So Homi, What's That Mean to Me?

Homiletics; a $64 word that means ascribing Biblical text, stories, and doctrine to our daily lives, and making them relevant.  It is something that pastors and preachers do, or attempt to do to help their listeners apply God's Holy Word to their every day lives.

Now you may ask, "how something written or said more than 2,000 years ago to farmers, fishermen, and common, mostly uneducated people can possibly apply to our highly sophisticated and technological lives today?"  And that is a good question.  But by prayerful study of the Bible and a little research about the writers and their audience,you can begin to see that things and people really haven't changed all that much.  And the principals laid out in those sermons and stories from so very long ago still apply today.

Some of us have been instructed by God to perform a task or speak to some lost soul, but find an excuse to avoid the mission we were called to.  Sounds a bit like Jonah!  Perhaps you were compelled to pick up and move to a place you have never been before, and wondered why.  Ever heard of Abram and Sari?  Or perhaps you find yourself in a situation that makes no sense; nothing seems to be working out the way you planned, or things just seem to be going all the wrong way.  Consider the stories of Job, or Joseph or Esther, and men like Daniel or even Jesus closest disciples.  What I am trying to point out is that if we try, we can find a Biblical example of our lives, and if we dig in and discover what God was doing then, we just might find the encouragement to persevere knowing that our Heavenly Father is working out His plan in our lives today just as He did back then.

So when you go to church this Sunday pay attention!  It is no accident that you are there at that time hearing that message.  There is something in it for you.  And don't just wait for the Sunday sermon to get your marching orders from your loving Heavenly Father.  Dig into your Bible, pray, and seek God's will for your life each and every day.  And do your own homiletics.  Who knows Homi!  You just might discover that God has some really big plans for you today.

Out of sync lately

I have recently changed to midnight shift and have bee trying to adjust and get back into the weekly routine, but it is tougher than I thought.  This has me back in church on Sunday and Wednesday night, which is the positive side of the change.  I hope to be back in the swing of things soon.  In the meantime, keep up the good fight, and keep your faith strong.  Stay in the Word daily and keep trusting God.  He has a plan that WILL be worked out in His time.

Bob

Jesus is Returning

What will you be doing when our Lord returns?  If you read the Bible there can be little doubt that His return could come at any time.  There are many schools of thought regarding the time of His return.  Will He return before the Great Tribulation, will it occur sometime during the Tribulation, or perhaps at the end of the Tribulation?  Will He really return at all?  What happens when He does return?  Questions, questions and more questions, and this is only an abbreviated list.  The one really important question question is are you ready, and what are you doing to take others with you? 

Many people are of the false assumption that just because they are nice people, and have lived a good life that they will go to Heaven someday.  But is that really the case?  The time of His return is not the issue.  Whether or not you have been a good person is not the issue.  What is at issue is whether or not YOU have accepted HIM as your Lord, and are you leading others to Him.  You may say "But I go to church every Sunday, and I don't do bad things.  Mom and Dad and my grandparents taught me right from wrong, and I work hard and provide for my family.  I, therefore, am a good person so why would I not go to Heaven someday?"  The Bible is very clear that there is only one way to Heaven - acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The New Testament scriptures are replete with admonitions and warnings that there is but one way to Heaven - Jesus.  There are also clues in the Old Testament revealing that some day things are going to change, and only the faithful will be saved.  Now I make it a habit to read a chapter of Proverbs every day.  This morning I was reading Proverbs 2 and in verses 10 through 22 lies a promise to those who are faithful: 

¹⁰ When wisdom enters your heart,
      And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
       ¹¹ Discretion will preserve you;
      Understanding will keep you,
       ¹² To deliver you from the way of evil,
      From the man who speaks perverse things,
       ¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness
      To walk in the ways of darkness;
       ¹⁴ Who rejoice in doing evil,
      And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
       ¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked,
      And who are devious in their paths;
       ¹⁶ To deliver you from the immoral woman,
      From the seductress who flatters with her words,
       ¹⁷ Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
      And forgets the covenant of her God.
       ¹⁸ For her house leads down to death,
      And her paths to the dead;
       ¹⁹ None who go to her return,
      Nor do they regain the paths of life—
       ²⁰ So you may walk in the way of goodness,
      And keep to the paths of righteousness.
       ²¹ For the upright will dwell in the land,
      And the blameless will remain in it;
       ²² But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
      And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.

As I read this I realized that herein lies a promise of things to come.  Read it again carefully: verse 1 "When wisdom enters your heart..."  Elsewhere we are told that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  The immoral woman mentioned in verse 16 is reference to temptation, and a warning about going down that path.  The  promise begins in verse 21 telling us that the "...the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it."

Yes, Jesus is returning to gather His faithful followers.  Those who are blameless and upright.  Those who are doing His will.  So where are you now in your spiritual walk?  Are you among the upright and blameless and faithful?  Or are you among the wicked and unfaithful?  Jesus told Thomas in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

So what will you be doing when He returns?  His commission to us is a relatively simple thing: "...go and make disciples."  Are you going?  Are you making disciples?  If not, today would be a great day to start.  This just could be the Day! 

Have a blessed week.

God's Feminine Side

I have made a habit of reading one chapter of Proverbs every day.  Since there are 31 chapters of Proverbs, I can read the entire book 12 times in a year by reading the remaining chapters on the last day of the shorter months.  Anyway, after having done this for a little more than a year now I have discovered that God the Father reveals His feminine attributes in this often puzzling book.  The first nine chapters in particular repeatedly refer to Wisdom in the feminine gender.  In chapter one verse 20 Wisdom is referred to as “she” and this pattern continues throughout the first nine chapters.  “Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares, She cries out in the chief concourses…She speaks her words…” and on and on it goes.  Now I can be a little slow on the uptake, and this slipped by me for quite some time before I began to notice, and realize that the Scriptures are revealing something special about our Father in these chapters.  Even though the references to Wisdom as “she” and “her” diminish here and there, the inference remains throughout the first several chapters.

 

I particularly love chapters eight and nine; and verses 22-36 of chapter eight just highlight and confirm my thesis that God the Father has revealed His feminine tenderness and care in this passage.  Wisdom has been a part of God from the very beginning of creation.  Chapter 8:22 says of Wisdom “The Lord possessed me (wisdom) at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.”  That's a long time, and it sounds to me like "She - Wisdom" has always been there as a part of God's being.

 

This has caused me to wonder about how seriously we men consider the advice of our wives.  I know that I have too often opted to follow my own instincts rather than the advice of my wife only to discover that she was right all along, and if I had just listened to her “wisdom” I would have been much better off.  Do you suppose there could have been something more in that rib God removed from Adam’s side?  Perhaps it was more, much more than just flesh and bone.  Perhaps the wisdom of a man was contained in that tiny transplanted piece of our anatomy – that would give a whole new meaning to the phrase in Genesis 2:18 when God said “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”  It seems to me that we should reconsider the meaning of the passage in First Corinthians 3:18-20 which says: “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness…”

Now I want you to know that I publish this message with some hesitation knowing that my wife will be reading it.  But I believe it is wise for all of us to search the scriptures carefully to find application for our individual lives, and to take more seriously the advice of our mates.  God has put us together for a reason.  So why short-change ourselves by not working together as one, combining our gifts, opinions, and yes our wisdom to reach the goal that our Heavenly Father has ordained for us.  So don't be a wise guy!  When you go home tonight, try sitting down with your wife and say “Honey, what do you think about…?”  Then listen carefully!

Have a blessed week.

It's All About Relationships

Have you ever read Proverbs 18 - slowly - verse by verse and listened carefully to what is being said by the writer?  The underlying theme of this chapter as I see it is relationships.  Verse one states " A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgement."  and the final verse - verse 24 ends with "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

Intermingled throughout the entire chapter you will find little golden nuggets of truth that will help you build strong relationships with God and with people.  Words like understanding, and humility.  Warnings about slothfulness and contention.  Encouragement about the righteous running to God (our strong tower).  How haughtiness brings about destruction, but humility brings honor.  How speaking out before you know the facts is folly and brings shame.  Think about what these verses are saying.  We are to acquire knowledge and understanding and put our God given gifts to work.  Avoid being offended, and do not allow contentions to have a place in our lives.  Be careful what you say because "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."  Verse 22 says "He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord."  These are all indicators of relationships, strong or otherwise!  God is interested in our relationships.  He created us to need and have relationships.  Good relationships with each other and with Him - especially with Him!

Verse 14 says "The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?"  What is more heart-breaking than a broken relationship?  When a relationship is broken, I believe our spirit is forever affected.  It pains me to witness families disintegrate at the loss of a loved one, and the battles afterward that break out all too often over who did or did not help when they could have; or when arguments erupt over who gets the trinkets that the loved one left behind.  My heart aches for couples in the throes of divorce, and the children caught up in events that they neither caused nor have control over.  And when old friends part company over a silly disagreement.  The saddest of all broken relationships are the ones that never were because an unborn child has been aborted because it was unwanted or inconvenient.  This is not what our Lord wants for us!

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandments were, Jesus replied "The foremost is, hear O Israel!  The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength' the second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  This simple reply from our Lord is the essence of relationships.  And if you recall the proverb of the Good Samaritan, Jesus told us essentially that everyone is our neighbor.
So my challenge this week is a simple one.  Prayerfully read Proverbs 18, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to evaluate your relationships.  Then do your best to strengthen each and every one.  Have a blessed week.

 

Does God Work in a Factory?

So often we Christians think the only place a person can get saved is at an altar in a church with the pastor leading the way.  We have grown accustomed to inspiring sermons followed by an altar call for lost souls to come forward to receive salvation.  The pastor then comes and leads that lost soul in a prayer of faith, and viola, the angels in Heaven break out in celebration because another soul has entered the kingdom.  Sound familiar?  It happens in churches (I would like to say all the time but I know better) sometimes; occasionally; not as often as it should, and all to often it ends up being an emotional response to a heart-stirring message, and without the necessary baptism and discipleship, that freshly renewed soul soon drifts back into their former lifestyle.

But is that the only place where a lost soul can receive Jesus as Lord?  Nope, uh-uh, nyet, nah, NO!  Our Lord is anywhere and everywhere - omnipresent.  He knows everything and everyone - omniscient.  And He is not limited by any power or force - omnipotent.  So can He work in a factory?  He sure can; and any other place He chooses - or better yet, anywhere and anytime anyone is ready to accept Him as Lord.

I recently had an opportunity to be His witness in a factory environment.  While working beside a young man at our our workstation, in a noisy, smelly factory, doing a hard and dirty job the Holy Spirit was right there with us. It was as simple as asking him a few questions about what he did in his free time, and he began to tell me about what he did and what he believed.  He told me about his dabbling in Buddhism which opened the door for me to tell him about the one and only true God.  As we continued to talk he said that he had been raised in a mainstream protestant denomination and had been baptized, but had drifted away.  To make a long story short, he decided right then and there to recommit his life to Jesus.  I asked him if he owned a Bible, but he did not, so I offered to bring him a Bible the next day, and he accepted.  When I gave him the Bible I told him to read the books of Luke, Acts and Romans, and write down every question he had so we could discuss them. I had already put bookmarks in the Bible so it would be easy for him to find.  Now we are working together toward the goal of making him a disciple, and I believe a fresh baptism not just in water, but in the Holy Spirit as well.

Does God work in a factory?  He sure does!   And I know one young man that is excited to know that He can and does work anywhere.  How about where you work?  Have you allowed God to use you as His witness at work, or school, or wherever you happen to be?  You just have to be ready when the Holy Spirit provides the opportunity.  That's what the Great Commission is all about.  Taking the faith we have with us wherever we go and being willing to live righteously and speak up when the time is right.

In John 4:35 Jesus said "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"  And in Matthew 28:19 He said "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

So my challenge for you this week - Go!  And be prepared wherever you are.

Peacemaker or Peacebreaker?

Peacemaker.  This is a term used to define many things.  It has been a weapon - the Colt 45 Peacemaker - the gun that tamed the wild west.  It has been a super hero comic series in the 1960's pitting good against evil.  There was a movie titled "The Peacemaker" which had George Clooney, as a U.S.Army Colonel working against a band of terrorists to thwart a nuclear attack on New York City.  There is even a cartoon character - Globeman, a.k.a. "The Peacemaker" who is the mascot for an environmental group - who has a little blue body and a big blue head that looks like a globe, and is holding two green leaves in his misshapen hand.  And there are several others, but they all share one common theme -  they stand up for good and battle against evil in its varied forms from wicked villains, to terrorists, to polluters and the list goes on.

Jesus also mentioned "peacemakers" in His famous sermon on the mount in Matthew 5.  He said "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God".  I wonder, how many of us strive to be such peacemakers.  It seems like we hear daily of "peace-breakers"; those who seemingly go out of their way to wreak havoc in our society and our churches and around the world.  Surely they are sons of someone too, but I don't think they would qualify to be called sons of God.  Whose son's do you suppose they might be?  I won't dare to speculate.

We seem to  hear all too often about "peace-breakers" in the church.  Those who are easily dissatisfied, disgruntled, disenchanted, and dare I say dis-involved.  Doesn't it seem that those who sit on the sidelines and evaluate rather than participate find it so easy to frustrate and discombobulate what God is working out in the life of His church?  I wonder sometimes if we had more participants than spectators in God's house if we wouldn't also have more peacemakers - sons and daughters of God.  There is an old saying, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop".  What if we all got involved in doing His will?  What if we were all producers rather than consumers?  Wow!  What a concept!  People involved in ministry, reaching the lost, and restoring peace and honor to the house of God rather than spectating, frustrating criticizing and consuming the time and efforts of those who are trying to do His will.

My challenge to you this week is this.  Seek to be a peacemaker!  Come alongside your pastor and the leaders in your church and become a super hero for them - get out there and fight off the bad guys for them and give the pastors and church leaders God has provided the freedom to focus on leading the church rather than fighting every battle that comes along.  Go and start making disciples rather than making trouble.  Do your all to live peaceably with one another.  Rather than drawing a line in the sand or saying "it's my way or the highway", get on the bus, find your seat and enjoy the ride.  God has a very special destination in store for for His sons and daughters; those who are peacemakers, and I pray that everyone of you will make it There with me.

Have yourself a blessed week you little peacemaker you!

Missing in Action

  As Christians we are all a part of God's Army.  Every soldier has a specific duty to perform (check out Romans chapter 12), and when that job doesn't get done another has to step up and do it along with his job, or several others have to pitch in to share the workload - either way the job will get done. God has a plan, and that plan will go forward with or without the missing in action.  Those missing in action will have to answer for their absence.  I spent a little time in the army, and the term for the no shows really is A.W.O.L. - I know that, but missing in action sounds better in my story - so you will just have to deal with it!  Sorry!

Anyway, God has big plans for all of us, and His rewards are better than anything you or I could ever imagine.  Have you been Missing in Action?  You still have time to report for duty.  Give your pastor a call this week and let him know you are ready to report for duty.  Be prepared for a long pause - he has just passed out and will  need a little time to recover - but hold on because he will be back on the phone as soon as he recovers.  Then just tell him what you are able to do.  I can assure you that he will find a job that fits you to a tee, and if it isn't a  perfect fit, no big deal, there is some other soldier Missing in Action whose place you can help fill until you find your fit.

So sign up, sign on, sign in, whatever it takes, just don't get left out of the action.  Oh, and don't forget to be in church on Sunday - that where we all get our basic training.  God bless, and have a great week

The Forrest Gump Church

Have you ever been to a Forrest Gump church?  It's one of those churches where you never know what to expect.  Where the theology of the church seems to shift with whichever way the wind is blowing on a particular Sunday, and the doctrine tends to change as about often as the "Preacher" changes his shirt.  Often the "Preacher" steps up to the pulpit, flops open the Bible and begins to preach from whatever catches his eye, and then proceeds to cover everything from Genesis 1:1 through maps (if his Bible has them), and then ends every service with a fiery altar call to scare everyone in the house to come to the altar for salvation (for the umpteenth time), and get saved one more time.  And many times people do just that.  It can be a pretty confusing place for a lot of well intentioned people that just have not taken the time to read and study their Bible.  I call that "The Forrest Gump Church."

If you have seen the movie "Forrest Gump" you probably remember him saying "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."  There are many such churches out there that operate much like I have described.  They have no stated doctrine, no sound theology, and most often no accountability.  As a result people never know what they're gonna get.

Paul advised Timothy "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2Timothy 2:15 NIV).  As followers of Christ we to should all heed that advice, and not just do as the "Preacher" says, but read and study our Bible daily to protect ourselves from coming under unsound doctrine and false teaching.  We sure don't want to stand before God on that Day of Judgment and say "But Forrest said . . ."

Are you in control or under control?

Many times we like to think we have control of our situations, but do we really?  Control is a complicated issue.  The one in control always has to know what is going on, not just in his or her life, but also in the lives of every other person they know, and all the people those people know, etc. etc. etc.  So do you really think you are in control - of anything?  There may be times in our lives when we are responsible for things, or even other people.  We might even be in charge of things at times; like a study group, or a picnic, or a special project that the boss has entrusted to you alone.  But are you really in control?

Control belongs to one, and one only!  That would be God.  Proverbs 21:1 says "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes", and Proverbs 20:24 says that "a man's steps are of the Lord; how then can man understand his own way?"

So whenever you are in "charge" of anything, be sure to remember to remain under God's control.  He will guide you in whatever endeavor you pursue as long as you put your trust in Him.  So strive to be like faithful Abraham and trust in the Lord your God.  He will never lead you astray.