Searching for the Savior

Giving Thanks

2010-11-25T20:13:00.002-05:00

1. A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; - now generally used in the plural.

If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
- Luke vi. 33.

What great thank, then, if any man, reputed wise and constant, will neither do, nor permit others under his charge to do, that which he approves not, especially in matter of sin?
- Milton.

Thanks, thanks to thee, most worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught.
- Longfellow.

His thanks of his or her own accord; with his or her good will; voluntary.
Full sooth is said that love ne lordship,
Will not, his thanks, have no fellowship.
- Chaucer

OT Yada
1) to give thanks,, laud, praise
2) to confess, confess (the name of God)
3) to confess sin
sometimes translated praise

Ps 107:1 OH, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever

NT eucharisteō

1) to be grateful, feel thankful

2) give thanks

1 Cor 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

It is very difficult to express by means of definition or example the full meaning of the idea of giving thanks. It is more than just speaking the words. How can words possibly express what I feel inside, the recognition that a gift has been given to me beyond what I deserve.

As I think of what God has done for me it is beyond imagining. He has first of all given me through Jesus Christ His Son. He has blessed me with an incredible family, friends, people I work with, neighbors and folks from far away. I just got a call today from a Pastor in Tanzania.

I just want to take this opportunity to remind you that you have been blessed beyond measure. That God has given you life, he has given you love and he has given you others. As you wake up tomorrow the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. You can still give thanks. And then the next day, and then the next all year long. Giving thanks brings blessings to us as we are reminding ourselves what we have to be thankful for.

So remember to give thanks. Oh! Before I forget thanks for reading this.

Looking for the Truth

2010-11-08T22:17:00.001-05:00

I have discovered that absolutely everyone believes they have found the truth or are seeking to know the truth of what are lives are all about. It's sort of the haves and the have nots. Some believe the truth is what ever you believe the truth is. Some believe that the truth is embodied in the wisdom of a special person. In our polite society it is not acceptable to discuss some one's faith, their belief in a certain truth. This in itself is a statement of belief. The belief that what you believe is private and should not be shared with others. Unless that person is someone in religious authority, though we are seeing a breakdown even there.

In the passage we are looking at the questions that arise are what is truth, what is faith and how do we practice it. In this setting public debate is not feared.

Luke 5:29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But 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?” 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

In the previous post we already discussed Levi's reason for a celebration. What we will see next is the reaction of the Pharisees to this event. Please see my entry on who the pharisees are. Short and Sweet.
As the religious leaders for the Jews they felt that they were compelled to condemn Jesus on his hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. They believed that they were stand ins for God. They took the truth of the Old Testament and interpreted according to man's wisdom. Their focus was on the rules and not the blessings and compassion of God. God is both justice and love.

Jesus didn't respond with "Hey!! these folks are cool", "Chill" or "My relationship with God makes it OK to hang out with who ever I want". He acknowledged that the folks he was hanging out with were sinners, they were sick and needed healing. Jesus doesn't propose the possibility of something to consider as truth. He states boldly that "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance". Some would equate Jesus to other religious teachers like Mohamed, Buddha, Gandhi, etc.. Again a tendency to make truth relative. This might make us feel good and fair. But when we do that we are taking God's son and making him less than who he is. He is the Son of God. He speaks the only truth. He is the only truth.

We have a choice we can believe anything we want to make up, we can believe in the truth of a man, we can believe the truth of organized religion or we can believe the truth that God has revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ.

If you are seeking the truth, if you are seeking a savior? Then I want you right now to close your eyes in a prayer. This is all I want you to say in that prayer:

"Jesus, are you calling me? Are you calling me to repentance? I want to follow you. I am a sinner and I believe you are the Son of God and that you died for me"

Celebrate!!

2010-11-07T08:48:00.001-05:00

We are going to spend several entries on this passage because there are so many important messages here about who Jesus is, who we are and the whole viewpoint of religion.

Luke 5:29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But 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?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Lets just look as verse 29. Levi has been called by Jesus and he has left everything behind to follow him. Levi's decision to follow Jesus became a celebration. Was it a banquet for Levi, was it a banquet for his friends or was it meant to make the Pharisees mad (which it did)? Primarily it was none of these things. We need to see that in this verse the banquet was for Jesus.

Levi is proclaiming that Jesus has done a great thing in his life and he wants to honor him with a banquet. Remember the last time? Levi left his old desires, his old goals and his old behaviors behind. Why would giving up who he was be a cause for celebration for the person who asked him to do that?

We can pretend that our life without Jesus is fun, exciting and full filling. But in reality it is not. You might be familiar with the quote from Henry David Thoreau: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." Though this was not a plea from Thoreau to urge folks to follow Jesus. I believe it is an accurate depiction of what is really inside of those who hold back from following Jesus.

Levi experienced the true joy and peace from giving up his life and now following the only true savior, Jesus Christ. The banquet is for Jesus, but the celebration extends to all of Levi's friends. He wants them to know who Jesus is. This is the same compulsion for all Christians. Just to be clear I don't get a notch on my belt when I tell others about Jesus, instead I have the joy of revealing what God has done in my life. I have the joy of sharing something that can change your life.

So if you have decided to follow Jesus, celebrate!! If you haven't then please examine your life of separation from God. See my first blog entry to know what you can do to follow Jesus.

http://searchforsavior.blogspot.com/2008/03/simple-answers.html

Follow Me

2010-11-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

It's days like today that make me so glad that I am blessed to be living in Maine. It's the first week of November, 40 degrees Fahrenheit, some leaves still on the trees, not raining, but mostly cloudy. Hoping to got for a ride on the motorcycle or a walk. Some of my friends out hunting.

Though we have lost our house we are blessed and well established in our mobile home and looking forward to early next year when the house is completed. And then I read this verse from Luke.

Luke 5:27 After 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, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

When confronted by the thought of leaving everything to follow Jesus, what is my first reaction. Its to think of what I would be leaving. My home, my bed, my family, my friends, etc.. Is that the point of this verse. We have to note that Levi was a tax collector. Remember that Israel is an occupied country. At this time in Israel a tax collector was considered a legal criminal. He was protected by Rome and did their dirty work in the eyes of the Israelites.

When asked to follow Jesus, Levi left his old life. He turned his back on sin, on his old selfish desires, his old goals, his old occupation and set his sights on following Jesus. In Levi's case this meant also going physically where Jesus went. He became one of the 12 apostles.

But I think the main idea we need to take away from this is not what does it mean to leave everything and follow Jesus. It means to leave behind our old selves, our old desires, our selfishness and the goals of where we were heading. We are leaving everything about us. This is about looking forward to see where we are going. Where are we going? We are going Jesus way. We are following Him. Our desire now becomes to be more like Him. To follow his commands.

Mt 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Who Are You? You Are My Neighbor.

2010-06-19T07:27:00.002-04:00

You are the neighbors and the passersby who saw the smoke and called 911. You are the ones who broke down the door to the garage to let the dog out and wheel away my wife's motorcycle.

You are the emergency crew that responded on June 15, 2010. You are the firemen who managed the traffic, drove the trucks, ran the pumps, laid the hoses, rescued the photo albums, succumbed to smoke inhalation, worked hours to remove metal roofing to finally extinguish the fire in the sheathing, came as a second shift to relieve the exhausted crew, the on site chief and the men and women who manned the hoses. You are the rescue workers who treated the firemen, provided water, ran for pizza and asked if we were all right.

You are the many folks in this community, at work and around the country who prayed for us.

You are the ones who were ready when I got home to comfort and offer help. You are our neighbor who took in our dog and cares for her until we find a home. You are the ones who parked way down the street somewhere and made the hike to stand beside while we watched and waited.

You are the folks who stopped by the next day for a quick greeting, a hug and a "I won't keep you, but we are thinking and praying for you". You are the one who paid for my donut and coffee at Dunkin Donuts at the drive-through. You are the motel folks who gave us a discount rate and moved our stuff to the room with the Jacuzzi. You are the folks who came the next several days in a professional capacity but were respectful and kind to us. You are the service person who came and liked the shirt was given to me. You are the man outside the store who didn't know me or my situation but we were able to share that Jesus Christ can change lives in our community.

You are the lady on the phone crying out for help. You believe in God, but you are angry at Him. You are the man who called on the phone so that we could cry together, not because of the fire, but because of the miracle of what God is doing in our lives.

You are the one who organized the yard cleanup and the crew who came to do the work. You are the young man who came by the next few days to standby for any little task that popped up.

You are the folks who gave cards and gifts to help us get by, including a man who does not know us at all, but works with someone in my extended family.

You are the many people in the community, our church, the fire company and at work who have insisted that we contact you for help, including a man I work with who lives in Tennessee and was ready to hop on a plane to come for the weekend and help.

You are the folks who posted on facebook, words of encouragement. You are the ones who have touched our lives unnoticed and will touch our lives in so many ways in the coming days and weeks.

Who are you?? You are our neighbors.

Luke 10:25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”
²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
³⁰ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. ³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ ³⁶ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
³⁷ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37, New King James Version)

The interesting thing about this parable by Jesus was the emphasis on the one providing mercy being the neighbor.

Who are you? You are the one who provided mercy. You are our Neighbor. And we thank you very much. God bless you all.

According to the Grace of our God

2010-06-17T18:38:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, June 15, 2010 I drove home from work on my motorcycle. As I got within a mile of the house the road was blocked by emergency fire crews. I detoured up the street and around. I thought I had cut around where ever the fire was, however as I rejoined the street I could see the column of smoke in front of me. I was dismayed thinking it was one of my neighbors. As I got closer their was another road block manned by one of the guys I knew from the fire company that I am a member of. "Carl is that fire over there at my house?". "I think so". What a shock. I parked my motorcycle at a neighbors house and started to walk toward my house. I was met by my oldest daughter in tears and I could see that the whole back of the house was on fire. Smoke and fire were coming from the front section also. I now realized that my life was going to be changed dramatically.

What did I feel? First I thought of my wife, who I was told was on the way back from shopping for a dress to wear on Sunday, when our son gets married. I worried about her driving and not knowing what was going on. I prayed for her safety. Then for about 5 minutes I was very sad, to think of the loss of the home we had invested our lives in for the past 23 years.

But then folks made it very clear that no one was home and the dog and cat were out and safe. I looked around and saw my friends from the fire company doing their very best. I saw neighbors greeting me and consoling me. I was overwhelmed at the blessing that God had given to me. In a very short time I came to accept what had happened. It was stuff, my home was after all a building and my life consisted of so much more than this. Would my wife feel the same? Our house projects over the past several years were coming to a conclusion with a brand new kitchen under construction, according to the desires and design of my wife.

My wife drove up to the neighbors house that I was waiting at and then we walked down the street to see our house on fire. She realized the extent of the loss. She looked at me and I knew that she felt the same as I. We shared with each other our perspective in light of the abundant blessings God has given to us. We would be sad, but not devastated. We would know loss, but we would also know the blessing of God as manifest through the folks that came to comfort us. We would have a lot of challenges dealing with living arrangements, insurance, recovery, rebuilding and reshaping our lives. But we would have opportunity to share and celebrate with others what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

2 Thes. 1:12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was a long night that night as the women and men for the fire departments worked exhaustively to put out the fire and retain our possessions. That night many of my family, christian brothers and sisters, neighbors spent the night hugging and crying with us. Many of them seemed more devastated then my wife and I. Many who were praying for us at that moment were making it possible for the Holy Spirit of God to confort us.

I hope to share with you many of the little stories of things we experienced over the past several days that God has done for us. Some things that touch the personal lives of others I can't share, but I want folks to know that God is working in very powerful ways even when we can't see it.

I will say this several times of the next several days. My wife and I are fine. We are not putting on a brave front, we are not in shock, we are not trying to be private or independent. We have received very generous offers for help. Maybe as the days go by and we understand our situation better we will be able to reach out and ask for help.

For now we have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, clothing on our back and a weekend away to Illinois to spend time with family as my son gets married on Sunday to my future daughter-in-law. Celebrate and be happy with us.

Picking Fruit

2010-05-05T20:09:00.000-04:00

Wow!! What an early spring here in Maine. Yes its true we have had a couple of early morning snow storms about a week and 1/2 ago, but we had grass to cut and tulips come and go. Our crab trees are in full bloom. They are about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I planted 2 apple trees also out back about 5 years ago. They haven't born any edible fruit so far. Maybe this is the year they will be mature enough to bear good fruit.

Which is my tie in to the next verses we will look at.

Luke 6:43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

So we are continuing on with snatches of passages from Jesus preaching to the crowds. These are the crowds that are trying to understand where they fit into a relationship with God. I know that I am going to sound like a broken record or have some sort of vendetta against the pharisees, but much of what Jesus criticized them for seems to fit into these illustrations that Jesus is using here.

The question here is how do we recognize a good tree. By its placement in the yard, by how tall it is, by the flower in the spring or maybe the number of branches. This might be good for ornamental trees, but if the purpose is to have a tree to supply your families needs then you want a tree that bears good fruit. The bearing of good fruit is the indication of a good tree, a healthy tree. If for some reason you mistakenly plant thorn bushes and briers don't expect figs and grapes.

People are just like that. Good people will bring forth good fruit. What is the good fruit, the good things that they do. They do these good things because of the goodness stored in their heart. Just as evil people bring forth the evil in their hearts. Now specially in this case Jesus is referring to what they say. The Pharisees were concerned with ceremonial cleansing. They were worried about what went into the mouth. Jesus is concerned with what comes out.

So what we say can be a blessing (good fruit) or bring hurt and discouragement (bad fruit). Each question and challenge from the Pharisees was meant to destroy the work of Jesus and discourage the crowds from following him.

Please think on the words you say or even the ones you leave on Facebook. Are they meant for encouragement (good fruit) or discouragement (evil fruit). May you seek God's strength is expressing your self with compassion from the heart, as you search for the Savior.

Plank Eye

2010-04-12T20:57:00.000-04:00

Jesus continues with many more illustrations or parables that speak to our hearts about how we view and treat others.

^{Luke 6:42} Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. (Luke 6:42, New King James Version)

First thing I want to point out is that the illustration identifies a relationship between one person and another as a brother. This could be a blood relationship or a fellow believer. However I think what is important here is the illustration is judgement on someone that is close to you. The use of the extreme "speck" and "plank" is referred to as hyperbole. Even as an illustration it is difficult to picture someone walking around with a plank in their eye.

Yet Jesus wants to be clear we need to examine our own selves before jumping on the faults of those around us. This isn't just a sore of guideline by Jesus. He has harsh words for those who examine the speck of sin (disobedience to God's commands) and yet have a plank of sin in their own lives. Who are these people? Hypocrites!! They are so consumed with finding fault in others they miss the arrogance and self-important attitude in themselves.

So what is the remedy? Do nothing? NO!! Jesus says remove the plank. Work on your relationship with God. Seek God's wisdom. A restored relationship to God where you confess your sins (remove the plank) and pray for your brother. In this way you will adopt a loving and compassionate approach to correcting your brother. I might be stretching the illustration to far, but if I am right with God my eyes will be able to see clearly the speck in my brothers eye and counsel them on a right way of restoring their relationship to God.

Eyes Wide Open

2010-04-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

We are about to be exposed in Luke to something new a parable. This is a story used to illustrate a principle of spiritual teaching. These are very powerful ways to make a point. A wise student of God's word understands when a narative is a parable and when it isn't. This one is easy the verse tells us.

Luke 6:39 He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Here is a warning about who you follow. Where are they taking you? This is a recurring theme from Jesus, because he knows that Satan will first try to deceive those who lead, because they in turn will deceive their followers. To listen to Satan is to be blinded. Blinded to what? Blinded to the truth.

What happens when we follow someone who is blind? They will attempt to guide us away from the pit, our downfall. But instead because of their blindness they will lead us right into the pit with them.

Looking back at prior verses and the circumstances of Jesus teaching, we can imagine this is another example of a warning against the teaching of the Pharisees. The Pharisees put an emphasis on outward obedience. Following traditional law. Your actions more important than your heart.

However Jesus speaks about going beyond traditional observance. It's about the heart. "Love your enemies", "pray for those who mistreat you", "give to everyone who asks"... Jesus is calling us to awake from blindness. He has a story of compassion, forgiveness and restored relationships.

As you start this week open your eyes. Don't be blind. Seek your wisdom and teaching from Jesus.

Good Measure

2010-04-02T23:40:00.003-04:00

Today I took time off from work to go for a ride with my wife on the motorcycle. What a great chance to get in an early season ride. The purpose of the trip was to ride, but we needed someplace to go so we thought we would take a chance on a surprise visit to some friends we haven't seen for a long time. Unfortunately no one was home. That's ok; our next stop was to the cottage at York Beach. We knew it wasn't open for the season yet but like I said before we just needed somewhere to ride.

What is so great about riding on the motorcycle? The sun on my face, a cool breeze and time to think. I would never like to be the type that has to have speakers blasting at me or a headset built into my helmet. It is so hard these days to find time just to be quiet. It gave me time to take stock of my life. I thought about the joy of having my wife with me, the blessing of how my kids have turned out as adults, the friends that I have, my brothers and sisters in Christ and how much God’s grace has been given to me.

The next words from Jesus are somewhat paradoxical. He asks us not to judge, not to condemn, to be forgiving and to give of ourselves to others. If we do these things we will not be judged, we will not be condemned and much will be given to us in good measure.

Luke 6:37"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

I certainly cannot obtain in my own life the ability to live up to these expectations. Each day I need to look to God for forgiveness and strength. I am overwhelmed with His grace, and His good measure.

We live in a cynical world. We are condemning, just as the Pharisees in earlier passages. We are quick to judge and criticize.

Do you think you are a good person? Do you think you don’t need a savior? Spend the next couple of days to examine how you treat and think of others. These commands from Jesus apply to each one of us. We need His forgiveness.

I know I probably should have had an Easter message here. But these are the verses before us. I pray they speak to your heart as much as mine.

The Golden Rule

2010-03-28T21:54:00.000-04:00

If there is one thing many people remember or know about the Bible is that somewhere in there is the Golden Rule. It is often misquoted as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". In a backhanded humorous way we hear people say "do unto others before they do unto you". Its quoted as a sort of proverb, something clever or helpful for your life, but not something to be taken seriously.

In the passage we are going to look at, where Jesus is addressing the crowds, we are going to see the full context and just how serious this passage really is.

Luke 6:27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Jesus has just finished telling us that we should expect people to hate us for following Him. Ok, maybe you bought that and realize that yes following Jesus means that some are not going to like you, some might even make fun of your faith and in some parts of the world you will be persecuted for believing as a Christian.

So what should be our reaction? How human wisdom and our society would expect you to be hurt, resentful, angry, frustrated or vengeful.

But in this passage we are confronted with an even more radical idea. We are to love our enemies. LOVE!!! That isn't easy. What do you mean love? Send them flowers? In this passage we are to:

Bless them
Pray for them
Turn the other cheek if struck
Allow yourself to be robbed
Give to anyone who asks

Yes we are to do all these things to our enemies. This is a tough teaching. Even the most devout Christian struggles with this teaching. Anyone who follows this teaching, will be viewed as weak. Not able to stand up to a fight. Like many of the teachings in the coming passages we are confronted with commands that we will never be able to fully live up to. We can't do it. Many people will say I am good enough, I am nice to other people. But when confronted with enemies at the best we walk away and try not to acknowledge they exist. At the worst we hate them.

This is what brings us closer to God. We look at His commands and we can't live up to them. We fail. Sin is our own weakness. Instead of doing what God commands we do what we want. Till the point where we realize we don't have a relationship with God, we can't make up for our rebellion. There are no grand scales where our good works are balanced against our bad. We will always come up short. When we reach that point we need an answer. Jesus is that answer. His death on the cross wasn't not some miscarry of justice. Their really was a penalty to pay. The penalty for our sin.

When you get to the point where you see that you can't do it. You can't follow the golden rule and you want a relationship with God. Then you need to confess your sin, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and accept His gift of sacrifice for you as your savior.

If this is something you want to do or have questions about, please leave a comment on my blog or Facebook entry.

Praying for you always.

Two Sides to Every Story

2010-03-18T21:47:00.001-04:00

So Jesus has just finished with a couple of verses about those who are blessed. There is a contrast between our condition and the blessing. Those who are poor, hungry, weeping and persecuted for Christ, will be blessed with the Kingdom, they will be filled, laugh, rejoice and leap for joy. We see in these verses a progression.

We are poor in spirit. As we discussed this means you realize your condition is so desperate that you are a beggar. You can't overcome the consequences of your sins on your own so you need to come to God begging forgiveness. Here is the beginning of the blessing the Kingdom of God is yours. After receiving God's grace your hunger is for righteousness. You see the evil and unfairness in the world and you want it made right. Jesus promise to us is that we will be filled. The sadness and grief for the consequences of evil will be replaced with laughter when we are finally with the Lord in glory. In the mean time following Christ will still have a consequence as we are ridiculed and persecuted for our faith.

Now for the other side of the story.

Luke 6:24 “ But woe to you who are rich,
For you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you who are full,
For you shall hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now,
For you shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
For so did their fathers to the false prophets.

Here we clearly see that there are two groups of people. Now we move on to the other group. First we start with the rich. If we believe that the reference to the poor is not measured by the amount of money in the bank, but a condition of our spirit that feels we are not good enough for God. That our selfishness makes us unworthy of God. We would then have to conclude that a rich man in these verses might not necessarily have a bulging bank account. But in contrast to the poor in spirit, this would be someone who is confident in his worthiness. This would be an arrogant person. Self-righteous in their attitude. Certainly their are times that Jesus made it clear that his reference to a rich man was about someone who did have a lot of possessions. Mt 19:16-23

However I truly believe in this passage he is referring to the Pharisees. They were confident in their self worth. They made the rules and followed them. They made other people follow the rules. They were the law makers, judge and jury. Their high standards and condescending nature was the reason for the crowds following Jesus. The crowds knew they could not live up to the expectations of the Pharisees. Coincidentally for people who were the religious leaders of Israel they appeared to be well off. So they were rich in their arrogant attitude and the material sense.

So what does Jesus have to say about them? Woe! You got your reward now. You are accepted by your peers. You have the admiration of the world. So don't look to God for a reward later. You are filled now, you laugh now and you have the praises of men. This is what you want, then this is what you have. Woe to you! You shall hunger, mourn and weep, when you realize you have gained the world, but lost your soul. This is the other side of the story.

There are those seeking and looking for the Saviour and there are those who don't think they need one.

Which are you?

This is a Blessing??

2010-03-15T21:01:00.000-04:00

So we are strolling along through the beatitudes, the verses in Luke 6 that start with "Blessed are you...", and we see the way these first few play out. We have this bad thing going on and Jesus gives us hope for something better.

Bad Thing	Good Thing
Poor in Spirit	Yours is the Kingdom of God
Hunger for Righteousness	You shall be filled
Weep now	You shall laugh

This sounds pretty hopeful. We find ourselves in a world where there are evil things going on, it effects our feelings. We feel poor in spirit, hungry for justice and sad because of all we see. So these couple of verses we have looked at so far give us hope as we look to Jesus.

THEN BAMM!!! We read the next 2 verses:

Luke 6: 22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!
For indeed your reward is great in heaven,

For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

Wait a minute! What is going on here. I can understand being poor in spirit, hungry for righteousness and being filled with grief. But why would I want to put myself out their for my faith and have people hate me, exclude me, revile me and call me evil? I thought Jesus was our savior? I thought he came to make our lives better. Aren't Christians supposed to be happy? Why would people want to bother you for being a Christian? That's supposed to be a good thing.

If Jesus simply came a brought a message of brotherly love. Kind of a "...go along to get along". Don't make any judgments about others and they won't make any judgments about you. This is the popularization of the gospel message.

But we can see from these verses that is not the case. If we are going to buy into this radical gospel message that Jesus brings us, then we will not be popular. I won't use this post to list all the evidence in our popular culture that rejects Christians and their beliefs you only need to read the news, share the gospel with friends and mention that you go to church on Sunday to get a cool reception from some. In the USA we have it mild. In south east Asian countries, . Philippines, China, etc being a Christian pretty much unlawful.

So the reality is we can have a milk-toast Christianity that does not offend, in which case we will not really be following Christ. Or we can give our lives totally to Him, which will lead to hate, exclusion, revile (taunting) and being called evil. At that time we need to "...rejoice and leap for joy, for indeed your reward is great in heaven".

More Blessings

2010-03-13T21:19:00.000-05:00

In the last post we saw a beginning to understanding the blessing from God. We need to be poor in Spirit. We need to be in that place where we are left to beg. What are we begging for, God's mercy. We come to the place where we know we cannot obtain merit with God through religious acts or good works.

Jesus starts out these verses with this condition. In order to obtain salvation. In order to obtain the blessing of the kingdom of God we must come to the realization that we are without merit. We need to trust in Jesus.

Luke 6:20 “ Blessed are you poor,
For yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
For you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
For you shall laugh.

After we trust in Jesus, after we obtain the blessing of the kingdom of God only then do the next verses make sense. Again if we look at the same verse in Matthew we see a hunger for righteousness. As we come to Jesus that hunger will be filled. Our hunger for righteousness is realized through Jesus. It is not from this world. It must be pretty obvious to anyone reading this blog that there isn't righteousness and fairness in this world. As our culture turns away from Jesus we see an increase in violence, broken homes, selfishness, corrupt politicians and a lack of justice.

As we come to Jesus our weeping will turn to laughter. We will not just stop weeping. We will laugh. Its possible that some in the crowd that came to hear Jesus were even weeping as he spoke. They were desperate, depressed and in need of comfort and encouragement. Jesus speaks to their hearts and says your weeping can be over, you can know the joy of a relationship with me. You can laugh again.

Blessed are You

2010-03-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

I think we are really going to get bite size here on these next few verses. They are commonly referred to as the beatitudes (from Latin beatus, meaning "blessed" or "happy") because the versus start with "blessed".

Luke 6:20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said:
“ Blessed are you poor,
For yours is the kingdom of God.

So lets set the stage. Jesus has had a number of confrontations with the Pharisees. Those who view themselves as Holy than the average Joe. Crowds are following Jesus looking for answers, delivery from evil spirits and healing.

If Jesus had such hard criticism for the pillars of the community, what about the rest of us poor, sorrowful, downtrodden and sinful people. Sure Jesus heals the sick and delivers those with evil spirits, but what does he really think of us.

Thus I think that the verses that start out this discourse are ones of radical encouragement. Though we do not have the exact same words here as in Matt 5:3. The similarity is enough to assume that poor in spirit is meant here also.

The use of poor here is not relevant but absolute. So poor that you would be forced to beg. So someone who is so poor in their spirit would believe that there is not hope for reconciliation with God. However Jesus says the Kingdom of God is theirs. As a matter of fact the condition seems to be required. Only if you acknowledge that you are so poor in spirit that their is nothing you can do to deserve God's merit, will you inherit the kingdom of God.

He Was a Great Teacher

2010-03-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

Over the years as I have been confronted by those who are in doubt about Christianity being the only truth. They are offended that I take such a fanatical stand on Jesus as the Son of God, the truth, the only way and the life. They want to project open mindedness and acknowledge that Jesus was important, but will not go so far as to call Him the Son of God or acknowledge the need for Him to be crucified. So I will hear something like "Jesus was a great teacher" or "Jesus led a life that we all should follow by loving those around us and doing good". The implication is all this fanaticism about Jesus was man made, the result of leaders in the church manipulating who Jesus was in order assert control. I might be reading more into this than intended, but interestingly enough when I ask the person if they have read the Bible, they say no. Thus their conclusion is one of convenience due to their unwillingness to confront the Savior face to face.

As we go through the Gospel of Luke we will continue to confront the Savior face to face. In these next couple of verses just before Jesus begins to teach we see the following verses.

Luke 6: 17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil[a] spirits were cured,19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

A large crowd had gathered to see Jesus. As might be argued by my friend, they gathered to hear Jesus teach. "who had come to hear him". But there is more. "They came to be healed". It goes on to say:

Those troubled by evil spirits were cured
power was coming from him and healing them all.

So now what do I do with this great teacher? According to the Bible he was a miraculous healer, and able to drive out evil spirits. We are confronted now with someone that is more than a man. Someone with power. Someone with power over evil spirits. Someone able to heal all that came to him. This is just the tip of the iceberg as we go through the gospel being exposed to claims about Jesus and claims he makes himself that will require us to either reject him and his followers as delusional and needing to be ignored OR more than a great teacher, he is the Savior that we need to be searching for.

Picking the Twelve

2010-03-10T01:12:00.002-05:00

As a kid we all remember those times down at the playing field when it came to choosing sides for a sport. The self appointed captains would choose who would be on their team. Sometimes the qualifications were based on the skills of the person for the particular sport, whether they were popular, the best friend or brother of the captain. It didn't matter to you if you were picked second, third or fourth. As long as you weren't picked last. You knew that the captains were all about the game, it really wasn't about the people. There wasn't careful consideration about the potential over the long haul. As kids the experience was dramatic and could shake our well being down to our very soul. As adults I hope we can see in perspective that the slights we experienced as kids was the result of a selfish and fallen world.

In our passage today we are going to look at how Jesus chooses a team.

Luke 6:12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16, New King James Version)

This is the story about Jesus choosing the twelve apostles. This will be His team for continuing His work after He is gone. Given how radical the Gospel message would be, it would seem that Jesus would choose men well qualified for speaking publicly, vast knowledge of the scriptures, full of wisdom and bold in faith. Instead he chooses fishermen, tax collector, zealot and others from Galilee considered the back country of Israel.

What led up to this unorthodox selection of men. Verse 12 tells us just before the selection Jesus went up to the mountain and prayed. Was it a quick prayer like "Father show me who to choose?" No it would appear he prayed about the choosing all night.

Jesus sought the understanding of who to choose from God. This was not a game. This was not a popularity contest. This was based on potential. Jesus was looking for faithful men. Men who did not bring their own power into the equation. Men that would be remarkable because of their humble beginnings. Men who by the power of God would turn the world upside down.

On the day of Pentecost those who heard these men speak, commented "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?"

We need to remember that our wisdom is not God's wisdom. We are not His judge, he is ours.

Is 40:28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
(Isaiah 40:28, New King James Version)

When will They Ever Learn

2010-03-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

From the time I was in Junior High until even today I have been a Peter, Paul and Mary fan. What I consider their signature song is "Where Have All the Flowers Gone". The refrain at the end of each verse goes "when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn". This reminds me of the passage we will look at today.

As we already discovered the Pharisees were out to get Jesus. Jesus was a challenge to the established religious order. He was breaking down the control the Pharisees had over the Jewish people. Though Jesus responses during these confrontations basically made the situation worse for the Pharisees they never seemed to learn.

Luke 6:6 Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?” 10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:6-11, New King James Version)

It is hard to imagine but the Pharisees believed that healing was work and thus was forbidden on the Sabbath. Did you notice the Pharisees compassion for the man with the withered hand? Neither did I. In the Pharisees eyes this man existed for one purpose to provide an opportunity to accuse Jesus.

Jesus calls attention not to the issue of the interpretation of the command to keep the Sabbath Holy. Instead is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath. I don't think its too much of a stretch to assume that Jesus was in turn accusing the Pharisees of doing evil on the Sabbath waiting in anticipation to accuse Jesus. Think how desperate they would need to be to use a persons misfortune as a means to trap Jesus.

This must of hit home, because the Pharisees were not just disappointed, but were filled with rage. This was no longer just a past time with the Pharisees to accuse Jesus. They have now reached a point where they plan to work together to decide what to do about Jesus. You can be sure that the discussion wasn't about mending bridges or inviting Him out to dinner.

For now we will leave the Pharisees and their plots to see how Jesus will extend His ministry.

So What's the big Deal

2010-03-07T23:26:00.002-05:00

Previously on ...". Have you noticed with a lot of shows on TV they no longer say "Here are some scenes from last week...". Instead there isn't any TV season. The show are big productions that can start anytime, skip several weeks for special events like Christmas, the Olympics or award shows. With this chaotic schedule, they have to start the show with "Previously on ...". And then they have to shows scenes several weeks back so you can remember what the show is about.

Well this blog is a little bit like that. On March 1, I started to see if I could maintain a daily posting as we work our way through Luke. With such short entries have had to take awhile to get through a single passage and then missed yesterday.

So what was I doing yesterday? It was a beautiful day here, especially for March in Maine. Started the morning with the Men's breakfast at the church. Then went over to my sister-in-laws house to copy over some files from her old computer. Came home and played with my grandson in the backyard and picked some parsnips, while the ladies had their breakfast meeting. As soon as my wife was available to watch our grandson, Ben and I started laying down a new dining room floor. One of the Cruisers came by and I was faced with a difficult choice continue working on the floor or go for a short ride on the motorcycle.   I did the responsible thing and went for a ride on the motorcycle. After all its important to maintain relationships. Did some more work on the floor after getting back, till it was too dark to see.

Well lets look at out passage and see if we can wrap it up:

Luke 6:1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. ² And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
³ But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” ⁵ And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5, New King James Version)

Jesus and His disciples were walking through the grain field and as they were walking the disciples were picking the grain and eating it. To the Pharisee, this was harvesting and threshing grain, something which one could do on any other day, but not on the Sabbath.

This certainly sounds odd. The scene sounds like Jesus and the disciples were simply walking through a field. Where did the Pharisees come from?   What were they doing in the field? From their question it would appear they were following Jesus around. Looking for an opportunity to "catch Him". This is an issue with those who try to control others. They are threatened by Jesus outspokenness and His acceptance of the sinners and tax collectors. He was undermining their control.

Ah hah!! We got you!  You and your disciples are doing work. They are not keeping the Sabbath Holy (according to their definition, not God's).

Jesus responds with a story from the Old Testament, about David their hero eating the showbread that was set aside in the tabernacle. He relates the story as a question and asks didn't David do something unlawful when he ate the showbread and gave it to those with him. Though the showbread was set aside before God in the tabernacle, there isn't a reference to it only being available for the priests to eat. Again the law comes from man, not God. Jesus pointed out that their laws were hypocritical. They were all about show and not about compassion.

Finally, and most importantly from this passage it comes down to, who is Jesus. The pharisees thought he was a false prophet. This is bad enough, but He was encroaching on their territory. They had appointed themselves as spiritual leaders of Israel.   They made the rules and the people needed to obey or God would be angry with them. Jesus was a threat to their authority. They needed to show Jesus as just a renegade.

But who did Jesus say He is. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is the Son of Man. We will actually save this term for another time.   So what does the Lord of the Sabbath mean.

First of all the Sabbath was for rest. Six days shall you work and on the seventh you shall rest. The Sabbath was rest from the Law. The burden of the Law. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law. He is the rest we need. Why work to obtain rest under the law, when Christ gives us rest from the law?

Col 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17, New King James Version)

Mt 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, New King James Version)

Secondly, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He is greater than the Sabbath. To deny His authority over the Sabbath is to deny that He is the Son of God. Jesus as not about to debate with the Pharisees on what is lawful and what is not lawful on the Sabbath.  He cut right to the root of the issue. Who is Jesus. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is our Savior. Stop looking for fault.  Look to Jesus our rest. Our Savior.

The Family Business

2010-03-05T23:11:00.001-05:00

If you drive around our area it is very common to see contractor businesses and others with a "name" followed by "and sons". Of course those aren't the only family businesses, there are many others where the spouse and the kids might be working behind the counter, in the office or helping with the farm work.

Just like those businesses, priests in the old testament were in the family business. God designated Moses brother Aaron and his sons as the priests that would serve God.

Ex 28:1 "Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.

So this is the tradition that grew into law that the showbread in the tabernacle was Holy and as such could only be eaten by a priest.

So what is going on in the story that Jesus relates in our passage in Luke 6:1-5? David and his men were in need of food. The only food available was the showbread put before the Lord and was supposed to be only for the priests. But there was a real human need for food.

Here is Jesus first point. People are more important than ceremony. He is not saying people are more important than God. What is interesting about the story of David eating the showbread is that no where in the old testament is it commanded by God that the showbread could only be eaten by the priests. So this was a ceremonial law. A tradition that became more critical than the needs of the people.

This is a danger when religious leaders lose sight of what is truly important. Here is what Jesus points out as the most important commandments.

Mt 22:36 “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.’

Tomorrow we will wrap up this passage with our last two terms and the resolution of the conflict between the Pharisees and Jesus.

Set aside for the Lord

2010-03-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

Wow!! This has been a challenge trying to get through just this short blog entry. I am watching my grandson up in the family room. We have had supper (BLT my favorite), played with the web cam on the computer, patted the dog, watched a TV program about Willie and his Wellingtons, read a book, shot some hoops, picked up toys and had a bath. All the while I was typing a sentence or two below.

Hey we are halfway through our list from Luke 6:1-5. For such a short passage it is hard to imagine we need to establish our understanding of so many words. But we need to remember that this story took place 2000 years ago and referred to another story that happen about 1000 years before that. So there are a lot of cultural and historical ideas we are not familiar with. Here is our list.
Sabbath

Pharisees
Lawful
David
Showbread
Priests
Son of Man
Lord of the Sabbath

Lk 6:3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?”

So what is the showbread? First we need to know what the tabernacle was. It was the portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built to specifications revealed by God (Yahwe) to Moses at Mount Sinai, it accompanied the Israelites on their wanderings in the wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. The tabernacle was surrounded by an outer courtyard. It consisted of a enclosure divided into two sections. One section was the holy place containing the table with the showbread and a holy of holies containing the Ark of the Covenant. Everything in the tabernacle was specified by God including how the table was made, the table cloth, the utensils and the show bread. All set aside and considered Holy (set aside) for God.

It was up to the priest to take care of the showbread and made sure it was always fresh. But that's a topic for next time.

Our Hero

2010-03-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

There is a show on television called "Heroes". If you have watched it you might begin to wonder where are the heroes in the show, who are the villians. If you watch any type of TV show or movies these days this is a problem, trying to tell the good guys from the bad.

At the time that the incidents took place in the Bible passage we are looking at Luke 6:1-5, the Jewish people viewed King David as a hero. David was the second King of Israel, wrote many of the Psalms, the slayer of Goliath and favored by God. David was far from perfect having also committed adultery and murder. These shortcomings of David were overlooked, as people viewed him as a hero larger than life. It was not considered appropraite to ever say anything disparaging about David.

So here is the response of Jesus to the accusation of the Pharisees:

Luke 6:3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?”

Jesus just made 2 points. Asked them if they had read about David. This would have been an insult to the Pharisees who claimed intimate knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament. And brought up an incident where David their hero did something that was unlawful.

Tomorrow we will say why it was unlawful. As we look at how the Showbread played a role in the worship practices of Israel.

What is Lawful

2010-03-02T22:12:00.000-05:00

We are always worried about what is lawful. What are the rules? What can I do that is OK? How do I stay out of trouble? Over the next several days we will continue to look at Luke 6:1-5. Yesterday we discussed what is the Sabbath and in a previous post we talked about the Pharisees in Short and Sweet.

So now we come to the crux of the matter from the perspective of the Pharisees. "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

For the pharisees it was all about the Law. Following the rules. They are not simply asking a question of Jesus. They were here to persecute Jesus and were using the disciples actions to condemn Jesus. We caught you. You broke the rules. You are a disruption to the order we have established. What you are doing is against God's will. What you are doing in not lawful.

When the term lawful is used it is NOT referring to the civil laws in force by the Roman government, or King Herod over the nation of Israel. The Law they were referring to was the Law God gave to the Israelites when He led them out of Egypt. This included the command "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, Six days you shall labor and do all your work" Ex 20:8,9 NKJS

So how is Jesus going to respond. The Pharisees have accused Him of breaking the Law given by God. The Pharisees are calling Jesus to account. He is trapped. How will Jesus respond?

Next time we will look at Jesus response.

Starting Over

2010-03-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

Been away from the blog for 2 months. I think the long entries on a weekly basis makes it a challenge to keep up. I am going to try for short and daily. That means I will need to work a passage over several days in order to do it justice.

¹ Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. ² And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
³ But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” ⁵ And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5, New King James Version)

What are some of the unfamiliar words in this passage? We will take one a day to complete the story.

Sabbath
Pharisees
Lawful
David
Showbread
Priests
Son of Man
Lord of the Sabbath

We already talked about the Pharisees in a previous post called Short and Sweet.

So lets talk about the Sabbath. It was a day of rest for the Jewish people as prescribed by God through Moses. You might remember this is one of the ten commandments, Exodus 20:8-11. Essentially the point is to rest from all busyness. How are the Israelites to have a relationship with God if they are always running around doing stuff. On the Sabbath "you shall not do any work". It was set aside (made Holy) by God for the benefit of the Israelites. It wasn't enough for the words that God had given through Moses to understand what this means, so a whole group of folks like the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests created volumes of books describing the rules on not working.

I think this will give us enough background as we look at the other terms over the coming days ahead.

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T01:00:00.002-05:00

Well the New Year is off to a white start. I little snow earlier this week, some yesterday, a little today and they are predicting a real strange change of direction for a storm off shore in the Gulf of Maine to loop back and stall tomorrow night into Sunday morning. Not sure what our plans will be for church Sunday morning. I am hoping we can still have the service time. I really miss the folks and I will be in India the following Sunday.

I have a sense of anticipation coming into the new year more than I have had in the past. Some of my anticipation is a concern for where people are at. We are living in tough times, though some have been able to pretend that life is normal. It isn't. It doesn't take much to look around and see that evil abounds, suffering is everywhere and we are living in a world and age without purpose. Yes there are glimmers of light, the promise of hope, generosity and kindness. There are still vestiges of our Christian heritage. But these are being challenged all the time.

Lets take a test to see if I am right. Lets focus on who Jesus Christ is according to our society:

A philosopher
A teacher
A Jew
A religious person
The founder of Christianity
A man
Someone to be mocked - See Best Church of God (this is not an endorsement for this site). I could have filled up this blog with internet references to sites dedicated to the demeaning of Jesus Christ.
Someone to hate
Someone to ignore
irrelevant
A name to be used when your mad

Now lets look at the truth from God's Word as we continue our study of Colossians:

Col 1: 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

What a contrast in these verses where we see:

Jesus is the image of God. We can't see God since He is Spirit. He is not created. But Jesus is the manifestation of God in the flesh.
Before creation, Jesus existed.
All things were created through Jesus. Apologizes to those who believe that stuff just happened. It didn't. Including things we see and can't see. Interesting that the Bible acknowledges that there is an unseen creation, even before microscopes, telescopes and shows like Cosmos.
Rulers were created by Him
Jesus is what holds all things together. No matter how clever we become with scientific investigation, there are given forces that just exist that hold all things together.
Christ is the head of the church of true believers
Jesus Christ is the first born of the dead, we refer to this as the resurection.
Jesus Christ is fully God. Not a god, not a little god, not one of many gods, but the only true God.
Jesus Christ is the savior for reconciling our lost relationship with God. We can have peace with God because Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

I hope my sense of anticipation is that lives will be changed. That many will leave behind the self serving philosophy of this world. As is always my prayer I hope that your search for a savior ends with finding the true Savior Jesus Christ.

This Special Night

2009-12-24T16:07:00.001-05:00

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!!

The Power of Darkness

2009-11-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

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.

What is this power of darkness? It is brought about by the lies of Satan. Satan has deceived us in to believing that God doesn't care, isn't good, is not all powerfull, has our same bad characteristics, is whatever we define him to be in our religions or doesn't exist at all.

So when Paul is writing to the Colossians and we come upon the passage we started to look at last time. He wants to remind the Colossians that through thier faith in Christ they were delivered from this power of darkness. From the fear and uncertainty of living a life apart for the grace of God.

THE LIE HAS BEEN DISPELLED!!

Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Through Christ we are forgiven of our sins (our rebellion against God). We are redeemed. We are more than redeemed we have been conveyed into the kingdom. We are the recipients of His love.

How can Christ do this? Who is Christ that He is able to deliver us from the Power of Darkness? This is the point Paul goes on to make. Christ is:

Image of the invisible God
Existed before anything was created
Actually the author of all creation
Head of the church
The firstborn of the dead (the first to be resurrected)

In other words there is nothing higher or more important that Christ. In actuality He is God.

We no longer need to walk in the power of darkness. We do not need to live a lie. We do not have to live in fear. This is what Paul wants to assure the Colossians. That is his prayer for them.

This is my prayer for you. That you might be delivered from the power of darkness as you search for the savior.

Growing Stronger Everyday

2009-11-13T20:13:00.000-05:00

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.

At been involved in a new project at work for hosting Unum UK insurance business on our computer systems. Only bring that up because it was great to meet new friends who visited from across the pond and also had a great opporutunity as some of my coworkers from Chattanooga were up for a visit.

Last time we looked at the letter from Paul to the Colossians. If you are looking for it on the map you will have to look for a place called Pinarket in Turkey. The acropolis of Colosse is just a series of mounds now. We found out that Paul had not actually brought the gospel to the Colossians but essentially had heard about there faith through the grapevine. Actually one of Paul's helpers Epaphras was the one who actually told them about Jesus Christ and God's love.

Because of this great news Paul is writing this letter that leads him to share with the Colossians his prayer for them. We will spend several weeks just on this prayer because it contains so much that helps us understand more about the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Col 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. NKJS

Even though this letter is written to those have faith in Jesus Christ and love for the saints, I think those who do not believe but are seeking can gain a good understanding on what this gospel message is all about.

First of all lets look at just verse 9. Paul is praying for God to fill them with knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Whoa!! does that mean Christians aren't instantly filled with complete knowledge when they get saved. Exactly, when someone becomes a Christian they only have a very small understanding of who God is and what is His will for thier lives. Christians make mistakes. Christians are on a spiritual journey. When you accept Jesus you are saved from the judgement and punishment we deserve as a result of sin, but much of our old nature remaines. We are just as capable of poor judgement, poor behavior and selfishness. We need to realize that christians are growing. We need to grow in knowledge. There is never a time when that knowledge is complete.

As demonstrated in these verses we need to pray for each other to be filled with the knowledge of God's will, spiritual wisdom and understanding. What an awesome responsibility.

Why do we need to grow? Next time we will look at verse 10 for the answer.

I Heard it Through the Grapevine

2009-10-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

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:

Peace from war
Peace among the nations
The Coke commercial "I'd like to teach the world to sing..."
Peace among groups

Its funny when the topic of peace comes up people conjure up many different images in thier mind. What does it mean when someone gets the Nobel Peace prize? It really hard to say for sure, but one thing is clear there is really only one real peace and only one real "Prince of Peace".   That peace is a restored relationship with God.   Last time we started to look at a letter that Paul wrote to the faithful brethern in Christ at Colossi. This letter is known as the book of Colossians.

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.

Col 1:3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— 5the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. 7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

You can see that Paul was not the one who brought the Gospel to the Colossians, but another servant and faithful minister of Christ, Epaphras. What is being reported is the Colossians acceptance of the Gospel, their faith in Jesus Christ and their love for all the saints.

This isn't just that the saints in Colossi are great folks, Paul recognizes that it is God working in their lives.

Let me be clear and not beat around the bush. We will never see peace in this world no matter how many Nobel Peace Prizes are handed out.   There is war, groups are fighting each other, the Coke song will not bring peace, neither will John Lennon or great rhetoric.

There can only be peace if you give your heart to Jesus. As you can see from these verses the Colossians had hope from the word of truth, the gospel message which bears fruit with those who hear it and accept it. God is just, we are sinners.  But he loved us so much he sent Jesus his Son to die on the cross for us. Jesus paid the price for our sins. We can believe in Christ and accept His sacrifice on the cross and have real peace with God.

It is my sincere prayer that as you read this you would think hard on the prospects of peace in this current world and realize it isn't happening. Stop searching the Savior is here.

Back in Touch

2009-10-03T03:00:00.000-04:00

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.

Sinners Wanted

2009-07-31T16:25:00.000-04:00

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.

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)

The Romans were an occupying force that the Jews resented. To be a Jew and work for the Romans would have been viewed a traitorous by those who belief was orthodox or nationalist. The Romans believed in Roman gods and Ceaser as a god. So not only would a tax collector be considered a national traitor but a religious traitor. The Romans used local people from the district as tax collectors because they would know the people and not be deceived.

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.

Healing

2009-07-07T20:02:00.000-04:00

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

Medicinal care
Natural healing of our bodies
Prayer and repentance
Or the miraculous power of Jesus

In this story the man first of all received forgiveness from Jesus. Then Jesus makes the point that to demonstrate that He has the authority to forgive sins, He also miraculously heals the man. What is the result? The man went home praising God. Those who saw were filled with awe and proclaimed to each other "We have seen remarkable things today".

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

From this passage we have learned alot about the Savior we are searching to know. Next time we will look at Luke 5:27 - 32.

Forgiveness

2009-06-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

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:

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.

Anyways back to our trip to His Mansion. After breakfast on Saturday morning we were taken to the mission field in order to save the cucumber plants from weeds. This might at first not seem like a bold service for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However His Mansion is an incredible ministry that provides long term Christian residential care for young adults struggling with addictions and abuse. So any work that they needed done is a ministry and on the day we were there they needed weeds pulled.

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

We have already looked at the first 2 in the previous posting. This time I would like to discuss the priority and the power to forgive sins.    I have included here again to refresh you memory.

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".

Friends

2009-06-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

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.

The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
The faith of the friends
The priority and power to forgive sins
The healing

In the last posting we talked about the challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees. We saw that they had a heart attitude that put them in opposition to Jesus.

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.

Some of you reading this post are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I urge you at every opportunity to bring your friends to Jesus. Your faith in Jesus to heal their broken souls will be acknowledged by Him.

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

Our Heart Attitude

2009-05-30T07:37:00.000-04:00

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.

The challenge of the Scribes and Pharisees
The faith of the friends
The priority and power to forgive sins
The healing

What should be our attitude toward the Scribes and Pharisees? It would appear in this passage they have come to listen to Jesus not because they are searching for a savior but there is concern that first John the baptist and now Jesus is attracting peoples attention by speaking about their relationship with God. As you saw from my notes in my last posting this is stepping on the toes of the Scribes and Pharisees. They held the authority to tell the people about what God requires of them.

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?

Short and Sweet

2009-05-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

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 5:17}One 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."

Make Me Clean

2009-05-11T18:36:00.000-04:00

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 5:12}While 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"?

He Has Risen

2009-04-12T19:27:00.000-04:00

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 1:5}The 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.

Changing Careers

2009-04-04T10:06:00.000-04:00

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.

The Ice is Three Feet Thick

2009-03-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

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.

The Holy One of God

2009-02-28T12:06:00.000-05:00

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.

Man With a Mission

2009-01-31T17:59:00.000-05:00

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.

Ain't that Joe's Boy?

2009-01-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

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.

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.

Many times around here when something happens in the local news (heard in the Whistle Stop, Dunkin Donuts', Sophia's or parking lot of the IGA) involving a young person good or bad. The phrase is usually uttered ain't that Joe's kid, the Smith boy, one the kids up on Durginton Road or some such similar phrase.

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.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:18:00.000-05:00

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.

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;

2. Fellowship. Spend time with people who love God, gain strength from their encouragement. Don't be a lone Christian, expecting that your faith will grow in a vacuum.

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.

3. Serve God by serving others. Don't put off your service to God for another year. Find the gifts and talents that God has given you and use them for service. Your giving will reward you mightily in both this world and the next.

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:

4. Read and study God's word. Don't rely on others to tell you what is in there. Don't rely on the Sunday sermon as the only time you hear God's word. Don't rely on this blog to teach you all about God. Read and discuss God's word with friends and family. His truth is liberating and puts all things in perspective.

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.

Next time we will be looking at Luke 4:16 - 19 and will see an example of the study of God's word.

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.

Make a Choice

2008-12-19T22:25:00.000-05:00

This time of year you are faced with more choices than any other time of year. What Christmas events will I attend, who in my family will I visit, what do I buy for presents for each member of my family, friends, co-workers? I need to choose will I travel. Will I spend a lot, will we need to be careful with spending this year. What Christmas cards will I send out? Who will I send them too? How will I keep myself from being too busy? How will I avoid stress? What will I do without power? How will I create focus for really enjoying the blessings that should be part of the holiday celebration?

We are faced with many choices. Some of these choices are very crucial and very hard to make. Since the beginning of mankind when Adam and Eve were asked to make a choice. There are incredible similarities to the choice that Adam and Eve were asked to make and the one Jesus is asked to make in the temptation we will be examining here in Luke.

Adam and Eve Tempted:

Gen 3: 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The choice given to Adam and Eve goes beyond the fruit. The serpent makes it clear the choice is to listen to God or to listen to me. The serpent than makes a promise if you eat the fruit, you will not die and your eyes will be opened. And then he makes an incredible statement you will be like God. You will be independent of God. You will know good and evil. You will be able to make your own choices. This is a call to rebellion. This is the serpents story as of old.

Jesus Tempted:

Luke 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

It might not be obvious from the devil's statement what is being offered. What choice is the devil asking Jesus to make? We can see the choice in Jesus response. We can only worship either God or the devil. The devil is making a promise of authority and splendor. This promise is being given while Jesus is enduring the trials of the desert, hunger, loneliness and weariness. The devil is saying give up, leave service to God behind and I will give you all this. You will be free to live and worship me.

Ultimately this is the choice the devil always offers. Forget Christmas don't be bogged down by the Christian tradition. Live it up. Be your own person. Live for yourself. What has God done for you? Is He even relevant to these times? You can be like God yourself.

I hope you can see through the false hope that the Devil promises here. Remember that the devil did not say to Jesus don't worship God, he only said to worship him. He makes it sound like a choice to worship the devil or not worship the devil. But Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. We are to worship God and Him alone.

I don't have to really convince you. You know that walking away from God leaves an empty life, a hollow feeling, a desperation, a seeking of fulfillment, a searching. I really don't need to convince you that the devil's promises are empty. You wouldn't have read this far if that is the case. You would not have visited a site called Searching for the Savior.

There is a real hope for you in the promise of a savior. The reason we celebrate Christmas. To understand the gospel message see my first blog entry Simple Answers. In the mean time I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.

Pastor Keith

Is God Really There?

2008-12-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

The foundations of our world are shaken. It seems like we go from one shocking piece of news to another. What is on everyone's minds these days? Its not the Celtics 11 straight wins, its the economy. Its not spoken of in alarming tones. But if you spend any time with someone the question will come up "What do you think about the bailout of the auto industry? Should we do it?" . I am not going to enter an opinion here, but I think this question touches on a very subtle issue on everyone's mind. If we don't bailout the auto industry will it really collapse? Will this really effect multiple industries our whole economy? If we do bail them out will it really help? What is next? Are things really bad, are we entering a depression, what about my job, what about my friends, family and neighbors.

Some of you reading this blog have already been effected by layoffs and are living your own personal economic crisis. I hear a lot of comments about this isn't a depression, not like the one we had 80 years ago. I think we will be all right. These comments are made in response to the alarmist reporting in the media. The list of concerns goes on with health care, a new president, the war in Iraq, the news of senseless killing and crime. Where is America going? Where is the world going? Along with this is the personal challenges of our own lives with family strife, divorce, work situations, health, etc...

With many of these things bombarding us it is hard to find that quite focus where we spend time seeking the presence and assurance of God's love for us. We find ourselves weak and confused. We need a pick me up emotional spiritual experience to help us move forward. We need a miracle to prove that God is really there.

I am going to skip over the second temptation and discuss during my next post. So we will jump down a couple of versus to the third temptation. Where the devil is hoping that Jesus is at that point where He is weak and desperate for God's presence and assurance.

Luke 4:9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
      ‘ He shall give His angels charge over you,
      To keep you,’
11 and,
      ‘ In their hands they shall bear you up,
      Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”

At first glance this would seem like a silly temptation. Why does the devil want Jesus to jump? He doesn't just tell Jesus to jump, but quotes scripture in essence saying God will not let you come to harm. We will have a genuine miracle here as the angels bear you up. The devil is hoping that in the weakened state that Jesus is as a man (hungry, tired, in the desert with wild beasts, all alone) that He would be at the point of wanting to prove God's presence with a miracle.

Again we have insight into the purpose of the Devil's motives by Jesus' response. "You shall not tempt the Lord your God".   How is it tempting God to rely on His promises in His Word?? In His response Jesus is acknowledging that in His current circumstances doing what the Devil has asked would be only for the purposes of tempting God for a miracle. A way to get a spiritual boost out of God by what He does, not who He is. At the same time Satan starts with the same phrase he used in the other temptations "If You are the Son of God...". Claim you divine nature, leave this foolishness behind, you don't have to live your life as a mere man.

But Jesus answer is basically I will live my life as a man, I will face the same temptations that they face and I will not tempt God. But instead I will trust in Him no matter what. He has led me into the desert by the Holy Spirit. He wants me here to face these temptations as a man in order to be worthy of the sacrifice that I must make on the cross.

Are you able to face the challenges around you? Do you find your self looking for God's assurance through miracles? We have received miracles in the past, but they don't last in making our relationship real with God. He is there, He really does love us, He is always faithful. As you are seeking Him, He is seeking your trust.

So Much to be Thankful For

2008-11-28T16:01:00.000-05:00

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.   It is so uncomplicated. Sure we have our family together and a morning of food preparation but we don't create a lot of commitment. Last year I think there was just 4 of us and this year there was 12. My friend Bryan and his girlfriend Loise came up for a visit from Massachusetts, knowing that the kids would be around so that he could see them. He didn't even hang around for dinner. When I say kids, that's 19 - 39 the age of my oldest son-in-law.

I used to call Bryan my best friend, but that is an odd term, like my friends are in a competition and one of them wins to become my best friend. Especially since my real best friend is my wife of 32 years. I think it is more accurate to say Bryan is one of my most significant friends. We have known each other since we were about 7 or 8 years old. We were nearly inseparable during our high school years. At that time I wouldn't say we hung out with the wrong crowd, I think by ourselves just the two of us, we were the wrong crowd. However surprisingly we both accepted Jesus as our savior within a couple of months of each other through entirely separate circumstances. We have both grown in our faith and life experiences in different ways, but I praise God that Bryan has persevered in his love for God. As we talk on the phone he reminds me often to be thankful for what we have. This is not an idle reminder since like myself Bryan lost his parents early in life and though challenged with disabilities makes the most of each day and sacrificing much for those whose lives he touches.

Yesterday we had so much variety of food on the table. As a matter of fact, even though I took just a little bit of everything I still didn't have everything. I was making turkey sandwiches today, when I realized that I didn't have any stuffing. I thought maybe we didn't serve any, until my son went into the fridge and pulled some out.

Can we even imagine being in the desert and fasting for 40 days. Sometimes its a challenge to fast 4 hours. Lets look specifically at the next 2 verses in Luke.

Luke 4:3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."

Is this really a question? Did Satan doubt that Jesus was the Son of God? Did he think Jesus doubted it, after God the Father had declared after the baptism that "...this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased". The question that Satan is really asking is since you are the Son of God, act like it, use your powers, don't suffer in hunger like a human. Claim the privilege due to you. Don't let God the Father push you around. Go ahead and turn these stones into bread.

This is why Jesus turns it around and responds with a proclamation that says in essence, I am here as a man.   I am not here to live a life of privilege, but to do the will of God. To obey God's Word. To live by God's Word. If Jesus was to function and invoke His divine nature then he would not be like us. He would not have suffered temptation. He would not be worthy as a sacrifice for our sins. He would not be the last Adam. So it is important that he faced each challenge as a man, trusting in God the way we need to trust in God.

If you are a Christian, isn't this exactly the type of temptation that Satan lays before us. If you are saved...? If you are a Son of God...? You deserve better... You do not have to sacrifice your time for others... You can live your life anyway you want... You are better than others...   This is the same tune Satan has been playing from the very beginning. So we can look at the temptation of Jesus and see how Satan does the same to us. And like Jesus' response we need to read and live by the Word of God so that we can resist the devil and he will flee.

Not a Very Nice Place

2008-11-25T17:15:00.001-05:00

In this post we will be looking at Luke 4:1,2 where Jesus goes into the desert and is tempted by the Devil. Many of us read this story and walk away with a "great Jesus showed him" and don't really understand why this story is in the Bible. We will take this passage a piece at a time, since it is rather long.

First of all remember a couple of weeks ago we looked at the circumstances of Adam and Eve when they were tempted by the serpent. Here is a reminder of that:

All of their needs were met
They had food
They had shelter
They had each other
Animals were friendly
They were in the Garden of Eden
All the comforts
A relationship with God

Now lets look at the beginning of Luke 4.

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

This takes place just after Jesus has been baptized, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and God the father has declared Him to be "my Son with whom I am well pleased". The setup here is just the opposite from Adam and Eve. Jesus is now in the wilderness. For the Jews this is not a very nice place. It is considered a hostile place. For us in America when we think of a large abandoned mansion on a hill at the end of a lane, we would project the idea that it is haunted and scary to visit late at night. The Jews viewed the wilderness the same way. It was considered scary and haunted by demons.

Also we have recorded in the Gospel of Mark 1:12 "... and was with the wild beasts". This is not an idle phrase entered by Mark. The idea is that the beasts in the wilderness were not friendly but were to be feared. So what the writers of the gospel are trying to portray is a hostile environment. In addition there isn't any food. Jesus is weak and hungry. He doesn't have shelter, and He is all alone.

I don't think it is coincidental that the story of Adam and Eve's temptation by the serpent takes place with circumstances that are just the opposite of the circumstances we find when Jesus is tempted by Satan. This demonstrates that we do not have the means to resist the Devil even in the most ideal circumstances. Yet Jesus as God's Son who does not take advantage of His devine nature, but instead relies on the strength of prayer and understanding of God's Word to put off the tempation of Satan for 40 days under the most hostile of circumstances.

The tempation and resistance to Satan is what makes Jesus worthy to be our substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. He is the unblemished lamb. He is worthy to bear our transgressions. He has felt our infliction and been faced with our temptations. He has known the weakness of the flesh and the trials that we face. He is worthy to be the Savior we are searching for.

The next time we will look closer at the three temptations recorded in Luke. In the mean time my hope and prayer for those reading this post that you have a very special and Happy Thanksgiving. May you be well aware of the blessings that God has bestowed on you.

Introducing Jesus

2008-11-15T19:39:00.000-05:00

Hope all that are reading this are having a great fall. Around here all the leaves have pretty much fallen from the trees. Surprisingly this time of year when the leaves are all gone and before winter starts (some from away might say winter has already started) there is an special beauty to being outside. A lot of views open up as you ride around because the tree are bare. There is a exhilarating smell to the air of dampness, rotting leaves and a freshness from the cool breezes. I know many of many friends like hunting, just for the experience of being in the woods in November.

In my last posting we looked at the situation of Adam and Eve being in a wonderful place called the Garden of Eden. Next time we will be looking at a place that Jesus found himself after his temptation. What I want us to think about in both situations is how our surrounding can have an effect on us.

But before we look at the baptism of Jesus and His temptation in the wilderness, I would like to look back at what we know about Him so far. The real dividing line between Christianity and man made religions is the identity of Jesus.

It would be very tempting to spend time here exploring all the central characters of man made religions to point out that the central characters are mythical, part of pantheom of gods, died without resurrection, not the fulfillment of prophecy, possibly philosophers, possibly teachers etc...

Instead I would like to focus at this time on what we know about Jesus. This is only an introduction based on the verses we have read so far in the first three chapters of Luke. This is a simple list that would take years to explore each item in any meaningful depth, but lets just look at it as a whole to gain an understanding of the uniqueness of Jesus.

God granted Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth a son who would "prepare the way for the Lord" v1:17 (Jesus was someone so important a major character John the Baptist was born just to prepare the way for Him).
This is what the angel declared to Mary v1:32,33

He will be great
Son of the Highest
God will give Him the throne of David
He will reign over the house of Jacob
There will be no end to His kingdom

Conceived of the Holy Spirit v1:35 (born not of man, but of God)
Called the Son of God v1:35
His birth announced by angels v2:10, 11
A Savior who is Christ the Lord v2:11
The Lord's Christ v2:26
God's Salvation v2:30
A light for the Gentiles v2:32
The Glory of Israel v2:32
The redeemer (savior) v2:38
Referred to God as His Father v2:49
He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire v3:16
God's beloved Son v3:22
Descended from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David ... etc v3:23-38

For those who are not familiar with the term Christ as a title. It literally means God's anointed. In the Old Testament a king chosen by God was anointed with oil as a symbol of God choosing and blessing.

I think this list is important to help us realize that from verses it would be hard to dismiss Jesus as a good teacher, a man who taught peace, just someone special and Holy. Even before Jesus starts His ministry, many extraordinary things are said about Him. This knowledge of who Jesus is, is revealed by an angels and by the Holy Spirit (God Himself) revealing this to ordinary people. I think this is very important distinction about Jesus. The focus of a relationship to God is not based on rules, our actions, someones teaching, ceremony or tradition. It is based on the person of Jesus Christ.

If you are searching for the Savior, Jesus is it. In the coming months we will continue to explore what does this mean. How is he the Savior? What does it mean to have a Savior? Please give prayerful consideration to Jesus and what He can mean to you.

"Where are you?"

2008-10-20T20:51:00.000-04:00

We are now in the middle of October at the height of fall weather. The peak of autumn colors have passed in much of the state, but there are still brilliant displays as you drive around. Maine is truly a beautiful state and this is the time that it is the best for living here. Cold crisp morning, sunshine during the day, the air is fresh and you can smell wood smoke. Its a time for walks, rides, hunting, hiking and just about any excuse you can think of for being outdoors. It is a friendly environment with neighbors, family and the community around us. We have been celebrating various birthday celebration the past couple of weekends.

With all these good things we can easily believe that we can be content to live our lives in harmony with nature and each other. But there is a cold hard reality of the presence of evil. That which would discourage, frighten, make us angry, make us arrogant, make us sad and selfish.

Even in our own community this night someone lost their home to fire. There are reports that violent crime has increased this year in Portland, just 45 minutes from home. We know of families that are broken apart, kids abandoned, family members lost through tragedy and despair over the economy.

Before we look at the next passage in Luke chapter 4 where Jesus was in the dessert and tempted by the devil, I want to flip to the very beginning of the Bible to Genesis 3 and he temptation of Adam and Eve.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

As Adam and Eve face temptation we find them in the following condition:

Living in a Garden created by God.
They are healthy
They do not need to labor for anything
They have all that they need to eat
They have each other
A relationship with God

Its hard to imagine with all that they have, that they could be tempted. But they were and they gave in to the temptation. Just as we will see from the temptation of Jesus, Satan will twist the words of God to bring doubt and deceit.

Even for us thier are times when the blessing we have are beyond belief. We can think its a beautiful fall day, that we have food on the table and a roof over our head. And then we are faced with Satan bringing his doubts and discouragement. We have a nature like Adam and Eve that no matter what we have we want more. We are not satisfied with God's blessings. Like Adam and Eve we want to be like God and direct our own destiny.

When seeking our own we turn away from God and His Word. We then begin to resent God's intrusion into our lives, but deep down inside we know He is still there calling us. Can you hear Him calling you? "Where are you?" "Why are you hiding?"

Will the Real Messiah Stand Up

2008-09-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

Just over a week ago a friend of mine visited with his wife in the area. They stayed at a motel in the next town over. They were married on a Saturday, and then flew to Maine on Sunday for thier honeymoon. This was a friend from the Air Force that I haven't seen in person for almost 30 years. Him and his wife are both Christians, and it was evident in our time together that they love the Lord. Praise God for such a special visit. Shortly after returning to North Carolina, he sent me an e-mail with the following verse.

Colossians 1:10-12, "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." (NIV)

What an encouraging and comforting passage of scripture. Praise the Lord.

Last time we looked at the beginning of John the Baptist ministry. We learned a little bit about sanctification and repentance. I promised that this time we would try to understand what John's baptism was all about.

"preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,"

Baptism was a means to demonstrate your membership or agreement in something. It is a public symbol of participation. When folks heard from John that the messiah was coming and they needed to prepare their hearts for change (repent). They demonstrated that repentance by joining others in baptism. So here is what is being demonstrated.

The messiah is coming
John is warning us to prepare
I repent. I turn from the direction I was heading and turn to God.
I am baptized to symbolize that I have laid my old selfish nature aside and show my membership and agreement with those awaiting salvation.
I change my actions to be more caring, generous and careful to be a ministry to others. These are the things we talked about last time.

After being baptized the people began to wonder if John was the messiah.

Lk 3:15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not,

Why were they wondering that? First there wasn't a spiritual leader in Israel that could speak to the needs and hearts of the people. It can be imagined from John's statement and the statements of Jesus later that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were making the people feel bad, unable to meet the requirements of the law. They viewed themselves as unworthy. Which if they tried to make themselves worthy of the law would be the case. Also we already noted they were living with the Pax Roma (the peace of Rome). That is when you country does what it is told, pay taxes and you would be protected from other enemies. The people we waiting and anticipating a Messiah. Plus John had just told off the religious leaders and they that were smug about their ancestry to Abraham. Maybe he is the Messiah. But John corrected them.

Lk 3:16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John is preparing the way, the Messiah is coming. John is uncomfortable with the idea of being worthy to tie the Messiah's sandal, let alone we mistaken for the Messiah. The messiah is coming and he will bring real judgment. He will clean house. The chaff are those who pretend to religious righteousness and the wheat are those who seek God with their hearts.

You can imagine that even today God is seeking those who are seeking Him. He is knocking at the door of your heart. He is looking for your willingness to let Him in. He is not interested in those living their lives serving themselves or religious leaders who are satisfied with their own self righteousness. He wants those that have repented. Turned from seeking their own self and instead have turned to seeking God.

Are you seeking God, are you searching for a Savior. That savior is Jesus Christ and no one comes to comes except through Him. If you are prepared to except Jesus or have made that decision and have questions please let me know.

U Turn Ahead

2008-09-13T08:23:00.001-04:00

Before we look into our scripture passage, I would like to give you an update on what we have been up to. On labor day weekend my wife and I returned from a trip to western New York state to drop off our youngest at Houghton College. Though we have done this first year college trip already 3 times, it wasn't any easier this time. We were graciously invited by another couple in our church who have also dropped off their daughter at college that same weekend to join them for a 2 day vacation at their time share in NH to just relax. It was just what we needed at the time.
Its interesting to think of our youngest starting his adult life of independence just as the passages we are looking at starting this week jump ahead to the time when John the Baptist starts his adult ministry. The message of the angel and the prophesy of Zacharias, John's father, has now come true. John has been called to preach and baptize to prepare the way for Jesus.

Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

As we have stated before Luke wants to create an accurate account and demonstrate that the events happened in a real places to real people. The rulers and priests mentioned put the events in a real time period. John in is the wilderness . Why is John in the wilderness? There is a sense of setting aside, being apart, preparing himself for the spiritual mission that God was calling him to. This setting aside in the Bible is referred to as sanctification, to be set aside for use by God. So after preparing himself for this mission, John has left the wilderness and has entered the region around the Jordan.

"preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins…"

What is this message all about? Well we know that repentance means to turn from one direction and head in the other direction. Like going down the road to work and forgetting something at home, I immediately turn around and head toward home, instead of away from home. In this case John is referring to our relationship with God. We are heading one way, doing our own thing, and we need to be going the other way seeking God. We need to turn from going our way, to going God's way. Now there is sometimes confusion by many preachers that repentance is all about stop sinning. They will say we are to repent of our sins in a sense that we stop sinning. Stop drinking, stop gossiping, stop cheating, stop whatever. The idea conveyed by these preachers is we need to be pure before God will accept us. However I think that misses the point. In this passage of Luke we have more of a sense of repentance being to change our mind, our attitude and as a result our actions.

I am going to jump ahead to the examples in v10 - 14

The people were responding to John's call for repentance by asking what shall we do. Look at the positive instructions: If you have two tunics, give to some one who doesn't have one. Share your food. To the tax collectors who were resented because they cheated by collecting more than they should, they were told to just collect what they were supposed to. To the soldiers do not intimidate, accuse falsely and be content with your wages. All of these instructions effect your relationships with others, they take the focus off of our selfish desires and DIRECT THEM TO A DESIRE FOR GOD. Without a desire for God, we are lost. So if this is about turning back to God, why are we serving others. Because God cares for us and loves us. We serve him when we serve others.

Next time we will look more closely at what was accomplished by John's baptism, how does this prepare us for Jesus coming.

My Father's Business

2008-08-16T12:05:00.000-04:00

We are going to continue to look at the story of the trip to Jerusalem by Mary, Joseph and Jesus as found in Luke 2:41-52. Last time we looked at verses 41 - 47, lets look at the rest of the story.

Luke 2:48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”
49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” 50 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

This story which is only found in the Gospel of Luke, has four distinct features.

The only inspired story of the youthful years of Christ. Luke must have thought this very important.
The first recorded words of Jesus.
The last time Joseph is mentioned. Its possible that he died before Jesus public ministry.
The actions of Jesus in the minds of His parents, Mary and Joseph appear to be wrong.

What is open to interpretation is the number of days that Jesus parents looked for Him. As I simply read this story it would appear they traveled a day, returned to Jerusalem (another day) and then searched for 3 days in Jerusalem for a total of 5 days. Jesus was trustworthy and without sin, their were miracles surrounding His birth and extraordinary proclamations at His dedication. However after 5 days of searching we can easily imagine all these things being forgotten as Mary and Joseph are overwhelmed by anxiety and frustration. Gently Jesus is rebuked by Mary and Joseph for what He has done.

But Jesus does not acknowledge the rebuke with repentance. He in turn gently rebukes them in kind for not remembering who He is. He is the Son of God and the temple is his Father's house and He is about His Father's business. Even with this reminder and all the incidents that Mary has stored in her heart it would appear there is no real resolution to this story since verse 50 states "they did not understand". Despite that Mary did remember this incident in her heart and was able to recall for the benefit of including in the Gospel.

Here are the possible options for this passage.

Just an anecdote. Just an incident in Jesus early childhood. Not acceptable given all the other incidents that could have been recorded about His life.
Jesus was wrong to stay without permission. This can't be right since Jesus is without sin.
Absent minded Messiah. Somehow Jesus got into a discussion at the temple and lost track of time. Doesn't seem to fit with the versus that Jesus had increased in wisdom.
Jesus parents were negligent in leaving without Him. This doesn't fit since it would appear that they made this trip each year without incident and had come to rely on Jesus responsibility.
Jesus was right and His Parent's were wrong in rebuking Him.

Jesus had a unique priviledge as the Son of God. This text is not to be taken as a example of when children should disobey their parents. Jesus needed to stay behind to:

Learn of God
Learn from the teachers of the temple those things His parents could not teach Him
Probably would not be allowed to stay if He asked permission.
He did not ask because He is God

Mary and Joseph were wrong because they forgot that as mere humans their authority was vastly outranked by the 12 year-old child God had temporarily placed in their custody. And though there was just this one incident reported in the childhood of our Lord when the authority and identity of Jesus were asserted (the text tells us that He returned with His parents and lived in submission to them after this, v. 51), He was fully God and thus could sovereignly act independently, if He chose to do so and if it were in accord with the Father’s will. Jesus reminded His parents that He was, first and foremost, the Son of God, in obedience to Him, and called to carry out “His Father’s business.” The time would come when Mary would probably not have permitted this “son” of hers to go to the cross, but this He must do, in obedience to His true Father.

So what are we to learn. We are to be obedient to those in authority over us (parents, government, church leaders) . But if God is our Father we are ultimately to be obedient to Him, when their is a conflict in that authority. We need to remember though that being obedient to Him is to respect and obey the authority of our parents, government and church leaders. We need to be careful that we don't manufacture conflict based on our own desires.

Jesus in the Midst of Teachers

2008-08-12T09:31:00.000-04:00

Well I am back, and I thank you for your patience while I was gone. I actually took a trip with a motorcycle group up to Prince Edward Island in Canada.   We were gone for a week, and during that time I did not have access to a computer. It was great to take a break.   There were 22 of us in all that went with 13 motorcycles (3 with sidecars), a car, a SUV and a RV. Though motorcycle groups are fairly common around here, we were the largest by double than any others we saw. On Sunday night August 3rd some of the ladies in our group performed gospel music during the open mike time in the recreation center. It was a big hit and several times over the next few days we ran into folks that said "Are you with that motorcycle group from Maine that sings gospel music?". Word travels fast on Prince Edward Island. One of our members did have an accident that totaled his motorcycle when he hit a loose patch in the road. Praise God he had his helmet and gear on, so ended up bumped, bruised and some serious road rash but was eager all the rest of the week to be riding again.

Speaking of trips the passage we are going to look at is Luke 2:41- 47, where Joseph, Mary and Jesus take a trip to Jerusalem.   We will look at the rest of the story through verse 52 in the next posting.

Luke 2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it;44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Though Jesus through His death on the cross was due to usher in a new covenant where we would live according to God's Holy Spirit through Christ's redemption, at this time Mary and Joseph were still living in obedience to God's covenant with Israel, and did all according to the Law of Moses. They were faithful servants of God and this was probably the reason they were chosen as the parents of Jesus. They had Jesus circumcised, waited for the days of purification and brought Him to the temple for dedication (2:21-23). Now Mary and Joseph along with all their relatives have traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The Passover is a remembrance of how God delivered the people of Israel from the Egyptians (remember the movie the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston).

Just like our trip to Prince Edward Island they traveled as a group (obviously a much larger group) for protection and a chance to visit with family and friends along the way. Now at age 12 in the Jewish culture Jesus would not be considered a helpless little boy, but nearing maturity and manhood. But He would still be expected to be under His parents watch and care. In this story Jesus remains behind while His parents join the company of folks heading home. It was such a large group with many watching over each others family members, it is understandable that 3 days could go by before Joseph and Mary started to wonder where was Jesus.

They returned to look for Him and found him in the temple sitting with the teachers asking and answering questions. This was a common practice among the teachers (rabbi) to discuss and understand God's Word better. You did well for yourself if you were able to participate in the discussion. Not only were the teachers listening to Jesus, but it appears they had been doing so for several days. They were astonished at His answers. It is probably safe to say they were astonished at His knowledge of the Old Testament and its meaning as they understood it. But it is also possible that they were astonished at His perspective that truly revealed God's desire for a relationship with all of humanity and the need for a Messiah that would be a savior from sin. Though Jesus statements might have been radical, they were probably difficult to refute, given that they were supported by the truth of scripture.

At that time it was felt that only the privileged could have understanding of God's Word and the common people would be dependent on them to tell them what to do to please God. Granted Jesus was full of wisdom beyond His years as the incarnation of the Son of God. But we also live in a time when many Christians do not trust their own understanding of the Bible and rely on privileged teachers to interpret its meaning. Thousands of Christian books are published each year that will explain "God's truth" on a topic. Sometimes this argument is a house of cards with human wisdom supported by a sprinkling of verses from the Bible thrown in out of context. Don't get me wrong I use many books in my study of God's Word as an aide to understanding, but I never take any author as an absolute authority. Knowledge of God's Word insures that I am not led astray by weak teaching.

I hope that this blog is like a discussion in the temple where we look at God's Word together to gain understanding. My hope and desire is that we have seen so far in Luke real stories that are easy to understand, written plainly and with lessons to be learned that are not mysterious. Please continue to pray that what I represent is God's truth. Your comments and questions can help insure that I am kept honest in what I present. I have been told many times that people find it technically difficult to comment my posts. At some point the ability to do that easier will be made available.   In the mean time at the end of each post is a line that looks like this: " Posted by Pastor Keith at 6:04 AM 0 comments". Click on the "0 Comments". You will see a space to enter your comment, you can select anonymous if you like. Then select the button "Publish Your Comment". Looking forward to hearing from you.

Slow Down You Move Too Fast

2008-07-27T09:04:00.000-04:00

This morning I was out having a cup of coffee with a close brother in Christ. We had just finished an early morning ride on our motorcycles and were sharing a time of fellowship. Which means we weren't just hanging around as buddies but discussing perspectives of our Christian walk. The topic of being busy came up and I was asked to comment on what I thought that meant for us and ministry. This is a very pertinent topic for those who have given their lives to Christ and especially here in the US where there are a lot of demands on our time.

Though I know it is a matter of balance to insure that I prioritize my time to insure that God is first, followed by my family and ministry. I know that I still continue to over commit myself when faced with many opportunities for ministry, work and personal life. As a matter of fact this blog is one of them. You might have noticed that my original intent was a weekly posting, preferably on Friday evening. I have not been able to keep that commitment the past several weeks and I apologize for those who might have been waiting of looking in the mean time for an update.

Are there incidents in the Bible where someone becomes too busy, even doing God's work.

Rom 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, 10 making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
13 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 15 So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

Paul who is an Apostle for Christ is writing to the Roman's a letter to explain the Gospel message. Here at the beginning he lets them know of his plans. He has requested through prayer that God make it possible for him to visit the Romans. Currently Paul is already involved with a ministry to the Gentiles in Asia Minor, where he has also been collecting money to bring to the Christians in Jerusalem for relief from a famine there. Even though Paul is not married and doesn't have kids he still has only limited time and availability. He can only do so much. He wanted to go to Rome, but he was hindered by all the work he was already doing. Paul is saying I am ready, in my mind I desire to preach the Gospel to Greeks, and barbarians, wise and unwise.

Lets jump to the end of Romans:

Rom 15:22 For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. 25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. ...28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. 29 But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

I won't comment too much on this passage but to point out that Paul was currently ministering in Macedonia and Achaia, planned to travel to Jerusalem, visit the Saints in Roman and then go on to Spain. After visiting Jerusalem Paul ended up in prison in Rome. Paul was repeatedly overwhelmed by the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Even Jesus during his three years of ministry found the work overwhelming and needed to set time to withdraw and renew His strength.

Mt 14:22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

I would encourage you to heed the warning made popular in a song from Simon and Garfunkel called "Feeling Groovy". The song starts out with "Slow Down You Move Too Fast". We need to set aside time to pray and renew our strength and allow God to empower you by His Holy Spirit.

Please keep me in prayer to insure that I am able to be faithful in providing encouragement through God's Word and that I don't take on more than is good for keeping my priorities straight.

The Messiah has Come (the searching is over)

2008-07-10T05:49:00.000-04:00

The short passage we are going to look at highlights the ongoing approach we have talked about in previous posts. Luke was looking for the truth and reliable account of events. Along with that we see that these are stories about real people.


Luke 2:36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years,^[i] who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord,^[j] and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Luke spends 2 verses giving us a biography of Anna, and then only one verse on what she did. Luke does not elaborate, pontificate or add information that does not exist. He lets what has been told and the Holy Spirit to provide understanding.

Anna was a real person, the daughter of Phannuel of the tribe of Asher. I believe that when we read the Bible and we see us the many verses that cover genealogy and who is who's daughter, son, father, mother, etc., it helps us know that if the people were real people then the stories are real stories. They are real history of events that took place. They are not fanciful legends or myths created to make us spiritually aware, but real incidents that give us insight into God and His relationship to us.

Anna was a prophetess. Like Simeon who was led by the Holy Spirit and proclaimed by His guidance, Anna is also recognized as one who speaks God's words. It would not be necessary to think that Anna made proclamations of the future, she could have simply been known as someone who knew scripture and proclaimed it for the edification of others. Her familiarity with scripture would have made her very aware of the sin of Israel and there need for the Messiah. Anna in her devotion might have been inspired by Joel 2:1,2, 12,13.

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
      And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
      Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
      For the day of the LORD is coming,
      For it is at hand:
       2 A day of darkness and gloominess,
      A day of clouds and thick darkness,
      Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
      A people come, great and strong,
      The like of whom has never been;
      Nor will there ever be any such after them,
      Even for many successive generations.
     12 “ Now, therefore,” says the LORD,

      “ Turn to Me with all your heart,
      With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
       13 So rend your heart, and not your garments;
      Return to the LORD your God,
      For He is gracious and merciful,
      Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
      And He relents from doing harm.

Anna was old. I can only guess from these verses, but if she married at 15, was married 7 years and a widow 84 years, that would make her about 106 years old. I imagine that one reason her age is mentioned is that in the Jewish culture of the time, there was much respect to those who were older and wiser.

Anna was dedicated to God. Since loosing her husband in her early 20's she dedicated her life to worshiping God through fasting and prayer.   We are again given a picture of someone who can wait, who has patience and is satisfied with what the Lord has given her.

It would appear that at the instant that Simeon proclaimed who Jesus was, Anna heard, believed and began sharing with others. Her actions on hearing were to not only proclaim who Jesus was, but to bring assurance to all the others who were seeking and waiting. Anna's audience is just like mine. My hope for this blog is to bring hope and assurance to those Searching for the Savior. If you are searching, He is real, He has come, He has given His life for you. Praise God, He has fulfilled his promises.

Waiting for Godot

2008-06-29T19:06:00.000-04:00

This past Friday as I was leaving work a thunderstorm arrived as I went out to get on my motorcycle. I rode into the shelter of the parking garage to put on all my rain gear for the ride home. I had already ridden my motorcycle home several times in the rain so I felt prepared. However as I got about 2 miles from work and was crossing an intersection the sky opened up, thunder and lightning was raging and I was pummeled by 35 MPH cross winds which threatened to knock my motorcycle over. The road was soon inundated with about 2 - 4 inches of water. I crawled along at 20 miles an hour seeking a safe place to pull over. After about 300 yards I sought shelter near a farm, that runs a dairy store at one end. I sat on my motorcycle and waited. After the wind died down a little I drove another 3/4 of a mile to a Dunkin Donuts parked my motorcycle and went inside to wait for about another 35 minutes again for an opportunity to continue my ride home. After a while it did slow down to a steady rain and I continued home with the sky eventually clearing for the last 1/2 hour.

Many times in our life we have to wait. If we had foreknowledge and could determine what could be done to avoid it we would never wait. We are impatience, especially in our modern society. There is a very famous play by Samuel Becket called waiting for Godot. The play follows two consecutive days in the lives of a pair of men who divert themselves while they wait expectantly (and, we find, endlessly) for someone named Godot. They claim Godot to be an acquaintance but in fact hardly know him, admitting they wouldn’t recognize him if they saw him. To occupy themselves they eat, sleep, talk, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide - anything “to hold the terrible silence at bay”. There are many possible interpretations of this play, even that Godot is God, though the author denies that was his intent.

During my post this week we are just going to look at a couple of verses from someone waiting, what they are waiting for and how does that person wait.

Luke 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
29 “ Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation
31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

33 And Joseph and His mother^[h] marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against 35 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

First of all who was waiting? All we know that there was a man named Simeon. He was just and devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. There is a sense that this man was old and holding on to life until he could see what he was waiting for. Chances are this man was long since dead by the time Luke investigated and wrote this gospel. Which means that what we know of his character was based on witnesses. It would be a testimony to any of us to be able to be known as just, devout and filled with the Holy Spirit.

What was Simeon waiting for? "The consolation of Israel". He knew that Israel needed a Messiah, and God had revealed to him that the time was near, so near that Simeon would not die before he had seen the "Lord's Christ". Who is the Christ that was revealed to Simeon?

Jesus the baby born to Mary
The Consolation of Israel
God's salvation
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles (that's us)
To bring about the fall and rise of many
To bring about the revelation of the thoughts of our hearts

There is a real sense here that Simeon waiting patiently all his life. What characterized his waiting that allowed him to wait so patiently, when we find it a challenge to wait a couple of years, months, weeks, days and sometime 1/2 hour. I believe that Simeon knew that the time would come, he trusted God that no matter how long it took, he would fulfill his promises. Plus the end of the waiting would be a event unparalleled in glory and expectation. The arrival of the Lord's Christ.

You might find yourself even now waiting for the evening to pass, for tomorrow to arrive, for a new job, a new home, healing from hurts, for a better life to arrive and even for simple answers to questions that you might have about what God has revealed to us about a savior. My hope, prayer and desire is that this blog may be a means to help you trust in God's promises to bring comfort and patience to your waiting. Please let me know by posting a comment.

An Incredible Annoucement

2008-06-22T14:32:00.000-04:00

This past week has certainly been exciting for me personally. Let me first set aside the trivial by mentioning the incredible job the Celtics did winning the NBA finals. It is probably not wise to share about my personal elation over my favorite sports team winning the championship, but I am sure there is a way of weaving this into a Bible truth later on. Though it won't be this week, I just wanted you to be forewarned.

The more significant news has to do with the arrival of my grandson who was born this past Thursday. I am a new grandfather and had the privilege of holding him for quite awhile on Friday. Since we are looking at Luke chapter 2 with the birth of Jesus and the proclamation to the shepherds, it will be fairly easy to relate this particular event to the discussion this week.

Luke 2:15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely^[d] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Our verses pick up after the angels that appeared in the sky and proclaiming the birth of Jesus returning to heaven. The shepherds now discuss with themselves what to do. It is decided that this momentous announcement must be checked out. God has communicated to the shepherds. This visit by the angels brings a spotlight on the shepherds being important to God. As we discussed last time the shepherds were not members of acceptable society. As a matter of fact they were on the fringes of society and tended to group among themselves. They are amazed at the privilege God has given to them by making this news known to them. It appears they did not wait to the end of their shift or the next time they were in town. Luke records that they came in haste, and found the Baby Jesus just as they heard from the angel. This is certainly not a contrived story, since this is certainly not the way we as humans would have written the script. We wouldn't have picked Mary or Joseph as parents. And the shepherds would not be the first to hear from angels what was going on. But this is God's approach and with 20/20 hindsight we can see the effectiveness of making the arrival of Jesus centered on our relationship to God, His love for all people, His desire to exalt the poor in spirit and the way in which he touches each of the lives involved in a very personal way.

Next the shepherds share what the angel has told them, not only with Mary and Joseph but with all who were there. Just like today, people want to gather and celebrate with parents when a child is born. Most of the time it is just to recognize the miracle of a new birth. But imagine the amazement and shock to hear the shepherds sharing what was told them by the angels. Wow!! Really? Did the angels really appear in a cloud?? Did the angels really say that?? Is this really the savior? Is this really Christ the Lord??

As Mary heard these things she didn't just shrug them off. But she remembered and thought about what did this mean. Because of this verse, I believe the account we have of Jesus birth was possibly given by Mary herself as a witness to these events to Luke or by someone very close to her.

The shepherds heard the angels proclamation, they checked it out and it was even as they were told by the angels. So they returned to work with praises and glorifying God for what he has already done. They believed that what the angel shared about Jesus the savior.

So last Friday as I held my grandson and looked into his face, I prayed that God would use him to bring joy to the hearts of those around him, as he grows in the fullness of his relationship to Jesus his Savior. I have been struck by how much a birth brings us together as a family, as I waited with my son-in-laws family in the waiting room we were drawn closer together and then bonded together by this shared experience. So it is as we share in the joy of Jesus birth we are bonded together with God and the family of believers.

If anything you have read in this blog has caused you to wonder, and ask questions please feel free to leave comments. I don't care how challenging the questions, I believe the answers to all that can be asked lays in the words of scripture.

To All People

2008-06-15T19:36:00.000-04:00

Well this week we will be starting a new chapter in Luke. We have basically spent 2 months on chapter 1 the introduction, and even with that barely scratched the surface of all that we could learn from that chapter. The first 20 verses of chapter 2 is the very familiar story read at Christmas about the birth of Jesus Christ.

Luke 2:1-7 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Why is it so important to know who ordered the census and who was governor of Syria? Remember Luke is writing “an orderly account… that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed”. The reference to the rulers gives an account of what time this census took place. Luke wants to show that the birth of Jesus is not a rumor or a myth. It is not a legend about something that might have taken place. It is a historically grounded fact. This is a very common practice in scripture and even more so in the Old Testament. For God’s desire is to make His message clear and not to be obscured as a collection of vague stories with people who might or might not be real. The Old Testament is filled with genealogies, used to establish the real identities of the persons who God interacts with.

Last time we discussed the “Pax Romana” or the peace of Rome. This is the idea that a single empire comprised of multiple cultures could live in peace and security as long as they obeyed the will of Rome. Here we have an example of the will of Rome. In order to optimize the tax that would be collected for Rome, the Romans needed to identify everyone to avoid someone from telling officials from one town that they paid taxes already in another town. So everyone was required to go to the town of their ancestry. This was a massive inconvenience for an entire culture.

Though Mary was close to her time, there appears to be no excuse to obeying the requirements of the census. Being very pregnant the travel might have been slow and thus they arrived in Bethlehem after the inns were full from all the other people who also needed to be there for the census.

Then Jesus is born, just as prophesied in the Old Testament. Praise God!!

Luke 2:8 – 12 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manager”

The angel did not want the shepherds to be afraid, despite the sudden appearance of the angel and the presence of God’s glory. The angel has come to announce the most significant event in the history of the world ever. The birth of a savior, who is Christ the Lord. With these verses we are given a choice, to truly believe or to deny who Jesus is. Here are the choices put forth by human wisdom.

There are many religions and they all are valid ways to know God
Jesus came and died on the cross for those who were already predestined to be chosen by God for salvation.
Jesus was a good man, who had teachings we should all listen to.
Jesus was a myth

In this passage we hear the angels proclaim that the birth of Jesus is great joy for all people. The way that this is used in scripture is to mean all nations, people groups and tribes. This isn’t just good news for Israel or western civilization but for the whole world. Not only is Jesus a Savior, He is “Christ the Lord”. The one and only savior! The expected Messiah!

This appearance was to shepherds out in their fields attending their flocks. Shepherds were not a revered class of people. Just the opposite they were essentially tolerated, isolated and yet a great example of God’s compassion by being chosen as the first to hear the wondrous news of a miraculous birth.

I want you to know that you are included in the proclamation, that there are good tidings to you and great joy for your savior has been born. He is Christ Jesus the Lord.

All We Are Asking is Give Peace a Chance

2008-06-04T00:48:00.000-04:00

In the early 70s while I was still in high school their was a planned peace March which I think was national, though it could have been regional, to protest the war in Vietnam. Of course my friends were going, we got a ride over to a meeting place in a nearby town and then marched (walked) carrying candles and singing peace songs the only one I remember of course is “All We Are Asking is Give Peace a Chance”. The news cameras caught my friends and I marching, though I didn’t see it myself, many adults in my life commented on it. That was at a time when to end up on the news was a big deal. Anyway we arrived at the local High School where local ministers made speeches on how we needed to end the war in Vietnam and then we would have peace. Well the war ended, but the cold war went on, the cold war ended, and then we had terrorist attacks which eventually let up to 911 and the war on terror, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq. Of course this is only an American perspective. There have been numerous wars in Africa over the past several decades. We have again begun to see small groups in America calling for peace and the old song has been revived “Give Peace a Chance”.

Well what does this have to do with this blog?? Isn’t this a blog about searching for a Savior? Well let’s look at the culture of Israel at the time we have been reading about in the first chapter of Luke. The nation of Israel was occupied by the Romans. What was this occupation like? The Roman’s allowed the Israelites to worship as they liked, they could have their own king, they were free to travel and live normal lives. They were required to pay taxes to Rome, their were Roman soldiers occupying the country and the citizens were subject to Roman law. During the 1st and 2nd century AD is the period of the “Pax Romana”. When the interior of the Roman Empire remained largely untouched by warfare, the Pax Romana was an era of relative tranquility in which Rome endured neither major civil wars, such as the perpetual bloodshed of the third century AD, nor serious invasions, such as those of the Second Punic War three centuries prior. During this time, Roman commerce thrived, unhampered by piracy or marauding enemy troops.

Yet the nation of Israel was one of the most troubled of the countries under Roman rule. The Israelites resented the Roman occupation, and their small rebellions. The people looked for God to provide the Messiah that would deliver them from the Roman’s and set their country free to live in true peace, protected by the forces of other countries. We all are desiring to live in freedom, with peace from conflict. We are all looking for a savior to save us from our enemies. So now lets look at a couple of verses again in Luke in light of this desire for peace.

Luke 1:47 And my Spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior

This is part of the song that Mary sang that we studied several weeks ago. God is viewed as the Savior providing the promise to the people of Israel of a Messiah.

Luke 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

This is the proclamation by Zachariah at the birth of John the Baptist. We again see the desire for salvation that leads to peace. Now lets look ahead at a couple of more verses in Luke

Luke 2:29 Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to your word: 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation.

These are the words of Simeon as he took the baby Jesus into his arms. He was a man that spent every day waiting for the promise of God’s Messiah. His use of the word peace is not the kind of peace that comes from lack of war and armed conflict. But a peace from knowing the fulfillment of God’s promises. Of knowing God’s salvation.

As Israel looked for peace from Rome, the same as we look for peace from those who hate America. We both run the risk of missing the true peace from God. The peace of being right with Him, by accepting Jesus as our Savior.

Finally Jesus promised to His disciples.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

It is clear that we through our human endeavors can not ever achieve the kind of peace we imagine where all the nations get along together. This is a false hope embodied in the Paul McCartney song “Imagine”. This will not happen with a world in the midst of spiritual warfare, in rebellion to God, where in a sense every man is pursuing his own desires.

I would ask you to give peace a chance, by not running away from God, but running to God for salvation and accepting Jesus death on the cross for your sins. If you have any questions please post as comments and I will do my best to lead you to see the truth as revealed in God’s Word.

Why is it so dark in here?

2008-05-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

Remember when you were a teenager hanging around your friends bedroom listening to music, and their Mom would walk in and turn on the big overhead light and say “Why is it so dark in here?”. There would be a little night light on the dresser or maybe it was just after twilight with mostly shadows in the room. Your friend would answer “Mom! It’s not dark we could see fine, we were just talking anyway”. We can sometimes be oblivious to the darkness, to the state of our being. We think the fading twilight or the night light on the dresser is enough to live our lives with.

I am going to ask you a favor this week. Find a Bible in your home, if you don’t have one go out and get one. If you want me to send you one for free, send me your address in the comments and I will be sure you get one. I am going to trust that each of you will read through the first chapter of Luke.

In Luke 1:57- 80 we hear the circumstances of John the Baptist birth. There is much celebration by family and friends, and then confusion when they ask Elizabeth what will be the child’s name. “He shall be called John”. This is almost a humorous passage, I can almost hear the exclamations “John, John what kind of name is John”, “We don’t have any relatives named John”, “Do you know a relative named John”, “Maybe Elizabeth is confused”, “Let’s ask Zacharias”. Much to their surprise Zacharias writes down on a tablet the same thing: “His name is John” and immediately he is able to speak. They recognized the miracle and knew the child would be special.

Now the Holy Spirit filled Zacharias and he began to prophecy. I just want to look at these verses:

Luke1:76 “ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

John the Baptist will have a special mission to prepare the people for Christ coming. How was he to prepare them? By giving them knowledge of salvation. Salvation granted by God’s tender mercy, by the remission of sins. Oh, oh there is one of those weird religious words remission. I thought remission was when someone has their cancer stop, but it might come back later. Well in a sense, sin is a sickness, it confuses us, we walk in darkness because of it. The remission spoken of here has to do with getting rid of sin, specifically through forgiveness. As we are forgiven the consequences of sin is removed.

I want you to think about the last verse. What does it mean to “sit in darkness”? It means we are going about our daily lives, sometimes unaware of the growing darkness. And just like Mom walking into your bedroom and turning on the big overhead light and proclaiming “Why is it so dark in here”. We will see John walking into the lives of many, to prepare them for the coming of Jesus by calling people to repent (turn back from) and accept God’s forgiveness for the remission of sins. John will shed a great light, that will guide our feet to peace with God.

His Mercy is on Those Who Fear Him

2008-05-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

I want to thank the readers of this blog for their faithfulness in reading this each week and praying that the things I write about are true to the revelation given to us in God’s Word. As we look at each passage I am struck over and over again about the relevance of the lives in these passages, to who we are as a society.

How do we view ourselves, is God real, does He care, what is his view about how we live, how we relate to each other, who does He bless, what is required to get His attention, does He answer prayers, what about family values, marriage, men, women, terrorists, war, peace, teenagers, drugs, domestic violence? I believe as we continue to study God’s Word we will see more and more of these answers.

Remember last week we saw Mary visiting Elizabeth because the angel had told her she would have a son, who would be the Son of God. This was incredible news that she wanted to share with her cousin Elizabeth, who was also expecting a son in her old age that would become John the Baptist. After hearing Elizabeth’s praise to God for what he had done in Mary’s life, we now are going to look at Mary’s response.

Luke 1:46 “ My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

First of all I am going to remind you once again about these two women.

· Both were of low social status. Basically Mary was a peasant woman, and Elizabeth lived in the hill country and was the wife of a lowly priest.

· Mary was very young and was betrothed to Joseph

· Elizabeth was old and had carried the stigma of not having had children

· They knew that God had performed a miracle through their pregnancy.

· The both viewed their pregnancies as a personal blessing from God and a fulfillment of the promises of God for his people.

This is a song of praise to God, not composed to be song in a worship service but a very personal testimony to how Mary feels. The first two lines are an expression of trying to put pure emotion into words. God is great, He has made me happy, I am busting out of the seams with joy, my spirit is soaring!

Why is Mary so elated?? She is acknowledging God as her savior. This is why several weeks ago I asked you to have an open mind about who Mary is. We see here that Mary is someone who needs a savior. She acknowledges her position is not worthy as a lowly maidservant. But God has revealed to her through these circumstances that our wisdom of who is worthy and important is just the opposite of God’s wisdom. Look at the contrast between these two statements.

48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

We can clearly see what is revealed to Mary is that God cares about you no matter who you are. What is significant that we are seeking Him, that we recognize we have a need for God, that we recognize that we are not worthy. Who has been put down by God? The proud, the mighty. These could even be religious leaders who used there power in Jesus day to oppress the people. Just like there are religious leaders today who use their position to control, manipulate and abuse those who have trust in them.

It is clear from the story of these two women that God’s favor isn’t because of things they have done, not because they do religious things, but because they seek and desire to know him.

50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.

Lets be clear about what this verse means. We see the word fear and might think it is a fear that creates doubt and a relationship where I need to look over my shoulder to be sure God does not get me. Remember this is included in the same song of Mary’s where she rejoices for God’s blessing on her who did not deserve it. From this verse we see the fear of God is an acknowledgment that He is God, who is the creator and sustainer of all things. He shows mercy of those who seek Him.

I want to be sure that you know that His promises are true. He is ready for you. You don’t have to wonder if you are worthy. Your seeking and accepting Him is what is needed. Praise God that we have so many lives blessed already in just this first chapter of Luke, as we prepare to see the Son of God be born and come into the world to bring us all salvation.

Special Mother's Day

2008-05-10T19:43:00.000-04:00

It is always a bittersweet time of year for me as we celabrate Mother’s day. It’s been 22 years since my Mom passed away. She was someone who provided a secure home with love dispite the hardships that she experienced her entire life. My grandmother and my mother were abondaned when my mother was about 7 years old, and lived part of the time of the streets of Boston in the mid-nineteen twenties. Forced to quit high school to go to work in the factory, my mom was to have over 20 jobs in her lifetime. My Dad married her on Christmas day, 1946. My mom was in and out of the tuburculousis sanatarium over the next several years. My father wrote here love letters every day and sometimes twice a day during this time. Even after I was born she still had to spend a couple of years at the sanatarioum, while I was taken care of by a loving aunt. My Mom had sole responsibility for 2 boys, aged 11 and 17 when my father passed away. I was never aware even as I became an adult that any of these hardships had an effect on my mother’s attitude or actions. She always seemed truly grateful for her blessings no matter what they were. At the same time I think of the blessing of God in my life through my wife who has cared for and loved my four children through the grace of God’s Holy Spirit working in her life. My oldest age 29 is about to give birth to our first grandchild next month. Well I could go on and on about my Mom and my daughter, but I would at least like to spend some of this week looking at Luke 1:39 -45. It’s interesting that the story we are looking at in Luke revolves around a Mary who is newly expectant and Elizabeth who is about as far along as my daughter.

Luke 1:39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Our story picks up after Mary had received word from the Angel Gabriel that she would have a son and name Him Jesus and that he would be the Son of God. At the same time the angel informed her of Elizabeth also expecting a son who would become John the Baptist. If you received this incredible news you would be anxious to share it especially with someone who would understand and believe you. So Mary doesn’t just casually go and visit Elizabeth, she went “with haste”.

So what happens after Mary enters the home and greets Elizabeth? It says that the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. Was the baby turning, did Elizabeth have gas or was the baby kicking. The interpretation is not left to chance or human explanation. Instead we see that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. That means the words she is about to speak come right from God.

Elizabeth repeats what the angel told Mary “Blessed are you amoung women”. And then she adds “Blessed is the fruit of your womb”. These are things that Elizabeth did not know about. At the same time that the baby leapt in her womb she knew it was joy, and that Mary was expecting a baby that would not become Elizabeth’s Lord, but already was her Lord.
Without prompting by Mary, Elizabeth gives her the words she wants to hear for encouragement “Blessed is she who believed for there will be fulfillment of those things which were told to her”.

I think sometimes we don’t realize that folks in the Bible had the same needs as us. They needed fellowship for encouragement to understand the promises and blessings that God has given to them. Look at this passage and see the special blessing God has granted to both Elizabeth and Mary by allowing them to share together this experience.
Next week we are going to be looking at Mary’s song of praise in response to the words of encouragement from Elizabeth. In the mean time, let me take this opportunity to remind you to love and encourage the Mother’s in your life, by reminding them of the blessings that God has given to them.

How Can this Be?

2008-05-04T08:47:00.000-04:00

I set expectations that my blog would be updated on a Friday evening, so I was not sure if some folks might be checking it first thing Saturday morning. If you did check for a new posting yesterday, then I apologize for not being ready. I was invited to a chartered trip to Boston to see the Red Sox game on Friday, it was rain delayed and since it was a bus charter we could not leave till the game was over. I got back to my house at 4:00 AM Saturday.

After looking over last weeks blog with the Bible passages and all I went way over my planned one page blog limit so I will keep it brief and refer to the same passage as last week. It is my prayer and hope that last week my comments about Mary did not offend anyone. My desire is for you to know the truth from God’s word, and that it will truly set you free.

We are looking at Luke 1:26-38, where we read the story of Gabriel letting Mary know that she would be the mother of Jesus the Son of the Highest. First of all let me be clear this is a story of God’s grace and compassion by fulfilling His promises to us. The announcement from Gabriel is about Jesus “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end”.

But this passage has a lot of human drama. Just like we read several weeks ago, when Gabriel announced the birth of John the Baptist by telling Zacharias do not be afraid in the same way he also tells Mary to not be afraid. Then he gives her the good news. Now this is where it gets interesting, Mary responds “How can this be, when I do not know a man?” It would appear that Mary is not expressing doubt about the miracle as was Zacharias as the announcement about John, but she must be wondering about the nature of the miracle. What is she supposed to do, how is this going to happen? Gabriel is not dismayed at her question and again I would imagine he was expecting it, since he had the explanation all ready. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God”. Wow this is an incredible declaration, God will be the father by the power of the Holy Spirit, the full trinity will be involved in the conception of Jesus the Son of God.

Finally Mary proclaims , “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” If God has promised blessings in your life, isn’t this a great example about how we should respond. I am ready God to be your servant, I am ready to live and trust in your Word.

So leaving all tradition aside, what have we learned from this passage?

She is blessed and favored by God

She will be the mother of Jesus the Son of God
She was a virgin when Jesus was conceived
She views herself as a maid servant.

Blessed Are You Among Women

2008-04-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

The past week my wife and I saw a movie called “Whale Rider” about a young girl named Pai, that despite tradition becomes the leader of her tribe. The movie takes place in New Zealand during contemporary times where the Maori people are losing there native traditions and people are moving away including her father. I was impressed with the genuineness of the acting, especially the debut of thegirl played by Keisha Castle-Huges. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, making her -- at 13 years old -- the youngest actress ever to be nominated in this category.

So has does this tie in with this weeks topic for my blog?? I believe the innocence and goodness portrayed by Keisha in the Whale Rider led to her being chosen to play the part of Mary in “The Nativity Story”, a highly recommended portrayal of the events we are going to look at next in our passage of Luke.

Before we look at this passage in detail I think it’s important or clarify my approach to doctrine and scripture. This is especially critical at this point due to the many views on who Mary is and what she means to us. There are many ways that we create truth about spiritual matters that are based on our human values. They are tradition, experience, rationale and dictate.

We can assign truth to traditions that have been practiced for a long time. If over time many people believed something and practiced it, it must be true. As an example the Catholic Church has a long tradition of worshiping Mary and assigning her special spiritual position above others. This tradition includes Mary ascending to heaven and not experiencing physical death like the rest of us.

We might find some that experience a special change in their lives because they saw an image of Mary in a rock formation, tree bark or visiting a cave somewhere. This experience shared with others leads again to creating a special emphasis on Mary as a person to be worshiped and prayed to. This is truth derived from experience.

Mainstream Christianity puts an emphasis on logic and rationale approaches to thinking. The emphasis here is on my human wisdom. What seems right to us? The tendency here is to explain away the miraculous and extraordinary. This group would tend to portray Mary as just a person. Though she might be the mother of Jesus she does deserve any special recognition to the point of not even acknowledging her in the teaching of the church.

There exist many groups who receive their understanding of truth through dictate. These groups are led by strong and charismatic leaders who dictate how their followers are to believe. They may use scripture, but will twist its meaning to their own advantage. Due to the diversity of the leaders in this category there isn’t a singular view of who Mary is. There are some that do not recognize Mary at all, and some that would point to a contemporary female leader in the group as the true mother of God.

I now come to what I hope is the way best way to know the truth about spiritual matters. In this blog we recognize that God is the source of truth and He communicates that truth to us through His Word (The Bible). My prayer and hope is that we can remain faithful to this approach as we explore these passages of scripture and that your lives may be enriched from growing closer to God.

Ps 1:1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

So I am going to ask you to put aside preconceived ideas about Mary and to open your eyes to what God will teach us as we meditate (think about) this passage from Luke 1:26- 38

Luke 1:26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”^[c]
29 But when she saw him,^[d] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Gabriel who we met earlier is now on another mission from God to deliver a message. The message is to a virgin named Mary. There isn’t any dispute about the meaning of the word virgin here. Since not only is it mentioned several times in the passage, but has direct bearing on Mary question “how can this be, since I do not know a man?”.

Now the key to understanding Mary is how the angel addresses her. First Mary is to rejoice, because she is highly favored, the Lord is with her and she is blessed among women. Mary is receiving undeserved blessing and favor from God. He has chosen her and His choosing has made her blessed among women. This is noteworthy not as a commentary on who Mary is, but on who God is and who he bestows his blessings on.

Mt 5:3- 10 3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Well my plan was to keep this blog brief and to the point so I guess I will have to pick up this discussion next week. In the mean time if you are able to get a hold of the movie “The Nativity Story” that would help in visualizing the events we are looking at in the first couple of chapter of Luke. Please feel free to submit comments and questions, since my hope is to have a dialog that is beneficial to all our understanding of who God is and what he means to us.

How Can I be Sure

2008-04-18T18:53:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered if what the Bible says can really apply to you? Have you ever had doubts about God's promises? Even someone with a strong faith and a life dedicated to God's service, can be filled with doubt. This can even be more true with someone with low self esteem.

Last week we heard about the wonderful news that the angel shared with Zacharias.

Zacharias prayers have been heard
You shall have a son and call him John
You will have joy and gladness
Many people will be rejoicing at his birth

Not only that but he will have a mission from God to turn the people back to Him. So lets look at Zacharias' response

8 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. 20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”
21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Even though Zacharias had been praying and it would appear that he was praying for a son, when he heard the wonderful news, he was filled with doubt. How can this be for me? How is it possible after many years of waiting and now that I am old and my wife is old? As we can see from Zacharias response and Elizabeth comment in verse 25, they were well aware over the years that people looked down on them for not having children. Not like today’s society that celebrates the individual, where who you are is more important than your relationship to God. So after many years of discouragement the Angel pronouncement came as a shock and doubt entered into Zacharias mind. Maybe the angel is confused and expected someone else in the temple burning incense, maybe the angel has trouble realizing that old people can’t have kids. We cannot truly know why the hope that Zacharias had and prayed for turned to doubt when faced with a miracle from God.

Gabriel is a messenger. He conveyed the consequences of Zacharias doubt. You will be mute until the fulfillment of the promise. In a sense Gabriel did Zacharias a favor, by giving him a definite sign and reminder of what is possible with God. I almost get the sense that Gabriel was prepared for Zacharias’ doubt.

Then Zacharias emerges and the crowd (remember many are probably family and friends that came to be with Zacharias during this once in a life time honor of serving in the temple) knows that he has had a vision but not sure what it is. As the angel promised Elizabeth indeed conceived, and to be sure that this dream is real, she stayed hidden for 5 months, until she realized that the Lord had removed all doubts about His love for her.

It might seem hard to believe when confronted by an angel that suddenly appears that Zacharias could have doubts about the fulfillment of the message. But we have the miracle of Jesus resurrection and His Word in the scriptures promising that He will watch over us and not to worry about tomorrow. But we doubt, we are unsure if His miracle extends to us, if we are really as important in God’s eyes as others. Be assured I think this passage demonstrates that even when we doubt, God fulfills His promises.

God Has Heard Your Prayers

2008-04-12T05:35:00.000-04:00

Over the past 10 years or so there seems to have been a heightened awareness, obsession and fad on the topic of angels. We have had movies like "Angels in the Outfield" and "City of Angels. Also tv shows like "Touched by an Angel" and "Highway to Heaven". There are angel stickers, stamps, window hangings, candles, cards, etc, etc. There has been this deep interest in looking for angels, worshiping angels, and trying to experience the presence of angels. Much of this pop culture view of angels is far from a biblical basis. In the passage we are going to look at we are going to learn a little bit about just one angel called Gabriel and his message from God.

Luke 1:11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’^[b] and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

As we can see from this passage the angel did not rent an apartment near by, hang out on the beach waiting for the sunrise or show someone alternate futures for their life. He simply appeared. He didn't walk in because the crowds waiting outside would have seen him and Zacharias would not have been afraid. As we noted last time the angel did not want Zacharias to be afraid, but to hear the great news he had to share from God. The angel was God's messenger to proclaim what would happen, not what might happen. The focus is not on the angel and his special powers, instead the focus is on God answering Zacharias prayers and proclaiming what God will accomplish through Zacharias' son, John the Baptist.

Last time we heard that Zacharias and Elizabeth were old, but did not have any children. We will see in a later passage that Elizabeth felt reproach from her neighbors because of this. It would appear that this was a subject of Zacharias' prayers. GOOD NEWS ZACHARIAS!!

What is the good news??

Zacharias prayers have been heard
He shall have a son and call him John
You will have joy and gladness
Many people will be rejoicing at his birth

Now the angel goes on to say that this will be no ordinary miracle of just granting someones desire to have children. This child will be special.

He will be great in the sight of the Lord, not to be confused with being great in the sight of men. For the prophets in the Old Testament were not well received or live in very good conditions. So it would be with John who will live in the wilderness and dress in a leather jacket.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. This was extraordinary prior to Jesus death and resurrection when all believers receive the Holy Spirit at the time of their acceptance of Jesus as savior.
John will turn many of the children of Israel back the Lord their God. Notice the word turn, this is where we get the word repentence. I am heading my way and then I turn and go God's way. John will bring people's attention to the need to turn or return to God.
He will have the Spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah was one of the most revered of the Old Testament prophets.
John was to prepare a way for the Lord. Later we will learn he was preparing peoples hearts for Jesus.

Can you imagine not having to wait until your kids turn 30 to know if they will walk with God, be a positive influence in the world, and be an adult that you can be proud of. If you are one of my kids don't read too much into this :-). What a joy even now this must have been to Zacharias. However his response was "How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years". The message is to overwhelming for Zacharias. Maybe this really isn't an angel, how can I be sure of what I am hearing?

Gabriel then proclaims his credentials. "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God". This doesn't sound like the wimpy, unsure, confused, bumbling and goofy angels from the movies. You can be sure of what I say.

We all need to know that God does hear our prayers, he is not a standoffish God who winds up the world and lets it go. He wants to have a relationship with us. He wants us to turn to Him. He has sent messengers to prepare our hearts to receive Him. He provides His Son Jesus as a sacrifice to show His love for us. Won't you accept this great news and give your heart to Him.

Real Stories about Real People

2008-04-04T17:54:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned the last time one of the attractions I have for the book of Luke is it is an attempt to take the real information of what happened and arrange it in an orderly fashion. Luke wants us, as the audience, to know there are real incidents that happened. In other words these are real stories. Like the GEICO commercial these are "Real Stories about Real People".

We are going to look at one of those real people as we examine Luke 1:5-10.

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

There are some good things going on in Zacharias and Elizabeth's lives at the point of this narrative and there are some downsides to where they are at.

First of all the good things:

Zacharias was a priest
Elizabeth also was of the line of Aaron (the priestly line).
They were righteous before God
Walking in his commands and blameless
By lot he was chosen to burn incense in the temple (this was a once in lifetime privilege and honor)

What were the downsides

Zacharias was from the hill country of Judah, the boonies or as we say in Maine, he lives out there in the willy-wags. If it wasn't a process to have the priests serve by division and lot he would never have been allowed to enter the temple to burn the incense.
Zacharias and Elizabeth were without children. This is where the story becomes very real and personal. In this culture to not be able to have children was an embarrassment. At the time of the writing of the Gospels it is noted that Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous before God, but it was hard to feel this way without the blessing of children.

So Zacharias is now alone in the temple during a lifetime event where he gets to light the incense while all the people wait outside, probably all his family and friends in the big city to support him.

Then an extraordinary thing happens to Zacharias.

Luke 1:11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth

The angel appears and Zacharias is afraid. But God's messenger doesn't want Zacharias to be afraid. He wants him to have joy and be glad. He wants Zacharias to know that God has heard his prayers. God has a sovereign plan to for John the baptist to be born, to prepare the way for Jesus God's son. God could have chosen from the privileged priests that lived in Jerusalem or the cultured areas of Israel to bless with a child who would become John the Baptist. Instead he chose Zacharias and Elizabeth, an elderly, discouraged couple from up in the hill country to bless with the child they always wanted and prayed for.

Are there positive things in your life, along with challenges and discouragements? Do you wonder if God cares for you? Do wonder why His answers take so long? Maybe even now you have questions of God's love, His Compassion or even of His reality. Next week we are going to see that even Zacharias despite his devotion to God had doubts.

I encourage you to share your questions. This is a moderated blog if you would like to ask me a personal question about God, The Bible or the good news feel free to post a comment. If you have the option to leave it anonymous if that would make you feel more comfortable. I will be praying that you will truly know God's love and salvation in Jesus.

Good News Fair and Balanced

2008-03-26T20:01:00.000-04:00

Since my inaugural posting last week did not result in any questions from the few family and friends I let know about my blog, I have decided to dive into the Gospel of Luke in small bite size, easy to digest chunks.

The reason I have chosen Luke the 3rd book of the New Testament is, I have always been attracted with 2 characteristics of this book. First of all this book is a report, the intent is to clarify and remove a lot of noise that started to circulate after Jesus resurrection, by providing a clear account backed up by eye witness interviews. The second characteristic is the demonstration of compassion high lighted not only by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but by the very life he lived in his 3 years of ministry. We will explore this compassion as we move through later posting in this blog.

Right now lets get started with the first 4 verses of this Gospel:

1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled^[a] among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

I think this is great, Luke could have been talking right to us today. Luke comes across as a real person. We know that he was a physician and a traveling companion of Paul. He does not start out with flowery greetings or tries to sound spiritual, but instead wants us to know right away why he wrote this Gospel. Many people have tried to create a narrative of what Jesus had said and done. These things were a fulfillment of God's promises to us. Maybe some of those narratives were accurate, maybe not, maybe they were orderly, maybe not. But Luke feels that he has an obligation to create an accurate and orderly account.

Luke is in a unique position:

Luke was with people who were eyewitnesses to the events
He also was very close to those who were ministers of the word, especially Paul.
He had received perfect understanding of things from the very beginning.

This Gospel is meant to be an orderly account and written in a way that the audience may know the certainty of what they have been taught. The point here is not to base our beliefs on wild and irrational accounts, but to see the story unfold in a clear and accurate way.

Make no mistake Luke's Gospel is not a dry, fact listing and plodding report, but one that explores the thoughts and reactions of those who witnessed the events. For instance when Jesus as a young boy was found talking to the teachers of the Law, we see Mary's reaction in Lk 5:21 "but His mother kept all these things in her heart" (Lk 2:51).

You might be surprised to learn that the Gospel of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. I was surprised because its the easiest to read and understand that the time just flies by reading it.

Lastly who is the book of Luke written to: Theophilus appears to be a gentile Christian, of some importance. Like us it would appear that Theophilus had some questions and needed more information to be certain in his faith. This sounds a lot like us and we can certainly benefit from Luke's desire to set the record straight, with the result of strengthening our faith.

I hope that you will join me each week as we work through this Gospel. I hope that it will trigger questions in your mind that you will post as comments that we can explore. As always feel free to post questions that are meaningful to you, even if they are off topic for this weeks posting.

My prayer is that you may know Him more fully as we journey together "Searching for the Savior".

Pastor Keith

Simple Answers

2008-03-21T23:00:00.000-04:00

Hello, I am Pastor Keith. I am one of 4 pastors in a small church in Maine. My hope through this blog is to reach out to friends, families and strangers the simple answers provided in God's Word to those searching for a savior.

This will not be a place to come and debate the nuances of doctrine or to create contention with other views. It is simply meant to be a means to create a dialog on who Jesus is and why he died on the cross. Those who post questions will not receive deep theological answers but thoughtful reference and commentary on the truths of scripture.

Here is a simple start, maybe you have seen this simple explanation before:

1. God Loves You!

The Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life"

The problem is that

2. All of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us from God.

The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.”

The good news is that, about 2,000 years ago,

3. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life -- of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me."

God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name." You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Savior.

4. If you want to accept Christ, you can ask Him to be your Savior and Lord by praying a prayer like this:

"Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always."

I will be posting once a week, probably on Friday or Saturday. If I don't receive any questions, I will post a brief statement on a scripture passage.

Lastly I want you to know that I can personally testify through what God has done in my life, the promises of scripture and the evidence of others that God truly loves you. Please know that there is no hurt, confusion or life circumstances that can prevent us from coming and searching for simple answers that lead to the Savior.

Love,
Pastor Keith