29/07/06 21:15
Isn’t
knowledge a funny thing? In the beginning of this
year, I knew that there was something wrong with my
health, but I didn’t know what. This past week,
I found out what. Then I found out what I needed to
do in order to get healthy. And believe me, there is
some knowledge you just don’t need to hear.
I’m glad that I am finally aware of why I have
been feeling like I have been, but I’m not
happy knowing what I have to do in order to get
healthy. The doctors say I need a by-pass and this
means open heart surgery –not fun. I’ll
be going under the knife on Tuesday. I am reminded of
the times when I was little and got into trouble
while my dad was at work. My mom would say,
“Just wait until your father gets home, young
man.” That was knowledge that I didn’t
want to deal with. It would have been easier for me
if she would have just silently taken note of my
behavior and then when my father got home…
well you know what happened next. Some knowledge is
good to have, some is not. For instance, in this
life, we will have tribulation, every single one of
us. If this knowledge were given to us in our
childhood, it probably would have worked against most
of us. Think about it; what would you have felt if
your parents would have informed you of the troubles
of paying on a mortgage for most of the years of your
adult life? What would you have felt if they had told
you that having a good marriage took hard work? Or
that you would have to work all of your life, at
times not knowing if you would have a job the next
day? Some knowledge is kept from us and it is
actually a blessing that it is. For instance, no one
knows the day or hour that Jesus is coming back and
no one knows the day death knocks at your door. God
has kept this knowledge from us, for if we had that
knowledge it would harm us more than benefit us. God
withholds that knowledge because of His love for us.
Think about it; given our nature, if we knew the hour
of our death, or the time of His return, we probably
wouldn’t live as we do now. I must be honest
with myself; because of the weakness of my flesh, I
would probably try to get away with living for myself
and my pleasure for as long as I could. If I knew
that I was going to die on such and such a day, I
would probably live like the devil up to the day
before. God knows this is not good for me or anyone
else who lives with me. Back to the tribulations in
life, God knew that soon after childhood we would
find out about the troubles that come with living.
And so He also shared this knowledge with us:
“Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world.” God knew that we would soon realize
that we will die one day and so He told us that He is
the Resurrection and the Life… and he who
lives and believes on Him will never die. Now
that’s knowledge I can deal with!
22/07/06 21:50
In the
1st
chapter
of the Gospel of John, the Baptist pointed to Jesus
and said, “Behold the Lamb of
God…” When two of his disciples heard
him say this, they began to follow Jesus. Now Jesus
saw them and asked them what it was that they wanted.
“Lord’” they said. “Where do
you live?” Jesus said, “Come and
see.” Each of us, as born-again Christians must
follow Jesus and see where He lives. I realize that
the Bible says that He ascended on high and is at the
Right Hand of God, but if Jesus would have told those
two disciples even a tenth of what we know today,
they would have turned and ran as far and as fast as
they could to get away from Him. For you see, Jesus
is the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God and the Word was with God in the beginning.
Jesus, the Christ of God, is before all things and
transcends all things. Where does Jesus live?
Everywhere! But this isn’t my point, for the
Bible says that though Jesus, “Who, being in
very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing,
taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness. And being found in appearance as a
man”, he humbled Himself and became obedient
unto death –even death on a cross! Jesus, who
should have been
served by all
humanity, came to
serve all of
humanity! He told His disciples just as His Word also
tells us, “The greatest among you should be
like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one
who serves.” I saw a commercial the other day
for the Hummer 3 vehicle. It begins at a
child’s playground where the children of one
mother, pushes past a child of another mother. The
other mother speaks up and says that her child should
have gone first for he was next in line. But the
mother of the children who pushed themselves first
said, “Well, I guess we’re first.”
The camera is on the humiliated mother as she is
shown as she is thinking, “Well, I’ll be
first from now on.” The second part of the
commercial shows this humiliated mother now
triumphant, and more important –first! For she
purchased a Hummer and everybody knows that those who
drive Hummers –are first! One of the main
reasons I want Jesus to come back and rapture His
Church is so that we can escape Mefirst, USA. I am so
tired of Jim Gross, when Jim Gross puts Jim Gross and
what Jim Gross wants –first. Jim Gross wants
Jim Gross to be first and isn’t happy until Jim
Gross is first. Jim Gross knows that what Jim Gross
wants is best for Jim Gross and Jim Gross won’t
settle for any thing less than –Jim Gross. Are
you sick of hearing about Jim Gross? Good, now
replace Jim Gross with your own name and you be one
step closer to boarding the train out of Mefirst,
USA.
16/07/06 13:49
“When
you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you
will know that its desolation is
near...” Jesus
spoke these words to His disciples just prior to His
death and resurrection. It is a prophecy concerning
the last days of, not only the first century, but
also, of the end of the age. We are in that age right
now! Although no man knows the day or hour of
Jesus’ return, the apostle Paul gives us hope
within a warning that we should be alert and
self-controlled, for we are not of those who are in
darkness that this time should take us by surprise.
Beloved, I am not in any way setting a day or hour of
the return of Jesus Christ but I am saying that the
time is very near. As we have heard in the news these
last few days, the Middle East is becoming a war zone
of possible Biblical proportions. Coalition armies
are surrounding the area. We have troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan fighting already. Israel is fighting with
Hamas on its western border and Hezbollah on its
northern border. Rumor has it that Iran and Syria are
behind the instigation of the Hezbollah. Whatever the
case, the nation of Israel is being surrounded by
armies and this is exactly what Jesus said would
happen just before His return. This is not the
gathering of nations for Armageddon, I repeat; this
is not the gathering of nations for that final
conflict that ushers in the last millennium. Rather,
this is possibly the war spoken of by the prophet
Ezekiel in chapter 39. If this is true then it will
be the Antichrist that will bring peace (a false
peace) to the area for seven years. This seven years
correlates directly with the last seven years of the
gentile age known as the Great Tribulation. In the
last twenty years I truly believed that Jesus could
have come at any time to rapture His church into the
heavens to be with Him. I believe that this time,
where we are at geo-politically, technologically and
spiritually, the world is ready for the Antichrist
and the Church is ready for Jesus Christ! Beloved, we
should remember what Jesus warned when He
said, “Be
always on the watch and pray that you may be able to
escape all that is about to happen and that you may
be able to stand before the Son of
Man.” As we
watch God fulfill His Word we should also watch our
fellow man as well. We should watch our lives
closely, (1Tim.4:16)
and we
should also be watchmen on the walls
(Isaiah
52:8-10) of
history. “Listen!
Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they
shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they
will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of
joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord
has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of
the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.”
09/07/06 23:53
A friend
of mine and I were talking about the time her friend
was coming to visit her. She was telling me how she
was tearing around the house trying to get it clean
before her friend’s arrival. She was busy
dusting and polishing and just all around
straightening up when her husband asked her what she
thought she was doing. “Well, I’m
cleaning the house for our guest.” She replied
promptly. “I want it to look nice when she
comes.” To which her husband reminded her,
“What for? Our friend is blind!” A slight
blush came across her face when she realized that
what her husband had said made a lot of sense. I
thought the whole thing was rather cute and we had a
good laugh together. I asked her if I could use her
little incident for an anecdote or something and she
said that she didn’t mind at all. Often times
we find ourselves acting in a way that, if we would
have stopped and thought it out, we wouldn’t
have continued acting in that particular way. For
instance, how many of us get up each morning in a
rush, hoping that we will accomplish the things that
we need to do that day without first taking time to
spend with the Lord, sitting at His feet, waiting for
counsel or some wisdom to come forth from His lips
like mirth? Or, do we rush headlong into our chores
without any consideration of His will for us (for
that particular day)? Do you recall the time that
Martha invited the Lord to her house? When He came,
she was busy with all the preparations but her
sister, Mary, was sitting at Jesus’ feet
drinking in the words that sprang up from His heart.
Martha asked Jesus, “Don’t you care that
Mary has stuck me with all the chores?” And His
reply to her was, “Martha, you worry about too
much that you shouldn’t. Mary has chosen what
is best and it shall not be taken from her.” I
would like to bring this lesson into a modern
circumstance. Sunday mornings: do you spend more time
dressing yourselves up nicely with the make-up,
perfume, cologne and stuff than asking God to prepare
your heart for worship? Are you more concerned about
how you look
in the
sanctuary than how you act
in the
sanctuary? Don’t misunderstand, I am all for
dressing nicely for the Lord, but I never forget that
God looks on the heart rather than the outward
appearance of man. 1Sam.16:7 I believe that, as far
as my clothes are concerned, God is blind. But if in
my heart I say, “O, any old thing will do;
I’m just going to church.” Then I believe
that my clothing attire has become a heart problem
just like those who dress up to the tilt so everyone
will look at them, only from the other side of the
spectrum. If you would invite me to your house for a
dinner engagement, I certainly would try to dress
appropriately for you, that is called consideration.
Now, God has invited us to His house and I think that
He looks on how considerate we are rather than how
decked out we are. You see, it all boils down to
this; do our actions reflect a heart that knows that
God is not blind to our motivations and intentions?
Don’t we realize that nothing is hidden from
His sight, but that all things are laid out bare for
His judgment? Let us remember this one thing; God is
gracious beyond our comprehension and if I
didn’t have a pair of shoes to wear to church
–He would still accept me into His house with
love. But you can bet, that my feet are going to be
clean and my toenails clipped!
02/07/06 15:14
Do
you know what I think is really amazing? People! Yes,
I think that we are a pretty amazing bunch. From the
least of us to the greatest, we all have this certain
“area” that we shall forever govern for
ourselves. It is in this “area” that we
decide what we will believe is true and what we will
deem as false. This is our God given prerogative. But
because we are fallen and weak in our natural selves,
our prerogative is also fallen and weak. What is
meant by fallen is simply that when God created man,
he naturally trusted and obeyed God but then chose to
disobey or “fall”. Since man chose to
disobey God (and this was his prerogative) he fell
from the perfect Way of God and chose his own
perverted way. So, what does all this mean? It means
that even if I choose to believe something as being
right, it is possible that what I think is right
–could actually be wrong! Confused? Let me
illustrate this way: Let’s say I believe in God
(this is my prerogative) but I don’t believe in
the Christian doctrine of Jesus Christ (also my
prerogative). How can I know that what I’ve
chosen to believe is absolutely true? Or is this just
wishful thinking from my fallen nature and perverted
prerogative; being fooled about what I believe is
true? And because I have deceived myself into
thinking what I believe is true –who is there
to help me out of my deception? Sad to say, even
Christians can come under this kind of deception;
case in point, the acceptance of homosexual clergy
(or for that matter, homosexual behavior) within the
Christian world. The problem really isn’t the
practice of homosexuality within the Church. No, the
real problem lies within the first decision to
choose, with our God given right, a way other than
God’s Way. Our first parents did it and we are
still doing it today. God gave us freedom to choose,
this is our right. But we should make sure we are
using this prerogative in the freedom that
God’s Word gives and not in the self-deceiving
nature of our fallen thinking. Who is there to help
me out of my deception? Only He who is the Way. Only
He who is the Truth. Jesus said, “If you hold
to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you
will know the truth and the truth will set you
free…so if the Son sets you free, you will be
free indeed!” The end of the matter is this: I
don’t want to trust my decision making to
myself. My prerogative is to let God show me what is
right and true. I don’t want to rely on my
limited knowledge and experience but rather His
perfect Way.