Some Thoughts From Today's Readings

From Psalms 43:

"For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." (The word translated, "help," means, "salvation, deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity," Well, I guess that takes care of about everything)

 

From Proverbs 9:

"Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you." (Reality check on who I am.)

 

From Genesis 41:

"....Joseph said to Pharaoh,...God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do....So [Pharaoh] set him over all the land of Egypt. (No "separation of church and state" here.  I pray this daily for our countries)

 

From Isaiah 19:

"Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt; the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst....I will destroy their counsel....In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He waves over it....In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border....And He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them." (Great "Tea Party" Prayer)

 

From Daniel 9 (NLT):

"During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the writings of the prophets.  I learned from the word of the LORD...."  (Well, I guess we know where this all comes from.)

 

From Matthew 9:

"So Jesus arose and followed him...." (When our son died, Jesus, "followed," me.)

 

From Acts 9:

"Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,...fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him,...I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." (When I was in my, "still," I heard the Merciful Voice of Jesus.)

 

From 1 Thessalonians 1:

"....Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come."  (I'll do that.)  

 

Father, in Jesus' Name--------------how rich and marvelous.  Amen.

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When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Eric Liddell, a "Seek First the Kingdom of God," Citizen

(This is an excerpt from the article about Eric Liddell which I sent to our Blog Site: www.apf327.blogspot.com)

"Winston Churchill negotiated an exchange of prisoners but, typically, Liddell refused to go, giving up his place to a pregnant woman.  He died on Feb 21, 1945, five months before liberation.

"A fellow internee, Stephen Metcalfe, later wrote of Liddell: 'He gave me two things. One was his worn out running shoes, but the best thing he gave me was his baton of forgiveness. He taught me to love my enemies, the Japanese, and to pray for them.'"
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When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

What is Your "Delight?"

"Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require....I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart." (From Psalm 40:6 & 8)

Preachers have so often taught and referred to our text as a "Messianic Psalm" that it is easy to forget it was also David's
commitment to the Living Triune God.  The Message says, "Being religious, acting pious-- that's not what you're asking for.  You've opened my ears so I can listen....I read in your letter what you wrote about me....That's when God's Word entered my life, became part of my very being,"---------------- body ("business aspect of the church"), soul (thinking), and "spiritual," whatever that may be.

Eric Liddell's statement, "When I run, I feel His pleasure," is Biblical Covenantal living.  Life in Jesus Christ is not just, "I feel His pleasure" when I worship, or when I am "in His Presence," or, when I am sharing "spiritual things" with some friend.  It is when I go to work, go to school, pay my taxes, say a kind word to a person in a store. 

I can testify to Liddell's statement in my life in so many instances.  Even in those dark, rainy, or cold snowy Berlin days, when I was out on the streets praying for the nation and praying for, "Your Kingdom come.  Your will be done," praying for the prophetic place in God's economy which is that city's, I remember writing to someone, "I feel His pleasure."  Maybe others thought I was really not doing any "work," not doing anything which contributed to "the common good," not earning our "missionary support."  But when the call came and during that ensuing year, I could say, "I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.  I delight to do Your will, O my God." 

The basis of a person's response to the call of Jesus Christ is, "Your law is within my heart."  Delight in His Will, His Word, "within my heart," took us to Berlin, Eastern Europe during the "Iron Curtain" years, serving Christ's people for over 46 years------  and I pray takes me everywhere the rest of life, just living, serving, enjoying a day with family------------------------- just being.

Father, in Jesus' Name, "My ears You have opened....I delight to do Your will."  Amen.
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Article about Eric Liddell at: www.apf327.blogspot.com

When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"All Things are Open to the Eyes of Him"

"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:13)

There is a popular American statement, "What I do in my private life is nobody's business."  Even courts make rulings based on such thinking.  You may recall a Supreme Court decision on a homosexuality case in Texas which used similar language.  It basically said that what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms is only their business.  Well, a person's life may not be any of my business or a court's business, but everyone's life is the business of Our Living Triune God, revealed in Jesus Christ.  I see no language in the Bible which supports the philosophy of "private life."  It is rather, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight," from, "the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."  The next time you are tempted to think, "No one sees," and, "It's nobody's business," just remember our text.     

Yesterday I wrote of the non-Kingdom view of life, "this is a business
aspect of the church, it's not spiritual."  Someone needs basic discipleship training.  In the Biblical view of life there is no "separation of Church and State," no separation of Jesus Christ from anything or anyone, no "private life" and "public life;" there is just--- life.  If I believe that Jesus Christ is, "a very present help in trouble," and, "I will never, no never leave you nor forsake you," and, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," I must remember that all the great promises of His Word comes with, "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

Father, in Jesus' Name, if there is any, "It's nobody's business," in me, deliver me from such.  Amen.
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When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Pop Christianity: "It is Business,..It's Not Spiritual"

"Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.'"  (John 4:34)

 

There is absolutely nothing of life which is not included in, "the will of Him," nothing.  The Bible is very clear that Jesus did not just come to save man's soul.  He came to convert man from living for himself to living for Our Heavenly Father, Who, "has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."  If "born again" life is not this, it is not Biblical, "born again."  Kingdom reality check--- "the will of Him," is not for ordering our daily schedule.  It is, "to finish His work." 

   

There is a dispute in a congregation in our area between the pastor and the church board.  They have taken the dispute to a local court.  A friend of ours suggested that I read an article in a local paper about the situation, and as I did, I took note of a comment of a member of that congregation.  "I think it hasn't affected me at all....It's important to remember that this is a business aspect of the church, it's not spiritual."  It is this compartmentalizing of life which allowed recent generations of church-goers to vote for presidents carrying Bibles out of church meetings, one even teaching a Southern Baptist Sunday School class, while also writing an anti-Semitic book, one who loved press photos of himself coming out of church meetings carrying his Bible, while concurrently carrying on an affair right in the White House, several who support the murder of the unborn, and all of them carrying out policies which weaken the State of Israel.  Remember the popular comment, "Oh, it really doesn't matter what the president does in his private life, just as long as he is a good president"-- Translation: "Mr. President, just take care of me, and I will love you and vote for you.  Christianity is only feel good stuff for me anyway."   

 

The great battle of the Follower of Jesus Christ is to bring all of life under the Lordship, Control of Jesus Christ, not just going to the hospital and praying for the sick, but kindness to the check-out clerk, not just preaching and testifying in church meetings, but honesty in business dealings, not just loving my wife, but staying away from the woman across town.  Why are so many religious people depressed, divorced, in prisons, voting and doing taxes just as the world?  Their "food" is to live for themselves.  Here it is, my friend, the key to life as the Blessed Trinity intended, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus; that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again.... Therefore,...anyone...in Christ...is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new"-----------------------------

"spiritual" and "business." 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, May it be!!  Amen.   

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When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Resurrection Happens-- "As He Said"

"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (Matthew 28:6)

 

Or, Come, I will show you just how true and faithful is His Word.  Yesterday morning I sent my brother a text message with words from our text, "He is risen, as He said."  It was the, "as He said," which stood out to me.  Some translations say, "just as He said."  This is how the universe came into being, "just as He said."  The declaration of the Words of God is, "In the beginning God...said,...and there was"----------------everything. 

 

A life which, "endures to the end," is a life based on, "as He said."  If the disciples were really Bible students, i.e., those who actually believe the Bible, they would have been waiting at the tomb to witness The Great Event.  They were not.  They were like so many of us today, students, but not "believers," choosing to cower behind closed doors rather than face life in the expectation of the Obedient to the Word of God. 

 

The great Easter weekend is over, back to school, back to work, and life will be, "as He said."  Either it will be, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts," and, "the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus," or, it will be uncertainty, anxiety, and fear which rule.  Those three words, "as He said," are fixed in Eternal Stone, "the word of God cannot be broken." Everything in history is attesting to the reality that no matter how powerful a nation or empire, how charismatic the leaders and the mindlessness of their starry eyed followers, all life is------------- "just as [Jesus] said."  

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, write on my heart that everything is, "Just as He said."  Amen.

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When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2