Fools

         Everyone seems to have a special day on the calendar.  We have birthdays, anniversaries, special days for secretaries, grand parents plus all of the national holidays and we even have a special day for "fools."  The definition of a fool is "a person who acts unwisely or imprudently."  I have done some "foolish" things in my life like driving Dad's 1955 Pontiac wide open while my friend watched the speedometer.  I finally took by foot off of the accelerator when we reached 115 miles per hour.  That was definitely foolish and would be viewed as acting unwisely.  The fool, however, also has a special day on our calendar and it is April first.  We just call it "April Fool's Day."  The Scripture has something to say about the fool.   Psalm 14:1 says,"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good."  
        The Bible refers to a person who refuses to believe that there is a God, as a fool.  Yes, they are acting unwisely.  The world is filled with more and more people who do not believe in God or that there is a God at all.  These same people have been corrupted by information from supposedly good sources that deny that there is God in the first place and while following this idea, they come up with the notion that there is no God.  The idea is not new as it obviously was around about 3,000 years ago when the Psalms were written.  The Fool or the Unwise person fails to observe the evidence around him.  It makes no matter where you look, whether it is in the magnitude of the heavens, or in the world of micro biology.  God's evidence is available to those who will look and see.  God's handiwork can be seen in things like flowers and bombardier beetles or in the attributes of water, or of the constellations in the universe or God's working in the lives of His people around each and everyone of us.  One of the greatest evidences available today is the New birth in Christ or even the physical birth of new born baby.  So, the "fool" is that individual that in spite of the evidence comes to the wrong conclusion and proclaims that there is no God at all.  As the definition states, that is an unwise conclusion.  One can be a fool in many different ways such as seeing just how fast the old car will go but the worst example of being a fool is found in the statement in today's verse.   If you are acting foolishly when it comes to God and His work, just take a look around you and then take heed to what God says in His Word.  Praise God that He is in control of each and every thing including you and me.

Really Exciting News

         There was a small lake in on the outskirts of a town where we once lived where my son and I would often fish.  You could walk to it in about 10 minutes from the house.  One year, we kept track of the number of bass that we caught in that lake.  We caught 105 bass that year and only kept them if they were over 15 inches long.  What was a little bit funny about the whole thing is that we took only one artificial lure to the lake, or large pond, to put on the end of our lines.  We did have a couple of spares with us, but it was the same lure and the fish in that pond seemed to be attracted to it all through the summer.  It was exciting, but not to the point that we had this great desire to broadcast it to the world. It was just exciting to us that the purple plastic Mann's jelly worm did the trick.  There are other exciting things in life that  are so important and so valuable, that you have this desire to tell someone about them to the point that they get just as excited as you did.   Second Timothy 2:2 says, "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."   
        This verse of scripture tells about the excitement that the Apostle Paul had over the message of the Gospel.  When you look at the verse, you can see four generations of believers mentioned in the single phrase.  Paul was teaching timothy who was to teach faithful men who were to teach others.  It was so exciting that Paul had to get the excitement passed on to Timothy who then had to get the faithful men excited to the same amount who were then to give that same message to others.  That's four generations of believers.  How excited are you over the message of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?  When people are alone, or hurt or feeling unloved, how do you respond?  Do you just say, "Well, hang in there!"  Do you say, "Better luck next time."  Or, do you say something about the blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?  Do you tell them about the good news that so excited you that you can't contain yourself and are excited to tell them about it.  There are many believers who are rather "blah" about their faith and could care less if anyone else got excited about it.  What happens in that case is the people that they come in contact with are just as blah as they are in the end.  Maybe we would get excited if we had been in the group of women that walked to the tomb on that first Sunday morning to find it empty and the Savior of the world resurrected as He said He would be.  Maybe you would get excited if you were standing on the Mount of Olives forty days later and actually see the Lord Jesus Christ ascend up into heaven.  Are you that excited?  You should be because He said that He is coming again.  Praise god today for the excitement about the Gospel message.

How Will They Hear Without a Bible?

        During my years in the U. S. Navy, I attended a few Bible studies that were sponsored by a representative of a mission group that served the military.  They have since branched out to serving many more people than just the military.  The group, called the Navigators, had a number of ways in which to study the Bible.  You would learn of the various methods and then one day, begin studying the Bible for yourself.  I recall a couple of those ways.  One was called the ABC study method and a second one was called an STS (Search The Scriptures) method.  Then, upon entering college a number of years later, I learned that there was a course called "Hermeneutics" that would give you tools to use in your daily Bible study.  At this point, you can see that we have gotten the tools ready, but so far, have not studied the Bible.  You can have the methods, but fail to use them and all you have is a good tool box but nothing to show for it.  People have to hear the message from the Word of God in order to be saved in the first place.  Romans 10:14 says, " How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"   
       Notice that the people have to have heard the message in order to believe in the first place.  There has to be that time when the basics are learned and then to go on to teach the wonderful message of the Gospel.  You can purchase a Bible in the Dollar Tree for a buck.  We have access to Bibles everywhere we go.  At least, this is true in this present age in which we live.  You can go to other countries only to find that they do not have a Bible, nor do they have a written language and certainly, they do no know how to read.  So, how are we going to get the message to them for them to have heard and to have believed in that message.  There are still a few groups in the world today that are involved in the task of Bible translation.  If the group has no written language, then one has to be created then the people have to be taught how to use it, in other words, how to read and then finally to translated the Bible and then to teach it to them in order that they might be saved.  Wow.  What a process.  It used to take a missionary's lifetime to do it but now it is accomplished in a much shorter time with the advances of technology that we have today.  What good would it all be if we produced the Bible for them and then left them without the preaching of the Word to them individually?    We look at this passage and point to the fact that we need a preacher to preach the message, but first, we need a Bible in order to have something to preach to them in the first place.    Literally thousands of languages have been written down and the Bible put into the language of the various people groups that they might hear the message and then to believe.   Praise God today that He has given us His Word.

Finding Hope in A Modern World

       We live in a technological age where all kinds of information are at our fingertips.  Out of curiosity, I asked Alexa, my artificial intelligent gizmo where the cat was and it answered, "It will come home when it is hungry."  To be honest, I didn't expect it to say anything.  You would think, we could find hope in such a modern world but instead, we find that there are many people in the world which have no hope.  There is nothing in their life that would help them see that they have some kind of hope either in someone or in some thing for the future.  A life that is void of Christ in any respect will be a life that is void of any kind of hope.  It is also true that some people have created their own hope by making a false statement.  Many of the false religions of the world promote a false hope.  Christianity is unique in that it has the only true basis for hope which is the Lord Jesus Christ being risen from the grave.  Our hope is based in the fact of the resurrection.  Psalm 78:5-7 says, "For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."  
       In the Old Testament, God provided the basis for hope.  When the Israelites were introduced to God while they were in Egypt, they saw first hand what He could do.  The miracles were profound and offered to the Israelites a basis for true hope.  All they had to do was to remember what the Lord had done in the story of their deliverance while they were in the land of Egypt.  All they had to do was to tell their children what God had done and then the children would be able to see the hand of God.  We sometimes forget what God can do and how He does work in the world and specifically, in our lives.  We sometimes forget the miracle of our new birth or how He provided during lean years or how He gave us enough strength to get through that problem we had a couple of years ago.  We often forget how God worked during times for suffering or grief.  Now, God hasn't changed.  The only thing that has changed is the fact that we have forgotten how God worked in our lives.  At least every person that reads this devotion has access to a copy of the Bible.  More than likely, you have more than one.  So, you have access to the account of what God did in the lives of the Israelites and you also have access to the promises that God has said for you.  For those who feel as if they have no hope, just take a moment and remember what God did in the past, what he has done for you already in your life and the promises that He has given in His Word.  Praise God today for the hope that He has given to all of us.

The Prize in the Middle of the Field

        Sometimes you find something in a place it just isn't supposed to be.  One of the collectibles we always had in Indiana were glass insulators used on old telephone poles or electric poles.  They were usually either green or clear glass and the wires were wrapped around them.  It would be common to find them in someone's basement where a person would see how many of them they could collect over the years.  There were a few times that I would find them in the middle of a field after I had plowed a section.  I could spot one that was turned up in the newly plowed ground, stop the tractor and take the insulator back to the farm house to clean it up.  I was never an authority on insulators but some could tell a lot of information from them and they would then turn up in antique stores alone with Singer Sewing machines and Roy Rogers lunch boxes.  What was surprising was how the insulator got to the spot where it was buried in the field.  Sometimes you find something right in the middle of where it is not supposed to be.   Ephesians 3:20-21 says, " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
         Here is a scriptural example of finding something where it isn't usually found.  You would expect to find a blessing at the end of something.  There is a familiar and similar blessing found in the final verses of the Book of Jude where it is found in the last two verses of the book.  The "benediction" in Ephesians, however, is right in the middle of the book and not near the end of the book at all.  Ephesians, to me, is divided up into two sections.  The first section, gives us the blessings of the book and naturally, ends with the blessing or the "benediction" in the last two verses of chapter three.  Then, chapter four begins with a "therefore" and we head into the practical section of the book.  Something great was found where it was not expected to be found.  Not only is it where one would not expect to find it, but it also has a great message for all of us.  I especially get excited about the words, "Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..."  We might have our own expectation of what God is going to do in our lives, but this passage reminds us that we are only guessing at the half of it.  God is able.  He is able to do much more than we can ever think about.  Now how great is that?  You may be wondering how God is going to make ends meet in your life or how He is going to relieve the pain and suffering in your life or how He is going to work in any situation that comes up.  We know that not only is He able, He is able to do much more than we even ask or think.  So, praise God today for His greatness and His working in our lives.  "To God be the glory!"

One Way

       There have been some times when I had to give directions on how to get to some location.  My folks had a filling station for a couple of years, and people would come in and ask directions on how to get to some place in our area.  It was the time before GPS devices when people had to depend on paper maps. which were large when fully opened and usually hard to get back to their original size.  There were times when I was tempted to say, "Well, you just can't get there from here."  Acts 4:11-12 says, "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.   Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  
      The question does come up where a person asks how to get to heaven.  Granted, it doesn't come up a lot in that form, but people are interested in some ways on how to get to heaven.  I have had more people ask me, "What happens when you die?" than "How do you get to heaven?"  The Scripture is quite clear on the way to heaven.  Peter and John had it right on head when they spoke to the council.  They gave the clear message on how to get to heaven.  Unfortunately, people today look at the same passage and write it off by saying, "Well, that was their opinion."  The Apostle John also wrote in the Gospel of John that Jesus was the only way to the Father and so we can come to the conclusion that there is absolutely only one way to get to heaven.  The route is simple.  It is through the Lord Jesus Christ.  There may be many ways to get to Chicago or Paris, but there is only One Way to get to heaven.  Paul went on to say in acts 16:31 how it had to be done when he answered the question of the Philippian Jailer by saying that he needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved.  The Gospel of Matthew also speaks about the road be narrow that leads to heaven but the road is wide that leads to destruction.  Your Bible speaks of the directions for eternal life with God in what we call, Heaven.  The Lord Jesus Christ was quoted as saying, "No man cometh to the Father but by Me."  As clear as it is, people still have a hard time accepting what Christ said or what is recorded in the Bible.  So, praise God today that He has given you a clear answer to the question of eternal destiny.  There are not 10 ways, or 100 ways or even a thousand ways to get to heaven.  There is only one way and you can get there from here, but you have to go through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Unbelievable Events

       There was a Thanksgiving Day a number of years ago, when all of our children and grandchildren were present, so I decided to take a picture of all of them.  The total number of people was thirteen.  If you have tried to take a group picture, you know how difficult it is to get everyone looking their best.  I took over seventeen different pictures and when I looked at them at home, I realized that there was not one picture where everyone was perfect.  Hands, arms, tongues and eyes were either stuck out, crossed or waving in the air.  So, I went to my photo program and took the arm on one person, the head of another a few eyes here and there and then came up with a finished product which now hangs on my office wall.  The photo is "photoshopped."  It is not real but is as close as I could get to the real thing.  So, if someone asks, "How did you get everyone with a good pose?"  The answer is, "I didn't."  There are some things that, when you look at them, just don't seem real.  They are "Photoshopped."   First Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."  
        Now, the rapture of the church is going to be so quick that you won't have time to take a picture of everyone leaving.  Even video monitors won't capture the event.  The results of the catching away will be easily visible as vehicles, tools, clothing, will all be left behind and unattended.  Most will probably feel as if their whole life was just "photoshopped" in that quick moment.  They may feel as if it is not real and will be searching for a logical explanation.  Of course, "logical" to the unsaved will mean looking for another reason for the catching away other than that which is recorded in First Thessalonians and First Corinthians Fifteen.  We will probably look to either alien abduction or the current president in power at the time and blame them for the disappearance of so many people.  The truth of the matter, however, is the description of the event in this book of the Bible.  For the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is "logical."  We expect it to happen and indeed look forward to it taking place and coupled with Second Timothy three, see that the actual event is getting closer and closer.  One day after this great "Catching Away" will be a time for people to try to "photoshop" the event but the truth is, the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air, just as it says.  Praise God for His promises.