Wealth

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 50:10 says, “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”

     How much am I worth?  I once looked at the total of my earnings up that day on my social security report and I am not a billionaire, nor a millionaire, but a thousandaire.  I guess they don’t use that word because everyone is probably in that category.  There are a lot of people who are now famous for the amount of money that they have accumulated over their short lifetime so far.  People like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have become more prominent and now are trying to figure out what to do with their money.  Wealth is not always measured by the amount of currency that you have in your possession.

     The above passage reminds us of God’s wealth which is obviously the greatest of all ass the passage above describes it.  Every beast in the forest are His along with all the cattle that are on a thousand hills.  It is one way of God declaring that everything that is on the earth, in the earth, in the sea and in the heavens is His in the final analysis.  George Mueller and Hudson Taylor were men in England who were themselves poor, and were missionaries, yet they knew how to get the funds they needed and it was from God, the Ruler of the Universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all that there is.  Both Muller and Taylor would simply go to the God of the universe in prayer and lay their request before Him.  it is interesting to not that Mueller neve let his needs be known to men, but only to God and God never failed Him and the orphans had food on their table at all meals.  What does that mean to us?  There are those times in our lves when we come up short and perhaps there was a good reason such as was the case of the Philippinas who had given much to the ministry of the Apostle Paul .  Paul then reminded them that God would supply all of their need.  He may just move one of the cows from one h ill to another in order to help someone with their needs.  We may look at our bank account and boast of how big it is, but in reality, it is all God’s and we are but stewards of what He has given us.  The question is how are we going to use what He has entrusted to us?  God knows our needs even before we do.  We then express them to Him through prayer and we may not know how God is going to do it, but He does.  Your social security log may have a number on it but in reality, your are more wealthy than you may realize.  Your  final proof wil be in your inheritance when you arrive in Glory!  Praise God today as being the Provider for all of our needs.

Kindness

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Peter 1:5-8 says, “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.   For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

     We have about fifty residents here where we are living and it is very difficult to please everyone and for the most part it is peaceful, but tempers seem to flare especially when everyone gathers to eat.  There are two serving, the first is for the people that can do things for themselves and the second is for those who need assistance.  The beginning of our stay resulted in a lot of people shouting at each others, lour remarks and food that was not quite hot enough.  I chose to make my own food in my room with my microwave.  One staff member asked me why I didn’t go to the dining room, and I said, “Too much drama.”  He replied, “You got that right.”  I would rather eat in peace than to be around bickering all the time.  One of the prayer request that often comes from some of the residents is that people here would be kind to each other.

     The above passage from First Pete gives us a whole list of traits that need to be exhibited in our Christian life.  The list of seven different things includes one called, “brotherly kindness.”  I always disliked going to the monthly church business meeting, as many times it resulted in an argument over one thing or another.  One such meeting, one of the elders, Jim Kerns, st ood up and said, “Brethren!  We have a problem.”  The pastor and I were sitting next to each other and our hearts sank as we were about to hear about a serious problem.  Jim was always very exact in his speech and everyone was glued to hear his next statement.  Jim ws the overseer of the food pantry and someone had donated a bag of dried beans that had been opened.  That was the problem.  We breathed a sigh of relief  and, I believe, cooked the beans ourself instead of giving them away.  Not  all problems are that simple, but the trait that needs to be displayed is that of kindness.   Peter listed it as “brotherly kindness.”  Who is your brother?  It is referring to those that are believers in the Lord Jesus Chrsit.  We are the “brethren.”  You  need to notice that the list in  “charity” or “love” as we would say it today.  We need, and it includes all of us, to express our love by doing righteous deeds to meet the needs of another{“ in other words, to be kind at all times, not just on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening.  Praise God that we have His Word for our instruction in our Christian lives.

Our Purpose in Life

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 86:9-11 says, “ Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.  All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.  For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.  Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”

     There are those times when a person might ask, “Why am I here?”    Things seem to go  on an on and nothing seems to change .Society seems to be getting worse, I am getting older and older each day and my bones hurt, and th eprice of gas is going higher and higher and bananas are more expensive than ever before.  People are hurting and some regard themselves as failures in whatever they are doing in life.  My foot hurts, I am in an assisted living facility for a couple of years as tha is all the funds I have and everything looks like it is gray and dark and nothing more than a big mess.  That is the picture that many have of their life and the reason is that they have forgotten or neer knew in the first place what their purpose was in life.

     One famous catechism begins with the following question.  “What is the chief purpose of man?  Just imagine how the people of this planet would feel if they knew the answer to that question.  The question is one that perhaps all have at one point or another and it is the answer by which we learn our purpose which turns out to be a comfort to our souls.  If we only knew the answer we would be satisfied, or at least we would know what to do to be content while living on this earth.  The above passage is one that underscores the chief purpose of man.  The answer, according to the catechism is, “To know God and to enjoy His presence forever.”  Now, i thought  I should be the best bassoon player in the world, or the best pastor, or a good husband, or a good father and now I find out that my purpose is to know God and to enjoy His presence in my life forever.   You know of course, t hat if I know God and am enjoying His presence in my life every moment, then I will be a good bassoon player, or a good pasor or a good husband, or a good father.  Doing the first point, accomplishes the rest of the points.  When it says that all nations will bow down and worship God, that means all nations, which also means, all people, which also means you and me.  That is and will be our main purpose in life.  Simplicity seems to annoy people.  Something valuable must cost a great deal, or require a lot of work in order to achieve it.  Not so with God.  To know Christ is to know God and that is the first step and then to follow His teaching in all of our lives, i.e., to be His disciples.  Praise God that He gives us purpose.

Be Quiet and Listen To Me

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

     There are perhaps many times when we should be listening instead of talking.  I find that in my later years that I don’t have too many people to talk to so I text strangers or talk to a nurse that happens to drop by my room or anyone that can carry on a conversation in the hallway.   While working with American Telephone and Telegraph Company, they gave us a course in “How to Listen.”  It included eye contact, sitting forward, looking at the speaker, not yawning or answering a phone call.  You needed to give the speaker full attention and show them that you were interested in what they were saying.  We often are just waiting for the other person to stop talking so we can start and give our opinion of the matter at hand.  My wife can tell me to “shut up” in two languages, which she often does.

     Obviously, there are those times when we should be quiet and listen.  It is especially important to do so when God is speaking.  The simple two word introduction from today’s passage is, “Be still…”  When God says, “Be still” it is one of the most important exhortations from Him, and it means to be still, to cease from talking and take in what God is saying.  Righ tat the beginning we see the words, “..;.know that I am God…”  It is God saying, “Be quiet!  I am talking now.”  God told Job in Job 38:3, “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.”  Job and his three friends had been saying many words, and finally, God spoke and in the following chapters,  God spoke and disclosed many things to Job showing that He was indeed God and responsible for the creation.  He is omnipotent, that is all powerful and omniscient, that is all knowing, and omni present, that is everywhere and nothing is hid from Him.  We sometimes regard God as a cafeteria worker, offering bits and pieces of this or that so we might be comfortable.  We speak to Him as if He were a mere servant, set on giving us any thing we want.  I once pleaded with my Mother to do something to get me home and she replied, “Take it like a man.”  In other words, “It’s time to grow up.”    I often hear someone praying, with a rapid tongue, just to get the words out quickly and to tack on a “In Jesus name, amen.”  They have not  realized where they have been.  They have not grasped the majesty and the awesomeness of God.  Who is God to you?  Is God just a heavenly grocery clerk, or a white haired banker, or a doctor who never sleeps?  God is the One Who spoke the universe into existence by just His Word.  May we praise God for His majesty today and may we be  quiet and listening to His Voice.

Faithfulness

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

     I have lead a lot of singing in my ministry over the years and one song we often sang was “Standing on the Promises.”  There were times on Sunday evening that we would stop after every verse and chorus and shout out one of the promises that was special to a member of the congregation.  Some of them that were mentioned were “Jesus is coming again,” “God will never leave us nor forsake us,”  “God would supply all of our needs.”  

     There are those times when we need to recall the promises that we find in God’s Word.  Life is filled with difficult times.  You find that out even more as you age and are not able to do what  you would like to do.  The promises that God makes are more sure and guarant eed by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the tomb.  Living in an assisted living facility marks you aware of the frailty of life as residents pass away.  There have been about seven who have passed away out of our total of fifty residents in less than a year.  God, however , is continually faithful to His family, to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Chrsit.  The Book of Lamentations is rightly named as it reflects the condition of Jerusalem and indeed all of Israel after the capture by King Nebuchadnezzar . The walls were knocked down, the temple was totally destroyed and ransacked of anything of value.  There was no food nor wate and the best of the people were taken to Babylon for a period of about seventy years.  Lamentations is filled with sorrow and tears, yet right in the middle of the five chapters, comes a sweet promise from God and that it is that He is faithful no matter what is going on in the lives of His children.  God is always faithful.  We have a song, “Great is they Faithfulness” that has its roots in this passage of scripture. We can thank God for His faithfulness, even when we are not faithful.  How many times to fail in this area, then come to God for forgiveness and then move on trying to be faithful in the commandments that He has given to us.  The holy men of God wrote under the inspirat ion of the Holy jSpirit, the Word of God which is often filled with “imperative” commands.  They are not suggestions, but rather exhortatons on h ow to live the Christian life.  You can spend your life in Ephesians, or Philippians, or Colossians or all of the epistles, maturing in your Christian life.  From the above passage, we know that God is faithful and so we should be endeavoring to be faithful also.  Praise God for His faithfulness.  May we endeavor to be more faithful everyday.

Good Words of Praise

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Psa,  100:1-5 says, “ Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations”

     I was probably about ten years old, riding in the back of the car  and for some reason, unknown to me, I said a cuss word that I had heard in school.  I didn’t think too much about it, but  you would have thought I had done the worst  possible thing in the whole world as my Mother reacted in such a way as if she was going to pass out by the casual use of my profanity.  We were driving to one of my aunts, which then got the full report of my misbehavior.  I was doomed to say the least.  I had to vow never to say that word again.

     I use social media, but not for much.  I use it for putting my devotions on line as it increases the spreading of the message farther than I could do on my own email.  I have acquaintances t hat  have become “friends and as a result, I see their “posts” on my page.  What is shocking about all of this is the use of profanity by so many people and some of the leaders of this type of foul language are women.  It seems as if foul language has become popular especially with this new generation.  It is no wonder that I find relief and peace in the reading of the Scriptures.  We need to be reminded that the Ten Commandments includes, not taking the Lord's name in vain.  That is perhaps one of the worst part of foul language and the one most used by even a casual person.  The above passage of Scripture has beautiful words that describe our worship of God.  It tells us how to do it if we have forgotten.  It reminds us of where we are when we pray.  It is a solemn reminder that everything we have is from God and not from Mother Nature or an idol made of gold, stone, wood or plastic.  I also like this Psalm because it  is appropriate for reading before your Thanksgiving dinner.”...Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise…”  Every day should be a day of thanksgiving from the moment we get up from bed to the moment we lay down again, and even our protection during the night.  Everything is of God and nothing is left to chance.  Remember to praise God for what He is doing in your life every day and every moment.  May your words always be sweet and lifting up those around you.

Jesus had a little lamb...

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 18:13-14 says, “ And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.  Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

     How much am I worth?  I remember in chemistry class in 1957 that I was t old my body cont ained about $1.87 worth of chemicals.  I think it is over five dollars now.  I was a music teacher during the VietNam war for nine years at the Navy School of Music.I taught bassoon, clrinet, saxophone and flute.  I am now sitting in a power chair that retqails for over seven thousand dollars.  My nurse informed me that the new bandage application is one hundred dollars a sheet.  The previous one was also about one hundred dollars a sheet and they went me nine sheets with 3 refills on the prescription.  I wasn’t the best sailor in the world bud just simply did what I was ordered to do and did it with a cheerful attitude.  AI didn’t have a lot of medals, only three, one of which is good conduct with one star on it for over eight years of being good.  I am 84 years old and the Veteran’s hospital is treting me like I was someone important.  Everyone at the hospital always says, “Thank you for your service.”  I am overwhelmed.:

     I may not be worth much here on earth, or at least I don’t think I am worth much, the Scriptures take a different approach.  The above narrative describes a Shepherd that  has a hundred sheep and one of them goes missing.  What does he do?  In some churches, if one member goes missing, they might say, “Oh, I still have 99 and maybe that other one is just wandering in the woods and he will come back sooner or later.  The Chief Shepherd never says that but goes out and searches for that one lost sheep even though he still has ninety-nine back in the flock.  Every lamb is important and every human being is even more important to God.  He is not willing that any one of them should perish and so is pleading time and time again t o each and everyone to be saved before it is too late.  Of all the animals in creation, God chose  to compare us to sheep.  We are not lions, or tigers, or panthers, or elephants.  No, we are compared to sheep and if you are a shepherd, you know why.  Sheep get cast down, they can’t fight, they are not aggressive, they have to be lead to a good pasture, they have to have their head anointed with oil to keep flies from burrowing in.  So how much are we worth? While our present body is worth but a few bucks in monetary standards, our souls are worth a lot more.  They are priceless and as Ecclesiastes twelve says, at death it goes back to God which gave it in the first place.  You are priceless so praise God today because you are valuable to Him.