Two Gifts from God

Sometimes when we are suffering (for whatever the reason) we wonder… why would God let these things happen to me? For some people it may be just a thought that crosses the mind but for others it can be a deal breaker. They cannot fathom that God would let them suffer therefore they lose their faith in him.

Consider Philippians 1:27-29…

“Let your life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ… because to you it has been granted… not only to believe on Christ but also to suffer on his behalf”

Understand this… we are granted or gifted two things… to believe on him and to suffer for him. Suffering can take many forms. Minimally it can be that someone doesn’t like you and they might not invite you to their birthday party.

On the other end of it someone may kill you for your faith. Maybe a shooter that invades a congregation or a Muslim who thinks that he is serving his rendition of God to kill you.

Whatever you are suffering don’t despair and question God but be happy and take great joy and thank God knowing that you will receive a great reward.

That behavior goes contrary to everything that humanity understands. It is bewildering to them but is a great light that testifies to earthly and heavenly beings the magnificent wisdom of God.

God gives us two gifts… belief and suffering. Open those gifts and treasure them.

Pots and Pottery

When Julie and I were in Ireland this past summer we visited the Beleek pottery factory. The process started with a batch of clay and along the way craftsmen would each do something different to the clay until at the end you had a beautiful vase or figurine.

The church is kind of like a pottery factory. The newly baptized Christian is taken like a lump of clay and molded into a vessel. All the imperfections in the clay are removed and beautiful accoutrements are added. A glazing takes place and an artist paints beautiful decorations on it. Finally the finished piece is placed in a place of honor so as guests enter God’s throne room they can marvel at its beauty.

The reality is you can choose what kind of pottery you want to be. You can dedicate yourself to the study and implementation of God’s word. You can place yourself in the care of a local congregation whose members and Elders can assist you and you can pray to God to do his part.

Where do you want to be, on God’s fireplace mantel or hidden in some dark closet?

Two Jailbirds

There were two notable men of God in the Bible who spent some time in prison… Joseph and Paul.

They were both put in prison on false charges. Joseph (from the Old Testament) was imprisoned because his master’s wife said some false things about him and Paul (from the New Testament) was put in prison because some Jews made some false claims about him.

Both prospered in prison. Joseph was put in a position of being in charge of all the other prisoners. Paul was so trustworthy that he was placed under house arrest in Rome under a Roman guard and could receive guests to teach the Gospel without fear from Jewish persecution. Imagine what that Roman guard must have seen… the sick cured, demons exorcized and the Gospel taught. I would bet anything you wanted that he became a Christian.

Eventually Joseph was granted an audience with Pharaoh the King of Egypt and became second in command. His heirs (with God’s help) would bring the Egyptian empire to its knees.

So too Paul… He was granted an audience with Caesar the King of the Roman Empire and testified about Jesus Christ. Eventually Rome would be brought to her knees and would reject polytheism for the worship of the one true God.

All this brought about by God who arranged to have Joseph and Paul placed in prison. You see God’s greatest work is accomplished through the hands of men who are meek and humble. There are a few learning points in this…

- Don’t despise and pre-judge those who are or who have been in prison. They may be agents of God who are planting the seeds for world change.

- You may find yourself in a low spot in life. Don’t despair and wallow in self-pity. Don’t complain (No one likes to listen to complainers anyway) to anyone who will listen that you’re really innocent. Keep your mouth shut and just do the best you can and allow God time to elevate you.

God loves humble people… choose to be humble.

Joseph the Dreamer

When Joseph was 17 years old God communicated with him through a couple of dreams. The only problem was that God didn’t tell him what the dreams meant. One dream was an agricultural dream about “sheaves” bowing down to him. The other was a celestial dream about the Sun, Moon and 11 Stars bowing down to him.

Throughout his life he never forgot those dreams… when he was sold as a slave he remembered them, when he was thrown in an Egyptian prison he remembered and when he was elevated into Pharaoh’s house-hold he remembered.

At some point God quit communicating to Joseph in dreams (at least we have no record of that) and began interpreting the dreams of others. In the Egyptian prison he correctly interpreted the dreams of two fellow prisoners and started his reputation.

When Joseph was 30 years old he was called into Pharaohs presence to interpret his dreams and with the interpretation was made second in command of all Egypt.

Eventually we come full circle to Joseph’s dreams from when he was 17 years old. His brothers come to Egypt to buy grain because of the great famine. Genesis 42:9 says… “He remembered the dreams.” The “sheaves” and the “Sun/moon/stars” bowing down to him were his own family paying homage to him.

Hebrews 1:1-2, states that in old times God communicated to his people in different ways (including dreams) but in our times communicates to us through Jesus Christ.

We, like Joseph, may not fully understand everything about God and what he expects of us but if we will follow His simple truths about faith, hope and love all will be well with us.

Joseph had a lot of misfortunes in his life but held on to the message God sent him in his dreams and all turned out very well for him.

Sometimes the road might be a little rough for us and might take a few turns we hadn’t anticipated. We might begin to question our faith and wonder where in the world is God when I need him the most?

Remember Joseph and keep your faith in God and one day you’ll look back at your path just like Joseph did and see God was with you the whole time.

Paul's Prayer for the Philippians

Philippians 1:3-11 contains Paul’s prayer on behalf of the Christians in Philippi. It consists of 199 words but the crux of the message is stated in 36 words… “That he who began a good work in you will perfect it unto the Day of Jesus Christ…” (1:6)

“that you may be sincere and void of offense unto the Day of Jesus Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness.” (1:10-11) Both phrases are connected with the “Day of Jesus Christ” and are therefore related to each other.

In the prayer Paul also gives instruction on how to be "sincere and void of offense"… namely by the growth of their love that is based not upon feelings but upon “Knowledge and understanding” so that they can recognize the “things that are excellent”.

In the rest of the letter Paul is going to illustrate for them those things that are excellent.

Sometimes it’s a good exercise to restate things in your own words. Let me take a stab at that.

I pray that as you start your Christian life that you will study to increase your knowledge and understanding so that you can see clearly the things you need to do. Namely, that you rid yourself of every sin in your life and replace it with works of service to others and then you can stand tall on the Day of our Lord.

Lessons From Coats

Joseph had two coats that were very significant in his life.

The first was a very distinctive coat that his father gave him. His brothers knew their father loved Joseph more than them and every time they looked at Joseph wearing that coat they were reminded of it. Finally they could take no more and sold Joseph to some slave traders and took his beloved coat and doctored it with blood and rents and presented it to their father Jacob. Jacob looked at it and concluded the worst… some wild animal had killed and devoured his beloved son.

The second coat was given to him when he served as a slave to the Egyptian Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife made aggressive sexual advances to Joseph and when he was trying to get away she grabbed his coat to hold him back and he slipped out of it and got out.

Later she told her husband… your Jewish slave raped me and I cried for help and he ran away… here is the coat he left. Of course Potiphar saw the evidence, believed the story and had Joseph thrown in jail.

Note this… both Jacob and Potiphar were presented evidence and a contrived story and they believed it. They trusted the story tellers and failed to examine their motives.

I personally have been told by believable people that others, whom I also have trusted, have said bad things about me (in confidence). What do you do with information like that?

As for me… I did nothing. In one case I refused to believe it because I knew the character of the accused individual. In the other case I accepted that it might be true but decided it wasn’t worth pursuing. I didn’t let it affect our relationship. I just pretended it never happened and kept being me.

Jacob lost a beloved son (for a period of time) but found him again.

Potiphar lost a servant (forever) who had made him rich and that servant went on to make the King of Egypt rich.

I guess the lesson of the Two Coats is that you can’t believe everything you see and you can’t believe everything you hear. The Two Coats also teaches that there are people out there who are evil schemers trying to separate loved ones.

Carefully consider what you see and what you are told and who is telling it so you don’t suffer the same kinds of loss.

Team Caiaphas/Herod/PontiusPilate/Satan

Last week in Bible class the question was asked… “could Jesus have forgiven Judas Iscariot?”

Interesting question but before we can answer a question like that we must consider the question… “Are there any sins that cannot be forgiven?” Certainly the answer to that question is yes there are.

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29)

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” (1 John 5:16)

So Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable and there is a Sin unto Death that we are cautioned not to pray for.

Next we should consider exactly what sin Judas was guilty of. Of course we know that he identified Jesus to the Jewish officials but was that really so bad? Well yes… it was very bad.

Judas knew that the Jewish officials were trying to kill Jesus. By selling Jesus out he was complicit and even responsible for the murder of Jesus Christ. He rejected Jesus as Lord and savior in spite of all the spectacular evidence that he intimately witnessed and joined Team Caiaphas/Herod/Pontius Pilate/Satan.

Judas therefore was guilty of the sin of blaspheming and rejecting deity in the form of Jesus Christ.

Could Jesus have forgiven Judas? No he could not or he would make himself a liar by violating his own revealed word.

Of Premises and Practices

There are many Bible beliefs and practices that are based upon human conceived premises.

The one I want to address is the idea that “God will not violate our freewill”. By the way I could not find any scripture that states or infers this and google could not either.

Here are some questions to consider…

Can Satan violate freewill? Obviously yes. Satan empowered his demons to possess and manipulate the speech and actions of his human victims. Would God allow Satan to do something that he himself would not do?

Did God violate man’s freewill when he told his prophets or tongue speakers to say things that sometimes they didn’t even sometimes understand?

Did God take away Balaam’s donkey’s freewill when he caused the donkey to speak and reason with Balaam?

A plain and clear statement found in the Bible is that “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” Seems pretty simple right? Sometimes Pharaoh hardened his own heart and sometimes God did. However, if we are married to the premise that “God cannot violate anyone’s freewill” (not found in the scriptures) then to make this passage fit that premise we have to massage it a little bit and explain away how God might have done this without really doing it.

A similar thing would be the question… “Did Judas have a choice?” Could he have changed his mind about the betrayal? I think not.

In Romans 9:21-22…

“Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?”

In my opinion God (as a potter) prepared special pots (Pharaoh and Judas) to accomplish his purpose. What if men like Pharaoh and Judas were already condemned (because of their own actions) and destined for the fires of Hell and God merely used them for his purposes before they reached their final destination?

Thanks for thinking with me.

Oh The Things We May Do

In my middle school Bible class today the topic was “How involved are you in the work in your congregation?” One of the students on a scale from 1-10 gave herself an 8 the others were at 6. A scenario was painted in the lesson book about a Christian who was depressed because he couldn’t lead songs, preach, or teach classes.

In my opinion, as important as those things are, they just represent the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). You can excel in those areas and yet be a failure as a congregation. Here are a few things that I have observed our members being active in that might inspire you.

- Sending cards. It’s nice to get a random unexpected card in the mail. Julie used to send a card out for everyone’s birthday in the congregation (now she does other things). We had an older member who is in a racial minority who hadn’t attended in a while. We sent a card that everyone in the congregation signed. He came back and told me… I didn’t know that many people cared about me. A terminally ill neighbor asked me to do her funeral (which I had never done before). In the audience was some bigwig from the newspaper. He sent me a card (which I still have) that was very complimentary.

- Visiting members. Several of our women go visit on a regular basis. Just today John and Nelda went to visit sister Carrizalez. Marc drops in one people on a regular basis.

- Being friendly. Especially to visitors. I have had several visitors tell me that parkway is the friendliest congregation they have ever visited. Gospel Meeting Preachers tell me that they are encouraged by Parkway’s friendliness. They say that it is discouraging when five minutes after the closing prayer everyone has left and they are locking up the building.

- Prayers. Praying is incredibly important especially when praying for others.

- Encouragement. Always find some way to encourage others… don’t withhold encouragement. Many, many, years ago I gave a talk on a Wednesday night and sister Edna Osborne came up to me and said… you’re going to make a wonderful Elder one day. I’ve never forgotten that.

- Attendance can be encouraging. I’ve had many times when I didn’t feel like going to services but did anyway thinking… I’m feeling bad but I can feel bad at services as easily as I can at home.

- Being prepared for Bible class and participating in the discussion.

- Communion prep. I told the kids they can tell their parents… I want to be more involved and signed us up for communion preparation.

- Building Maintenance. Several of the older men meet at the building and work.

- You can give money or gifts. Sometimes it’s nice to receive a gift (unexpectedly). You might do that for a Bible class teacher, the preacher or just anyone. Larry White is stationed in Washington DC for 120 days and Josh and Tiffaney contacted a few people about financing air plane tickets so he could visit his family more. Boom! Widows need a little help from time to time but will not ask for it. Do something.

- Holiday Baskets. Amy and others every year prepare Holiday baskets for our shut ins and others. Members contribute and some like Jeanne Conway and Marie Edmonds knit and sew.

- Marc mentioned in his lesson this morning that one of the members makes quilts for the shut ins and made one for him too. I have no idea who that is.

- We have these social groups that have been working very well. Dru had the idea, got the OK and followed through with it.

- I never had heard of “meal trains” but it’s some kind on internet things where you can sign up to provide meals for our families in need. Jessica excels in this.

- Members donate services and other things. Doc (our retired Chiropractor) adjusts people for free at the building. Glenn shares the fish he catches with members, the Cargile’s slaughtered some steers recently and brought meat to the building. Others bring citrus, books, clothing, etc.

- Sharing information. This is like the nervous system of the church body. We have a private Facebook members page where all sorts of info. and needs are shared.

- Arlie Cooksey and the Turners arrange spring and fall picnics at the “Arlie park”.

- The Cargiles have their annual Hayride/cookout/activity every year.

- Antia (on her own) started working with the young men on presenting “talks” on our Wednesday special service once a month.

- I send out email once a week and have three email lists: members, former members and others.

- Several years ago I started a blog and started writing articles. That blog has had over 60,000 views from all over the world. I have people who email me that I don’t even know who tell me how much they appreciate it. If you visit in Russia and say… you don’t happen to know Rob Perkins do you? You might be surprised. Lol! I never expected that when I started the thing.

Thes are just the things I know of. Cast your bread on the waters. Give a little effort and you might be surprised how the Lord transforms you and transforms the congregation.

Weevils and Sin

Most of those familiar with the cotton industry are also familiar with the Boll Weevil. The Boll Weevil is an insect that feeds on cotton bolls and can devastate a cotton crop. The Weevil entered the US from Mexico about 1892 and by the year 1920 had devastated cotton crops all over the USA.

In fact the Boll Weevils decimation of crops in the south was the primary reason for poor farmers leaving their lands and moving to northern cities.

Today Boll Weevils have been eradicated in nearly all of the USA and it happened in large part because of understanding the life cycle of the Boll Weevil.

There are three main elements in the eradication of the Boll Weevil…

- Plowing of the fields after harvest to reduce habitat for the weevil.

- Selective and planned herbicide use

- Reduction of Weevil populations by Pheromone baited traps.

The Boll Weevil kind of reminds me of sin in God’s cotton field. Sin, uncontrolled and rampant, can ruin God’s harvest of souls. What to do… oh what to do?

- First of all God gave us Jesus Christ to save us from our own sins. His all-powerful blood is like the strongest of insecticides to totally eliminate the impact of sin in our lives.

- Then God identified the life cycle of sin. So we could see clearly how it occurs. James 1:14,

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”

- And then God gave us the courage to conquer and eradicate sin. 1 Cor. 10:13,

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it”

I hope when God sends his harvesters and they come to our Parkway congregation that they step back and say…

“whew… would you look at all that cotton. This congregation understood the seriousness of sin and the great price that was paid for it. They understood the pathogenesis of sin and had faith in God’s promise that they didn’t have to sin and the results speak for themselves… boys let’s start picking... the master is going to be happy today”

Little Big Sin

Luke 7:36-50 tells the story of a Pharisee (Simon) who invited Jesus into his home for a meal. Pharisees of course were a class of Jews who were super righteous. They interpreted the Law of Moses in a very strict way and were spiritually arrogant in their faith.

Simon didn’t just invite anyone in to his home. He certainly wouldn’t invite someone who might bring dishonor into his home like a Gentile or a Jew (who might be a hated Tax Collector working for the Romans) or an unclean leper or perhaps even worse… a prostitute.

Also Simon probably expected something in return… a favor by Jesus, maybe some miracle or anything like that which would bring honor to his house.

When Simon invited Jesus into his home he neglected something. He didn’t give Jesus water to wash his feet, he didn’t greet him with affection and he didn’t anoint Jesus’ head with any aromatic oils. These things may not be our custom today but they were back then and Jesus noticed the lack of hospitality and said nothing.

Simon is delighted to host Jesus and then a woman who was a known sinner walked into his house. Keep in mind that the city of Nain was a small town and in small towns everyone knows everyone else. This woman was probably guilty of some sexual sin, perhaps a prostitute and as such would not even be allowed in the Synagogue which was the social/religious center of every town. Her name is not given, but let’s call her Rachel… Rachel the prostitute.

Rachel knew who she was and that she would not be welcomed in Simon’s home. Rachel, probably with great temerity, entered Simon’s home. She didn’t intend to eat but just wanted to honor Jesus with an aromatic ointment.

And as she entered she started crying. When she was a little girl she never dreamed of being a prostitute. Perhaps circumstance had forced her into that occupation but she hated it and she hated herself every time a Jew made a wide berth around her on the sidewalk or when the whole village (except her and others like her) were gathered together in the synagogue... and she cried. She noticed Jesus’ feet were dirty so she washed Jesus’ feet with the only thing she had… her tears and dried his feet with the only thing she had… her hair. She kissed his feet and anointed them with the aromatic oil.

Simon sees in this scene the attention he deserved being directed on Rachel and as a true product of his religious upbringing mentally condemned Jesus for allowing Rachel the prostitute to even touch him.

Jesus of course could read minds but you didn’t really need that unique gift to figure out what was going on in Simon’s head and then Jesus identified for Simon and Rachel that there were two sinners in the room… Simon who was inhospitable and of course Rachel.

Sometimes we get so busy looking at others and the sin that rules their lives that we fail to look inwardly and see the sin that we own which is by comparisons sake small but which Jesus still holds us accountable for.

Sometimes because all we can see is the sin of others, we think we are better than them and treat them accordingly and compound our sin.

Jesus said that Rachel’s “faith” had save her because she “loved much” in understanding who she was and in honoring the one who could lift her out of the mess she had made of her life.

Rachel risked the wrath of Simon the Pharisee to reach out to the only hope that she had to reverse the course of her life. Simon was so blinded by Rachel’s great sin that he couldn’t see that he too was a sinner. Let’s open our eyes and see who we are and reach out to Jesus Christ.

Slaves and Slave Owners

The letter to Philemon is about a runaway slave named Onesimus who was owned by Philemon and somehow made it to Rome where the Apostle Paul was imprisoned by the Roman government awaiting trial.

Somewhere along the way Onesimus hears about Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian and a friend and helper of Paul.

This makes me wonder a few things… Paul could have asked/demanded that Philemon free the slave Onesimus or he could have offered to purchase Onesminus or he could have asked Philemon to loan Onesimus to him. Instead he sends Onesimus back to Philemon.

My guess is that if he had done any of these things (besides sending Onesimus back)that Philemon could have felt that he was being taken advantage of. After all Philemon could have had a significant investment in Onesimus especially if Onesimus had a particularly valuable skill set. It might have been, as Paul alluded to, that the slave Onesimus might have stolen from Philemon. All these things have to be considered as possibilities.

So Paul was very careful about how he handled this situation… after all it could have turned out to have a negative impact on the Kingdom. Paul’s handling of this situation demonstrated skill and concern about all parties involved. By sending Onesimus back, Paul demonstrated both Philemon’s legal right to Onesimus and Onesimus’ legal obligation to Philemon. So Paul was acting in a way that dealt honorably with the Law.

It was almost a certainty that Philemon would act honorably towards Onesimus and perhaps even free him. Paul in his writing to Philemon in an understated way reminded Philemon of his obligations to Paul. Presumably Paul converted Philemon to Jesus Christ and perhaps as an Apostle laid hands upon him and imparted some spiritual gift. Philemon was under a tremendous spiritual debt to Paul.

The bottom line is that Paul demonstrated great skill and consideration so that the Kingdom could be elevated and not diminished. What a great lesson… can we do any less?

The Collection on Sundays

“Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem.” Romans 15:25

This passage references a special collection taken from Greek Churches to render aid to the church in Jerusalem whose members were suffering from a lack of basic necessities. This passage is also used as authority to limit the collection taken every Sunday to the needs of Christians only.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and it has caused me to ponder certain things about the use of these funds… perhaps because I am in a position of leadership and I see a few administrative problems.

- What if A Christian woman is in need of food but her husband and family are not Christians. Maybe the husband is a real scoundrel. Do you release funds to the woman and forbid her to share with her husband?

- What if a Christian family has some starving Muslim neighbors including the cutest little kids you have ever seen and you find out the Christian family has been sharing with those neighbors. Do you admonish them and tell them... that money is Holy money dedicated to God and not to be used to feed the dogs?

- Do the funds released to the Christian family cease to become church funds and now become funds belonging to an individual? If so what happens if you find out they have been using those funds to replace the carpet in their house?

- Why didn’t the Apostles exercise their power of miracles and turn rocks into loaves of bread so we wouldn’t have to deal with these kinds of problems?

- What if the real reason they restricted these funds to Christians was there was not enough to feed the Christians and the non-Christians?

- What if the church had a surplus of funds and all the Christians had been taken care of and there was plenty of money left over…then could we help the starving non-Christians?

I do believe that every interpretation we give a passage has to agree with the theme of the New Testament that Christians both individually and collectively should love God with all their hearts, soul and mind and love their neighbors as themselves. Thanks for thinking with me.

A Few Things About Teaching Kids

I’ve really been enjoying teaching the middle school class. I guess because for the last I don’t know how many years I’ve been teaching only adults.

I had it in my mind along with the class material to teach them other things… like how to greet people and how to be sociable.

In our day and time kids are intimidated by adults and don’t interact very well. A big reason for that is parents don’t encourage that concept or even discourage it by letting their kids CARRY CELL PHONES AND OTHER HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICES that discourage interaction.

How fortunate then that we had a visitor in class this morning. I took the time to shake hands, introduce myself ask a few engaging questions, etc. Then I asked my students if they noticed what I had just done. Then we went on to reading a scripture and I commented to my students that they had been rude to our guest because no one had offered him a Bible. Then we read out of the lesson book and I commented… failed again! No one had offered him a lesson book or to share a lesson book. We proceeded on and Weston (on his own) passed the visitor a pencil. Boom!!!

I also told them that frequently I see them pass by me at church and not even look at me or say a word. I told them that makes me feel like I don’t even exist that I am invisible and am meaningless in their sight. One of them said they don’t like being the first one to say hello. Jeremy (my assistant teacher) said… someone has to be first!

When I took over the class no one was bringing their Bibles so I made a rule that everyone had to bring their own Bible. Last week I told them that even though they were not adults yet they were going to start acting like adults in my class and bring their Bibles and have their lessons done.

Today I mentioned that in the scriptures Christians are compared to Roman soldiers and I asked them what the sword represented. They didn’t know but I told them the sword is the Word of God (the Bible) and it was an offensive and defensive weapon. We made the point that our sword was our best friend and we keep our best friend with us all the time… we don’t leave it laying around or losing it. We don’t come to Bible class expecting to use some of the swords that are left scattered lying around the room and we don’t borrow a sword. We have our own swords and we cherish them and become intimately familiar with them. Everyone had their sword today.

Today I gave them four points about rules for interpreting the Bible and told them I was going to test them on it. Then I wrote it on the board to not only exercise their ears but also their eyes. Then I pointed out that even though I said I was going to test them on it… no one had written it down. They wasted no time scribbling them down.

Part of my class is to also to challenge their parents. I asked them what they did on the way home from church. Several said they listened to music. So now they have questions to ask their parents on the way home (no more music) like what does hypocrite mean and what is the Latin derivation of the word and can they (their parents) think of any other words that start with “hypo-“ They are also supposed to quiz their parents about rules for interpreting the Bible.

I also used the young visitor as a foil. I told them he could have asked his parents… Where are we going to church tomorrow? His Dad would respond… Parkway. The student could say… I wonder what they are going to be studying in class because I want to be prepared… Dad can you call and find out?

Any way you can see I like to challenge (mess with) them and get the parents more involved. Thanks for entrusting their care with me. I wish you good luck.

Wild Cattle and Wild Husbands

The peak period for cattle drives from South Texas to the rail heads in Kansas was in the 1870s. The Vaquero/Cowboys of South Texas would chase down and rope wild cattle in the brush to build a herd. Usually they had to tie off those wild cattle to Mesquite trees and then let them choke down a little until they could be managed.

One of their tools was to take domesticated oxen… steers that had been trained to pull wagons, etc. frequently weighing 2500 pounds or so. The vaqueros would hobble their oxen to those wild steers and turn them loose. Eventually the ox would pull the steer home because they were used to being fed grain corn twice a day… and really liked it

That concept reminds me of this verse…

“In the same way you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe God's word, your conduct will win them over to believe. It will not be necessary for you to say a word” (1 Peter 3:1).

Now I’m not saying that a wife is an Ox or that a husband is a wild Steer but what I am saying is that sometimes husbands have certain notions that they need to be trained out of and it doesn’t do any good at all for a wife to continually harp on those notions. The text says that a godly woman can change her husband not by words but by behavior.

By definition that means it’s going to be a time consuming process that requires “patience in well doing”.

You can imagine that 2500 pound Ox hobbled to a 1000 pound steer slowly pulling that beast back to the ranch house where the steer finds out that a diet of corn is actually tastier than just eating grass and mesquite beans.

All I’ve got to say to you wives is keep pulling… you have the advantage because God is on your side and that wild untamed husband of yours will thank you one day (unless you ship him to the railheads in Kansas to be slaughtered… lol).

Stormy Seas and Faith

Mark 4, records in just one paragraph a story of Jesus and his disciples in a boat when a storm whips up. The disciples wake Jesus exclaiming “Teacher do you not care that we are about to perish?” at which time Jesus spoke the winds and rough seas into silence.

Jesus didn’t include this story in the Gospel narrative because he was short on miracles or needed to fill a little space.

Jesus had just taught on the shore of this very sea some stories about the coming Kingdom. He taught about sowing seed and the productivity of faith planted in a faithful heart. He also taught about the mystery of how a seed is transformed into a plant and the coming harvest. Lastly he taught that the kingdom was like a planted mustard seed and how such a small seed could turn into a big plant.

And then at the culmination of this teaching about the Kingdom he gets into a boat and crosses the sea and the winds blow, the sea is churned up and the disciples fear that they are going to drown. Like they expected the headlines of the Jerusalem newspaper the next morning would read... "Jesus and Disciples Drown During Freak Storm on the Sea of Galilee".

It’s like they haven’t been listening… nothing can stop the coming of the Kingdom and their role in it… not stormy seas, not earthquakes, nothing can stop the Kingdom!

Jesus included this story at the culmination of his teaching to test their understanding and their faith and they came up a little short in the faith department. But… that’s okay because the building of faith is a process and Jesus was patient with his disciples just as God is patient with us.

There may be some stormy seas ahead of us too but just remember… Jesus can calm the stormiest of seas. Have a little faith in him because he has a plan for us.

David the Shepherd Boy Who Would Become King

From his youth David shepherded his father’s flocks of sheep. In all probability he carried his camping equipment on a cart. He would build his own fire and cook his own meals and clean up after himself. His dad would send him supplies from time to time. Shepherds might spend months to years away from towns and town life.

During the day he watched the sheep graze all day long and cared for all their needs. Undoubtedly he helped the ewes deliver their lambs and helped clean them up and assisted them in learning how to nurse and whatever else they needed.

During his free time he became expert with a sling and could kill (with a stone) an eagle that might prey upon a baby lamb. Those sling propelled stones could also fend off and kill larger predators like wolves, coyotes, lions, etc.

David also in his hours of being alone learned to play musical instruments and composed songs. Those songs were sung to his audience of sheep to calm them down when needed. David also spent a lot of time looking at nature and contemplating God… praying and singing songs of praise to him.

David learned to be Shepherd of Israel by shepherding sheep. He understood about taking care of God’s flock of people and seeing to their needs. He killed the Philistine giant Goliath who was threatening God’s flock Israel with a sling propelled rock to the head just like he had done many times before when predators threatened his sheep.

David sang to his people about God and wrote poetry about the God he had learned about while tending sheep. Nature is a great teacher.

When David was off in those far away pastures grazing sheep he had no idea he would one day be King of Israel (and no one else did either) but God knew. You may think you have the smallest and most insignificant job in the world but set your eyes and the course of your life on God because God can do great things with humble people.

Just Visiting

Larry and I went to visit a young man today who grew up at Parkway but hasn’t attended in a long time. His father has passed away but his mother still attends. I guess I’m writing this to encourage others to go visit.

I’ve kept up with this young man on Facebook and know that to this date he still mourns the passing of his father. After we sat around the kitchen table and shared a few pleasantries I asked him why he wasn’t coming to church. He said that he is engaged in some activities that are not consistent with being a Christian.

I told him that I respected that he didn’t want to be a hypocrite, but I advised him that he should still attend anyway and give Christianity a chance. That he might hear something that would motivate him to clean up some of those behaviors in his life.

I also told him the truth that his dad was a very godly man and that if his dad could send him a message from heaven he would tell him to rebuild his faith. Then I told him he could be very influential to his siblings and nieces and nephews.

Finally I told him that it looked like he had been working out and challenged him to an arm wrestling match if he would attend next Sunday morning. Of course he’s in his thirties and I’m fast approaching 65 so he agreed. That match lasted several minutes and several times I had his arm on the table but never could “break” his wrist. Because we are friends I could say things like “the Devil is really strong in this one” and “looks like he really doesn’t want to go to church”. Finally we were both breathing hard and we both gave up.

He did say he had to work next Sunday but wasn’t sure if it was Sunday morning or Sunday night. I take that as good news.

I told Larry on the way back that he would always remember that we cared enough to come and see him and that well after I’m dead and buried he would remember that he arm wrestled Mr. Perkins who cared about his soul’s salvation.

Managing Anger with Subjection

An old friend of mine told a joke that goes something like this… an older guy tells a younger guy, they’re two theories about how to calm down an angry woman. The younger fellow quickly asks what are they? The older gent replies… it doesn’t matter because neither one of them work (they’re just unproven theories).

That’s pretty funny, especially to men, but the truth is that anger is not gender specific… everybody gets angry… men and women. There may be a lot of “theories” about anger but the truth is that God’s word has “factual” information about anger.

Here’s a fact about controlling anger… subjection. It’s hard to get into a “knock down drag out” if one of the parties is demonstrating subjection… which by the way is commanded of Christians (Eph. 5:21).

So what does subjection look like? Consider Sarah and Abraham…

“For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were subject to their husbands, just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You are her children if you do what is right and refuse to quiver in fear.”

Imagine if you were angry with your wife and had your dander up and were fixing to blow your fuse and she quietly got on her knees and bowed her head and said… I’m sorry please forgive me (Lord).

That will take the wind out of your sails and the good ship Anger will come to a dead stop.

There’s a lot of theories and advice your un-godly friends might give you about how to handle anger, but if anger is a problem in any of your relationships you might want to listen to God.

"What Then is The Law?"

“What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise has been made…” Galations 3:19

Here’s an interesting passage. The referenced Law is the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was a written Law that regulated almost every aspect of Jewish life.

From Adam to Moses there was no written Law. God communicated to the people either directly or through prophets. From Moses to Jesus there was the written Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai. From Jesus onward there was again no written law (on stone or parchment). All communication from God was given through his son… Jesus Christ.

The Galations passage explains the need for a written Law. It was needed because God was unhappy with the sinful conduct of the people. In addition it was needed to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus Christ and his superior Law. The Law of Moses micro-managed almost every aspect of Jewish life. The Law of Jesus liberated the Jews and gave them freedom (from the Law) in its simplicity.

With the coming of Jesus we no longer have a law written on stone or parchments. Christ’s law is written on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3). The Law that specifically is written on our hearts is to love God and to love our fellow man (Matthew 22:34-40 and John 13:34).

So then an important question comes up… what is the New Testament? Is it analogous to the Law of Moses?

The answer is no. Christ’s Law is written on our hearts. The New Testament is the Christ authorized and Holy Spirit inspired writings of the Apostles (primarily) that explains to us the details of how we apply the Law that is written on our hearts.

A Law written on our hearts is a law we carry with us each and every day. What a great joy and blessing!

Lesson from Sheep: Conflict Between Shepherds

Genesis 13:1-12…

“ … and there was trouble between the Shepherds of Abram’s livestock and the Shepherds of Lot’s livestock… and Abram said to Lot, please let there be no trouble between you and me and between our Shepherds and for we are brothers. Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate from me and take first pick and I will go the opposite direction”

Abraham’s and Lot’s Shepherds were having problems with each other. Sometimes the Lord’s Shepherds have problems with each other too. The problem with problems is that if they are not resolved and not resolved in the proper manner relationships and the flock/congregation can be harmed… sometimes irreparably. Maybe we can learn a few things from Abram and Lot.

Abraham communicated with Lot… he didn’t ignore the issue. The life blood of a congregation is effective communication. A lack of communication especially between Shepherds can make the problem worse. In congregations, Shepherds should never make any kind of decision without first consulting the other Shepherds… even if it’s something as simple as what color to paint a classroom. That sort of communication, even at its simplest and most basic level, begins forming the basis for trust.

Notice that Abraham, in his wisdom, saw the direction things were headed with Lot and took steps to prevent it before lasting harm was done. Abraham reminded Lot that they were “brothers”. The importance of that relationship cannot be over stated. The basis for every relationship is trust. If a husband and wife don’t trust each other they aren’t going to have a very good marriage and if a congregation’s Shepherds don’t trust each other then nothing can be accomplished. Congregations are a reflection of their leadership.

Abraham in his humility told his nephew Lot to pick whatever land he wanted and he would take whatever Lot didn’t want. Shepherds in a congregation should subject themselves in humility to each other (when possible). It’s hard for a relationship to go sour if a pattern of subjection has been established. When some sort of crisis arises in a congregation (and it will), if her Shepherds have complete trust in each other, they can focus all their strength and energy in overcoming it.

Abraham greatly valued the livestock (wealth) that God had given him. He also valued his relationship with his nephew Lot whom he called a brother. In his humility he allowed Lot to take the best pasture lands. Because of his humility God blessed him with much more wealth.

Shepherds in congregations likewise should value the sheep they have been placed in charge of and they should also value their fellow Shepherds. Shepherds don’t always have the same abilities. Some are better at teaching, some are better at hospitality, some are better at sharing their wealth and some are better at communication, etc.

It would be a mistake to de-value your fellow Shepherd because you think your abilities are better than theirs. The proper attitude is to be thankful for your fellow Shepherds and appreciate the different abilities that they have.

Like Abraham, Shepherds in the Lord’s church should constantly be looking for potential problems and should treat fellow Shepherds as “brothers”.

Remember a few milliliters invested in prevention is far less costly than a liter invested in a cure.

Lesson from Sheep: Nutrition

The nutritionally wise Shepherd leads his flock to pastures that offer the very best nutrition. Sheep are herbivores, they are designed to eat grass but can also browse on brush. In fact sheep and goats are sometimes used to control brush in pastures.

In the show lamb business lambs are fed grain based diets to develop the kind of body condition that will impress show judges. As a Veterinarian, we see problems associated with feeding lambs a primarily grain based diet. It is not uncommon to attend a sick lamb who has developed bladder stones and suffered a urethral obstruction that is potentially fatal. Sheep are not designed to eat grain based diets and as a consequence suffer from variuos metabolic diseases (Chronic pancreatic inflammation, kidney disease, lamenesses and obesity).

Sheep love to eat corn, sorghum and all kinds of grains… it’s like eating candy for them.

So too the church-flock.

Wise Shepherds feed their flock with a balanced diet of God’s Word. Too many Shepherds and churches focus on things like…

- Fighting the denominations. A bulk of teaching in these type of congregations focus on what’s wrong with other churches.

- Social things. Some churches minimize Bible teaching and focus on fun things… activities and eating and sports and the like.

- Bible study. Some churches overwhelming focus is Bible study to the exclusion of anything social.

- The positive aspects of God his love, grace and care for his people to the exclusion of accountability and punishment.

- The negative aspects of God, his hatred of sin and punishment and destruction to the exclusion of his mercy and forgiveness.

God’s people need the right nutrition… a comprehensive balanced diet of God’s Word and the social things that naturally follow that understanding.

An awful lot of teaching is soft and tastes good (like candy) but can lead to spiritually crippling and sometimes fatal spiritual disease.

Watch out for congregations whose sheep wander off and no one seems to care and whose sheep are spiritually weak and diseased.

If you want to be the right kind of Christian look for a congregation whose Shepherds are wise and who care about their sheep and whose sheep are spiritually sound and happily flock together. The proof is in the pudding.

Understanding James' Letter

The letter written by James addresses a group of Christians who were formerly Jews. Understanding the letter can be a challenge when we don’t understand the basis for it. It’s an awful lot like reading someone else’s mail. However, there are some clues in the letter that guide us to understanding the basis of the letter and as such help us in interpreting it. Here are my thoughts.

First of all there are a lot of references to wealthy and poor Christians in the congregation (1:9-10 and 5:1-9). In fact, the letter opens up addressing the poor Christians who are facing temptation by instructing them to embrace the temptation and to be made stronger by it (1:2).

So what was the temptation? The temptation to murmur and verbalize discontent (5:9) against their fellow Christians who were wealthy. An awful lot of instruction is given in the letter to controlling their speech (tongue).

So how were the wealthy Christians abusing their poorer brethren? First of all by discriminating against their poorer brethren and showing preferential treatment to Christians who were wealthier (2:1-4).

In addition, apparently some of the poorer Christians were employed by their wealthier brethren who had held back their wages fraudulently (5:1-4).

A lot of encouragement is given to these poorer Christians to endure the temptation and not respond in a negative way to their mistreatment. In addition, a lot of words are used condemning the actions of the wealthy Christians.

Finally, the last part of the letter is dedicated to enjoining these poor Christian not to dwell on their mistreatment but to pray and sing about all sorts of things (5:13-20). In other words, don’t dwell on your mistreatment but get about the business of God and place your cares upon him.

In todays congregations there are occasional problems among Christians. The lesson from James is clear… don’t make the problems worse by slandering each other but endure the mistreatment and get busy about the business of God placing all your cares upon him. Amen!

Lessons from Sheep: Value

In the Bible the Lord’s people have been compared to a flock of sheep and their leaders are called Shepherds. God owns the flock and the Shepherds are accountable to him. One of the reasons for the comparison is because sheep have value and so do the Lord’s people.

Sheep produce meat, dairy products, wool and Lanolin, etc. The Shepherd finds the best pastures for the sheep so that their nutritional needs are met and they can be productive. He also protects them from predation.

The Shepherd may also vary the genetics of his flock by bringing in Rams who have the characteristics he desires (wool vs. meat types). Frequently a Ewe may produce twins or even triplets. The Shepherd identifies sheep with superior genetics and maximizes their impact in the flock.

If a Ewe doesn’t produce a lamb every year she is culled as are the aged sheep. Every year the Shepherd gives an accounting to the flock owner.

The Lord’s people/church has great value. Her Pastors/Shepherds nourish the flock by teaching from God’s word. They are also taught to congregate/flock with each other. There is no culling of the aged in the church. The aged can still provide sound judgment and provide opportunities of service and honor for the rest of the congregation.

Those who possess superior spiritual genetics, if called upon, will sacrifice their own lives for the benefit of another.

The church’s spiritual economic value is the good deeds she does for each other and for the community.

The goal of the Pastor/Shepherd is to deliver the entire flock/church to their owner (God) on the Day of Judgment… and that’s exactly what God expects of them. Don’t let God down.

Lessons from Sheep: Defense!

In the Bible God’s people are often referred to as a flock of sheep and those in charge of God’s sheep/church are called Shepherds or Pastors.

There are probably a lot of reasons for describing the church as a flock of sheep but one very important reason is because sheep depend upon each other for defense.

Sheep don’t have fangs or claws like a lion. They aren’t swift enough to out run a wolf. They can’t spray repulsive scent like a skunk and they can’t camouflage themselves.

So what can they do? In the wild they can group together in a solid circle with the Rams and older animals on the periphery and the younger and weaker in the interior. A solid front can be intimidating to a predator and the predator may skulk off waiting until an unsuspecting lamb wanders off from the protection of the group to acquire his prey.

Of course domestically, a flock of sheep has a Shepherd who is constantly vigilant watching out for the flock… so too the church.

Just as flocks gather together to ward off predators, Christians congregate together and strengthen each other by learning about God, learning how to lead sin free lives and by learning what it means to live a life of service until Faith is built up and fortified.

Once Faith is mature and the Soldier of Christ is fully armored the great lion Satan will skulk away in fear. Especially if he is facing an army of Christian soldiers.

Remember what Jesus told Peter?

“Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”

There are a lot of reasons to congregate together with other Christians and defense is one of those… even sheep know that

No Marriage in Heaven?

Towards the end of the Gospel of Matthew a group of people who didn’t believe in the after-life (Sadducees) came up with a really tough question that they thought Jesus couldn’t answer. They built a story where a woman had been married and widowed by seven brothers. They asked whose wife would she be in Heaven?

Jesus looked at them and told them their mistake was in not knowing that there is no marriage in Heaven (Like… is that the best you’ve got?). They were stunned into silence. One interesting thing about that is that Jesus wasn’t quoting some scripture out of the Bible… this was brand new information to them.

Here’s what I’ve been wondering… why? Why isn’t there marriage in Heaven? I mean, even Stevie Wonder can see that marriage is one of God’s greatest gifts to human kind. Why not have that gift in Heaven?

Think about this, a young man and a young woman commit themselves to each other, the road may be a little rough, they may have different ideas about things but with time the road gets smoother and they find a way to come into agreement and learn to live in happiness.

We all have seen marriages that have lasted sixty years or more and then one spouse’s passes and the other one doesn’t last very long either. Life just isn’t worth living anymore.

So why is there no marriage in Heaven? It might be because marriage on earth foreshadows the relationship in Heaven that all the saved will share with all of each other and with God.

Imagine the love you see between two people who have been married 60 years or so being the same kind of love and emotional intimacy existing between all of God’s people in Heaven for eternity.

There won't be marriage in Heaven between a man and a wife because we will all figuratively be married to each other.

A lot of folks look back on the road they have traveled and see a lot of mistakes and a lot of broken and failed relationships. But they also may see an elderly Christian couple who have overcome those things and take heart and see a little hope and build a little faith that things can be different.

We all make mistakes but we don’t have to keep making those same old mistakes over and over again. A great blessing awaits the people of faith. Set a new course in your life to realize that blessing and live in eternal happiness forever with all of God’s people.

Families and Healing

I know people who have had loved ones act in such shameful ways that it forever affects their relationship. So much so that in effect they never have a relationship. It is an open and continual wound that never heals. It doesn’t have to be that way.

In the Perkins family we’ve had many such negative events; Adultery and divorce, alcoholism, drug dependency, gambling, murder, suicide attempts, political differences, religious differences and I guess every sort of difference that you can imagine, and yet generally we are a big happy family. Here are some reasons that I think that is so.

We were taught to love each other and forgive and we had plenty of family gatherings where that was demonstrated.

I remember as a kid that we had come into town to spend Christmas and were staying at my grand-parent’s house and there was a big commotion. One of my uncles had come home drunk and knocked over the Christmas tree. Somehow they got the Christmas tree back up and we had a good Christmas and no one seemed to be too mad about it.

Every other year we gather at my brother Greg’s home for Thanksgiving and before the prayer the three brothers talk about family and memories and what the future holds and how God has blessed us.

A few years back we had a Perkins’ family reunion in San Diego, California and had 120 people in attendance. I give Facebook a lot of credit for that because we are all friends on Facebook. I’ve seen relationships build that didn’t previously exist. At the reunion many said… you know, I’ve never met you but I feel like I know you!

I’ve seen a relationship build between my daughter and my oldest cousin. Lauren has only seen Dave Perkins a few times but I can see that they love each other. We even have a private Facebook page that only family members are on so that we can share things that the rest of the world wouldn’t begin to understand.

I heard my daughter tell another cousin's wife (who had a tragedy occur in the family), "I love you and I think about you every day". They have only met once or twice but those are healing words.

We have several text message groups; Texas Perkins, Perkins Hog Hunters with Extreme Malice, Perkins Texas 42, Perkins Texas aggies, Deplorable Perkins and a few more. It’s not unusual for me to look at my phone during the day and see over 100 text messages.

We always contact each other on our birthdays including calling and singing “Happy Birthday”. The common response of the listener is to say you sound like the “Mormon Tabernacle Choir”.

Perkins’ have a great (although frequently misunderstood) sense of humor. We can make fun of each other and laugh at ourselves. If we know someone is a little sensitive we can even back off a little bit until we get them up to speed. My brothers and I were raised in a home that had a lot of laughter.

My uncle who never darkened a church house door after he left home was a drunk, left his wife for another woman and was notorious for his bar room fights. And yet in his old age I would call him three to four times a year and send him a ham at Christmas. I would occasionally talk to him about Christ but not all the time. The main thing I wanted him to know was I cared about him. Most of the time I just poked fun at him and he loved that. At the end of those conversations he would always tell me that he loved me.

About 5 years ago my brother Scott and I had a disagreement/misunderstanding and he was so mad at me I didn’t know what might happen, but now it’s just water under the bridge and the subject never came up again. You see if you love someone so deeply and intensely you just can’t let anything interfere with that. Of course there’s work you have to do along the way and communication is a big part of that as is demonstrating unselfish love.

I don’t know every situation and yours might be different but I do know a lot of situations and thought maybe these things could be of benefit to you. Sometimes those old wounds can heal if you apply a little medicine to them

"My Husband Doesn't Love Me"

Imagine you were at a dance and you saw a girl on the other side of the dance floor that just… took your breath away… her eyes sparkled, she smiled at you and you thought she was the prettiest thing you had ever seen and were summoning up the courage to ask her to dance when your dad came up and said, “I want you to dance with that other girl that no one else is paying attention to”. You looked over and saw a plain homely kind of a girl and your heart sank but you did it and danced the whole night with her. Finally at the very end you got to dance with the girl of your dreams and your heart beat so hard you thought it was going to break out of your chest.

That’s kind of like the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel in the book of Genesis. Jacob had his heart set on Rachel but God had other plans for him and he had to marry Leah first in order to also marry her sister Rachel.

Here’s the thing… Leah knew Jacob didn’t love her. Jacob only had eyes for Rachel. What do you do when you realize your husband doesn’t love you? With many tears Leah prayed to God and God heard her prayers and opened her womb and gave her six sons and one daughter whom Jacob loved with all his heart… and Rachel? God closed her womb so she could feel some of Leah’s hurt.

When I used to work cattle every so often we would push a Brahma (Bramer) through the chute. Often times they would go down in the chute and “sull” stopping the whole process. You could put a kink in their tails or hit them with a Hot Shot but you just couldn’t get them to move until they were ready.

Leah didn’t “sull” she did what she could do, gave it a little time and left the rest up to God. Rachel eventually had two boys but died during the birth of the second. Leah lived a long life with Jacob and felt his love and was buried by his side. God does answer the prayers of his faithful ones (including Rachel).

Don’t despair if you’re not the prettiest one at the dance. God knows who you are and like Leah can make your offspring as numerous as the sand on the beach… one of whom was Jesus Christ. Have a little faith.

Proof of Faith

The letter that James wrote has a lot to say about proving our faith, which begs the question… does our faith need to be proven?...apparently so. James illustrates two ways faith is proven.

The first is by successfully conquering temptation to sin (James 1:2-3). When the Christian is faced with temptation and refuses to sin he has completed one leg of the race.

The second way faith is proven is by faith inspired works (James 2:14-26). The scriptures are replete with examples of faithful people whose faith inspired them to perform so called “works” and those works are illustrated in great detail.

The section on faith and works is concluded by the statement “faith without works is dead”. You may have conquered sin but there is still more to do. No one wants to have dead faith or even weak faith. Our goal is to have strong, vibrant faith.

The body builder goes to the gym every day to lift weights. One day is “arm” day another is “leg” day… so forth and so on. Eventually his physical body is transformed to the image of Herculean strength.

The spiritual faith builder exercises his faith by working good works every single day. As he does so he is transformed and his faith gets stronger and stronger until he is shaped into the spiritual image of Jesus Christ.

Our faith is proven in two ways; by refusing to sin and by proving our love for others by providing for their needs. Follow that formula and you will be well prepared for eternity.

How Important is the Lord's Supper?

Ephesians 3:10-11.

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord”

When we consider the Lord’s Supper it’s important to understand its purpose. When we understand it’s purpose then questions like how it is observed and how often we take it can be answered easier.

Christians have assembly obligations… the Lord’s Supper is one of those. Certainly partaking of the bread and the wine reminds us of Jesus’ body and blood and all the things represented by those things including the establishment of the new Covenant.

However something else happens as suggested in the Ephesians text… God’s wisdom is on display to heavenly/spiritual beings… demonic and angelic.

Think about this, as we are fulfilling our assembly obligations, including the Lord’s Supper, Satan is furious and God is happy.

When Christians decide to stay home and neglect the assembly and the Lord’s Supper… Satan is smugly smiling and God is sad.

Our assembly obligations have significance to ourselves, to our fellowman and to spiritual beings in the Heavens.

How often should we take the Lord’s Supper? Apostolic example suggests weekly and that sounds pretty smart to me considering that every time we do... God's wisdom is on display.

"The Unity of the Spirit" Eph. 4:3

This is from a discussion list. Howdy, Rob Perkins here.

First of all when 100 plus translators choose to capitalize the “S” in Spirit I give that a lot of credence. I see that in Ephesians sometimes we see “Spirit" and sometimes we see “spirit". In 5:16, we see…”but be filled with the Spirit” however in the footnotes (AS) they say “or in spirit”. I think the lower case makes more sense in this passage but only mention it because in some cases the translators give an option. I respect options.

Of course the epistle was written because there were issues between greek and jewish Christians. Hence we see in 1:13, both groups had the commonality of being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In 2:18, both groups have access to the father in one Spirit, and are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

In 3:16, Paul prays that they would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man.

All these texts have Spirit with the upper case “S” then we come to the text in question… “giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. I see no reason to suddenly decide to take issue with the translators and argue for the lower case “s”. I’m not sure there is a compelling reason to do so. Perhaps because the action is placed on the believer to “keep the unity”. However, a similar action is placed upon the believer when he is told to not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”

We give diligence to “keep the unity of the Spirit” by “walking worthily” (4:1). Similarly we “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (4:30) by also walking worthily, i.e., no bitterness, wrath, anger, etc.

I also suspect “Spirit” in 4:3 is capitalized because it is preceded by the definite article “the”.

Esau and His Birth Right

Most Bible students are familiar with the story of Esau. He was the oldest son of Isaac and Rebecca and as such was set to receive the “birth right” that his father (Isaac) had received from his father (Abraham). Of course that “birth right” was the great promise made to Abraham that through him and his heirs, “all nations would be blest” (along with the other promises).

Esau however traded his “birth right” for a bowl of red stew. The scripture says he “despised his birth right”. The Hebrew writer (12:16) describes Esau as godless.

Let me suggest that Esau’s despising of his “birth right” foreshadows the Jews despising of their “birth right” by their rejection of Jesus Christ.

Esau was so hungry for food (and didn’t at the time truly understand the value of his “birth right”) that he traded it off for a bowl of stew. He was godless and didn’t believe in the promise of God.

The Jews were so hungry for their position of authority in their nation that they couldn’t recognize the value of Jesus Christ and sacrificed him to maintain their position among the Jewish nation and the Roman Empire. They too were godless and didn’t believe in the promises of God.

Later in life Esau deeply regretted his hasty decision and begged his father with tears to receive the blessing of the “birth right” but it was too late. It was also too late for the ones who killed Jesus Christ.

The story of Esau also foreshadows events for us today. God still makes great promises to mankind. The wise will contemplate the great value of those promises and act accordingly. The foolish will reject them and chase after the pleasures in this life. What is it going to be… will we be wise or foolish? Learn the lesson of Esau. He is speaking to you and I.

Conquering Temptations

The letter written by James contains information on how Christians can be spiritually complete (which by the way should be the goal of every Christian).

Christians should be happy about temptations because the successful victory over temptations is proof of faith.

The author also defines those who fail at temptations. Those who are novices in their faith may have areas of weakness in their hearts that are simmering at a low level. If those areas are not extinguished and opportunity arises they can burst into flame and cause one to be spiritually burnt up.

The author identifies some of those temptations as “filthiness”, “wickedness”, “outbursts of anger”, “discrimination”, and “the love of money”.

I have a note section on my IPhone where I list every weakness that I think I have and every weakness that others have told me that I have (I also have a section on the positive things people have said about me).

I think and pray about those weaknesses and welcome opportunities (temptations) to defeat those things so I can be spiritually complete. I have confidence in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that assures me that God will not allow me to be tempted more than I can endure.

It’s a blessing when people say good things about you but it’s a greater blessing to hear the negative things.

We’re building a spiritual house both individually and collectively (the church) for a “dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:21-22). Let’s make it the best it can be. It starts with conquering temptations.

Tearing Down Barns

In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus tells the story of a rich farmer who had a good year and harvested a big crop. The harvest was so big that he didn’t have room for it all so he decided to tear down his old barns and build new bigger barns. He also decided he was going to take it easy and enjoy his wealth and not work so hard.

God condemns him and sends him to his eternal reward. Jesus finishes up by saying, “So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

You see when I was a kid and read those verses I thought it was a sin to tear down an old barn and build a bigger, better one. That’s what I got out of that.

What the passage is really teaching is that the rich farmer should have given some of his wealth to help the poor and should have kept working to help even more. That’s how you are “rich toward God”… by helping his people. It’s not a sin to tear down an old barn and it’s not a sin to retire. It is a sin not to be “rich towards God (by helping those who are in need)”

I look back at some of my misconceptions about the Bible and shudder. Of course I was just a young man but it illustrates the need for teachers and mentors. It also illustrates God’s patience and about having the attitude of continual Bible study to perfect our understanding.

We should be very humble about what we think we know and always be willing to listen to and evaluate a different view point.

I hope I didn’t condemn anyone for tearing down a barn but knowing me… I wouldn’t be surprised.

Abimilech

Abraham and his wife Sarah moved into the region of Gerar in which Abimilech was king when Abraham was about 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.

Abraham judged the people of the area as having no respect for God and worried that they would kill him to possess Sarah. So, worried for his own life, he asked Sarah to present herself as his sister. Sarah was indeed his sister (and wife) as they both had the same father (different mothers).

Abimilech, King of Gerar, sees Sarah and is apparently smitten by her great beauty and takes her. In those days and times Kings had all kinds of power and could take any single woman they wanted.

God prevents King Abimilech from having sex with Sarah because he knows Abimilech has a clear conscious and doesn’t want Abimilech to sin ignorantly. However, as punishment for this sin of ignorance, he prevents Abimilech’s wives and concubines from conceiving. Abimilech is in total ignorance of any of this until God visits him in a dream.

In this dream God tells Abimilech he is “as good as dead” because he had taken a married woman with the intent to have sex with her (commit adultery). God also identifies Abraham as being a Prophet with the ability to pray for Abimilech to keep God from killing him (he has a way out).

The penitent Abimilech, restores Sarah to Abraham. He tells Sarah, I am giving your “brother” 1000 Shekels of silver to cover the offense.

Abraham prays to God for Abimilech and God “heals” him.

Here are a few take aways…

God interacts in the affairs of mankind. He certainly did in this case and I see nothing in the scriptures to show that he has stopped.

You can be punished for sins that you are ignorant of. Be careful with your actions, someone may be manipulating you but you are still responsible to God for them.

The punishment can include a negative affect on the quality of your life and even death. If your life isn’t very good right now it may be due to some sin against God that he is punishing you for.

Abraham’s faith had not fully matured (even though he was a prophet). He was still afraid of what others could do to him. Your faith may not be very strong right now but don’t give up… it can get better.

Abraham was selfish, he was willing to sacrifice Sarah’s honor to protect himself. That’s pride… serving self and not others.

Abraham manipulated Sarah by asking her to do something wrong to demonstrate her love for him. A lot of men manipulate women by prefacing a request with “if you love me”.

Sarah allowed herself to be manipulated and her weakness almost caused an innocent man to be killed.

Abraham mis-judged people, he told half truths and concealed the other half, he manipulated his wife into a deception and he lacked faith in God.

God still loved and cared for him.

I suppose God revealed all of Abraham’s weaknesses as a message to you and me. God isn’t looking to punish his faithful people when we occasionally make bad decisions. It’s not a deal breaker for Him. What is a deal breaker is open rebellion against Him. When we make mistakes and sin we should recognize it, repent and strive to do better and not despair and give up. Have confidence in God… he is our Father.

Two Sons

Imagine you’re Abraham. You’ve seen all your friends and family members having children but you’ve given up having any of your own. Then God promises you that you are going to have a son. Sure enough when you turn 86 years old God gives you a son named Ishmael. In the Bible names mean things and Ishmael’s name means “God hears”.

Then when you turn 100 years old God gives you a son from your 90 year old wife Sarah. His name is Isaac which means “laughter” because both Abraham and Sarah laughed when God promised them a son.

When Ishmael turns 14 years old and Isaac turns 3 years old, God tells Abraham he must turn Ishmael and his mother out. Abraham was “greatly distressed” at having to lose his oldest son… greatly distressed. After all this was his son! He rejoiced at his birth and rejoiced at being a Dad (and all that means) and now he had to say goodbye to him. I imagine part of his hurt was seeing how Ishmael was hurt.

I don’t guess that Abraham could predict that when his second son Isaac turned a similar age that God would ask him to kill and sacrifice him but that’s exactly what God did. Of course Abraham was a little prepared for that command. After all, God had already had him cut Ishmael loose but had assured Abraham that Ishmael would be all right and would father a great nation. So when it came time to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac… Abraham dutifully complied knowing somehow, some way, God would make everything all right. In fact, the author of Hebrews adds this… “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead (Isaac).”

Abraham had two sons who he loved with all his heart, “God Hears” and “Laughter”, and was asked to give them up.

God also asks us to make some sacrifices. Don’t make the mistake of comparing whatever we have to sacrifice with the sacrifice Abraham had to make because it doesn’t compare. Just remember… do whatever God asks and God will take care of you and maybe, just maybe shower you with great blessings like he did for Abraham.

Hospitality: Abraham, Lot and Sodom

In Genesis 18, we find Abraham cooling off during the heat of the day at the door of his tent. Three men approached. He ran and out to meet them and bowed before them and implored them to stay and visit. He washed their feet, he had Sarah (his wife) make cakes, he had a servant prepare a freshly killed calf and offered his guests, curds, milk and beef.

In Genesis 19, we find Lot sitting at the gates to the city. He sees two of the same three men. He didn’t run to greet them like Abraham had done but he did bow down before them and invited them into his home. They entered his home and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread (not cakes) for them.

Further on in Genesis 19 we find the “hospitality” of Sodom. When the men found out the city had visitors they tried to forcibly gang rape them.

What a huge extreme in hospitality between Abraham and the citizens of Sodom.

I suppose if you had to say… even though Lot demonstrated remarkable hospitality, Abraham illustrated the highest level of hospitality. The Sodomites were killed for their inhospitality.

How about today? What if some strangers approached you, what would your level of hospitality be? If you saw them coming from afar off would you run and turn out all the lights and pretend not to be home? If they knocked on the door would you say, this is not the best time? Would you think, my house is a mess and I have a headache come back another day please?

Sometimes we can plan hospitality and sometimes it’s a spontaneous event… you don’t get advanced notice. Have a hospitable heart and prepare for those events that come out of nowhere. God does test his people.

Admonishment

One of the responsibilities Christians have for each other is admonition. That’s a Bible word for correcting improper or sinful behavior. It is really an act of love. Its purpose is to help keep each other on the straight and narrow so we can all go to Heaven.

But it’s a ticklish subject. I mean who likes to be corrected by others… right? Done properly it can have great results but done improperly it can be a disaster. So it needs to be thought out and prayed about.

First of all I think you have to earn the right to admonish someone else. In my opinion that means you have to have some type of positive relationship with the person. They need to know you care about them and have their best interests at heart.

I might need to admonish someone I barely know but its better coming from someone else who has “earned” the right. I have seen folks who needed to be admonished and have identified someone who was close to that person and asked them to do help out. It turned out well.

Admonishment is a bit of an art as well. Consider the case of Nathan and David. David needed to be admonished but he was a King and usually people in power aren’t great at taking advice. Nathan devised a story about a great villain and waited for David’s reaction and then Nathan told David that he was the villain. David had judged himself.

If you could pick anyone in your home congregation to admonish you who would it be? For me it would be an older person who has a humble disposition, someone who is reticent about things like that. Not someone who took joy or smug satisfaction in the process. Someone like my mother maybe.

Failure to admonish others is really selfish and unloving. It’s like first aid for a bleeding wound… it needs to be bandaged. Don’t just watch someone “bleeding out” and fail to act. Step up… you might just save someone and yourself along the way.

The Blood of Jesus Christ

Here are my comments from a discussion list on blood.

I’m not sure where you are going with this but I agree that blood has always been important to God. We live in a sanitized civilization where the impact (and connection) with blood is minimized… bloodless capital punishment, low profile abattoirs, bloodless surgeries, etc.

I’ve always thought about it like this… every crime (sin) against God carries the death penalty… sometimes immediate and sometimes delayed. In the Mosaic law some (not all) crimes could appease God with the substitution of animal blood. Animal blood, of course, isn’t the proper payment for human sin. It is limited in what it can achieve. The proper payment for crimes against God is human blood. The blood of the criminal.

Then God makes the blood of Christ available to us. It is like an overpayment for our sins and has such value that it can pay for the crimes of all of humanity past, present and future. It also has the ability to cleanse our consciouses.

Of course the question is why? At this point I like to fold in Ephesians 5, Christ wanting a pure, virginal bride (in regards to sin).

God wants a relationship with a pure people. He makes the down payment of the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the initiating point. With that head start, we strive to grow into the very stature of Jesus Christ by conquering sin (and the desire to sin) in our lives and become the pure bride and completely fitted soldier in God’s army.

Incredible Acts of Heroism

I’ve been watching re-enactments on Netflix of the heroics of “Medal of Honor” winners. They are very emotional and very inspiring. One of the commentators said this,

“Once you cross the line that you are not going to survive anyway, then you are enabled to achieve incredible acts of heroism.”

I’ve heard that sentiment before, they quit fighting for themselves and were just fighting to help their fellow soldiers survive. True sacrificial living on behalf of others.

Christian soldiers have a completely different mindset… I cannot be killed therefore I’m totally unafraid of what might happen to me (on earth) and am therefore completely free to testify about the Lord Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen.

In fact, that was exactly the mindset of the early Christian Martyrs. Today you hear of Christians going into places like North Korea, Iran, China, etc. and you wonder… have they lost their minds? No they haven’t, the bravest soldiers go where they are needed the most and understand that their “Medal of Honor” awaits them in Heaven.

Softening Hard Hearts

When I was a kid my parents were big into gardening. We never could afford one but my dream was to own a Troybilt Horse tiller. Now that I’m advanced in years I’ve realized that dream and have owned about ten of them. Right now I have three in my shop and a few more in pieces. You see if I can find them for about $200 I buy them, work on them and sell them for about $400 (new ones cost $2000). It’s fun for me to bring an old piece of equipment back to life.

The easiest thing to work on are the engines. Those old tillers usually have gummed up carburetors that are easy enough to fix. The worst thing to deal with is taking off the wheel. They are usually rusted on and locked up tight. Sometimes you can get them off with an impact wrench and a little pressure. Sometimes you have to add a little heat. Sometimes you have to use a wheel puller which you have to be careful with as I have ruined a few wheels exerting more pressure than the metal can withstand. Other times you need to soak them in diesel. Right now I have one that’s been soaking in diesel for a year and I can finally get it to turn but not enough to get it off… yet.

Getting a sinner to turn from his sin and commit to Jesus Christ is kind of like getting those wheels off those old tillers. It always, always takes some effort. Sometimes it takes a little bit of effort and sometimes it takes a lot of effort. It kind of depends on how long that wheel has been stuck on that axel. Sometimes if you’re in a hurry and impatient you can ruin a wheel. You have to look for the signs and that takes experience. You might have to take that wheel puller off and let some diesel work on it for awhile.

God’s Word is kind of like diesel. Once you add diesel to the equation it’s working 24 hours a day… slowly and sometimes imperceptibly breaking down that rust.

I’ve known godly women who were married to scoundrels whose patience in well doing softened a heart that most thought would never soften.

The best kind of oil for penetrating an old hard heart is the oil that demonstrates the best of Christian living… a tender compassionate heart. The oil that forgives when one is not deserving of forgiveness. The oil that loves the unloveable. If you use that kind of oil and be patient and long suffering you might just be able to get that old wheel (sinner) to turn.

Wayward Members

Back when I was in large animal practice one of the issues we had to deal with were “Crypt” horses. Those are male horses with hormone producing tissue in their abdominal cavity. “Crypt” horses behave like Stallions and are barely manageable.

The treatment is surgery which has some risk involved. You can imagine laying down a 1000 horse behind your clinic with less than perfect anesthesia and going in to find that hormone producing tissue. Clients usually ask if there is any risk involved. Yes, your horse might die. An old time Veterinarian told me he would tell clients… “If he dies, you don’t really have a horse anyway do you?”

Often in congregations we have those members who wander away from our services. As Shepherds we have the responsibility to try to herd those sheep back to the flock. Usually that means a phone call or two, sending a card/note, texting, messaging on Facebook or trying to set up an appointment to go visit.

Many times those things don’t work. As a last resort I try to just go knock on their door. Some people aren’t comfortable with that and feel like it’s an invasion of privacy or it just goes too far. I know this, that God is going to hold me personally responsible for the sheep in our flock and I’d better have a good answer for Him when he asks me about what I did to take care of His sheep when I meet up with Him on the Judgment Day.

Those wayward members may never respond to any of our efforts but let’s try everything we can possibly do and if the “surgery” is a success then it’s worth whatever risk it took. Because after all… we don’t really have a horse any how do we.

Early Decisions

I participate (most years) in a Career Day at one of the local High Schools. Of course I am there to promote Veterinary Medicine. Along the way, I have told them that they are at a point in their lives where they are going to be making some really momentous and life changing decisions at a time when they are perhaps the least qualified to do so. Things like getting married, furthering their education, freedom to drink alcohol, etc.

Then I tell them that the career they choose can shape them as a person. For instance, as a Veterinarian, wherever I go people want to talk and visit with me and thank me, etc. Why? Because I have helped them with what is sometimes the most precious thing they have… their pets. That kind of continual positive reinforcement has a shaping effect.

On the other hand there are careers that can be less fulfilling. Consider what it would be like to be a divorce lawyer and day after day see people at their worst. Or a prison guard or working in the tobacco industry. Think how that might negativity shape you.

Another thing to consider is that some careers have a high suicide rate, other careers are hard on families and have a high divorce rate.

Christianity has a shaping effect as well. Leading a good life, a life-long commitment to a spouse, sober living, treating others kindly no matter how they mistreat you has a tremendous shaping affect. As I look back at my life with Julie I see that many extra-ordinary blessings have been showered upon us. I can’t take credit for any of them… they came from God.

Choose to serve God at an early age, never doubt him and live by faith. He will shape you and bless you and when you’re a little further down the road you too can look back and see that God was with you every step of the way.

Bad and Good Shepherds

In Ezekiel 34, God chastises the leaders of his nation Israel by comparing them to bad shepherds. Let’s look at their inactions and actions.

They neglected to…

- Strengthen the weak

- Heal the sick

- Treat the injured

- Bring back the strays

- Search for the lost

Instead they…

- Ate curds

- Clothed selves with wool

- Ate the choice animals

- Ruled harshly and brutally

As a result the flock was scattered and ravaged by wolves. God promised to punish the leaders of Israel and take care of the flock personally. He also promised to provide a true shepherd after the lineage of King David who was and is, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is still the chief shepherd of his people but he has ordained minor shepherds over each local flock of Christians. God expects these human shepherds to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, treat the injured, bring back the strays, search for the lost and rule gently and with kindness.

God loves and highly values his flock of people and expects the same from his shepherds.

The Use of the Church Building

All of the congregations I have attended have been very careful about the use of the church building. The rationale goes something like this… the church building, property, etc. was purchased with the Lord’s money and therefore can only be used for spiritual purposes. Then a distinction is made between spiritual things and social things making them mutually exclusive.

This is primarily done to prohibit eating in the building but would also include any other so-called social activity such as weddings, funerals, selling girl-scout cookies, recreation (a kid throwing a football, etc.) and such like. In fact, in many congregations announcements of a social nature… like congregational picnics or other types of get-togethers are prohibited.

Consider Ephesians 2: 10… “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them (good works)

What are these good works? Frequently in the scriptures good works would include taking care of widows and orphans, enjoying meals together, sharing possessions, various forms of hospitality and even the sewing and making of garments for each other. Make no mistake each of these scriptural examples are social and as such would be prohibited activities in many of the congregations I have attended.

What kind of sense does this make? In the church building we are to teach one another responsibilities and encourage each other to have strong social relationships and yet the performance of these activities are forbidden in the building? It makes no sense… none.

The church and all its resources, including its building, should be used to help Christians grow spiritually and we cannot grow spiritually without socially interacting with each other inside the building and outside the building.