on the other hand

The man goes into a doctor’s office for an examination. Afterwards, the doctor tells him that he is terminally ill and doesn’t have long to live. The man says he wants a second opinion. The doctor says, alright, you are ugly and dress badly.

My life has been lived by me giving myself a second opinion. I have always been able to see the other hand. It didn’t seem to matter how much it differed for what I thought, I could still see it. It made it easy for me in what little debating I did.

However, it made it hard on me when I was talking to others and in dealing with my church.

When I would bring up the other hand, people would often become angry. In general, people, especially church people do not want to look at another side from the one they believe.

This was especially hard on me in the churches in which I ministered.

The Church of Christ was a very inflexible organization which relied on a lot of corporate interpretation to exist. They believed their way on baptismal regeneration, on acappella music as the only means of worship, and on their organizational structure and denominational name as the only true ones. They felt that they were the sole sphere of influence God had in this world.

This made it hard to hold different ideas because they were not welcome in the corporate structure. It also caused a siege mentality. If they were the only ones who were faithful and true, all others were wrong, and probably out to get them. They defended the faith.

In the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, there was much of the same feeling, only modified. Since they used instruments like everyone else, that exclusivity was removed. They still held the baptism and organizational structure, so that tended to set them somewhat apart.

But both were aggressively anti-charismatic.

I was baptized in the Spirit on the pulpit of my own church on a weekday afternoon not long after I had left the Church of Christ. This automatically set me apart from most of what my churches believed.

After a few years, I decided to come into the Assembly of God, but soon found that they were as exclusive as the others.

I am currently in the Foursquare Church and, except for occasional congregations, have much of the same idea of the universality of the church that I do.

However, on occasion, I still have trouble. I see the other hand, the other side.

It is annoying to me. I have always wanted to be a good company man and toe the corporate structure. But I can’t.

This manuscript is to try and see what it is about me that makes me see the other side, in spite of the fact that I have seldom been with people who could also see it.

Before I begin, I want to stress that I love the church in spite of the people in it. I have been a pastor for 36 years and plan to continue until I die.

But I wish I could find someone who saw the other hand as I do.

daily java

Daily Java:

Then Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died a premature death. Jesus came to Bethany, where he had lived with his sisters, Mary and Martha, to raise him from the dead.

All he had to do was say the words and Lazarus would be alive again. Everybody would be happy. Things would be fine.

But Lazarus was dead. Whatever had happened, we don’t know. Sickness, accident – something happened to kill him.

And as Jesus stood in front of the grave, it just got to him. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

When God made man, he made them – male and female – to be happy together and to be happy with him, to walk with him, be with him, live with him.

But instead, they went against the one prohibition he gave them. And because of that, he had to make them leave paradise. In leaving paradise, all of his plans for them were ruined.

Now they were sinful. And because they were sinful, he had to take them away from the Tree of Life, which enabled them to live forever.

Now they got old and died. He never meant for them to do this.

As Jesus stood before Lazarus’ tomb, this all goes through his mind. Lazarus was his friend, Mary and Martha were his friends. And they were in pain

So was he. Even though in a minute he would raise Lazarus back to life, still, the futility of it all came to him. The sorrow of death, the pain of suffering, the sadness of it all just overwhelmed him.

And he cried.

daily java

Daily Java:

Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. (Ecclesiastes 1:10-12 NLT)

It was 1969 and I was flying high in life. I had a good job with the telephone company in Houston, Texas. I had a car, a nice little apartment, friends and above all, a good looking girlfriend (who I married).

Then in July, WHAM! I was drafted into the army.

I didn’t want to go. I was having a good time. But the government elves saw that and put in the order for me to be drafted.

As it turned out, my country didn’t really need me. The war in Vietnam was de-escalating, and there was a surplus of soldiers.

However, I went. And I have to admit, I was always glad I did.

When I got out of the army, it was the fashion to disparage the soldiers for their service, to make fun of them, even to call them names. Sometimes just to ignore them.

It is only in the last few years, ten years or so, since 9/11, that people have begun to thank servicemen for their sacrifice.

And it was a sacrifice. We gave up two years of productive time in our lives. There was the chance of losing not only your life, but also your girlfriend. There was a guy back home named Jody who was 4F. The drill sergeants and others reminded us of him daily. He was stealing our girls while we were doing our service.

We all worried about him, and vowed to do the little creep a great deal of physical harm when we got out, if in fact he had taken our girl. Maybe even on general principles.

But mine waited for me, and we even got married six months before I got out so she could come back to Germany with me.

But the point is (somewhere in all this verbiage) that it is good to be remembered.

I rediscovered the Lord in the army. I had a great European honeymoon in the army. I learned about electronics in the army. If nothing else, I joined a world-wide fraternity of those who had served in the army. I also became one of the men that had served his country for thousands of years. And those throughout history who worried about losing our girls.

I didn’t do great things, or shoot anybody, or win massive amounts of medals. But I served my country. And I am glad for it.

We’re all part of that army of the Lord, and we all serve him. When we do, and when we die and go to be with him, we become part of that cloud of witnesses Hebrews 12 talks about. And people remember that we served, just as people have served God for millennia.

I’m in the Lord’s army, yes sir. And I serve a risen Savior.

daily java

Daily Java:

When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19-21 NLT)

One thing for sure: Jesus is not someone you can take or leave.

When people heard him, he evoked all kinds of reactions. And not all of them were good.

Some thought he was crazy. Only a crazy man would say the things he did. Some thought he was a charlatan, just trying to get a position of power for himself. Some, however, began to think that he was real. Maybe he was what he said he was.

CS Lewis, the great theologian, gave what he called the Trilemma. This meant that Jesus was one of three things: he was a liar, a lunatic or Lord.

If he was a liar, he was not to be trusted. No one will follow a liar when they know he is lying. He is not honest, nor scrupulous and you want to get away from him.

If he was crazy, a man that Lewis said was on the order of one who thought he was a poached egg, then you don’t want to follow him either. He is mentally disturbed and needs to be looked after, not emulated.

The third choice in the Trilemma was Lord. If he wasn’t a liar nor crazy, then he had to be what he said he was.

And if he was what he said he was, you stand in mortal danger of losing your soul if you deny him. if that is the case, you are standing against the truth.

A religion based on Jesus as anything but the Son of God, the living and breathing manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God, is worthless. Who would voluntarily follow a liar or a lunatic?

These people in the passage above were beginning to wonder. Some said that he was possessed by a demon. But others said, that doesn’t make sense. why would a demon heal people. For that matter, why would a demon cast out other demons? In essence, he would be making his friends homeless. To what end?

The problem with Jesus is that you have to do something with him. You can deny him, or you can accept him. You do one or the other. There is no middle ground.

It is the same today. Watch how people receive Jesus. When food and help is sent to other countries by churches, the ones who disburse the aid will allow those in trouble to go hungry and without that help rather than use that which came from Christians.

At the name of Jesus, the ACLU jumps up from its slime and begins to scream, the Americans for Freedom from Religion (a real group) begin to holler. The schools try to deny. So many do their level best to get rid of Jesus.

Or at the name of Jesus, people try to hitch their cause to his name. They claim him for ecology, or alternative energy, or vegetarianism or anything. Both sides of wars claim Jesus for their side. They try to tame him.

Neither are right. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19), not to do stuff for people.

And like him or not, he is still here and will be until he comes again to put death under his feet.

You cannot tame him, you cannot use him, you can only accept or deny his name.

daily java

Daily Java:

So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” (John 9:24-25 NLT)

Someone once said that the man with an experience is never at the mercy of the man without one. The one who has not had an experience does not know what he is talking about.

A group of boys are standing around, hanging together, doing stuff. They are scornful of girls. Girls are icky, they have cooties, only idiots go on dates, they will never fall prey to creatures like girls.

But one has fallen in love.  Suddenly, girls are different than he thought. The rest try to argue him out of it, convince him that he is wrong.

But there is a difference between him and them. He has had the experience of falling in love.

When I was in the army in the late 60’s and early 70’s, people would try to tell me that being in the army wasn’t all that special, or that I was not all that different. That was, of course, the days of the big protests. But I knew better. I never went into combat, but even so, I had given two years of my life to my country and stood ready to fight if need be.

They had not.

Before I was baptized in the Spirit, I made fun of those who had been. Not overtly and maliciously, but kind of in a gnostic way. I knew better than they. Then the Lord touched my life with that baptism of the Spirit. People made fun of me and tried to convince me that it was false, but I knew better. I had been brought into a different relationship with God.

They had not.

The man in John 9 had been born blind and Jesus healed him. The religious leaders had tried their level best to convince him and even his parents who knew what he had been, that it was false. “God does not hear the prayers of sinners. Jesus is a sinner because he doesn’t do things the way we want him to. Therefore God will not hear him.”

The man knew better. After all, he had been touched by the mighty, compassionate hand of God.

They had not.

So instead of recognizing that they were lacking, they tried to tear down the one who was not lacking.

So goes the world. Those who do not love cannot understand those who do love. Those who do not give cannot understand those who give. Those who do not show mercy and compassion and forgiveness cannot understand those who do. And it goes on and on.

Those who are not in Jesus, who have not felt his love and grace, who have not been given a new life and relationship with God, cannot understand those who do. To those who have not, those who have look like fools.

And they are. It was the apostle Paul who said, Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. (1 Corinthians 4:10)

But I have felt the hand of God in my life. I know this: I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. (2 Timothy 1:12)

And a man without an experience at the hands of the Almighty God is like the man who grows old never having fallen in love. He just doesn’t know.

keeping your mouth shut

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. (James 1:19)

One of the hardest lessons I learned in my life was when to keep my mouth shut. The things I think are not always good to share. And many people come to me for counseling, come, not because they want to hear what I have to say, but to talk it out themselves.

And besides, I always had a smart mouth, one quick on the draw. That was great for when I was on the radio as a disk jockey, but in general, it is not good.

There is not telling how many friends I alienated when I was young. If it had not been for the fact that I was so big and so strong, I would have been beaten up long ago.

And when you talk too much, you cannot hear others speak. You miss much of life that way.

James was the brother of Jesus and the senior pastor of the church at Jerusalem. He was in a position that he knew he had to be careful what he said.

Any pastor is, for that matter. I have been careful for a long time. Sometimes stuff slips out at a dumb time, but I am, after all, human. But, for the most part, I am careful.

Not long ago, someone got mad at me and spread some stories. He wrote the district and area superintendents and supervisors for the Foursquare church and tried his best to stir things up against me.

And he did. But what he said was false. And those who heard him and believed it believed a lie.

But I refused to defend myself because I would rather listen.

Listen long enough to someone and you hear amazing things. In fact, if you listen long enough, someone will generally tell you more than they intended to and will sometimes get mad at you. That is something that is strange to me, but at the same time, it happens too often.

People used to listen to me and think the same thing, I suppose. But most of mine was just smart remarks or misplaced pithy comments. Again, fine, I suppose, if you are on radio or are a comedian or something. But lousy for a preacher.

Most people get into arguments because they do not listen. Sometimes we are so quick to speak that we miss the point completely.

The same with being angry. That was a hard lesson to learn. I think I got a handle on it, but as the apostle Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 10:12, If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

About the time you think you have it down, you have lost it, if you are not careful.

hebrews 3: jesus greater than moses and warning against unbelief

 Here is the lesson plan for tonight in Bible class. If you can use it, feel free.

Hebrews: A New Day Coming
Hebrews 3: Jesus Greater Than Moses and Warning Against Unbelief

In the Batman movies, Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne is a wealthy man with a huge house. He has a butler named Alfred who is in charge of the house. Alfred is virtually indispensable to Bruce Wayne. However, when it comes down to it, Alfred is employed by Bruce Wayne and Bruce owns the house. Alfred is the servant, Bruce is the heir.

Moses was one of the greatest men who ever lived, according to Deuteronomy 34:10: Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. Yet Moses was a servant of God. Jesus was the greatest man that ever lived, bar none, but he was the Son. In many ways, Moses served Jesus (Hebrews 11:26). Moses could never be greater than Jesus because Jesus was the Son. No man, no matter how great he was, could ever be greater than Jesus.

Now, however, he gives us the opportunity to be like Jesus: sons of God, something that Moses, as great as he was, could never be. Jesus said that no greater man than John the Baptizer had ever lived, yet those in the Kingdom of God were greater than he (Matthew 11:1012). John was Old Testament, we are New. John was servants, we are children. The situation and the dynamic has changed.

So, Hebrews says, since the whole situation is different than before, we ought to work even harder than those before us. We have a sharing in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. We are his house (v6), but we are also sons.

It makes for a different relationship than before. It would be like Alfred being adopted by Bruce. Then he would be a son. All of the Old Testament people, no matter how great, were servants. All of the New Testament people, no matter how small, are children

QUESTIONS:
1. V1 What is the heavenly calling? How do we share in it?
2. Do you see yourself as greater than Moses? He was an awfully great guy.
3. V6 we are his house. How can we be a house and the sons at the same time? Matthew 16:18 says that Jesus built the house. Did he build us?
4. V11 How hard would it be to make God mad enough to desert you?
5. How can you know if you have a sinful, unbelieving heart? Can you know it? Can you have one without knowing it? How do you harden your heart, anyway?
6. V11 Why would God turn from people he promised would be with him forever?
7. How do we encourage one another daily? Is it something we do, or say, or what?
8. What is that confidence we had at first (v14)?
9. What would it take people to not believe when the power of God was right in front of them 24/7? How do you not believe when his power is so great? Is it that they are stupid? Or what?
10. What is his rest?

daily java

Daily Java:

All these men were under the direction of their fathers as they made music at the house of the Lord. Their responsibilities included the playing of cymbals, harps, and lyres at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman reported directly to the king. They and their families were all trained in making music before the Lord, and each of them—288 in all—was an accomplished musician. The musicians were appointed to their term of service by means of sacred lots, without regard to whether they were young or old, teacher or student. (1 Chronicles 25:6-8)

Talk about a house band. This was the house band at the tabernacle when David was King.

When we were first baptized in the Spirit, we were looking for a church to go to during the week. I was pastoring a Disciples of Christ church in NW Missouri, but we wanted to find a place with a service during the week.

I called a church in St Joseph, MO, about 60 miles away, to ask him about their church. He told me several things, then he said the kicker. “We have blow-your-face-off music.”

I told Ella, I have to hear this. And they did.

They had a professional sounding band that played Petra-style rock and roll for their worship. Petra, of course, was a very popular Christian band at the time. This band played along that style and they were good.

We went to their Friday night service almost every week for a while. And it amazed me that you could have that many talented musicians in one church.

Of course, it was a big church, 1400 at the time. The musicians, for the most part, were on the staff so that they could go with the pastor when he went to other countries and the like.

But when I read this, I thought of them.

It has always been my dream to have a band that is good. I even have a name for it. LOP. Loud Obnoxious Praise. It is my firm conviction that good praise be energetic. After all, who wants tepid singing.

These people, here in 1 Chronicles 25, were praise teams and worship leaders. All were accomplished musicians and they played in twenty-four bands of twelve musicians. They made music at the house of the Lord. Probably, they sang scripture, psalms David had written, maybe just jammed for a while each day.

But one thing for sure, they sounded good.

And I would venture to say they were happy.

I believe the musical talent is a call from God. When one answers that call in God, the musician is happy. When he or she doesn’t, they are not, no matter how financially well off and successful they may be.

Think of all the talented musicians that have self-destructed. In my own generation, there was Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, others. Later there were people like Kurt Cobain and more. If they do not die from their excess, they soon become so burned out that they are almost unrecognizable, so bitter, so jaded.

It is because they are taking something that is holy and making it for other purposes. As the old song by Dire Straits with the phrase, “Money for nothin' and your chicks for free.”

When it is all about you, it soon becomes worthless. And the singers are always looking for a charity or something that they can do. And they never find the comfort of something greater than they are.

When it is about God, it is for something greater than you.

These people in 1 Chronicles were serving the greatest person in the universe: the Almighty God.

What a life, just singing all day, playing your instruments, praising.

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Daily Java:

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. (Romans 12:10)

Robert frost said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

Imagine a place where people loved  you unconditionally. Imagine a place where you could go when you feel happy, or sad, or need encouragement, or just feel like hanging around.

Imagine a place where, in spite of your problems and your failures, people would accept you.

That is what Jesus intended church to be.

Church was never intended to be a place where people went on Sundays and maybe Wednesday nights and sat around for an hour or so. Church was never intended to be a place that was just a building.

Church was meant to be a supportive body of believers, helping each other through life.

Someone said the other day that life in Jesus is not a series of destinations, it is a journey. And it is. It is not going to heaven that is important, it is the life in Jesus while we are going there.

And church is not about you and what you want. After all, the spotlight in life is not on you, it is on Jesus and his grace. When we shine that spotlight on what we want, we remove what is truly beautiful and graceful about church and replace it with something ugly.

Church is the place that people should come to be built up, to be loved in spite of their problems, to show and be shown the love of Jesus. At church, we help each other, we love each other, we support each other and we show each other the way to heaven and his grace.

When we love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other, we have fulfilled exactly that for which God put us here in the first place.

Jesus also said, By this shall all know that you are my disciples, that you love each other. (John 13:35) The mark of Christianity is love, not obedience, not tradition, not worship – it is love. Because, after all, love causes all else. And without love, all else is worthless.

This is how church should be. It isn’t and is rarely ever achieved. And that is the tragic part. It is like the couple who stay married, yet do not like each other that much. They eat together and sleep together, and go places together, yet their marriage has become a battlefield and a struggle.

What was to be beautiful and a life long joy has become a travesty.

When we forget the love and the honoring, when we focus on how we are “supposed to worship,” the gifts of the Spirit and the translations we use, church is useless. And it no loner honors God. It just honors us.

What a great place it could be if we did it God’s way.

daily java

Daily Java:

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:1-11)

People love a good show. And they love to see people brought down.

In this case, the viewers got to see a naked woman and a teacher of the law possibly humiliated by compassion.

They knew they had Jesus this time. The woman had been caught in the act of adultery. What was he going to do? If he said, let her go, they could call him a law breaker and the friend of law breakers. If he said stone her, they would say where is you compassion, man? Is not this woman a child of God?

Either way, Jesus was stuck.

Except of the fact that Jesus always came up with a third way: the way of God..

He said, okay, she is guilty. The perfect ones can start. And of course, no one would admit to being perfect, so they all left.

Jesus looks around and then at the woman and tells her to not sin any more. You can see him putting his cloak around her and sending her off.

The woman was humiliated. This was an occupational hazard with being a prostitute. Sooner of later, you would get caught. She never figured it like this, though. The man she was with ran away. They let him go, really. They didn’t need him. Just her.

They didn’t even give her time to get her clothes. They just manhandled her out into public naked and threw her on the ground in front of a bunch of leering men.

They were trying to look at her and be holy looking at the same time. The older ones had been hypocrites so long it wasn’t hard. But the younger men had trouble.

But Jesus looked at her, like he loved her, not like he wanted to use her.

She had never been looked at like that before.

After everyone had left, he came to her and gave her his cloak. She really didn’t know what to do.

daily java

Daily Java:

When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded. “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked. They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!” (John 7:45-52)

The Jesus in the book of John was rather confrontational. He didn’t mind at all making people mad. But he also didn’t mind giving them oblique answers that left them confused.

Those in charge of things often begin to perceive themselves alone as qualified for being in charge. They feel they alone have the temperament or education or sometimes, just plain discernment.

In their eyes everybody else should be happy to be led. When those who should be led begin to question the decisions of the would-be leaders or their interpretations of things, the leaders become angry.

The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were no exception. They had studied the law, they had been to seminaries and had been taught the law by others who knew what they were talking about. And they had the credentials to prove it.

When people began to disagree with them, it was always the people’s fault. After all, they were united in how they felt about Jesus. Or at least the ones who thought that way were. And if you disagreed with them, you were disagreeing with people who new better than you.

That culture of specialized gnosticism is rampant in America today. Those who would be in charge just know better than everyone else. And the American ideal, that anyone can rise to power and lead the country, no matter their educational background or their family line, doesn’t agree with what those who would lead think.

Whether it be the light bulbs we use or the food we eat or the cars we drive, someone always wants to tell us what to do. and when we disagree, they always bring up their qualifications.

But those qualifications do not always matter. Sometimes educated people are wrong. And these people were wrong.

Simply because all of the Pharisees, the conservative religious leaders did not like Jesus didn’t really mean anything. Jesus represented a threat to their power and they misconstrued this as meaning that he was a threat to God as they saw him: in their corner.

How they thought was paramount to everything else, including the truth.

When people think like this, there is not a whole lot to do. in America, we vote them out of office and replace them with someone with more sense. In this situation here with Jesus, he just ignored them and went on about his business: seeking and saving the lost.

Sometimes that is all you can do.

daily java

Daily Java:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

There is a beauty that comes in unity. Someone once said that there is no power on earth greater than the power of a group of people believing something together.

That believing together is unity. It is something that should mark the Christian faith, but too often doesn’t.

Today (Saturday, when I am writing this) is the day that a group of people say that Jesus is going to come again and rapture his people away. So far, it has not happened.

And not only that, it will not happen simply because some guy make a prediction that it will. Mark 13:31-33 has Jesus himself saying: No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

Unfortunately, the world news media has seized on this as being indicative of all Christianity and how silly we look, they say.

Unity is not believing anything together, no matter how silly it is. This man is wrong in what he says, yet he is my brother. Unity is believing in what the Lord says together on the important things.

It is a commonality of purpose and mission. It is being together and loving each other as brothers and sisters. It is not taking offense when one of us makes a mistake. It is helping those who are weaker in the faith to keep up. It is the focus of being together in one mind and one heart striving together to one end. It is One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

It is being together and loving each other. It is not arguing over little things, but how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

Unity does not demand that we see things the same way. Pastor Mel and I see some things totally differently (may the Lord bless him anyway), but we are in unity in that which is important. We, both of us, believe that he is God and that Jesus is his Son, risen from the dead to bring us back to God.

That which is important we agree on. That which is not, we, for the most part do, too. But our unity is based on that which is important, not small gray areas.

Unity is agreement. Unity is lack of divisions. Unity is being united in mind and thought. Not being robots that go the same way on everything, but each loving God and seeking him the best they can.

daily java

Daily Java:

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:66-68)

Some of the things Jesus calls us to do are hard. Some of them are downright embarrassing.

Witnessing is one. trying to witness to someone who doesn’t want to is a difficult proposition. And it is also a way to get people mad at you.

Standing up for Jesus in an increasingly secular society can be lonely. As our schools try to move further and further from God, the students are forced to make some choices that 50 years ago would never have had to be made.

The choices amount to: will you be a Christ-follower and do what is right even when you are ridiculed or forbidden to do so? Or will you bend to the will of a secular society and not display your faith?

When you do that and you are singled out for punishment for your faith, you are doing what God wants you to do. But, on the other hand, it becomes a lonely world for you.

When Jesus spoke, there were things that were hard to understand. And there were times when Jesus plain old embarrassed his followers. Clearing out the temple was one, preaching boldly against the religious leadership was another. In this passage, telling people that unless they ate his flesh and drank his blood, they had not part with them was really hard to accept.

What he meant of course, was that unless they made him a part of their lives like they would food or drink, he was of no use to them. They could not accept him part-time. He had just fed a bunch of people miraculously and they were expecting more. He said that food is not all there is to life.

But the way he put it was embarrassing. And a lot of his disciples left.

But his apostles stayed. Their reason: where else would we go? You can be weird sometimes, but you are from God and we believe in you.

What Jesus said and did was strange at times, and also extremely confrontational. But those who knew he was from God stayed. Those who didn’t care and were there for the free food and entertainment left.

It is difficult being a Christian. There are things you do not participate in because of your faith. And it sets you apart from the world. You are holy, and holy people are not welcomed by unholy people.

The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2:16, said: To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Those who see Jesus as power love him and he smells like life. Those who see him as restriction on what they want to do, view him as death.

And, when it comes down to it, he is both. Life to those who believe and death to those who do not.

People do not want to be told they are wrong. And when you do, they leave you.

Just like they always have.

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Daily Java:

They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. (John 6:28-35)

People love a good show. And after a while, Jesus became a good show. He fed people and healed t hem. Wherever he went, interesting things happened. People followed him around because he did interesting things.

The problem was, Jesus didn’t come to do interesting things. He came to bring us back to God. The interesting things were nothing more than authentication of his connection to God.

The people who followed him had difficulty separating the stuff given from the person giving. In their minds, they had a long rich history of being given food. Moses had given the Jews food for a short forty year period 1300 years before. Even though they had never personally eaten any manna, they had read all about it.

Their picture of the Messiah was one who came and gave them food and shelter and they no longer had to work for it. The fact that they Israelites were wandering for forty years in the desert because of disobedience never occurred to them. They just wanted the stuff Jesus had to offer.

We want to do miracles, too, they said. How do we do it? Jesus told them that the only work God really wants of them was to believe.

Their next comment was so typical. Okay, show us a miracle to prove it. He had only shown them a number, but they wanted one more. In fact, what they wanted was miracles on demand. A divine side show of miracles just for them. After all, they figured, Moses gave them manna.

Jesus’ reply: Moses didn’t give you anything. God did. And he is giving you stuff now, if you would only see it.

Still, they didn’t or wouldn’t understand. They went into humble mode and said, “Give us that bread every day.”

Jesus looked at them and said, “I am that bread of life.”

God gives us things that we do not recognize as from him. We are looking for more and do not see what he gave us.

Life in Jesus is not one miracle after another, it is life in him. It is he who we seek and when we find him, we are blessed.

daily java

Daily Java:

“Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself. That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination! (John 6:10-21)

It is so easy to forget great things when they are in the past. And it doesn’t even have to be that far in the past, either.

Jesus just got through feeding 5,000 men and their wives and families a few loaves of bread and a few dried fish. They were there, they were hungry and Jesus wanted to make a point to his disciples. The point he wanted to make was that he could take care of them.

He kept breaking the laves and fish into pieces until there was enough to go around for everyone.

Then he had them gather up the left-overs. There were twelve baskets filled with fish and bread.

His point? There were twelve of them and twelve baskets, one for each. He could feed a multitude of people and still have enough left over for his apostles. In other words, they didn’t have to worry about dinner as long as they were following him.

Jesus was trying to tell them that he was not going to desert them and let them starve. They had not backed the wrong horse. He was real and he would provide for those who made it their life work to teach about him.

But that evening, when they went across the water to go to the other side where Jesus was staying, there was a storm. They were afraid. We are going to die and Jesus would be mad and God would have to start all over with new apostles. It will set the kingdom of God back considerably.

Then to top it off, here comes Jesus walking on the water and it scared them further. His response? Don’t be afraid. I am here!

It was not that the apostles were stupid. It is easy to look at these miracles and the underlying lessons and understand them when you have 2000 years of theological filter.

They didn’t have this extra knowledge. This was the first time this had ever happened to anyone and they were afraid.

Jesus had just told them he would provide for them and now he had to tell them again. Not only would he feed them, he would keep them safe. Later trouble would start and one of these men would find himself dead in just a short time after the church was started.

But for now, they were fine. Things were as God wanted them and God was in control.

There is no reason to be afraid. Paul said, in 2 Timothy 1 that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but power. He wants us to know that even if we die, God is still in control.

Easy to preach, hard to put into practice, but it is absolutely true.

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Daily Java:

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. (John 5:39-40)

I love my Bible. I have studied it for over 40 years now and am very acquainted with it. It is like an old friend that I talk to a lot.

I have a large print NIV, 1984 version because I do not like the newer one, and I read it a lot. I use it to preach from, too. Here lately I have been reading online out of the New Living Translation. It seems to strike a chord in me and I like it. I may even go to it as my regular translation.

There was a time, when I had my library, that I had almost fifty Bibles in it, as many different translations as I could get. I loved to check them out, to collect them, to find esoteric translations that no one else had. I even have a link on my browser’s toolbar that goes to a parallel Bible if I need it if I want to compare now.

But, as much as I love my Bible and  know it and memorize it, it is just a book. It is not God. He gave it and I think that it is hard to have as good a relationship with him without knowing it intimately.

But it is not God.

The mistake we make is when we go to our Bible and forget the God behind it. It would be like my wife reading the letters I wrote to her before  we were married professing my love, and forgetting me. The letters were good, yes, especially since I wrote them to her from Europe. But I am here now and she can talk to me.

In Jesus’ day, they had immersed themselves in the scriptures, which of course were the Old Testament, especially the first five books of the Old Testament. They had learned them and studied them, commented on them and assiduously kept them. They became the focal point of their faith.

Unfortunately, they rarely worshiped God, just his word.

Jesus told them that they search the Scriptures but miss the point. The point was that Jesus was coming. Now that he was here, those scriptures had fulfilled their purpose. But they would not see what was so obvious: the life he brought.

The Bible is useful. It is good and holy and I believe that it is inerrant. But it is useless without God. Without him, all it becomes is an ancient writing, on a par with Shakespeare or the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam or Socrates. It is not holy in and of itself. It is only holy when we allow God to speak through it.

Anybody can use it to show just about anything, if they take it out of context and, A Peter said, those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. (2 Peter 3:16-17).

We have to remember that people called on the name of God and knew God before the New Testament was complete. They knew him and understood him even during the Middle Ages when there was one translation, a Latin Bible chained to the pulpit of the church. So I know that God is big enough to work anyway.

But I have his written word now and I will use it and I will know it. And I will know him above all.

I have trouble understanding how someone can know the Bible and not know God, but I have seen it a number of times. Someone can quote great blocks of the Bible (many times the book of Revelation),yet not have the slightest idea of what it means.

It is the God behind the Bible that empowers the Bible in our lives. And it is Jesus who truly gives us life.

daily java

Daily Java:

Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! (John 5:1-9)

People do what they do for a reason. Sometimes the reason may be buried in obscurity, but they have some origin and purpose for what they do.

Sometimes that reason is that they just have always done it. It is a silly reason, but it is also a strong one, because it disguises itself as tradition.

Jesus came to this place that had a tradition of healing. The waters evidently had an underground spring and every once in a while the waters would bubble from an outpouring. When they did, the story was that the first person in would be healed.

The problem with this is that the first person in usually was well of enough to jump up and jump in. The truly sick and lame couldn’t move fast enough. Sometimes family members would stay with the sick person but that got old after a while and they wanted to be somewhere else.

Probably, if a person was well enough to jump up and jump in the pool when the waters bubbled, they weren’t that bad and had a “healing” that healed nothing more than a hypochondriac disease. They really weren’t that sick and were healed easily. Or maybe the faith in the water was so great it made them better.

Whatever the outcome, this man was too sick to move quickly. He was a victim. He was sick and couldn’t do anything about it so he sat wishing all day. He had sat wishing for 38 years.

When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, Jesus saw that he had given up. Would you like to get well? I can’t, I have been here too long, no one will help me get healed, everybody else gets everything before I can get there, I am defeated.

Jesus got tired of hearing the excuses the man had so he said, Stand up, pick up your mat and walk!

He cut to the chase and just healed the guy. Suddenly, the man was fine. He had no more excuses. He was well. He was upright. He had no more reason to hang around the well.

What do you want to bet he came back to the pool after a while. He came back, maybe, to show his friends his good fortune, to visit, to reminisce about old times. After a while, he would stay longer and maybe feel in his mind he would help some of the other ones get in if they needed it.

The Bible doesn’t say, but it is entirely possible that he ended up spending his days at the pool again. He wasn’t sick any longer but it was just hard to leave so familiar a place. This was, and everybody said so, his corner at the pool.

daily java

Daily Java:

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other. (John 4:31-33)

Sometimes you get yourself so involved in something that you lose all track of time. It may be exercise, or music, or painting or reading. Time will pass until you even forget to eat.

Reading does it for me. I can sit down to read for a few minutes and before I know it a fair amount of time has passed.

That can also happen with writing. I tend to write things in a linear fashion. In other words, I start writing and do not quit until I am finished. That means that whether a short Facebook devo or a longer article or anything like that, I will quit when I am finished, no matter how long it takes.

Jesus was like that. He didn’t come to earth to eat or drink or have a good time. He did all these things, yes. He had friends and went to parties, enjoyed food and the like, he even had a piece of clothing that was special. Someone had woven him a one-piece undergarment that had no seams. It was special enough the soldiers gambled for it when he was dying on the cross.

Jesus didn’t come to starve or deny himself. After all, this was the first time that God himself could participate in the human experience personally. He wanted to know what it was like to be human. That is why Jesus came: so God could identify with us.

But at the same time, he didn’t come to have dinner. He came to seek and save those who were lost (Luke 19:10). That meant that he had stuff to do.

And when he started doing the things he came to do, he got really involved.

Here he was talking to a woman while the apostles went into town to get some food. He wanted to sit by himself for a while, but instead, this woman came up. Jesus couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk to her and before long had converted her to the ways of the Lord.

The apostles got back with dinner and Jesus told them that he wasn’t hungry. They tried to get him to eat something, and he said I have  kind of food you know nothing about.

This baffled them. Where did he get dinner? Did one of those trucks come by or something, or at least the first century version of one?

Jesus meant that there is more to life than just eating. And he was right.

That is one of my biggest struggles in life. I eat too much and tend to become fixated on my food. Since I am a cook and the primary cook for our family, I take care to have good stuff. But sometimes I take too good a care.

Life is not in the eating and drinking. It is in the service to God. The eating and drinking are to keep us healthy enough to do that.

But it takes a lot less food to keep you healthy than I eat. So every once in a while, I go on a fast to remind myself of that fact.

That baffled the apostles. They of course saw the physical. Jesus saw the spiritual.

That is what I want to see.

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Daily Java:

“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband — for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” (John 4:16-20 NLT)

Through my almost four decades of ministry, it has always been funny in dealing with people with obvious moral problems.

Jesus is talking to a woman at a well. She is obviously an outsider, since she is coming at a time when no one else is there. Most women used the well as a gathering place to talk and visit. She was alone, which indicates she had no friends.

Jesus asks her for a drink. Jewish men did not speak with non-Jewish women. She was Samaritan, which was a mixed-race group of people inside Israel which were looked down on.

When he asked her to go get her husband, she simpers like a young woman. I don’t have a husband. Jesus said, you have that correct. You’ve had five and are living with a man now.

This is a woman with relationship problems. And she was astonished by both his discernment and his straightforward commenting on her life.

Like so many people with similar lives, she tries to redirect Jesus away from her personal life. She does it in a way that people try to do with preachers. She asks a theological question.

She figures that if she can get him onto something else, he will sit and talk then she can leave.

But instead, he gives her a brief answer and tells her that God is a Spirit, and those who worship him worship him in Spirit and in truth.

He goes on to a couple of other things and it baffles her. He seems truly interested in her.

She tells him that she knows that the Messiah will come and explain things the way he is right now. In her mind, the Messiah will be a person who will care about her and want her to know about God.

Then he does something amazing. He tells her that he is the Messiah (v26). This is the first time he confesses this and he tells it to a woman in an immoral lifestyle.

And he doesn’t come down on her like a ton of bricks, condemning and castigating her for her obvious sin. He just talks to her.

That is what the Messiah would do, just talk to people. He wouldn’t scream and thunder and castigate and condemn. He would love and talk.

People are dying for someone to love them and to talk to them.

When we bring the Messiah and the grace of God into people’s lives, we should do it like Jesus: talking and loving.

People have enough condemnation and, quite frankly, expect any Christian to add to it.

That is not what Jesus did.

i am beginning to feel my age

Once I was young, and now I am old. (Psalm 37:25 NLT)

I am beginning to feel my age.

It is an almost indefinable feeling, hard to explain. But it is like art: you may not be able to understand it, but you know what you like. Age is that way, only without the like part, or the art part, for that matter: you cannot explain it, but you know it is there.

Part of it is the mental distance you feel from young people. As a 61 year old man, I feel that distance. They do too, you can see it. The mental framework is different when you are young than it is when you are older. You have seen more things and are sure of less things. Things of utmost importance change as you get older, values shift, priorities rearrange.

Experience is much greater and dreams are less. There are things you are just too old to do or to want to do. and some things – such as family and faith – are far more important.

More and more, I feel that distance in years.

I remember Elvis Presley coming out, his first records. I don’t recall the exact record, but I do recall that my parents didn’t like him so I didn’t, being a good boy. But I was about 7 or 8 years old at that time. Heartbreak Hotel and Love Me Tender were about that time. He has been dead now for 34 years.

I remember the Beatles coming out. “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” were the songs I first heard. In fact, I heard them in gym class. The boys were on one side of  the gym and the girls on the other (no co-ed PE then – another distance), and someone, for some reason, had a record player (another distance) playing a 45 rpm record (another distance) of one of these.

I asked who it was singing, and someone told me it was that new group, The Beatles. I had heard negative things about them at church and home so I wasn’t sure. But I quickly made up my own mind. I liked them. Two of them have been dead for quite a while now.

When I got out of school, I got a job with the telephone company (another distance since there was only one) and got a car with an AM radio with push buttons (another distance). My girlfriend (now my wife) changed all of the buttons to her stations which played top 40. I had listened to a blend of music, but no more. I quickly got hooked on the new stuff (Rolling Stones, Ohio Express, Monkees - another distance),

When I went into the army, I got into acid rock (Hendrix and others). And on it went.

My memories are going further and further back. It seems like just a few years ago I was in high school, but I graduated in 1968. It seems just a while ago that I was in the army, but I got out in 1971. It seems that we have not been married for all that long, but it has been forty years.

One of the best times of our lives was in Spokane, but it has been thirty years since we left. It seems like a short time ago that I graduated from college or seminary, but my last graduation date was 1985. It seems like just a while ago that I left the Church of Christ, but it was in 1994.

Life is on fast forward and I do not want it to be.

The past few years have been hard ones and I guess the scrabbling for existence had made the time go faster.

I have already been in Lincoln for over a year.

And I am about to turn 62, retirement age if I wanted it to be.

So many people I remember as teenagers are retired now. Some are dead, some are having real troubles in life, some are doing well. Some have found the Lord. Some haven’t. But all those who are still alive are significantly older.

The distance from then to now is far greater than I ever thought it would be. I never had a mental concept of being older. Oddly enough, I still think of myself, at times, as being younger. Then I will catch sight of myself in the mirror or a window and it will surprise me. I am white headed and bearded. I am wrinkled, although not as much as I thought I would be.

I see my wife, and although she still looks good for her age, it is for her age that comes to mind. She is older than I think she ought to be.

Memories come flashing back. A song on the oldies station will flash me to 1972 on a warm Houston night in our 1968 Ford Galaxie 500. Another will put me in the snack bar in Germany at the army base. Another I will be in seminary. Another and another.

Someone once wrote that you become old when you replace your dreams with regrets.

It seems to me that it would be impossible to be otherwise. At this age I do not have a lot of dreams. Too many of them have been smashed or fulfilled. I only have a few years left. With good health, maybe 20. Half the distance to getting out of the army. Ten less than in Spokane. Five less than graduation from my second degree. Only three more than since I left the Church of Christ.

I was listening to a song on the radio in a store not long ago and asked the guy behind the counter, have you ever thought about the fact that three of that foursome are dead now? He hadn’t thought about it, I guess. So many songs I hear are by people who have been dead for a long time, decades sometimes.

Time has gone by so fast. And as I said, I am beginning to feel my age.

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Daily Java: 

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. (John 3:19-21)

The reason the world does not want the Bible to be read in schools is that they do not want to see the light. They hate all that comes from God and want to stamp it out.

Those who hate God, who unfortunately have a lot of sway in modern America, will not go anywhere near the light. Even in situations where help is offered in countries or areas of the US that need it badly, if it comes from churches it will be refused.

The reason is that people like this are fools. Psalm 53:1 says: the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

And you can see the effect in our country today. The children are out of control, the schools are war zones, the teachers are afraid, our prisons are full and more are being built, teen pregnancy rate is high, things are going to pieces. The more those who hate God come into power, the more they control the courts, the more they dictate the laws and elect more people like them. And the more these things happen, the further down our country and our society goes.

You can see the results of that in Europe where the worship of God is definitely in the minority. You can see it in the violence in other countries, the immorality, the lack of any kind of ethic.

But the light keeps on coming. It has come for 2000 years and will continue until Jesus comes again.

Time and again, people have tried to stamp it out, have “prophesied” that it would be gone in another fifty years. As much as I like it, Star Trek: the Next Generation is based on the premise that humanity has evolved beyond the need for God.

Rarely is a movie seen with God anywhere near the characters. If Christians are portrayed, they are usually seen as mindless bigots and hypocrites.

But the light keeps on coming.

When I was a kid, I heard someone say something that always stuck with me. He said that ice cream parlors are well-lit and bars are dark.

While not necessarily always true, it does bear out a point. Walk into a bar and turn on the light and say, Well, let’s see who’s here. What would happen is people would become angry.

In general, where people are doing good things, the lights are on. Where they are not, the lights are off.

When people are in Christ, the Light is on. When they are not, it is off.

Praise the Light of the knowledge of God.

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Daily Java: 

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her. (Proverbs 31:10, 27-28 NLT).

The Perfect 10. As Hollywood shows you, looks do not matter if there is nothing behind them. The Godly woman is beautiful in a way supermodels can never be.

Supermodels and Hollywood actresses have nothing but their bodies. And they know it. They do everything they can to keep that beauty even when they get old.

They know that their looks are their stock in trade. Without them, they do not have anything to sell.

The problem with being actors and actresses is that you absorb other characters instead of being yourself. And rarely do you see an ugly character on the screen.

So all of the characters are handsome or beautiful, well-built, people that do not look like anyone in reality.

But there is a flaw there. The beauty is only skin deep. And people watching begin to think that the beauty they see is what is real and want to emulate it.

But nothing is uglier than an old actress that has tried her level best through plastic surgery and Botox and everything else imaginable, but has failed.

I was looking at some pictures online the other day of older actresses that once were sex kittens. Once they lost their looks, they were gone. There was nothing else there.

It is firmly believed that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide because she could not imagine herself getting older. There was nothing underneath.

Proverbs 11:22 says, A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout. Physically beautiful sluts are some of the saddest people. The beauty is treated as a commodity and displayed for profit.

Have you ever thought about the fact that a woman can take off her clothes in public and she will be arrested? If she keeps on doing that, sooner or later she will be considered mentally irregular.

But if she takes them off for a camera, people will pay $10 each to come watch if it is on the movie screen under the guise of a “story”?

The godly woman has more than that. She has the love of her family, the respect of her husband, her community respects her. And when she gets old – as everybody who lives will – she will become more beautiful.

The godly woman has something underneath that the physical 10’s do not. She has inner beauty. And she has the presence of God in her life which radiates.

Yes, it is hard not to look at a truly physically beautiful woman. But remember: she will get older and it is rare to see a truly physically beautiful desirable old woman. Women who try to remain that way become jokes and travesties.

i live in a classic love story

So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days. (Genesis 29:20 NLT)

I live in a classic love story.

I met my wife in 1969 at a bowling alley in Pasadena, TX, where several churches had gone after a youth rally.

I walked in, a woman who was a well-known matchmaker snatched me up almost bodily and put me into the midst of 5 girls. I married one of them.

I loved her from the start. She took a few weeks but soon discovered that she liked me as much as I liked her. we got along great. We had many of the same interests and even went  to the same church after I moved to Houston that spring.

She was a pretty girl who didn’t know it. She had always considered herself plain and dumpy. She was neither. She was certainly not a supermodel or anything like that, but she had a quiet, pure beauty that was instantly attractive to me.

She amazed her friends by going from 0-60 in no time. She had a boyfriend that was a steady one and, not only that, was older (2 years), was working (for the telephone company), had an apartment (which she was always afraid to go into) and a car (1962 Mercury Meteor with a crumpled driver rear fender). I was tall, and large (although not that much by today’s standards – 6’2” and 200 pounds), I was interesting, played the guitar (badly) and had an interesting job (taking money out of pay phones).

She even went on a date on a Tuesday night, something almost unheard of. Suddenly she had a date any time she wanted one, someone to go to stuff with, even a date to the formal Jr/Sr Banquet held each year by the Houston area Churches of Christ. She wore a yellow formal with long white gloves and I wore a white dinner jacket, not unlike James Bond himself.

Her ultimate plans were to go to a Christian college and find a missionary. She would marry him and go somewhere – Africa, maybe.

She found me instead.

When I was drafted into the army in 1969, we had been going together for five months. I had taught her how to drive a standard transmission in the interim. A lot of girls in that time learned like she did. I had my arm around her in the car (bench seats), and I would operate the clutch while she shifted. She learned fast and I had a good time with her.

We had a good time the whole time we were going together. I don’t guess we had one argument that amounted to much.

Well, there was the time when I bought a mustache and wore it. She didn’t like that. This was in the days when hippies were feared by The Man, so guys would buy fake mustaches and sideburns to wear on the weekends after work. They looked good, better in fact than my own did at the time. I came into body hair later.

She had a flat in her family car and I picked her dad up to go get her and get another tire. I wore the mustache. No one commented on it, which I thought was weird. After we were going home, she was sitting on the far edge of her seat. She informed me that if I were to wear that, she would sit over here. No mention of leaving me, just sitting far from me.

I took it off, but grew one in the army to come home and get married in. She got glasses (cat’s eye), so we both had something new to show the other. We got married anyway.

She always loved me. She always showed it. We had our moments of friction when we were first married, but we have been married for over 40 years.

She went off to college while I was away in the service. But she came home to me. She wouldn’t go to bed with me or anything else until we were married. And I loved her for it.

We married me in 1971 and we went to Germany together for six months, the rest of my service and almost starved with me there in an apartment smaller than my living room now.

But we loved each other.

Ours is a classic marriage. I am the one who brings home the paycheck and she is the one who is the homemaker. She has worked occasionally when we needed it, but in general, she has been our homemaker.

I have always been grateful for her. I had a time of foolishness but it was overlooked and forgiven and I have always loved her. of all the girls I could have gotten, she is the top of the line.

As she has gotten older, she has gotten better looking. In fact, as she has progressed in her MS, she has gotten sweeter and kinder and more loving.

If I had it to do again, I would marry her a second time. And I would love her harder when I was young.

She is good, a good person, and that is rare. It is hard to find someone who is truly good. I have what other men die for. I have known so many men who were dying for the love of a good woman, one who would stay by them and love them no matter what, who would stick by them through thick and thin.

She has taken our marriage vows seriously and truly loves me.  She follows me wherever I go and loves the churches I pastor even when they turn on me.

She is truly a good woman. And I do not know how I could be blessed as I am.

I will take care of her as long as she lives, or as long as I live, whichever comes first.

I do know that I will never leave her, nor ever desert her. I will pack her scooter into and out of the van, I will cook for her and help her clean, I will help her up and down the stairs, I will love her, and treasure her.

She is my life.

i got a letter today

Like a cool drink of water when you're worn out and weary is a letter from a long-lost friend. (Proverbs 25:24-26 The Message)

I got a letter today. It as quite a long one and, wonder of wonders, it was hand written. An old friend wrote me to tell me of her life with her husband’s new diabetes and dialysis adventures.

It was almost a shock. It was, as I said, hand written in purple ink. I have not received a hand written letter – for that matter a personal letter that was not business related – in years.

It was a joy to read. It was like a time capsule.

I have been reading on line that letters are just about passe. Kids can text like mad, but never even write notes. In fact, I have been reading that many kids are virtually illiterate. The vast majority cannot read cursive at all, and have trouble even with printing. Kind of pathetic.

I worry for our future generation. They are growing up without the basic necessities for passing on anything to their children. The music that is around today will not endure, the novels are graphic novels (long comic books), the letters that are read again and again are missing, the pictures are files on a computer.

In just a few years, there will be a great void. No music, no literature, no pictures. What will be?

In my mind I see a group of vastly overweight people hooked up to machines that entertain them 24/7. Kind of like the people on Wall-E that were on the spaceship. Barely able even to move, things available to them at a move of their hands, no exercise, no mental activity. Nothing.

A depressing picture. And one that is put in my mind by a handwritten letter from an old friend.

daily java

Daily Java:

Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. 25 No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. (John 2:23-24 NLT)

Everybody likes a good sideshow. It is a fact. Everybody likes to be amazed and entertained. And on one level, Jesus provided that.

He always had something happening. He always was doing something interesting. He always had something good to say. They even enjoyed his skewering of the Jewish leaders. He was entertaining.

And there were some who also believed in him. They saw the things he did and heard the things he said and believed that he was from God.

The problem is: people are fickle. One moment they love you, the next, they will turn on you with a vengeance.

Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart know that. Both made a mistake – and it was a rather large one, to be sure – but the minute people found out, they were gone from their affections. Ten minutes before the revelations of the problems, they were the greatest people in the world. ten minutes afterwards, they were the butt of jokes in almost every situation.

Of course, they deserved some of what they got. But they went from top to bottom in no time.

Jesus knew this. Something like it even happened to him a couple of times. In John 6, he had fed people and they had seen his miracles and thought he was great. Then he told them the things he did in verses 53-56 about eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the son of man and they were through.

In John 8, they were listening it him and he told them that he had come from God. All of a sudden, it was time to stone him. He barely got away.

On the Sunday before he was killed, they were ready to proclaim him king of Israel. The next week, they screamed for his blood.

They loved him and followed him as long as he did what they wanted him to do. When he deviated from it, they were finished with him. It made no difference that he was the same guy.

They wanted entertainment and someone dedicated to making them happy. The last thing they wanted was for someone to challenge them with words from God.

All pastors know this. In many churches, pastors are sometimes only a few minutes away from being fired. In one church I was acquainted with, the pastor had been there eighteen years. He was summarily fired on a Sunday night because one of the elders felt he had made a disparaging remark.

The tide can turn so quickly for anyone in a position of authority. One minute they love you, the next they hate you.

I was talking in a Wednesday night devotional several years back. I had bought a new car, a black Mustang with T tops. It had begun to own me and I mentioned that things did not matter. One of my best friends felt I was talking about his Amway venture (which tends to get its adherents into a materialistic mindset) and got mad. I didn’t even have him in mind, but I suppose it hit something he was already thinking about.

He almost, in spite of his wife telling him he was acting silly, quit being my friend, even though we had been friends for a couple of years.

And more ad nauseum could be recalled. A church will love you to death when you come, and then something will happen, some small thing that irritates a prominent member, and it will be through.

Jesus irritated the prominent members. He knew he was going to and he knew he would.

He had just cleared out the sellers of animals from the temple, and had made a lot of people mad. Then he told them he would rebuild the temple in three days after they destroyed it.

He was speaking of himself and the temple that was his body, of course. And he spoke obliquely, as he did often, so that those who wanted to understand would, but those who didn’t care wouldn’t (Matthew 13:12-14).

What he had to say was vital, but the more education and the more tradition rested in one’s heart, the less they would want to understand what he said.

His understanding of their human nature wasn’t supernatural. Anyone in any degree of leadership understand that.

And anyone with any sense will remember it as he or she goes into a leadership role.

daily java

Daily Java:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” (John 1:29-31 NLT)

Sometimes something is right in front of you and you do not know it.

John the Baptizer probably knew Jesus. They were cousins and Mary considered herself close to Elizabeth, John’s mother. It stands to reason that they maybe even played together as children on occasion.

But Isaiah 53 says, There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. there was nothing so outstanding about Jesus, especially before he began preaching, that made him stand out. He was, as the book of Hebrews says again and again, a regular person.

So John would not have known until Jesus came to him to be baptized and it dawned on him that here was the Messiah, come to save Israel.

The first dawning was when Jesus came out to be baptized. John told him that, when it came down to it, Jesus needed to baptize him. But he baptized Jesus anyway.

After the baptism, a dove came down and sat on Jesus’ shoulder. Only John saw it. But it was enough for him to know that the reason he came had been fulfilled.

He told everybody this. He said that he was not baptizing as the final baptism. The one coming after him would baptize with fire.

John would use water, the Messiah would use the Holy Spirit. John would baptize toward a single second chance, the Messiah would baptize in grace for a life of second chances. John’s baptism to repentance would be temporary, the Messiah’s would be permanent.

But John had the presence of mind to know that he was not preaching toward himself. He was preaching toward the Messiah.

And when he saw Jesus at the water’s edge, he knew that this man Jesus was that Messiah, that son of God, that Savior of mankind. And he already knew him and didn’t realize it.

He said, He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. (John 3:31 NLT).

It would be a mixture of feelings to see the Messiah standing in front of you. To show him to the world was why you came. And here he was. Now what do you do? Your job is finished and your mission complete.

You go on until God tells you to quit. But John knows, he has done what God told him to do.

It may feel like we are through, that we are finished in life and don’t have anything left to do, but we continue.

The apostle Paul, one who was getting tired of life, said:

For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. (Philippians 1:20-25)

He was ready to go but God had not yet released him. The difference between John and Paul, of course, was that Paul was much older when he wrote this. John the Baptizer was still a young man, only 30-31 years old. He still theoretically had a lot of years left in preaching of Jesus.

It didn’t work out that way. It wasn’t long before he was killed. But he died knowing his mission had been finished.

And he saw the Messiah, and he already knew him.

daily java

Daily Java:

This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants  from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.” “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet we are expecting?” “No.” “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’” (John 1:19-23)

The problem with a lot of government jobs is that many of them were intended to be temporary and turned into permanent positions.

The same holds true with committees. A committee is put into existence in order to address a certain need. When the need is met, the committee is kept on. Then after a few years, the committee’s existence gets etched in stone.

There was a man named Cincinnatus  who was a wealthy and influential farmer. He was an aristocrat and political figure of the Roman Republic, serving as consul in 460 BC and Roman dictator in 458 BC and 439 BC. Rome was under attack and he was the best man to lead it. He quit his farm, became dictator, won the war, resigned his position as leader of the Roman Republic and went back to his farm.

He did what was needed and then dissolved his job.

The rest of the dictators didn’t want to do that. They wanted to stay around after the problem was solved and be king. But Cincinnatus didn’t.

John the Baptizer knew this too. He knew that he was nothing more than a signpost, pointing the way to Jesus.

In John 3:29-31 (NLT) John says:  

It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

He knew his job was temporary and didn’t try to make something permanent of it. Like Cincinnatus, he was happy to do what was needed when it was needed.

When Jesus came, John sent all of his apostles to Jesus. He pointed at Jesus and proclaimed Jesus the Son of David, the Messiah. He was here for Jesus, Jesus was not here for him. and he knew it.

There is an automatic greatness conferred when one does his or her job and then steps down. Too many committees and other temporary things become permanent simply because someone does not want to give up the spotlight.

When John gave us the spotlight, it was no more than six months later that he was dead, beheaded on the whim of a little slut who danced for a king. John had made the king’s wife mad when he told her she was wrong to live with the king and not be married. She had her young daughter dance for the king knowing it would make him excited. When he wanted to reward her, her mother told her to ask for John the Baptizer’s head on a silver platter.

An ignominious end to a noble and godly man. On the other hand, John went to be with God. And if he had stayed, his disciples probably would have tried to make two camps out of the Christian faith.

And he had done his job and done it well. He was through.

Later, in Matthew 11:7-14, Jesus said:

What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it. For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time. And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

John the Baptizer was some man and was truly blessed by God.

But above all, he had the grace and the common sense to recognize that he was temporary.

i was blessed with a mother who loved

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. … Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all! Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. (Proverbs 31:10-12, 28-31 NLT)

I was blessed with a mother who loved my father, stayed at home to raise her children, was almost always there when we needed her. She was the classic mother.

Yes, she had her failings and her problems. But she also had a lot of love for us.
And she taught us the best way she could.

She took us to church, and many times was my Bible school teacher. She taught us about the love of God and about the Bible at home as much as she could. All of her activity, just about, was centered around the church.

She did what she could to bring us up in the knowledge of God and his grace.
I have known a lot of people over the years who came from dysfunctional families.

Maybe the mother was an alcoholic or abusive. Maybe she was an absent or uncaring mother. It could be that she was a mother who enabled her husband in the abuse of the children.

Since I have gotten older, it amazes me at the kinds of mothers there are in the world that are absolutely and positively not like mine.

As a child, I figured that I was the norm. And I think that for the most part, I was.

But how sad it is to see others who didn’t have what I had: a loving, caring mother who loved her husband and her family.

My wife had a mother like that, too. Even though our mothers were as different as night and day in a lot of ways, at the same time, they were the same quality of mother. Both loved their husbands and took care of their families full-time.

And I am so grateful. I am grateful that I had a mother who was like that. I am grateful that she had a mother who was like that, and that I have a wife who is a mother like that.

God blessed me. And he blessed my father when he gave him my mother. He knew that, too, all his life, and died secure in the knowledge that if anything was true, his wife loved him and loved her children.

Thank God for our mothers. Let us publicly praise them

daily java

Daily Java:

When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?” “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.” So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. (2 Kings 6:15-23)

When it comes to relationships, you cannot fight fire with fire. If you do, you both will burned up.

I knew a little girl who was having problems in getting along with her school mates. They constantly fought. I asked her about it one day. Her reply: I treat them the way they treat me. When they change, I will change.

I told her about the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat. A thermometer measures the temperature in a room. That’s all. A thermostat changes the temperature in a room. We can be one or the other.

With the little girl, it made no difference. She was bound and determined to do what she wanted.

In the passage above, the Arameans, a scary bunch from a neighboring kingdom, were about to attack Israel. They were a superior force and Israel was afraid.

Elisha was the prophet who inherited the office of Elijah, the great prophet. He kept telling the king of Israel, by the power of God, where the Arameans were going to be so that the Arameans couldn’t attack them.

It made the Aramean king mad and he sent raiders to arrest Elisha. In his silly mind, he figured that if he arrested him, he couldn’t tell anybody anything. His reasoning was that he could stop the power of God by putting a guy in jail. Kind of like the Communist countries. Didn’t work then, doesn’t work now.

The messenger who came to Elisha was afraid. Elisha told him to look at the hills. Suddenly, the armies of the Lord were visible to the man. The hills were covered in the chariots and horses of the Lord’s army.

The Aramean armies were stuck blind and Elisha had them led into the city. When they got their sight back, they were surrounded. But instead of being killed, they were given dinner and sent on their way. Needless to say, the Arameans were afraid. It took the wind right out of their sails.

Nothing takes the starch out of your plans for revenge as when the other person is nice and kind to you.

In Romans 12:20, we read: Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”

Does that mean that when you are nice to someone who hates you, they will suffer? Yes.

People expect retaliation in kind. When they get kindness and love, it baffles them. And they may kill you anyway, or do whatever they were going to do anyway. But remember that Jesus, when he was dying, forgave his killers.

How can we do any less?

The Aramean raiders were baffled and scared by the reaction of the Israelites. They had been blind and when their sight came back they were surrounded by a bunch of people with food.

It worked for them. It has always worked for me. There is enough anger and bitterness in the world without adding more of your own.

daily java

Daily Java:

Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread. (Luke 24:35 NLT)

I have always loved communion. I came from a denomination that observed communion once a week, every week, and I liked that. It is something that I have really missed.

It is funny how a church is during the services before and after the communion. It is, in many ways, like you feel with friends after you have eaten a good meal.

It is not the elements. They are entirely too simple to really be that important. In fact, I think we make too much of them. I believe that Jesus was making a point. You want to  remember me with some special observance? Just use what is nearby.

He picked up the most common things he could get. He picked up bread and drink and said use these. No fancy clothes, no fancy dishes, no fancy anything, in fact. Just ordinary common food and drink.

He happened to use unleavened bread and wine, but it doesn’t matter. We make too much out of the stuff in the Lord’s Supper and not enough of the supper itself.

Two men met Jesus on the road to Emmaus after he had risen. They didn’t recognize him because, quite frankly, they didn’t expect him to be out there.

They talked about what all had happened and then invited Jesus to supper. As their visitor, Jesus was the one who had the honor of braking the bread and praying for it.

As soon as he broke the bread, they recognized him. The Bible doesn’t say where they knew him from, but I would imagine that they had been with him a lot. They may even have been with him in the upper room when he celebrated his last Passover. They must have seen him enough, though, that when he stood there with the bread, they knew him.

That is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper. It is designed to bring us closer to him and to each other.  It is not a sacred feast in which we dim the lights and scrunch our faces up to be holy. It also brings us closer to each other.

We eat together, just like having dinner together. The food is different, but the purpose is the same.

And it is only through that communion that we really recognize Jesus. We, as he said himself, remember him until he comes again (Luke 22:19). And in the doing, we also recognize him and each other as our brothers and sisters.

They only recognized Jesus when he broke bread with them. We really only recognize him when we do.