The Christian Walk: Read, Hear, Obey

"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near."  (Revelation 1:3)

Notice, "reads,..hear.., and keep...."  I apologize if this sounds a little radical, but no one can walk with/in Jesus Christ without this life style.  Any form of religion which offers "blessings" based in any life style other than, "reads,..hear.., and keep," is just deceptive, counterfeit blessings.  

As I have shared so often, after our son, Stephen, died, Jesus' delivering, saving, sustaining power came to me in His Words, aka, the, "All Scripture is God-Breathed," Word, aka, the Bible.  More of my "quiet times" are spent in reading, listening, "breathing in" the Breath of God in His Word than verbalization of supplications, intercessions and prayers.  Much of my worship is meditative wonder of Him Whom Jews refer to as "The Eternal One."  Bonhoeffer once wrote, "To be silent does not mean to be inactive; rather it means to breathe in the will of God, to listen attentively and be ready to obey."  The foundation of such living is in our text.  As we read and, "hear the words of this prophecy," the Bible, we are reading and hearing the will of God.  Then, "be ready to obey."  This is the Christian life. 

Of course I do pray in the Holy Spirit in my spirit, and, I do petition, make requests, etc.; but they are based more in the Words of God than in my "independent" thoughts.  I downloaded an audio Bible read by Alexander Scourby on my phone.  As he reads the passage, you can see it scroll down verse by verse.  Blessed are we if we read and hear, "and keep those things which are written...."

Father, in Jesus ' Name, thank You for great teaching.  Keep me ever open to such.  Amen.

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* Please keep us men in your prayers as we travel to DC to participate in "David's Tent" tomorrow.
* Preaching in the CCE meeting, November 11.

When Peter, 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

"A Righteous Man...Rises Again"

"For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity."  (Proverbs 24:16, NASB)

"Time[s] of calamity," have come upon the human race since the Fall.  The promise of our text is that while, "the wicked stumble," literally," totter, fall," the, "righteous man...rises again"--
over and over and over again.

You have seen, I am sure, wicked people who don't give up, who just seem to keep going, etc.  But whatever we see is an illusion.  In the end, they will come under the judgment of Isaiah 24:20, "The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls--- never to rise again" (NIV).

But the person in Jesus Christ is like those things we use to have as kids.  They were in the form of a person.  You would stand on a "platform" and you could beat on it all you liked, it would fly every which way----------- but it always kept coming back, upright, starring at you, mocking you, "You can't put me away."  That, my friend is you and I in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ.  The Cross looked like the great knockout punch of Satan.  Resurrection morning, Jesus said,"Go ahead; make My day.  And don't forget, Devil, 'I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hell and of Death.'"  Excuse me---------- GLORY!

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for the, "rises again," promise and power in You.  Amen.

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* I will be preaching in the CCE meeting, November 11.

When Peter, 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

"Grace...That Brings Salvation"

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.... "  (Titus 2:11)

I have written and spoken on our text many times over the last 52 years of preaching.  Yes, I have repeated myself many times.  But I remind you: Every time you read the Bible through, God is repeating Himself to you, "fresh" or "new revelation" though it may be.

Dwight Moody once said, "No man can resolve himself into Heaven."  Of course not.  It is, "the grace of God that brings salvation," the grace which, "has appeared to all men."  You are familiar with, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God...."  The words, "grace," and, "gift," in the Divine economy cannot be separated.  "Gift," is the very nature of, "grace."  There was a song which came out decades ago called "Twist and Shout."  One phrase says, "work it out, baby."  We need a song which says, "Grace it out, baby."

The great promise of John 3 is that Father gave Jesus and in the Holy Spirit I can be born into This Wonderful Family.  Jesus Christ, The One of Whom Wesley wrote, "Jesus, Lover of my soul," is the great Giver to my soul.  As John 3:16 declares, "This is how God loved the world: He gave His only Son...."  The Cross is the greatest manifestation of grace/gift the Universe has ever seen.  "Jesus, keep me near the Cross." 

Resolutions, resolve, "I can beat this," are an unbeliever's efforts to get "himself into Heaven."  But far too many Christians keep this attitude in their daily struggle to be spiritual people, so very subtle at times it can be.  A gift by nature is to be received, not earned or "resolve[d] himself into...."  I do not claim to understand grace.  The title of Titus 2 in my Bible is: "Trained by Saving Grace."  However that happens, I want to walk in this "training."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I so appreciated Your, "grace...that brings salvation."  What I can understand, more importantly, walk in, I so desire.  Amen. 
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* I will be preaching in the CCE meeting on November 11
* Conference call tomorrow evening, 19:00

* If you ever wondered what happen to Saddam Husein's weapons of mass destruction:
            www.jerusalemberlinwashington.blogspot.com

When Peter, 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

"Sing...One of the Songs of Zion"

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.  We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.  For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,..saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!'  How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?'" (Psalm 137:1-4)

Are you, "by the rivers of Babylon," today?  When you "remember," do you just sit down and weep,  or do you take your harp from the willow tree and sing, "one of the songs of Zion"?  Life does not always work out the way we expected or want.  But the choice between, "we wept," and, "Sing...one of the songs of Zion," is always before us.

I am rereading some of Bonhoeffer's works.  I have always wondered what Germany and the rest of the world would have been like had he lived.  I have said at times, "It's too bad he had to die so young."  But let me give you a short list of people who died "so young."  John Wycliffe was 54 when he died.  George Whitefield was 56 when he died.  David Brainerd was 29; Dwight Moody was 62; Charles Spurgeon was 58; Bonhoeffer was 39; our son, Stephen, was 4 years 11 months.  Good people do not always live to be "a ripe old age."  There has always been a subtle belief, and sometimes not so subtle, that if a person dies young, or even before the, "three score and ten," there must have been something wrong with them.  You and I need to be very careful as to what we call "favor," "spirituality," "anointed."  I have heard "preachers" at time speak of "untimely deaths;" there can be such.  But there can also be "anointed deaths," if you will, people who perhaps squeezed more out of life in their short life span than many of us do in a 70-100 year life span.  Life's unanswered questions may seem like, "in a foreign land," to us, but the choice of weeping in defeat or singing in victory "there," or in whatever state we might find ourselves, has always been before humanity. 

Our text speaks of a people who had their life's dream come to an end.  They did not believe the prophets, the promises of God, so they, " wept when we remembered...."  Life can do this to us.  We all have and have had dreams, expectations of life, and we all brought them to our new life in Jesus.  The process of conversion is a process of bringing our dreams and expectations to His "dreams and expectations."  I doubt that there is anyone on the planet who can say that all of his/her dreams and expectations have been fulfilled, and in most case that is a good thing.  But it is precisely at this point you and I have a choice.  We can either hang, "our harps upon the willows in the midst of it," or we can, "sing...one of the songs of Zion!"  I want to choose the latter, though I have not always.  Yet it is singing, "one of the songs of Zion," while, "in the midst of it," which will bring victory in Jesus Christ, in His "Song,"------------------------------- even when, "in a foreign land".

Father, in Jesus' Name, in whatever "land" I have found myself, I thank You that I have always had a harp and a song to sing.  Amen.

When Peter, 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