positive stereotypes is that Disney World is clean. This is not just a perception but a reality if you have had an opportunity to visit Disney. According to the man facilitating our session, every night the parks are power washed. I imagine its some sort of machine that drives down the various roads and pathways spraying high volume wash. Also about a 1/4 of the parks get steam cleaned each night. So not only is dirt cleaned away, but bacteria is also killed.
The week before we left there was a heightened concern about the swine flu. Spray sanitizers were provided in our welcoming kit. I am not aware of anyone deciding not to take the trip but trusted that they would be safe from this disease. We all want to be clean and safe from disease. If we aren't clean or if we are sick we want to be made clean and well.
Lets look at the story of the man who has leprosy in Luke 5:12- 16.
Luke 5:12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
This wasn't ordinary case of leprosy, the man was covered with leprosy. This is a very advanced case. This would be a man in desperation. Someone who had leprosy was considered unclean. The determination of whether someone had leprosy and was unclean was decided by the priest according to the law found in the book of Leviticus.
Lev 13:1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 3 The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean.
The man comes to Jesus for healing but he asks will you make me clean. As we can see from Lev. the idea of being unclean has a practical and a spiritual aspect to it. This man wants to be made spiritually clean, as well as healed of the decease. To be unclean was to be separated from the rest of the people. You would not participate in the fellowship of the followers of God. It would appear that he believes that Jesus not only has the power to heal him, but to be made clean, to restore him to the community. Jesus does heal him and then says go to the priest for examination according to the law.
Lev 13:45 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
Will you ask Our Savior "Make Me Clean"?
The team building and training was facilitated by the Disney Institute. There was a discussion on the perception or stereotype of what people expect when they come to Disney World. Some of the stereotypes are positive and some are negative. One of the positive stereotypes is that Disney World is clean. This is not just a perception but a reality if you have had an opportunity to visit Disney. According to the man facilitating our session, every night the parks are power washed. I imagine its some sort of machine that drives down the various roads and pathways spraying high volume wash. Also about a 1/4 of the parks get steam cleaned each night. So not only is dirt cleaned away, but bacteria is also killed.
The week before we left there was a heightened concern about the swine flu. Spray sanitizers were provided in our welcoming kit. I am not aware of anyone deciding not to take the trip but trusted that they would be safe from this disease. We all want to be clean and safe from disease. If we aren't clean or if we are sick we want to be made clean and well.
Lets look at the story of the man who has leprosy in Luke 5:12- 16.
Luke 5:12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
This wasn't ordinary case of leprosy, the man was covered with leprosy. This is a very advanced case. This would be a man in desperation. Someone who had leprosy was considered unclean. The determination of whether someone had leprosy and was unclean was decided by the priest according to the law found in the book of Leviticus.Lev 13:1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 3 The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean.
The man comes to Jesus for healing but he asks will you make me clean. As we can see from Lev. the idea of being unclean has a practical and a spiritual aspect to it. This man wants to be made spiritually clean, as well as healed of the decease. To be unclean was to be separated from the rest of the people. You would not participate in the fellowship of the followers of God. It would appear that he believes that Jesus not only has the power to heal him, but to be made clean, to restore him to the community. Jesus does heal him and then says go to the priest for examination according to the law.
Lev 13:45 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
Jesus had already been healing folks and many had come to be healed, but the healing of the leper was so dramatic and visual. People could see that he was clearly a leper and the examination by the priests would have confirmed the miracle. The crowds were now flocking to hear Jesus. To understand the good news, to be healed and made clean.
Can you truly be clean with power washer, disinfectants and Purell? These things will clean the surface but they won't clean the sin and dirt in our lives. We can look and feel well physically, but if we are unclean spiritually we are sick. People came to hear Jesus. To hear the good news. To be made spiritually clean.
Will you ask Our Savior "Make Me Clean"?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
He Has Risen
While many are thinking of the Easter celebration, I think its important to realize that the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is not a Holy Day like we would find in the Old Testament where God directed the Israelites to set aside certain days. Instead these annual events Christmas and Easter were established as traditions by the church.
Sometimes traditions can help us to remember certain events and sometimes the tradition itself takes on its own life. We add practices to the tradition based on our culture and history. These practices expand and soon we are eating Cadbury chocolate, buying cute bunnies for the kids, wearing pretty dresses, meeting for sunrise service, church breakfast and decorating with Easter lilies.
Don't worry I am not going to jump out with a condemnation of these practices. When the kids were home we had egg hunts in the back yard and our church has a sunrise service and breakfast. As a matter of fact I delivered the sunrise service message this morning that had a similar theme to this blog.
We need to step back from the traditions and realize there is something real going on here. Jesus truly did rise from the dead. This is the difference between Christianity and religion. We have a truly risen and living Savior. Lets look at a couple of verses from the very first Easter.
Mk 16:1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb
So what is happening? The woman were on there way to fulfill a tradition. They could not attend to Jesus properly on Friday night because of the beginning of the Sabbath. So they had to wait for the first day of the week. They were not expecting to see Jesus alive. Though they had spent several years with Jesus they fully did not grasp His nature as the Son of God. Especially after seeing Him endure an agonizing death on the cross. They probably felt that surely if Jesus was the Son of God, He would have stopped the suffering and stepped down from the cross alive.
After the resurrection Jesus made clear to His disciples the fulfillment of prophecy that a sacrifice is required for sin. But at the time the woman were not thinking of that.
They did not expect to meet the risen savior. Here is another part of the story recorded in Matthew.
Mt 1:5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
The angel proclaims He (Jesus) has risen from the dead. This is not a myth, a fair tale, a legend or a story told to create a moral message. Jesus truly did rise from the dead. This is a historical fact with more evidence than the assassination of Julius Caesar.
My prayer is that you are not distracted by Easter as a religious thing, a Holy day, some story told as a moral to give hope. My prayer is that your heart and eyes are open to the real story about God's Son who was sacrificed on the cross for you and then rose from the dead. Your savior is truly risen.
Sometimes traditions can help us to remember certain events and sometimes the tradition itself takes on its own life. We add practices to the tradition based on our culture and history. These practices expand and soon we are eating Cadbury chocolate, buying cute bunnies for the kids, wearing pretty dresses, meeting for sunrise service, church breakfast and decorating with Easter lilies.
Don't worry I am not going to jump out with a condemnation of these practices. When the kids were home we had egg hunts in the back yard and our church has a sunrise service and breakfast. As a matter of fact I delivered the sunrise service message this morning that had a similar theme to this blog.
We need to step back from the traditions and realize there is something real going on here. Jesus truly did rise from the dead. This is the difference between Christianity and religion. We have a truly risen and living Savior. Lets look at a couple of verses from the very first Easter.
Mk 16:1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb
So what is happening? The woman were on there way to fulfill a tradition. They could not attend to Jesus properly on Friday night because of the beginning of the Sabbath. So they had to wait for the first day of the week. They were not expecting to see Jesus alive. Though they had spent several years with Jesus they fully did not grasp His nature as the Son of God. Especially after seeing Him endure an agonizing death on the cross. They probably felt that surely if Jesus was the Son of God, He would have stopped the suffering and stepped down from the cross alive.
After the resurrection Jesus made clear to His disciples the fulfillment of prophecy that a sacrifice is required for sin. But at the time the woman were not thinking of that.
They did not expect to meet the risen savior. Here is another part of the story recorded in Matthew.
Mt 1:5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
My prayer is that you are not distracted by Easter as a religious thing, a Holy day, some story told as a moral to give hope. My prayer is that your heart and eyes are open to the real story about God's Son who was sacrificed on the cross for you and then rose from the dead. Your savior is truly risen.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Changing Careers
Well its spring time in Maine, which means it's in the mid-20s when I head out to work, and might be in the 50s during the day. Though we had one day last week reach 60 at home, but it was still 46 in Portland where I work. Plenty of rain and snow melt. Though we are not experiencing the same flood conditions as North Dakota we are getting to that time when the rivers and streams are running fast, deep and wide. Not exactly a time to run out with you fishing pole and expect to get any fish. At least if your as poor a fisherman as myself.
Well the last time I posted I included a passage about a fishing expedition. We are going to take a little time to look at some of the verses that really change the direction of the story.
Jesus was preparing to speak to the crowds and there were fishermen near by washing thier nets. In order to create room for the crowds Jesus borrowed one of the boats and pushed off from shore a little bit and began to teach.
Luke 5:4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
So you can picture the scene. Since the fishermen are washing the nets that means they were done. They were tired and they had caught nothing. You can imagine how they felt. Their was certainly doubt about success given their experience during the night when fishing was optimal. But because of their respect for Jesus they would obey in blind trust.
As the story goes (this is not a fish story about the one that got away) they caught more fish then the two boats could hold. This was both a miracle and a gift. It wasn't just a trivial show of Jesus authority over creation, but met the real needs of the fishermen. Simon recognized two things this was an incredible gift to him and his family. Also that Jesus was truly sent from God. This gift came from God. So what is Simon's reaction. "I am a sinful man, O Lord!".
According to his culture and ours you need to lead a saintly life to be worthy of God's favor. You need to be like the religious leaders for God to bring you blessings. This is what the religious leaders taught then and now. With this teaching many had reached the point of giving up, saying I can't be worthy of God. I can't have God in my life because I deserve punishment. Maybe if I don't think about God any more or pretend He really doesn't exist I can go on living the way I am. But now Simon doesn't have the choice of pretending God is not real. So Simon reacts and says "Depart from me". He cannot grasp the idea of God's forgiveness.
Jesus in a few words gets to the heart of the matter. "Do not be afraid". Do not be afraid of God's mercy, do not be afraid that you cannot earn forgiveness, do not be afraid because of the sin that seperates you from God. Jesus is saying trust me.
An incredible miracle now happens to equal the miracle of the fish. Simon's life is changed. He gives his fears to Jesus and places His trust in Him. What is past is past, you are forgiven if you follow me. "They forsook all and followed Him". Not only has Simon left all behind to follow Jesus but he is also changing careers. He will now work for Jesus telling others the good news. When others hear this good news and follow Jesus then Simon will now be a catcher of men.
Well the last time I posted I included a passage about a fishing expedition. We are going to take a little time to look at some of the verses that really change the direction of the story.
Jesus was preparing to speak to the crowds and there were fishermen near by washing thier nets. In order to create room for the crowds Jesus borrowed one of the boats and pushed off from shore a little bit and began to teach.
Luke 5:4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
So you can picture the scene. Since the fishermen are washing the nets that means they were done. They were tired and they had caught nothing. You can imagine how they felt. Their was certainly doubt about success given their experience during the night when fishing was optimal. But because of their respect for Jesus they would obey in blind trust.
As the story goes (this is not a fish story about the one that got away) they caught more fish then the two boats could hold. This was both a miracle and a gift. It wasn't just a trivial show of Jesus authority over creation, but met the real needs of the fishermen. Simon recognized two things this was an incredible gift to him and his family. Also that Jesus was truly sent from God. This gift came from God. So what is Simon's reaction. "I am a sinful man, O Lord!".
According to his culture and ours you need to lead a saintly life to be worthy of God's favor. You need to be like the religious leaders for God to bring you blessings. This is what the religious leaders taught then and now. With this teaching many had reached the point of giving up, saying I can't be worthy of God. I can't have God in my life because I deserve punishment. Maybe if I don't think about God any more or pretend He really doesn't exist I can go on living the way I am. But now Simon doesn't have the choice of pretending God is not real. So Simon reacts and says "Depart from me". He cannot grasp the idea of God's forgiveness.
Jesus in a few words gets to the heart of the matter. "Do not be afraid". Do not be afraid of God's mercy, do not be afraid that you cannot earn forgiveness, do not be afraid because of the sin that seperates you from God. Jesus is saying trust me.
An incredible miracle now happens to equal the miracle of the fish. Simon's life is changed. He gives his fears to Jesus and places His trust in Him. What is past is past, you are forgiven if you follow me. "They forsook all and followed Him". Not only has Simon left all behind to follow Jesus but he is also changing careers. He will now work for Jesus telling others the good news. When others hear this good news and follow Jesus then Simon will now be a catcher of men.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Ice is Three Feet Thick
Several weeks ago several men went up to northern Maine for a men's retreat. We stayed in a wood's camp made available by one of the couples in our church. They were very gracious it allowing us the enjoy this very special place. We had a great time building relationships, studying the Bible, eating lots of man food and on Saturday we went Ice Fishing.
There might be several readers of this blog not familiar with this activity. You might wonder when casting the line how you would catch a fish trapped underneath the ice. Well you actually need to cut a hole in the ice. Back in the days of yore this might have been done with a special axe and was certianly a lot of work. Myself I have a manual ice auger. It has knives on the bottom and as you rotate it cuts (scrapes) the ice and the auger blades drag the ice up out of the hole you are making. A manual auger is a lot of work when drilling through 10 - 15" of ice. The hole is about 8" and you need to make 3 - 5 holes in which you suspend a trap with a reel of fishing line down into the hole. If look carefully at the picture in the lower right is a trap set in a hole.
Fortunately that day we had a gas powered auger, which you hold while the motor drills the hole. Great, we started the first hole and the auger went lower and lower and lower. Just when we thought the motor was going to come to rest on the ice the bottom broke through. The ice was three feet thick. We went on to drill 12 more holes since 3 of us had a license and traps.
When we had a great day on the ice. Some might wonder at our sanity but ice fishing is a great social activity. Your traps are about 15 - 20 ' apart in a random pattern with little flags that pop up when a fish strikes. So you can stand around and just talk, drink cocoa, eat and watch for the action.
Well we had several takes on the lines that day but we were not able to bring them to the surface. We did discover later when consulting a depth chart that the lake was at least 40' deep where we were fishing. I know I had my lines only down about 25'.
While we were waiting around as men often do our minds turned to more humorous topics. We got out the camera and had some fun. Here is a picture of a potential catch that day.
Well how does this tie into the topic of this blog. Next time we will be looking at our next passage of scripture where in verse 10 Jesus told Simon "Don't be afraid, I will make you catcher's of men". Below is the entire passage so that you can see what Jesus was really talking about.
Luke 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let downthe nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
There might be several readers of this blog not familiar with this activity. You might wonder when casting the line how you would catch a fish trapped underneath the ice. Well you actually need to cut a hole in the ice. Back in the days of yore this might have been done with a special axe and was certianly a lot of work. Myself I have a manual ice auger. It has knives on the bottom and as you rotate it cuts (scrapes) the ice and the auger blades drag the ice up out of the hole you are making. A manual auger is a lot of work when drilling through 10 - 15" of ice. The hole is about 8" and you need to make 3 - 5 holes in which you suspend a trap with a reel of fishing line down into the hole. If look carefully at the picture in the lower right is a trap set in a hole.
Fortunately that day we had a gas powered auger, which you hold while the motor drills the hole. Great, we started the first hole and the auger went lower and lower and lower. Just when we thought the motor was going to come to rest on the ice the bottom broke through. The ice was three feet thick. We went on to drill 12 more holes since 3 of us had a license and traps.
When we had a great day on the ice. Some might wonder at our sanity but ice fishing is a great social activity. Your traps are about 15 - 20 ' apart in a random pattern with little flags that pop up when a fish strikes. So you can stand around and just talk, drink cocoa, eat and watch for the action.
Well we had several takes on the lines that day but we were not able to bring them to the surface. We did discover later when consulting a depth chart that the lake was at least 40' deep where we were fishing. I know I had my lines only down about 25'.
While we were waiting around as men often do our minds turned to more humorous topics. We got out the camera and had some fun. Here is a picture of a potential catch that day.
Luke 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let downthe nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Holy One of God
Well it’s a Saturday and I am home alone. Well not actually alone, I have Maisie and Frieda for company. No they are not exchange students from Denmark. One is my own dog Maisie a black lab and shepherd mix (though for some strange reason she is yellow). The other is a doberman that belongs to my daughter that is visiting us for several days. The two dogs are still trying to figure each other out. I hear a snap and a growl every 5 minutes or so. As you can tell by their names they are both girls so I can't figure out what their problem is. I am reluctant to crate them since I don't want them locked up all day. We will just have to see how it goes.
In previous posts we were exposed to some pretty radical ideas from Luke. You don't hear too much discussion at work or in the store parking lot of Satan, unless its to make a joke. We seem to think that all their is to our world is the things we can see and touch. But at the same time we cling to ideas of love, hope and a seeking to have a relationship with God. We also talked last time about sin. I keep checking the dictionary to see that it is still in the English language. We are uncomfortable with a word that signifies an absolute or that would imply that I am not OK. But as we saw last time their is a spiritual battle going on. Sin is very real. It effects us very deeply in our relationship with God. As we discussed we are prisoners of war, captured by the power of sin.
Some would look at the story from my last post and think that Jesus was referring to our psychological condition. He has come to bring a new teaching that will allow us to think differently and treat each other better. This idea of Jesus being just a good teacher will be blown out of the water by the next set of verses.
Luke 4:31 hen he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"35"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
I want to remind you again that Luke writes his narrative with an eye to grounding the events in a place and time. This is not a rough account, sort a "one time something happened" . Jesus went to Capernaum and was teaching in the synagogue.
We learn that there is a man there with an evil spirit. It also appears their was more than one "What to you want with us". The one speaking could have been the spokesman for the rest. I suspect that the folks either didn't know their was a man in their midst with an evil spirit or they didn't know what to do about it. I wonder what we would think if we were aware that someone with an evil spirit was sitting right in our church.
The demon's knew who Jesus was. These demon's proclaimed that Jesus was "the Holy One of God". Their are many references of demons acknowledging Jesus as "Son of God". Their acknowledgement was not one of that would lead to salvation. The demons, as angels, made their choice long ago to be in rebellion to God and their was no turning back. They knew their time was limited and that Jesus had the authority to make them submit to His will.
Now the spiritual battle begins. "Be quiet!!" "Come out of him!!". Jesus is now fulfilling the prophecy brought up in the previous versus. He is setting this captive free. The man is knocked over from the encounter, but is uninjured.
The people are amazed. Jesus didn't set up special sessions, He didn't gather the elders for prayer, He didn't ask the man to leave. He sternly and with authority told the demons to come out of the man and they did. This amazing demonstration of power is what made Jesus popular. This is what got people talking. This person is different that other religious teachers. He has the ability to heal, drive out demons and forgive sins.
If you are searching for a savior isn't this the person you want to come to know? You don't want to be following someone who is just has some clever teaching, is charismatic when speaking or just claims to have authority from God. You want a real savior Jesus Christ "The Holy One of God", "The Son of God", the one who has power over Satan and His demons.
In previous posts we were exposed to some pretty radical ideas from Luke. You don't hear too much discussion at work or in the store parking lot of Satan, unless its to make a joke. We seem to think that all their is to our world is the things we can see and touch. But at the same time we cling to ideas of love, hope and a seeking to have a relationship with God. We also talked last time about sin. I keep checking the dictionary to see that it is still in the English language. We are uncomfortable with a word that signifies an absolute or that would imply that I am not OK. But as we saw last time their is a spiritual battle going on. Sin is very real. It effects us very deeply in our relationship with God. As we discussed we are prisoners of war, captured by the power of sin.
Some would look at the story from my last post and think that Jesus was referring to our psychological condition. He has come to bring a new teaching that will allow us to think differently and treat each other better. This idea of Jesus being just a good teacher will be blown out of the water by the next set of verses.
Luke 4:31 hen he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"35"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
I want to remind you again that Luke writes his narrative with an eye to grounding the events in a place and time. This is not a rough account, sort a "one time something happened" . Jesus went to Capernaum and was teaching in the synagogue.
We learn that there is a man there with an evil spirit. It also appears their was more than one "What to you want with us". The one speaking could have been the spokesman for the rest. I suspect that the folks either didn't know their was a man in their midst with an evil spirit or they didn't know what to do about it. I wonder what we would think if we were aware that someone with an evil spirit was sitting right in our church.
The demon's knew who Jesus was. These demon's proclaimed that Jesus was "the Holy One of God". Their are many references of demons acknowledging Jesus as "Son of God". Their acknowledgement was not one of that would lead to salvation. The demons, as angels, made their choice long ago to be in rebellion to God and their was no turning back. They knew their time was limited and that Jesus had the authority to make them submit to His will.
Now the spiritual battle begins. "Be quiet!!" "Come out of him!!". Jesus is now fulfilling the prophecy brought up in the previous versus. He is setting this captive free. The man is knocked over from the encounter, but is uninjured.
The people are amazed. Jesus didn't set up special sessions, He didn't gather the elders for prayer, He didn't ask the man to leave. He sternly and with authority told the demons to come out of the man and they did. This amazing demonstration of power is what made Jesus popular. This is what got people talking. This person is different that other religious teachers. He has the ability to heal, drive out demons and forgive sins.
If you are searching for a savior isn't this the person you want to come to know? You don't want to be following someone who is just has some clever teaching, is charismatic when speaking or just claims to have authority from God. You want a real savior Jesus Christ "The Holy One of God", "The Son of God", the one who has power over Satan and His demons.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Man With a Mission
Living in Maine is interesting this time of year, if you like to talk about the weather. You might ask what is so interesting about cold and snow. Well every year is different. The amount of snow, how cold can it get. One morning it was -26 at my house. I fired off an e-mail to folks at work and someone responded back it was -32 at their house. We have quite a bit of snow this year, but not anything like what we experienced last year. Even though I am getting older I still like Maine in winter. But I will be honest I have been looking forward to getting out and riding my motorcycle. Maybe in another 3 - 4 weeks (i am optimistic).
Lately in our church we have shown and will be showing the movie Fireproof. I cannot say enough about this movie. It has touched and changed lives through it straight forward and honest message. Well done, action packed, funny and romantic. Its got it all. I have been on the volunteer fire company for 20 years. If you are a firefighter/rescue person the action scenes I found are very real.
Getting back to the topic of this blog which is to provide simple and straight answers from God's Word for those searching for a savior. What better context than the passage that Jesus read in the synagogue, that we looked at last week in Luke 4:18, 19
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
First of all this passage that Jesus read is from Is 61:1,2. It is meant as a passage of prophecy, encouragement and hope. And as we stated in the last post Jesus proclaimed that this prophecy was fulfilled on the day of His reading it. Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy. Lets look at it a phrase at a time.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me". God's Holy Spirit the third person of the trinity has come upon Jesus. We already saw that as Jesus was baptized. The Holy Spirit descended like a dove. Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached by the power of the Spirit Lk 4:14. Why do we have so many references as Jesus begins His ministry to the Spirit. To show that there is real power and authority involved in Jesus ministry. That this is God's work, His Word and His promise being fulfilled.
"To preach the gospel to the poor". Is the gospel really to be preached to only those who don't have a bank account, a house and car? Are rich folks really excluded from the gospel message? This doesn't seem to be the case given the crowds He preached to. It would appear that within the context the poor are those who are poor in spirit. They are downtrodden, discouraged and looking for hope. The gospel of salvation is for them.
"He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted". Again we could focus on the healing, as in healing the sick. But we need to see that the healing is for the brokenhearted. How many of our hospitals, nursing homes, institutions, apartments and homes are filled with those who are brokenhearted, alone and looking for healing from God.
"To proclaim liberty to the captives". Some translations use prisoner here. I like the NKJV because it uses captive. Jesus did not go into the cities and towns commit a bunch of jail breaks. The idea here is someone that is a prisoner of war. So what prisoners of war did Jesus free. The war referred to here is a spiritual war. The war that Satan has with God. Satan has made us captive. He has brought of over to His side. How has he done that? This is where the Gospel message becomes an offense to those who accept the lies and deceit of Satan. We are captives because of our SIN. Our rebellion against God, our choosing our own way, separates us from a relationship with God. God is just, good and righteous. We are selfish and sinful. We saw with the temptation in the desert that Satan has dominion of this world at this time. That is why the idea of sin is not a popular one. If we acknowledge sin than we lose our self worth. We become discouraged. But Jesus is coming to proclaim liberty to the captives. We are freed from our prisoner of war status through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as saviour.
"And recovery of sight to the blind" Jesus did heal many of blindness. But given the context of this passage, I think this really is giving sight to those who are blinded by the falsehoods of the prince of this world. We can not perceive God and His salvation alone. We need for Him through the Holy Spirit to make clear the gospel message. Maybe you are reading the blog and saying what is he talking about, none of this makes sense. In 1 Cor 1:21 it says "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe". Please pray in faith that your eyes maybe opened to the truth of the Gospel.
"To set at liberty those who are oppressed;" Finally we see that not only are we captive, we are oppressed. Without a savior there is only a pretense of joy and satisfaction. We joke around with our friends and say who really needs God, who really needs to be with Christians. I don't need what they are selling. But deep down inside you know that isn't true, there isn't any real joy in the things of this world.
I pray that your eyes will be opened, you will be set free and that you will be delivered from oppression.
Lately in our church we have shown and will be showing the movie Fireproof. I cannot say enough about this movie. It has touched and changed lives through it straight forward and honest message. Well done, action packed, funny and romantic. Its got it all. I have been on the volunteer fire company for 20 years. If you are a firefighter/rescue person the action scenes I found are very real.
Getting back to the topic of this blog which is to provide simple and straight answers from God's Word for those searching for a savior. What better context than the passage that Jesus read in the synagogue, that we looked at last week in Luke 4:18, 19
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
First of all this passage that Jesus read is from Is 61:1,2. It is meant as a passage of prophecy, encouragement and hope. And as we stated in the last post Jesus proclaimed that this prophecy was fulfilled on the day of His reading it. Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy. Lets look at it a phrase at a time.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me". God's Holy Spirit the third person of the trinity has come upon Jesus. We already saw that as Jesus was baptized. The Holy Spirit descended like a dove. Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached by the power of the Spirit Lk 4:14. Why do we have so many references as Jesus begins His ministry to the Spirit. To show that there is real power and authority involved in Jesus ministry. That this is God's work, His Word and His promise being fulfilled.
"To preach the gospel to the poor". Is the gospel really to be preached to only those who don't have a bank account, a house and car? Are rich folks really excluded from the gospel message? This doesn't seem to be the case given the crowds He preached to. It would appear that within the context the poor are those who are poor in spirit. They are downtrodden, discouraged and looking for hope. The gospel of salvation is for them.
"He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted". Again we could focus on the healing, as in healing the sick. But we need to see that the healing is for the brokenhearted. How many of our hospitals, nursing homes, institutions, apartments and homes are filled with those who are brokenhearted, alone and looking for healing from God.
"To proclaim liberty to the captives". Some translations use prisoner here. I like the NKJV because it uses captive. Jesus did not go into the cities and towns commit a bunch of jail breaks. The idea here is someone that is a prisoner of war. So what prisoners of war did Jesus free. The war referred to here is a spiritual war. The war that Satan has with God. Satan has made us captive. He has brought of over to His side. How has he done that? This is where the Gospel message becomes an offense to those who accept the lies and deceit of Satan. We are captives because of our SIN. Our rebellion against God, our choosing our own way, separates us from a relationship with God. God is just, good and righteous. We are selfish and sinful. We saw with the temptation in the desert that Satan has dominion of this world at this time. That is why the idea of sin is not a popular one. If we acknowledge sin than we lose our self worth. We become discouraged. But Jesus is coming to proclaim liberty to the captives. We are freed from our prisoner of war status through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as saviour.
"And recovery of sight to the blind" Jesus did heal many of blindness. But given the context of this passage, I think this really is giving sight to those who are blinded by the falsehoods of the prince of this world. We can not perceive God and His salvation alone. We need for Him through the Holy Spirit to make clear the gospel message. Maybe you are reading the blog and saying what is he talking about, none of this makes sense. In 1 Cor 1:21 it says "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe". Please pray in faith that your eyes maybe opened to the truth of the Gospel.
"To set at liberty those who are oppressed;" Finally we see that not only are we captive, we are oppressed. Without a savior there is only a pretense of joy and satisfaction. We joke around with our friends and say who really needs God, who really needs to be with Christians. I don't need what they are selling. But deep down inside you know that isn't true, there isn't any real joy in the things of this world.
I pray that your eyes will be opened, you will be set free and that you will be delivered from oppression.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Ain't that Joe's Boy?
Been a couple of weeks since my last posting, so lets catch up on what is happening here in Luke chapter 4 since Jesus has left the desert and the temptation by Satan.
Luke 4:14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
After resisting the temptation by Satan he leaves the desert and enters the area of Galilee. Jesus is no longer hungry, weak or alone. He has been ministered to by angels and has received power through the Holy Spirit. As he travels about he teaches and makes quite an impression on everyone in the surrounding area. They are excited. To glorify is to give to Jesus the recognition that is His due. Essentially they are praising Him for his ministry in word and dead. He was healing and doing miracles as we see from the reputation Jesus had when he visited Nazareth.
This is great so eventually he comes into Nazereth. Basically Jesus home town.
Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Jesus went into and taught in the Synagogue because there he would find people gathered together for prayer, the reading of the scripture and exposition of what was read. This basically meant the reader expressing what the scripture was about. This wasn't like a lot of churches today. The reading was done at a table typically at the center of the assembly. After the reading the person proclaiming what the passage was about sat amongst all the others that were gathered.
It was likely as Jesus entered the Synagogue in Nazereth that he was asked to do the reading because of the reputation he had gained. So he reads the passage from the Old Testament scripture in the book of Isaiah which ends with the phrase to "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord". As stated many months ago when we first started studying Luke, the people of Israel were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for someone to restore them to their former glory, as an independent and powerful nation. To free them from the rule of the Romans. This was a passage of hope that someday God would deliver Israel. The people in the synagogue were anxious to see what Jesus would say about this passage.
Luke 4:20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
WOW!! This is great news from someone the people looked to and respected. The scripture has been fulfilled. Jesus is saying His arrival is ushering in the acceptable year of the Lord. He probably went on to explain more about this passage which we will look into more in depth next time. As he finishes speaking a few things happen.
So it was in this situation. Jesus was now well known and its was hard to believe that He grew up right here in Nazareth. Can't wait to see what he is going to do. Jesus knew what they were thinking.
Luke 14:23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
Briefly since this post is getting kind of long. Jesus knew they wanted Him to have a special ministry right there in Nazareth. Stick around our town and become famous. Jesus responded that He really would not be accepted just because of His teaching. The prophets that God sent to Israel were not welcome. Examples are given about Elijah and Elisha ministering to foreigners when Israel was in need. Jesus was indicating that the people of Nazareth were really not ready to receive Him as the fulfillment of scripture.
Needless to say this was not well received.
Luke 4:28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
The people had two choices. They could have made every effort to prove Jesus wrong, by accepting His teaching and inviting Him to continue in His ministry there. It would have proven that there words of praise were sincere. However they proved Jesus right that really in there hearts they weren't ready to accept Jesus, the local boy made famous and Jesus really revealed their true hearts as they rose up in wrath to cast Him out of thier town. Next time we will spend a little personnal update and also look more closely at the passage Jesus read to better understand what is really being fullfilled.
Luke 4:14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
After resisting the temptation by Satan he leaves the desert and enters the area of Galilee. Jesus is no longer hungry, weak or alone. He has been ministered to by angels and has received power through the Holy Spirit. As he travels about he teaches and makes quite an impression on everyone in the surrounding area. They are excited. To glorify is to give to Jesus the recognition that is His due. Essentially they are praising Him for his ministry in word and dead. He was healing and doing miracles as we see from the reputation Jesus had when he visited Nazareth.
This is great so eventually he comes into Nazereth. Basically Jesus home town.
Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Jesus went into and taught in the Synagogue because there he would find people gathered together for prayer, the reading of the scripture and exposition of what was read. This basically meant the reader expressing what the scripture was about. This wasn't like a lot of churches today. The reading was done at a table typically at the center of the assembly. After the reading the person proclaiming what the passage was about sat amongst all the others that were gathered.
It was likely as Jesus entered the Synagogue in Nazereth that he was asked to do the reading because of the reputation he had gained. So he reads the passage from the Old Testament scripture in the book of Isaiah which ends with the phrase to "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord". As stated many months ago when we first started studying Luke, the people of Israel were looking for the Messiah. They were looking for someone to restore them to their former glory, as an independent and powerful nation. To free them from the rule of the Romans. This was a passage of hope that someday God would deliver Israel. The people in the synagogue were anxious to see what Jesus would say about this passage.
Luke 4:20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
WOW!! This is great news from someone the people looked to and respected. The scripture has been fulfilled. Jesus is saying His arrival is ushering in the acceptable year of the Lord. He probably went on to explain more about this passage which we will look into more in depth next time. As he finishes speaking a few things happen.
- They were amazed at His teaching. They way he taught, the authority and knowledge that Jesus had.
- There must have been encouragement in His words that lifted their spirits
- Now that Jesus was with them they were ready to witness the miracles and healing that they heard about. Since this was Jesus home town they were expecting quite a show.
- Some were wondering about how the son of Joseph could be the person that they have been hearing about.
So it was in this situation. Jesus was now well known and its was hard to believe that He grew up right here in Nazareth. Can't wait to see what he is going to do. Jesus knew what they were thinking.
Luke 14:23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
Briefly since this post is getting kind of long. Jesus knew they wanted Him to have a special ministry right there in Nazareth. Stick around our town and become famous. Jesus responded that He really would not be accepted just because of His teaching. The prophets that God sent to Israel were not welcome. Examples are given about Elijah and Elisha ministering to foreigners when Israel was in need. Jesus was indicating that the people of Nazareth were really not ready to receive Him as the fulfillment of scripture.
Needless to say this was not well received.
Luke 4:28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
The people had two choices. They could have made every effort to prove Jesus wrong, by accepting His teaching and inviting Him to continue in His ministry there. It would have proven that there words of praise were sincere. However they proved Jesus right that really in there hearts they weren't ready to accept Jesus, the local boy made famous and Jesus really revealed their true hearts as they rose up in wrath to cast Him out of thier town. Next time we will spend a little personnal update and also look more closely at the passage Jesus read to better understand what is really being fullfilled.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year
We have just ended 2008 and have started on the new year for 2009. We look back and remember what the year has brought us both the joys and the sorrows. As we look forward to 2009 we anticipate a future before us. How will you view that future. Will you look forward to the blessings of God in your life, your family, your community and your church? Or will you live in fear of the challenges of hard economic times, worry about jobs, sickness and broken relationships. In 2009 we will experience both, but we have a choice of what we do about it. We can prepare ourselves to experience God's peace and joy no matter what the circumstances.
How can we do that?
1. Prayer is time spent communicating with God. It is true we are to pray without ceasing. It needs to be woven into every part of our lives. But it is also important to stop what you are doing and earnestly pray. Pray for God's peace. Pray for your family members. Pray for wisdom. Pray for our leaders. Pray for the church. Pray for your service to God.
Lk 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
In the mean time I send to you and your family a wish for a Happy and Joyful New Year.
How can we do that?
1. Prayer is time spent communicating with God. It is true we are to pray without ceasing. It needs to be woven into every part of our lives. But it is also important to stop what you are doing and earnestly pray. Pray for God's peace. Pray for your family members. Pray for wisdom. Pray for our leaders. Pray for the church. Pray for your service to God.
- Rom 12:12 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;
- Eph 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
- Col 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
- 1 Jn 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
- Heb 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
- Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
- 1 Cor 12:4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
- Luke 8:2121 But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
- Acts 17:11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Lk 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
In the mean time I send to you and your family a wish for a Happy and Joyful New Year.
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