Overtime

       I am from Indiana and one of the favorite sports for the high schools, was basketball. I liked basketball, but could not play it. I watched it being played and even tried out for the team, but alas, my coordination was such that I could not even do a lay-up shot with any success, so I became the manager of the team. That meant that I took care of the uniforms and meds for blisters and such. Basketball, in the old days, was measured in quarters as is football today. Four quarters made up a game. Now it is just two halves for basketball, but still four quarters for football. We like to measure things in quarters, halves or other measurements such as a “lifetime” or an epoch or era. My Father was diagnosed as stage 4 cancer and given 6 months to live. Other friends have stage 2 or 3 of this or that disease. Psalm 90:10 says,“

        The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” The average for life in the United States is 78 years of age. The world average runs between 71 and 72 years of age. The above verse states that we have 70 years and in some cases 80 years. Taking the analogy back to football, if we live 80 years, then each “quarter” is 20 years. My age is now 81 and as one pastor told me recently, “We are in overtime.” Realizing that God could have called me home any number to times in my lifetime, I have come to know by experience that it is all up to God anyway. When He calls you home, you do as the last words of the passage above, you fly away. You may have a melody running through your head about now that says, “Some glad morning when this live is o'er, I'll fly away.” That's it. When this live is over. Only God knows when that is going to be but in the meantime, He has given us a work to do. Mankind is somewhat adaptable in what they can do in any of the “quarters” of life. My first quarter, I ran the mile, the half mile and the mile relay in every track meet. My second quarter, I joined the U. S. Navy and played in almost every parade in a hundred mile radius of the School of Music. My second quarter, I found myself being youth director at a church, staying up all night, roller skating until midnight, eating pizza and then bowling until 6 A.M. In the morning. I wondered why I had a heart attack at age fifty two. In the fourth quarter, I went through my surgeries for various physical problems including CABG and cancer, numerous stents and a couple of strokes and am now left to preaching a couple of times a month and typing a lot in my period of “overtime.” You will find that God has a purpose for you in whatever stage in which you find yourself. Your main purpose is to know God and to glorify Him forever. We help people to know God by sharing our faith with them. You know, that's what has happened in your life and how God has worked in each quarter of your time here on earth. The second part of your purpose is to glorify God in everything that you do. If what you are doing cannot glorify God, then guess what? You shouldn't be doing it. In whatever quarter you are in, Praise God for what He is doing in your life today. As one radio announcer used to say, “Keep on, keeping on.”

The Soap Box and the Pulpit

         In recent years, a person would take a portable wooden crate, gather a crowd and then expound on some political or other provocative subject. It would sometimes be referred to as standing on a “soap box.” Historically, goods were often shipped in wooden crates before cardboard became popular. As I come in contact with certain news items, many of them often aggravate me to the point of wanting to get a “soap box” and give my opinion on the matter. It probably wouldn't do much good and in the end, wouldn't profit those listening that much anyway. My opinions are just as valuable as the next person's opinions, but in the end, they are nothing but opinions, right or wrong. There was a “box” that was quite different in Bible times. Nehemiah 8:4-8 says, “And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; …..And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

        Read the whole passage for yourself as I deliberately left out all of the names that are included in this passage. The “soap box” was called in the King James Version, a “pulpit.” The Hebrew word is one that can be translated as “pulpit” or a “tower.” The point was that Ezra was much higher than the people as he would be speaking to all of the Israelites present during the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Most important is the subject matter of Ezra's topic. It was the long lost “Word of God.” The people had not heard the words of the Law for almost 70 years and when it came time to hear it they responded accordingly. They stood up, lifting up their hands, bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. That was respect for something that they knew they should honor and who had not heard it for over a generation. The Pulpit or the Tower was not the important thing but was a tool so Ezra could be heard by the mass of people that were assembled. We do much the same thing today, but use a much smaller version, sometimes referred to as a “pulpit” or just a music stand, or a clear Lucite podium, or whatever you might want to call it. The importance is not in the item of furniture, but the proclamation of God's Word. In Ezra's day, he just read the law of God and the others gave the sense of it to the people. For one thing, the language was going to be different as the people were more used to the language of Babylon rather than that of Jerusalem. Have you ever read one book of the Bible in one sitting? Indications from Nehemiah indicate that the people were there from morning until mid day. That would have been at least three hours of hearing the Word of God. Are we ever that hungry for the Word of God? Would we ever be as passionate about the hearing of the Word of God that we would listen, standing up for at least three hours? With our current manner of living, our backs and legs would probably knot up with cramps before we finished the course. There are plenty of “soap boxes” around these days but the pulpits that proclaim the Word of God are getting fewer and fewer. If you can't find a pulpit that proclaims the Word of God, stand up, open up your Bible and read it for yourself. Praise God today for the fact that He has given every one of us a copy of His Word. May we read it instead of making it a museum of flowers from funerals.

One Another

          I have to admit that I enjoy my computer especially when it comes to Bible study. While I do still own a paper copy of Strong's concordance and Young's concordance, I have not opened them in years. Now before you say something about my lack of Bible study, let me say in my defense that one of the things I enjoy about my computer is the ability to look of phrases, whether they be big or small, in a matter of microseconds. That's quick. A number of years ago, I looked up a small phrase, “one another.” If you look up the word “one” separately and the word “another” separately and then find how many times they occur as a phrase, it might take you hours to do. My Bible study program did it in a microsecond. The program listed a number of times where the two words are used together. John 15:17 says, "These things I command you, that ye love one another.”

        By doing such a search, you soon find out that there are a list of things that the Christian is supposed to be doing and which is usually associated with a command such as the term listed above. Jesus began by saying, “These things I command you...” That seems to be pretty clear and doesn't require a lot of interpretation. The next part of the phrase tells us what is commanded and it says, “...to love one another.” This phrase itself occurs a number of times in the New Testament but is not the only one of the commands that you can find. You can find references to “bearing one another's burdens,” “praying for one another,” “exhorting one another” and so on. One of the functions of the Christian life is that it involves other people and specifically other believers. The phrase for today was also found in John 13:34-35 where it says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The concept of loving one another is expanded by showing us just how we are to do it. The Lord Jesus Christ reminded us that it was to be “as I have loved you.” Wow! What a statement. Then, it goes on to remind us that this love as evidenced by the world, will be an indicator to all men that we are indeed disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. While that is a large responsibility, it is possible to do once we get self out of the picture. It is sometimes sad that we have more the tendency to arrive at our castle, lock the gate, pull up the drawbridge, set the alarm and sing to ourselves, “O How I Love Jesus.” The Bible goes on to remind us how we can accomplish this endeavor especially in the Epistle of James, a practical book on living the Christian life. Paul also described how the Christian life should be in his epistle to the Philippians especially in chapter two. A new word came into being a number of years ago which is the word, “selfie.” A selfie is a picture that you take of yourself usually to promote something that you are doing. It is like the old thing kids used to say on the playground, “Hey. Look at me.” Jesus is telling us, “Hey, look at others.” Praise God today that He sent His Son to die on the cross for all of our sins. Indeed, Jesus paid it all.

Fake News or Good News?

        We sometimes hear the expression,”seeing is believing.” Well, that may not always be the case unless you are standing right there taking the photo. I recently saw a collection of photos that displayed people hanging precariously from a jagged rock which looked like they were hanging on the edge of a cliff. The people were all smiling and looking like they were challenging their fate. What was not seen was the fact that the rock was only about 2 feet off of the ground. If you fell, you wouldn't fall far. The photo showed one thing, but actually being there would show quite another thing. The angle of the photo made all of the people seem as if they were very high up. The idea of the photos were to illustrate the idea of “fake news.” We often hear that term being used today and there are many examples of it in the news today. In the end, we don't depend on photos of something, but the real thing itself in order to judge the reliability of the claim. Job 19:25-27 says, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”

       Job was a man who underwent a lot of suffering but he never lost faith in God. His wife even told him to simply curse God and die. He never did. He remained faithful, and since we know the end of the account, was doubly blessed by God in the end. During his trouble, Job kept hold on his faith in God and made the above statement. What he says is good news for both the Old and New Testaments. We might think that the Apostles had made the statement, but in fact, it was made by Job even before the days of Moses. He knew that he would see his Redeemer. Job makes the statement, “I shall see for myself.” He will be right there. It will not be the report of someone else but Job himself will see his Redeemer even after his body has decayed, he will still see his Redeemer and he will do it “in the flesh.” The world has long attempted to come up with “fake news” in regard to heaven and how to get there. Some religious leaders have even persuaded their followers to drink poison kool aid or have given promises not based on the Scriptures. There are some things that still need to be “old fashioned,” and one of the greatest is checking things out in the Word of God. One thing we can say about Job was that he never lost his faith in his Redeemer. God did put things in perspective to Job in the latter chapters, and we notice that God listened to what God said and didn't try to come up with his own ideas about how those things took place. The world can come up with all of its “fake” roads to heaven but I will still remain faithful to the words of Job and can say along with him that I shall see Him for myself. You can always rely upon the Bible as not containing fake news but only the Good News of the Gospel. Don't rely on others giving you their comments on spiritual things bu check it all out with the authoritative Word of God. Get rid of the fake news and look to the good news. Praise God for His Word today and all the rest of the days of your life.

The Life Time Guarantee

         Every now and then you may purchase a product that has a lifetime guarantee. That can be deceiving in some ways because we don't know how long that particular lifetime is. Some times, it only applies to the original owner and if you give it to someone else, then the guarantee is not valid. I was wondering about the GPS that is around today. My phone has one and my car has one. I can pinpoint exactly where I am at any given moment. You can run your daily run and keep track of every foot of our journey. I would think that the Global Positioning Satellite contains some kind of power supply that keeps it functioning. I was thinking, “What happens when it breaks or the battery runs down?” It is not something that you can fix in just a moment but even our satellites don't last forever and at times can be seen falling from their orbit and crashing into the earth. I will admit that I have not thoroughly investigated how the system works or is maintained but there are few things that will last “for ever” and none of them have been manufactured here on this planet. John 6:51 says, “ I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

       The phrase, “for ever” occurs about 390 times in the Bible. If I make a bird house and give it to you and say, “This will last for ever,” You are not going to believe it because I don't have the ability to make anything that will last forever. The guarantee is only as good as the Person Who made it. Only God has the ability to create something that will last for ever. Only God can make a promise that things both good and bad will last for ever. Both eternal life and eternal condemnation will exist for ever, because God is the One Who guarantees it. There are some things that only God has the capability to do and one of them is to make something, whether an article or a promise that will last for ever. Revelation 22:5 says, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Heaven will be eternal as will be hell. God said it and only He can make it happen. In regard to the GPS that I have, I will still keep a set of maps in my car that are old fashioned and have to be opened by hand and folded back by hand in order to find out where I am going just in case the battery quits on the GPS in the sky. I will also only be trusting God for those things that I know will exist for “ever.” God's guarantee is much better than the Underwriters Laboratory. Praise God today for His promises that are found in His Word.

The Message and the Method

          A number of years ago, I took a cruise, but not on a cruise ship but on a U. S. Navy destroyer with a thirteen piece show band. In preparation for the cruise and the planned concerts, we prepared music from 30 to 40 years ago from the date of the cruise. The people in the countries we were to visit, liked the music from the past generation which the gladly applauded. We once played a new piece of music and the people just stared and looked at us, with a questioning look in their eyes almost saying, “What was that.” It just didn't go over well. Methods sometimes change, depending on where you are at. Acts 1:8 says, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

         Methods may change, but the message is the same message that the Lord Jesus Christ preached on the Mount of Olives. The Good News of the Gospel is always the same as it brings forth the proclamation of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have always had our own interpretation of what a church building should look like and for the most part, the would be rectangular in shape with three levels in the main area of worship. Then, I went to a church that was round and which had no center aisle, but aisles on both sides. New churches had chairs and then bought pews. Now, churches are selling pews and using chairs. Mass meetings have now turned to small group meetings. One of the largest churches in Asia met entirely in homes scattered all over South Korea. Some countries are living almost in a generation of the past while others are up to date with modern methods and conveniences. Change in worship style is all around us, but the message must remain the same. It is still the good news of the gospel; the death, the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. My preaching in these most recent days is not done in a building or a room designed for that purpose, but in a place called a “conservatory” in a retirement community. The same room is used for meetings, bingo, dances for seniors, dinners and special activities designed by the Life Enrichment group. The message however, is still the same and it is the message that the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned before His ascension into heaven. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me...” The message is about God's plan of salvation for a lost and dying world where people don't know the Savior and who are still living in their sins with no hope outside of the gospel message. I use the internet to help spread this message through email and the social media. God's answer to the most important question is still the same today as it was to the Philippian Jailer at the feet of Paul and Silas in Acts 16. The question was, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul replied, “...believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved...” That is still the answer to the same question no matter if you lived a thousand years ago or today. The point is not where or how you get the message out, but the message itself. Are we a witness unto Him in our Jerusalem or Judea, or Samaria or even to the uttermost part of the earth? Sometimes we get more concerned abut the method rather than the message itself. May we all be a witness unto Christ today and in the days to come. Praise God today that He has given us clear instructions in connection with the propagation of the Gospel to those who need so desperately to hear it.

Trying to Forget

       Who fixed my basement door? We recently discovered that some unapproved animals have been eating some of the bird seed that falls on the ground so steps were taken to keep this from happening again and to try to get rid of the strange nocturnal animals. It brought to mind immediately that my basement door had a gap in it and that it made easy access into the basement for those little furry creatures. I went into the basement yesterday and found that the gaps are gone and that some wood had been placed in the gaps. I thanked my daughter for doing it but she replied that she had not done it. I guess I have forgotten who did it and when it was done. I forget a lot of things but most of them are of no consequence and so it isn't a big loss. There are other things in my life that I would like to forget but can't. I remember the poor decisions in my life, the acts of stupidity that occurred here and there the temper tantrums and so on. Once they occurred, there was no getting back to “how things were before.” I asked God to forgive me but they are still there in the data storage unit in my head, sometimes referred to as my brain. Hebrews 10:16-17 says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

       The list of sins that we commit during our lifetime is so large that we cannot adequately recall all the things that are on the list. We recall the big ones, but the list is far greater than that. The comforting facts of today's passage is that God does not remember. This is not due to a flaw in His ability or showing that He is inadequate but that He has chosen to not recall or to remember the sins that have occurred in our lives. Forgiveness from God's side is so far beyond our own understanding of forgiveness, that we will never be able to totally grasp the full meaning of it. He has forgiven us and it is total forgiveness. For God to say that “and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” is something that is beyond our comprehension. My finite mind doesn't seem to be able to adequately erase the thoughts that are on my physical brain. It was once reported that a “copy” machine retains the image of every document that was copied. It is embedded on the memory of the copying machine. That is how my brain feels at times. I may forget where my keys are but other memories are still present. To read the statement in Hebrews is indeed praiseworthy as it shows us what God has promised in regard to our own iniquities, sins and transgressions; whatever you wish to call them. He has chosen to forget them, not due to His inability to do so, but simply because He has chosen to do so when Christ died on Calvary and paid for all of the transgressions. They are now under the blood of the Perfect Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is enough to erase the memory bank of sins that have accumulated in your life and in my life. How great is that? We can truly sing the hymn, “Jesus paid it all.” So, just praise God today that He remembers no more the things that you and I have done.”

Talking to Yourself

        Do you ever talk to yourself? You can either do it audibly or silently, but most of us probably talk to ourselves especially in the area of murmuring and grumbling. This usually occurs when you have been assigned a task that you really don't like to do or when you are subject to the actions of others that you cannot control. Grumbling occurs all too often even in the church where you would think that it should not be present. The Israelites grumbled and murmured in the wilderness even though God was miraculously supplying all of their needs from parting the sea, to supplying daily bread and sufficient water flowing from rocks. In spite of all this, the people still grumbled. I have been guilty of grumbling about work assignments or the actions of others that are involved in my circle of associates. You might think that grumbling is one of those natural things that takes place or that everyone is doing it so what's the harm? Philippians 2:14 says, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” 

       The whole second chapter of Philippians has much to say about our attitude in life and this verse speaks volumes about murmuring and grumbling. Paul's simple statement is that it needs to be put away and that one should not participate in grumbling at all. There are those times when we feel that our “rights” have been violated and so we grumble. There is usually a sense of vengeance in our grumbling toward the people who have caused us to grumble in the first place. There is that difficulty that consists of the fact that we are continually looking inward. We have our own picture of what we should be doing and who should be honoring us. We may ask ourselves what we should do instead of grumbling or how do we stop murmuring and grumbling when it is present. The focus needs to change from inward to outward when we realize that the issue is not about us, it is about Him. It is about Christ. The whole world seems to be grumbling about Christ as our focus has always been on our own personal rights and not upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2 is well known because of the account of Who Christ is and where He was and where He went in order to save you and me. It is the account of John 3:16 showing God's love in sending His only begotten Son into the world to save sinners. He left glory to end up on a cross, crucified and paying for sins that He didn't commit. Never once did Christ grumble but He did the Father's will and became the satisfaction for the penalty for sin. We, on the other hand, will grumble at the slightest hint of infringing on our perceived rights. We will have the tendency to grumble when our parents, our boss, our professor, our pastor when they exhort us to do something that we esteem unworthy of our station in life. The simple advice of Paul is this: stop murmuring and grumbling. In contrast, we are to do all things without speaking out against it. It should be rather easy for us in these days because we have the complete Bible to guide us. We may ask the question, “How then should we live?” Don't argue with the Bible. If you are in a situation where you find yourself grumbling, then cease the grumbling. After all, it was simply stated in this passage and that should be enough. Well, you might say, “Easy said, but hard to do.” That is true, but nonetheless the exhortation is plain and that is for us to do all things without grumbling even when it is something that you don't like to do. So the next time you find yourself grumbling about something, give it to the Lord. The Lord was with you yesterday and He is with you today and He will be with you tomorrow. Praise God today for His working in our lives as we are molded into what He wants us to be.

The Witness

 It would be nice if you knew God all of your life but that usually isn't the case. In my early childhood, or teen years, I had a lot of people who would invite me to church but no one ever said how to get to heaven or anything about the Christian life. In those days, there was the old saying that you never discussed religion or politics. I was sitting with a pastor who was of Jewish descent and he said that no one would speak to him about Christian things when they found out that he was Jewish. He said that his first real introduction to the things of the Gospel was by the Cecil B Demilles picture, “The Robe.” It seems that we would rather delegate the responsibility of speaking about Christ to a pastor or professor rather than trying to do it ourselves. I don't fault the people in my life that didn't speak about Christ because I haven't done much about speaking to others either, at least not like I should. Psalm 91:14-16 says, “ Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”

         The Psalmist begins this Psalm with two descriptions of God, one being like a fortress and the other like a giant bird with wings capable of covering all believers. The ending of the Psalm tells us about the benefits of salvation and knowing God in a personal way. The average person on the street or several houses down from you will not be reading his or her Bible that much and will probably be buried with troubles to the point that they don't know what they will do. You could give them the little nudge when you tell them what God has done for you. There comes that point when we do indeed set our love upon God. We don't doubt His existence nor do we question His ways. After all, He is God and His ways are far above our own ways. We discover that God will deliver the believer from the afflictions of life even when we have no idea how He is going to accomplish it. We know it, because He said He would do it. The Psalmist says that God will be with us in the day of trouble and that He will be with us. Apparently, we really doubt that God will be with us in the day of trouble as we find many praying that God will be “with so and so” in their time of trouble. With me, God has worked it out in the end. It took a number of years to get to the salvation part but once that took place, the blessings just kept coming and coming beyond what I would ever believe possible. This leaves us with the fact that we should all be taking advantage of the opportunities that God gives us each and every day. God places us in situations where we can at least share what God has done for us and is doing with us today. When people ask you where you are from or what your “job” is or what you like to do, you can tell them and you can tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ Who made it all possible. Praise God that He is your fortress, that you are under His wings and that He is always with you in your own time of trouble.

Enough Sense to Get in out of the Rain

       I changed my home owners insurance about six months ago and the new company offered me a free “Alexa” from Amazon, so I took them up on the offer and now have this device that answers all of my questions. The other night, I asked it what time it was and “it” replied with the time and then asked me if I wanted to get personal. The device then asked me if I was “Daniel” and I replied "yes" to the question. The device now calls me by my name based upon my profile with Amazon. I have asked it the definition of words or the meaning of a phrase or the capital of this or that state. Granted, there are times when it says, “Hmm. I don't know that.” When I was in school all I had then was a set of Funk and Wagnals Encyclopedias that a traveling salesman had sold to my parents.  The result in our society is that we have more access to information on almost any topic simply by asking the device in my living room, or our phones or even with the internet and your computer. We have more knowledge today than we have ever had in history yet there remains one thing in which we are lacking. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."   

       Some people simply lack “wisdom.” There is no amount of facts and figures that will give any person wisdom on the issues of life. The Epistle of James begins with this fact right in the beginning and also tells us the source of wisdom. You can't find wisdom in a book or the internet or the smart phone or even Alexa. Alexa could define wisdom but the device just doesn't have it. My mother once said of a person that they were really smart but didn't have enough sense to get in out of the rain. That sums up a lot of people these days and can probably be said of us right after we have done something that we might class as being “stupid.” We may even say after the fact, “Why did I do that?” We did it not because we were stupid, but that we lacked sufficient wisdom. My Father usually had a proverb about the things of life that later on made a lot of sense to me. I have mentioned many of them through the years but one that has always been in the back of my head is, “Put your mind in gear before you put your mouth in motion.” James had a lot to say about that also as he spoke about the use of your tongue. When I get into trouble, it can almost always be traced back to my tongue and will also take place right after something good has happened. I am vulnerable right after singing a solo or preaching a sermon or finishing a course. Usually there is just enough pride present to respond in such a way as to show a lack of wisdom. We would like to have a trait called “wisdom” given to us in one big basket that would be sufficient for all of our life but it doesn't work that way. James then reminds us that wisdom only comes from God and therefore, we should be asking Him for wisdom and not just once thirty years ago, but each and every day. Some pursuits in life are here for the long haul such as wisdom and patience and hope and love and the list goes on. It is called “sanctification” or “Christian growth.” You may find that you are lacking in wisdom at times or have done something, or said something that may give evidence of a lack of wisdom. If that is the case in your life, then be reminded and exhorted by the Epistle of James when he said, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...” Praise God that He will supply you with the wisdom that you need. Read the Scriptures and learn abut God's ways for your life today and for the days to come.

Cats and Dogs

         A number of years ago, a book was written about dog and cat theology. It may have been a joke at first, but then the characteristics of the two animals were compared to that of people in church and soon the idea of it being a laughing matter disappeared as it was true. Basically, dogs are givers and cats are takers. I have a cat that we got from the pound. It was a kitten when we got her and now, almost 9 months later, she rules the house. She doesn't jump on me when I come into the house and she doesn't play fetch. The wagging of her tail is more like a twitch which shows her level of agitation at the moment. A dog, when you arrive home, jumps as far up as it can, its tail wagging, a few barks and just follows your every movement. The cat wants you to entertain it or to feed it and is more like asking, “What are you going to do for me?” My cat comes up to me while I am at my desk and nibbles at my hand and prances back and forth. You might think she is being affectionate but in reality, she wants my chair, which I of course, give in and I sit on the folding chair while she curls up in my office chair. The idea of cat and dog theology is that there are two types of people in the church: those who are givers and those who are takers. First Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “ Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

        The “takers” in life want to know what you can do for them. They want to be constantly entertained and if conditions are not right, they will leave and will simply walk off and search for a place that will cater to their needs. The takers will be the ones who will be the grumblers and the murmurers in the church. There will always be something that doesn't meet their expectations. The givers on the other hand are more of a thankful people who will always be looking for ways that they can be utilized in God's service. They are the ones who will scrub the toilets, sweep the parking lot, pick up the trash and who will actually pray for the needs when they hear of a request. We might think that all people would take the exhortation of Paul seriously and while most do in some degree, it will be the “givers” who really get the job done. Paul spoke to the Thessalonians in the final verses giving them around 15 different imperative commands. It was his closing admonition to them like what your mother said to you as you were going out the door. It sound like Paul didn't have a lot of time to say all that he wanted to say, so in the last breath he gives forth these short phrased commands. This is where the “giver” excels. They are looking for ways to please their Master and this is what God wants from us. May we all be praying without ceasing, rejoicing always and giving thanks for all that God puts on our plate. It should be our desire to be “givers” instead of just “takers.” What about you? Are you a “giver” or a “taker?” Praise God today for His being our Master. May we follow Him each and every moment.

One Think Leads to Another

           You may have heard that expression, “One thing leads to another.” You start doing one thing and soon you find that you have progressed to another. I don't know hoe many times I have opened a bag of potato chips intending to eat only one and end up eating more than I should and then wondering why I ate as many as I did. Well, one chip led to another. It's like when when we go into the grocery store to purchase just one item and then we think that while we are there, we might as well pick up a few more things and soon you have a basket full of items that you really didn't intend to purchase that day. If you purchase chips, you might as well get dip and if you get dip you might as well get some diet cola and so on. The items are all connected in your basket. The Apostle Paul gave us a “basket” of things in Colossians 3. Colossians 3:8 says, "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."   

          There are two lists of sins that are mentioned in this passage. Both passages, one in verse 5 and the other one in verse 8 contain 5 sins. Verse 5 goes from Fornication to covetousness and the above passage goes from anger to filthy communication coming out of your mouth. Verse 5 goes from the greater to the lesser and verse 8 goes from the lesser to the greater. Verse 5 deals with sexual sins and verse 8 deals with speech sins. The lesser in both categories cannot be seen or heard by anyone else. No one knows when you covet another person or thing and certainly know one knows you are getting angry. Both of them begin in the mind. Both list were common in the days of Paul and certainly both lists are common in life today. The speech sins when coupled with the Epistle of James focus on the words that we often say and then regret that we ever said them but the process of going from anger to filthy words coming out of your mouth happens all too often. By the time it gets to malice, words are flying off of your tongue and then it keeps on going. When the words fly out of your mouth, there is little you can do to retrieve them. It is like putting tooth paste back into the tube. It's out and there is nothing that you can do about it. Oh, we try to say, “I didn't mean that.” or we may try as hard as we can to apologize then or later, but the deed was done. Both listing of sins, sexual and speech, needed to be nipped in the bud, so to speak. When anger starts we all need to give it to the Lord quickly and when covetousness begins, we need also to immediately give it to the Lord. If you don't do it, then the “one thing leads to another” will go on to the next step and the process will soon be in its final stage. Colossians goes on to give us the answer in the rest of the third chapter when our attention is turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and a new list of things that we should be doing appears in verses twelve to seventeen. Only you know when “anger” begins to surface in your mind. By the time your face gets red, you are probably in stage two and the thoughts of “wrath” are already present. The natural tendency for people today is to “get even” as soon as possible and if you are not careful you will regret the results. So, don't let one thing lead to another but turn it over to the Lord right when it begins and you know it will begin at one time or another and not when you might expect it. Praise God that He can renew your mind.

The Day After

          What do we do on the day after? You ask, “What day after?” It is the day after calamity strikes. The day was September 12, 2001 and many people just didn't know what to do and they wanted answers. I remember that our church attendance went up. It didn't double, but it was significantly higher the day after the events of September 11, 2001. It stayed up for a time but then began to gradually go down. Everyone wanted to be extra close to God on the day after but soon began slipping away. The same thing happened to me in 2014. My home church in this area had disturbing difficulty and the people were wondering what would take place after what had happened. The following services had almost all of the remaining members present. What were they going to do? Just like the events on 9/12, people got real close to God but withing five or six months, the attendance began to get lower and lower. It might be sad to say that we may be classed as “foul weather Christians.” When things get bad, we come to church, we pray with tears flowing down our cheeks and we sincerely look for God's guidance. We can be at a maximum level after tragedy strikes whether it be patriotism or spirituality. Then, when God supplies our needs, we hang around for a bit but then the world begins to look attractive again and we are back where we were the day before tragedy came into our lives. Psalm 146:1-2 says, “Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.  While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” 

          The final Psalms in the Book of Psalms begin with “Praise.” The Psalmist mentions the instruments of praise and the various conditions that exist during the time of praise. What was particularly outstanding in this particular passage was the phrase, “While I live, will I praise the LORD.” The events of the day do not remind you to praise God at that time, but rather our praise is a continual action not just during the times of calamity but always. It is sometimes worth noticing what the writer didn't say. The Psalmist didn't say that you praise only in times of trouble, but “...while I live.” That broadens the time of praise quite a bit. He went on to say that He will praise “while I have any being.” For me, the “Praise Psalms” are exhortations. It is because, I don't praise God enough. I am not continually praising God as I should. I can judge myself on that based on my own thoughts and actions. My life is simply not one that is continually praising God, but it should be. It is far better not to wait for tragedy to strike before coming to God in praise for what He is doing, has done and will do in the future. In the last several years, I have always tried to end the devotion with an item for praise, so Praise God today because He is always with us and will never leave us, both in the day of tragedy and in the day of blessing. Praise the Lord! 

The New Road

        As a young kid, we lived in the fork of two roads. The one smaller road was called “Bootjack Road.” When the two roads came together, they formed an imperfect “Y” and hence the name “bootjack” which was a real device for removing one's boots and usually placed near the entrance to your house. We never owned a “bootjack” but we did live on “bootjack” road. Roads sometimes have interesting names. I recall learning of one of the oldest roads in the world that was till around at that time and it was called the “Appian Way.” It was an important road in the Roman Empire that connected Rome with Brindisi in the southern part of Italy. Pictures of it are still around as is the road itself. Some roads become more famous than others. Certainly the Appian Way is more famous than Bootjack Road. Acts 9:3-4 says, “ And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” 

          The Apostle Paul's life was changed that day and it was a complete reversal. He was on the Road to Damascus when the Lord met him in a very dramatic way causing him to turn his direction completely around from hunting Christians to bring them back to be imprisoned and put to death, to becoming a Christian himself. We sometimes refer to Paul's encounter with the Lord as the “Damascus Road Experience.” The zeal of the devout Jew was turned from being against the believers of the way, to becoming one himself. No mention is made of the group that was with him except for the fact that they saw what happened to Paul. Paul, or Saul as he was called at the time, was stricken blind and had to be led to Damascus and the next few days were very dramatic for him but his zeal was not lost, but just redirected. God used Paul to write the letters from Romans to Philemon in our New Testament and some regard Paul as a good contender for being the author of the book of Hebrews, but it doesn't really say and there is probably a good reason for that. Today, we are all traveling our own roads of life. They might not be on the Appian Way, or Bootjack Road or even the Road to Damascus. We are, however, still moving on our own road. In the beginning of our journey, and in our lost estate, we are heading in our own direction until God steps in and changes it. We have our goals and objectives in life and try to fit them in to all of our friends, family and associates. We plan for our vocation in life and try to develop the talents that God has given us and for many, pursue making as much money as we can. When God steps into our lives, we find new plans, new desires, new friends, new peace and new hope. We didn't wake up one day and think, “I think I will get saved today.” It comes about when you least expect it and when the Lord puts someone in your life that shares the Gospel message with you. For some, there has been the acquaintance of the “Roman Road.” This one is not the Appian Way, but the plan of salvation that is laid out conveniently in the Book of Romans with such verses as Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8 and Romans 10:9-13. Many have it tucked away in their Bible, or marked so they can use it when God puts them together with someone who need to be acquainted with the new road. Roads usually go from one point to another, from one town to another town. They just don't exist in the middle of nowhere. Romans 3:23 shows us how each and every person is a sinner and then Romans 6:23 shows us that being a sinner, we are on the road to eternal punishment but then along comes Romans 5:8 and tells us that even while we were as sinful as we could be, Christ lived us and died for us and then Romans 10:9-10 reminds us that we can call upon the Lord for salvation. Someone probably shared that with you and now it is your turn to pass it on, maybe even today. Praise God for the Road of life and that He knows exactly where you are on it.

Remembrance

            I am writing this on September 10, but tomorrow, September 11, is another one of those days that you are not supposed to forget. We have been reminded about that fact time and time again and now September 11 has taken its place among memorable days in the history of the United States of America. I, personally, have not been at any of the events but I know where I was when most of them took place if they did so during my life time. I wasn't at the Alamo or the sinking of the U. S. S. Maine or Pearl Harbor nor at Dallas when President Kennedy was assassinated or in any one of the three events during September 11. I do know where I was and what I was doing when I first learned of those events. Some things you remember even though you were not at the original event. First Corinthians 11:24-25 says, “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

           I was not in Jerusalem during that terrible week when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified but I do know where I was when I realized that when the Lord Jesus Christ died, He included me in that payment and now every Sunday, we purposely remember that event in a special service called “The Lord's Supper,” or “communion” or the “breaking of bread.” However you name it, it is still the event that took place where we purposely focus our attention on that event where His body was broken and His blood was shed for the payment of our sins. Now, I have been going to church since I was twelve years old and I have been a religious person, so to speak, all of those years. I sang in churches since 1955, in choirs since 1967, directed church choirs since 1968, been a deacon, been a Sunday School teacher, lead congregational singing, was a bus captain during the 70's, even passed out literature and witnessed to people, but then one Friday morning things were about to change. The message came home to roost in my own heart. I remember the motel, the room, the foot of the bed, the twp preachers who preached that morning, the scriptures they used and the conviction. I was not at the “last supper” nor the event of the crucifixion, but I know where I was when it was applied to my heart. For many of us, it is another day that we will never forget. We were not at the original event, but we know where we were when we heard about it and at that point in our life, it became real to us. On September 11, 2001, I was at my office in the church when our senior pastor's wife called and told us to turn on the TV set. We did so and then sat in silence as we witnessed the events of September 11.  I know where I was and it was at that point in the library of Bethel Baptist Church that an event occurred that I will never forget. There was another event however, that I will never forget and that was when they took the Son of God and nailed Him to a cruel cross and then suspended Him on that cross while He paid my debt by offering His shed blood until He cried out, “It is finished.” I wasn't there, but I will never forget it because it changed my life. Praise God today for the greatest event in History, the death, burial and RESURRECTION of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave.  

God Has Spoken

         At some point in your life you may have asked the question, “Does God really exist?” Personally, I have never doubted that God is and that He is all that He says He is in His written account that has been handed down from Old Testament Times and then through the New Testament times until now. I just never doubted that God is the Creator of all things just as the Scriptures say. There are probably close to 5 billion people who doubt the existence of God, based on the statistics of the world. Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”

         The Book of Hebrews begins with these words that inform us that God Himself has interacted with people, with the human race, over the periods of history through the “fathers by the prophets” and then most recently through or by the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the countless people who ignore God completely, this make no difference to them. You may look at the uniqueness of yourself through the big three, which to me are DNA, fingerprints and the iris of the eye. All three items are distinct for you and for you alone. The uniqueness goes on in the study of plants, trees and even insects whether they be butterflies, beetles or daises. From the smallest of created beings to the universe itself, we can see the mark of the Creator and should deeply suspect the idea of the primordial pool of chemicals. I am no great theologian nor a student of evolution, nor do I think that God just started it all, walked off and left it to come into existence by itself which to some has been called “theological evolution.” The Holy Bible has spoken to us and gives us the accounts that we need to know about creation, about life, about eternal matters, about eternal destination and what we should expect in the days to come. The problem seems more to be that man is not willing to believe and certainly not to accept the words of the Scriptures. God however, has spoken to us whether we accept it or not. God has given us the directions and the instructions whether we accept it or not. God has given us the way of salvation whether we accept it or not. God has spoken to us most recently through His Son and especially the events of that final week though the crucifixion, the burial, and magnificently, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ form the dead. Everything in the Christian faith depends on that one event. It was no accident that I was born in 1938 and no accident that I was in the state of Indiana. God knows us even before we are born and still in our mothers womb. God knows your and my own unique structure even down to the number of hairs on our heads. If you doubt God's existence in this world, just turn your palm up and look at your fingerprints. Look at your eyes in the mirror. That's you and there is no one like you. In the end, I will choose to put my faith in God Himself and in His Word. Praise God today for His speaking to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eternity! Where Will You Spend It?

  We like to use euphemisms when we talk. A euphemism is defined as, “a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.” I used to work at a retirement facility and we would have a daily staff meeting. At the meeting when a person died, we never said they died, they simply “passed.” We didn't even say they passed away, they just passed. I received an email from a friend that was one of those forwarded emails that contained a very interesting video of a preacher who was exposing false teachers. In that video he made the comment that we often soft sell what hell is like. We sometimes simply say that hell is an eternal separation from God. Now the statement is true but doesn't give the true picture of hell, but only part of the picture. If a person says, “So what! I don't believe in God anyway.” They then figure that hell will just be like life here on earth and that they can go on and not really be concerned about something they don't believe in anyway. We have used a euphemism to describe one of the most terrible places ever mentioned. Revelation 20:14-15 says, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” 

        The passage mentioned, is perhaps one of the last writings in the Scriptures about this place of eternal punishment. It is true that will be a place without the presence of God and so that part is correct, but what is missing is the rest of the description that is mentioned in various other parts of the Scriptures. Jude describes it as like being a wandering star in total blackness for all eternity. Others describe it as a place of gnashing of teeth and where the worm does not die. The most terrible aspect of hell is the one that is given in these final verses of the book of Revelation. It is a lake of fire. Who could imagine the torment of a lake of fire? I have yet to read an obituary that stated that the person died and went to hell. Those obituaries are filled with the euphemisms of the person's death and how good they were on this earth. It is true that they have gone on to their “eternal reward” but that reward has two faces. One of which is with God for all eternity in what we call heaven and the other is in a lake of fire that will last for all eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ reminded us in John 14:1-6 that there is only one way to God the Father and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other attempt to make to heaven will end up in hell. All of the false teaching in the world and all of the other spiritual platitudes will not end up in heaven, but in the lake of fire. There is only one way to heaven. If you now say, “so what?” then you have not realized the meaning of the lake of fire and the result that you see in the Great White Throne judgment. If you have a true picture of eternal separation from God AND where that will take place, then you will be motivated to tell others of the salvation that ONLY the Lord Jesus Christ offers. You will know and believe the message of John 3:16 and Romans 5:8. You and I do not know the fate of a person who dies, but God does. You and I don't know where they ended up, but God does and if it is in heaven it is because of the Lord Jesus Christ. I accidentally grazed a hot pan from the oven with my finger the other day. I didn't leave it there long and say, “Oh, that's not too bad.” I jerked it away instantly. This should be how you see the lake of fire. You should have a tendency to run away from it as fast as you can. When we see someone else casually on the road to hell, we should warn them. This is what the gospel is all about. The gospel is the “good news” of Christ's death, burial and resurrection to make salvation possible for you and for me. I would much rather, in fact “rejoice” in my salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and praise God for it everyday than to see even one go to an eternity of punishment. So, we can and should praise God for salvation.

Reading the Word

          A lot has been written and said about the study of the Bible. Most Bible colleges will offer a course in “hermeneutics,” the study of the Scriptures. I took one such course in College which used a core book entitled, “The Joy of Discovery” by Oletta Wald. That was accompanied by another book called, “Methodical Bible Study” by Traina. It was a tad bigger and took more time to get through but was exciting and these two books are still a valued part of my library.. Then, during my ministry, I taught several courses on Bible study to different groups of people. There are books, courses, seminars, charts and lectures that can be located to help everyone to discover the truths of the Scriptures. One course that I both took and then later led utilized 19 videos in how to Observe, Interpret and the Apply God's Word to your life. As one man once said, “You can study a lot of books about the Bible and still not study the Bible.” Second Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

        This verse was the theme verse for Washington Bible College and for Luther Rice Seminary and probably a lot more schools, colleges and seminaries that are connected with the Christian faith. There are many people who figure that the Bible is a very important book and one book that needs to investigated thoroughly in order to find out what it says. At the same time, they feel inadequate to do that for themselves, so they hire “pastors,” “teachers,” and other “educated” people to tell them what it says. It is their idea that if they try to do it themselves, they will mess it up and therefore damage the message. The Apostle Paul, in writing to young Timothy exhorted him to study the Word of God. Any input of the Word of God into our lives is valuable and even the Scriptures themselves exhort us to hear, read, study, meditate and memorize the Scriptures. The sad thing is to go through life with an excellent tool box and never use any of the tools. I have my Father's tool box in the basement. The tools are worn and dirty as wrenches, screwdrivers and hammers have been used to fix and to build various items. He used the tools and we should also be using the tools that we have in our tool box for Bible Study. The people of the church at Berea were able to search the Scriptures to find out if what Paul was saying, was right or not. I know of areas in our world where they do not have their own personal copy of God's Word, but solely rely on the words of fallible men to explain it to them. It was just recently that they got access to the Scriptures for themselves and now enjoy reading it for themselves. So, in your quest to know about the Bible, don't neglect the Bible itself. Praise God today that He has given His Perfect Word.

Possessions and Stewardship

     I remember as a young boy, my family moving to the country.  The doctors had told my Father and Mother that the country air would be better for my sister.  So, my parents bought a little house with an acre and a half of land on in the country in northern Indiana.  We had moved from a city of about 30,000 people to the country and the nearest town had a total of about 400 people in it at the time.  It was a big change.  Shortly after we moved there, my mother got up in the morning and looked out into the yard to see about 25 cows.  They had broken through the fence and all of them were eating the grass in our yard. It seems as if they were all right near our back door.  My Mom, at that point, was more of a city person and the sight of these large animals just about caused her to faint.  Soon, the owner of the cows arrived and was able to get them all back into their right field.  Twenty five cows in your back yard was quite a sight to see.  Psalm 50:10-12 says, "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.  I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.  If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof."   

        We often think that we own this or that.  Ranchers especially are proud of the number of cattle that they own, take care of, and ship to market every year.  But, as we have read in the above Scripture, we are not the owners of the cattle nor any other beast.  God owns them all.  He has created them and they are His.  We are but stewards of what God has given us.  Some of us, myself included, physically don't own a cow, nor a goat, nor a pig.  All we have is a cat.  But, God has said that He owns them all.  There are a couple of lessons for us here.  First, since God owns them all, He can shift some of them around now and then to help provide for the needs that you might have in your life.  Second, if God owns all of the cattle and is responsible for them, then surely He also is your owner.  He owns you.  He has made you and He has made you in His image.  Therefore, He will take care of you.  Sometimes, it is just great to look out at all of the things in this world and realize that they are all part of God's riches.  Praise God today for the supplying of all our needs.

A Sinful World

         Every time I wake up in the morning, one of the first things in my daily routine is to go to the cabinet, take out my pill box and open the little lid that is marked for that day and take out the 10 pills or so that are in the box. I take them all with one swallow of water or lemonade, whichever is in the refrigerator at the time. I repeat the procedure in the evening about twelve hours later. In doing all of this, I am reminded that we are living in an imperfect world. My body is bearing the marks of a sinful generation and is gradually falling apart. I have a primary care physician, a cardiologist, a pulmonary specialist, a vascular specialist, a dentist, an ophthalmologist, that are all trying to slow down the aging process. They can't stop it, but they try their best to keep all of the parts of my body working the best that they can and I am thankful for them and what they do for all of us. Ultimately, it is God that is in control of how many seconds are left in my life. Galatians 2:20-21 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

        Even in our imperfect world, there is hope for all people in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I were just concerned with the physical aspects of my life, that would be one thing, but there are also the spiritual aspects which have far greater ramifications than the physical. It all began with the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. The listing of the descendants of Adam and Eve show a longevity of life that is far greater than our own because their bodies started out prepared to live for eternity and then something happened. Sin came into the picture and man's age began to steadily drop. The oldest man was Methuselah who lived some 969 years, but in the end, he too ended up in the grave. Eventually, the age of man fell to 70 to 80 years. As one preacher said here in our town, “I am in 'overtime.'” The average is still in the later 70's for mankind. It comes out to 71.5 for men and 72.0 for women, so the threescore and ten still fits mankind. Hope however, still comes to us in the fact that we are now preparing for eternal life even though we keep taking the life giving pills day by day. Paul mentioned that he was “crucified with Christ but that he still lived due to Christ being in Him. It makes no matter which sin is the greatest, I am guilty before God so much that there would be no hope if it was just up to me. We are thankful however, that due to the work of Christ on the cross, we have life through Him. Eventually we will get that “perfect” body but the ravages of sin prevent it from taking place in this life. If you think your life is perfect, just take a look at Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 and see the Preacher's description of old age. We don't like to admit to our sins and that probably is good to some extent, but one should also remember just how much we need a Savior and that He paid the price of all of them, both great and small, both of commission and of omission. The bag of sins is far greater than we can bear but thankfully, we can say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I life; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me....” Praise God that He paid it all.

The Project

         Sometimes a package will come with instructions for assembly and may even give you an estimation of how long it will take to assemble the item. Some months ago, I purchased a “cat tree' for our kitten. It had ample instructions but I also found a video on the internet of the same item with a lady putting it together. It even began with opening the box and taking out all of the pieces. I watched as she went through the whole process even when she made a mistake and had to go back and repeat one step. As I mentioned once before, I put the tree together and made the same mistake even though I knew and was watching for that particular step. The complexity of an item will require more time. While in my last years in the Navy, I decided to build a transmitter and receiver from scratch. That is, all of the parts were in the box but I just had to follow the instructions given in the booklet. This project actually took days to complete as every resister, capacitor and wire had to be soldered to the right spot or it wouldn't work. About a month later, both items were working and I became a “ham” radio operator. Philippians 1:6 says, “ Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

        Some projects do take a lot more time than others and this is one that really takes a “lifetime” to complete. Our lives are filled with lessons that need to be learned in order to shape our character. C. H. Spurgeon remarks on this passage with the following comment: “Holy Scripture does not regard a man as perfect when the soul is perfected, it regards his body as being a part of himself; and as the body will not rise again from the grave till the coming of the Lord Jesus, when we shall be revealed in the perfection of our manhood, even as he will be revealed, that day of the second coming is set as the day of the finished work which God hath begun.” (Spurgeon) this project goes on even after we are in the grave and at the appointed time, our bodies will be new and equipped with things we could never imagine such as perfect hearing and perfect eyesight. What a glorious time that will be. No more need for aspirin or cough syrup or home remedies for poison ivy. We will have perfect bodies. The amazing though for me is what Paul says about it in that we can be confident in what God is doing and how long it is going to take. We don't have to be concerned about God missing a step. His work in us is a perfect work and we can also be confident that His perfect work will be completed on schedule. You might just feel a little under the weather at times or sitting there wondering what God is doing in your life. Rest in the thought of the above verse. He is working in each of us and we can reflect back and say, “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.” Praise God today for the work that He is doing in each of our lives.

Going in the Right Direction

         Some people just don't like to be told what to do. For some, it might be dependent upon the authority of the person telling you what to do. I pay absolutely no attention to “Facebook” which tells me, “share if you do this.” I don't share anything that anybody tells me to share just because I do it or like it. Any commands from Facebook are very low on my list of things that I must do. When I was young and my Father said to do something, I did it, no questions asked as I knew there would be reasonable consequences if I didn't do them. When I worked on the farm, the job of “cleaning out the barn” was often given to me, and I did it, even though I didn't like it. I was getting paid for working there and I obeyed what the owner said or I would be without a job. When I worked for Safeway in the Washington, D. C. area, I often had to do jobs that I didn't like, but again, I was getting the same amount of money so I did what I was told. Jonah 1:1-2 says, “ Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

        Jonah has often been criticized for being a person that was not obedient to what God told him to do. It was a short command, clear and to the point, but Jonah chose to go the opposite direction and to completely ignore God's command. The remaining verses of chapters one and two tell what happens when you disobey God. That was also clear and to the point. Jonah then experienced a second chance to do what God told him to do in the first place. Chapter 3 begins with the same command but perhaps a little more emphatic. Jonah may not have liked the command, but he did it. His message was short and the people of Nineveh did respond to it and the city was spared for another 150 years. Most of us would agree that when God gives you an order, you should really think about obeying it to the best of your ability instantly. Secondly, we would agree that God has given us His revelation to us in the Bible and that it is “God breathed” as it states in second Timothy 3:16-17. Third, God is not going to contradict His Word. He said what He wanted to say by the way He said it and all of the directions we need are contained in His Word. God wanted Jonah to take God's message of repentance to the people of Nineveh but Jonah didn't take to that idea, so went a different way and tried to ignore the message. God, however, has ways of getting our attention when we are disobedient and God sure got Jonah's attention while on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. God was in control of the situation and he got Jonah turned around and back on the beach. Then, He gave Jonah the same instruction and this time, Jonah headed off in the right direction. There are a number of lessons for us in this short book. God has a message for people and we are the ones that have the instruction to deliver that message to the people. God has a purpose for you and me and for all people to glorify Him and to enjoy His presence. God has a clear message about sin and its results and the message has been the same throughout all history. We can look at the commands of the Scriptures such as the Great commission and the words of Christ in Acts 1:8 as He got ready to ascend into heaven. We can find the message in John 14:1-6 that Jesus is coming again and that He is the Way, the Truth and the life and the only way to the Father. We can learn about sin and its effects from Genesis to Revelation and that there is only one Perfect Sacrifice for that sin. So, what is it that keeps us from delivering that message to the lost people of the world today? It should not be that the Giver of the command has no authority because He has all the authority and no one has more authority than God. It must be that we are being disobedient as did Jonah and we are going in the opposite direction from what God told us to do. I have seen a plaque that reads, “There is no safer place to be than in the center of God's Will.” You know what they say about the Bible, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” Praise God today that His directions are clear.