We just had some new friends over for supper. Ralph and Cat Weber. It is a joy for me especially to have people over to eat. For one thing, I like to cook. For another, it makes me feel alive, like a real person.
I know that sounds strange, but having people over is a really quite simple way to show hospitality. There are several passages that talk about it.
Romans 12:13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 16:23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city's director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
1 Timothy 5:9-10 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
3 John 1:5-8 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hospitality is reaching out to others in a simple way. In the book of Acts, there was a woman whose main good thing in life was reaching out to others. Her death was such a blow that the apostle Peter was called to bring her back to life. All Dorcas did was make clothing for people, a simple act of hospitality.
Peter’s mother-in-law, in Matthew 8:14-17, was very sick and Jesus healed her. Her first act upon getting out of her sickbed was to begin to wait on him. Her first impulse was hospitality.
It is one good way to show our love for others. In fact, it is a concrete way to show the love for God in our own lives, by sharing.
It will be our main thrust here in Lincoln.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”- Deuteronomy 7:9. S
God never intended his love to be a temporary situation. He never said, “I’ll love you for a little while, then go on to something else.” No. He will love you forever. Nothing can separate us from his love. It has always been that way.
You figure, if he could love the Israelites, a group of whiny, ungrateful, spiteful twerps, he could love anyone. He can sure love me. At least I like to praise him.
Of course, they were probably good at doing the worship stuff, too. In fact, they got so carried away at times that they forgot who they were worshipping (2 Kings 18:3-5). They just began to worship stuff just because they thought it was holy.
No matter what else happens in life, I know that God will love me. I may have all kinds of bad things go on, but God will love me.
And I will love him.
God never intended his love to be a temporary situation. He never said, “I’ll love you for a little while, then go on to something else.” No. He will love you forever. Nothing can separate us from his love. It has always been that way.
You figure, if he could love the Israelites, a group of whiny, ungrateful, spiteful twerps, he could love anyone. He can sure love me. At least I like to praise him.
Of course, they were probably good at doing the worship stuff, too. In fact, they got so carried away at times that they forgot who they were worshipping (2 Kings 18:3-5). They just began to worship stuff just because they thought it was holy.
No matter what else happens in life, I know that God will love me. I may have all kinds of bad things go on, but God will love me.
And I will love him.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect- 1 Peter 3:15.
I read somewhere someone saying that their relationship with God was extremely private and no one had the right to ask him about it.
He, of course, was full of beans. Our relationship with God is extremely personal, but it is not nor is it ever private. Part of it is sharing our faith with others in a way that draws, not repels. It does no good if we keep it to ourselves.
People need to see Jesus in us. If they do not see Jesus in us, they may not see him at all. Jesus told his disciples that if you had seen him, you had seen the Father. He didn’t mean they looked alike. He meant that just like he was the Father to them, they would be the Father to others.
In other words, God does not reveal himself to humanity directly, but through us, through what we do and how we act. To others, our actions will reflect the Father. If we are mean, to them, God will be mean. If we are kind, in the same way, God will be kind.
I read somewhere someone saying that their relationship with God was extremely private and no one had the right to ask him about it.
He, of course, was full of beans. Our relationship with God is extremely personal, but it is not nor is it ever private. Part of it is sharing our faith with others in a way that draws, not repels. It does no good if we keep it to ourselves.
People need to see Jesus in us. If they do not see Jesus in us, they may not see him at all. Jesus told his disciples that if you had seen him, you had seen the Father. He didn’t mean they looked alike. He meant that just like he was the Father to them, they would be the Father to others.
In other words, God does not reveal himself to humanity directly, but through us, through what we do and how we act. To others, our actions will reflect the Father. If we are mean, to them, God will be mean. If we are kind, in the same way, God will be kind.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
purified gold
“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.”- Job 23:10-11.
My wife, Ella, loves jewelry. And I love to get it for her. She would never buy it herself, but likes to get it.
In fact, she won’t buy anything for herself when it comes down to it. she would wear the same old clothes forever if it were left up to her. Anything new she has I get for her.
Which is okay with me. I like to buy her clothing and stuff, and I think I probably have better taste than she does. I will also push her into interesting new areas of clothes that she swould not go into if it were not for me. By that I mean color combinations and such. She is not really that adventerous in spite of being married to a whacko who would move her in a minute to a whole new area of the country. She welcomes adventure if I bring it, but otherwise would wear the same clothes and do the same things every day if she had it to do.
But back to the jewelry. She loves gold. But she doesn’t want a lump of raw rock. She wants refined gold, gold that has been put through the refining process, melted, burned and purified. Otherwise, it is not worth that much.
Gold in its pure from is only valuable in theory. It is a potentially valuable thing. It is only worth anything if it is burned to death. Then it is worth a lot.
The same goes for people. We are worth a lot to God, to others, to life in general if we have gone through the fire. Then we are purified and strong, in both faith and character.
God does not send problems. Nothing bad comes from above. But he uses what comes and makes us stronger, just like a miner makes raw ore into fine gold jewelry.
Just as the fire makes the gold pure, so the fire of life, the problems we come into contact with make us strong. Unless we go through problems and come out the other side, we are just raw material. The fire makes us finished and useful.
And then God can use us to his glory, just as the artist can make the pure gold into something beautiful.
He loves you. Let him work in your life.
My wife, Ella, loves jewelry. And I love to get it for her. She would never buy it herself, but likes to get it.
In fact, she won’t buy anything for herself when it comes down to it. she would wear the same old clothes forever if it were left up to her. Anything new she has I get for her.
Which is okay with me. I like to buy her clothing and stuff, and I think I probably have better taste than she does. I will also push her into interesting new areas of clothes that she swould not go into if it were not for me. By that I mean color combinations and such. She is not really that adventerous in spite of being married to a whacko who would move her in a minute to a whole new area of the country. She welcomes adventure if I bring it, but otherwise would wear the same clothes and do the same things every day if she had it to do.
But back to the jewelry. She loves gold. But she doesn’t want a lump of raw rock. She wants refined gold, gold that has been put through the refining process, melted, burned and purified. Otherwise, it is not worth that much.
Gold in its pure from is only valuable in theory. It is a potentially valuable thing. It is only worth anything if it is burned to death. Then it is worth a lot.
The same goes for people. We are worth a lot to God, to others, to life in general if we have gone through the fire. Then we are purified and strong, in both faith and character.
God does not send problems. Nothing bad comes from above. But he uses what comes and makes us stronger, just like a miner makes raw ore into fine gold jewelry.
Just as the fire makes the gold pure, so the fire of life, the problems we come into contact with make us strong. Unless we go through problems and come out the other side, we are just raw material. The fire makes us finished and useful.
And then God can use us to his glory, just as the artist can make the pure gold into something beautiful.
He loves you. Let him work in your life.
daily java
Daily Java: “Who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,”- 2 Timothy 1:9
When I set the table, I always put out napkins. It is a fact that people will be messy when they eat. You know they will and so do they. The napkins are not encouragement to be messy, nor are they necessarily an act of prescience on my part. It is just that I know that messiness is built into the process of eating. So I put out napkins.
When God made people, he knew that if he made them the way he did, they would screw up. It is in our natures to be messy with our lives. Any tme you have free choice, you are going to have messes.
That is because rarely do people use free choice worth a flip.
It is kind of like my directional sense. It is sorry. I can’t tell which way is north or south. My father could always tell, my sister and brother can, my wife can. If he could talk, I imagine Mordecai, my wife’s antique cat, could tell. But not me.
And because of that, when given the choice, I almost always turn the wrong direction.
From the beginning of time, God knew we would turn the wrong direction when given the choice.
Ephesians 1 says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Before the creation of the world God knew we would mess up. So, in advance, before people or trees or anything else was made, he set up grace.
When he set the great cosmic table, before the meal was even cooked, much less served and eaten, he put out napkins. So when we got stuff on us from eating the great meal of life, we could clean it off.
The napkins are, of course, grace. And the meal is life. Some of us would need a case of napkins per meal, but his grace is all-encompassing, or as 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, sufficient to show his power.
Thank you, Lord, for your grace in my life.
When I set the table, I always put out napkins. It is a fact that people will be messy when they eat. You know they will and so do they. The napkins are not encouragement to be messy, nor are they necessarily an act of prescience on my part. It is just that I know that messiness is built into the process of eating. So I put out napkins.
When God made people, he knew that if he made them the way he did, they would screw up. It is in our natures to be messy with our lives. Any tme you have free choice, you are going to have messes.
That is because rarely do people use free choice worth a flip.
It is kind of like my directional sense. It is sorry. I can’t tell which way is north or south. My father could always tell, my sister and brother can, my wife can. If he could talk, I imagine Mordecai, my wife’s antique cat, could tell. But not me.
And because of that, when given the choice, I almost always turn the wrong direction.
From the beginning of time, God knew we would turn the wrong direction when given the choice.
Ephesians 1 says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Before the creation of the world God knew we would mess up. So, in advance, before people or trees or anything else was made, he set up grace.
When he set the great cosmic table, before the meal was even cooked, much less served and eaten, he put out napkins. So when we got stuff on us from eating the great meal of life, we could clean it off.
The napkins are, of course, grace. And the meal is life. Some of us would need a case of napkins per meal, but his grace is all-encompassing, or as 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, sufficient to show his power.
Thank you, Lord, for your grace in my life.
Monday, March 8, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
There is a lot to being comforted by someone. You feel bad, you hurt in some way, and you want to offer comfort. God offers us comfort in that way. We know that he cares for us and, if nothing else, ultimately will take care of us.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do here in this world, and there may be no release from what is wrong. Your comfort comes from the fact that you know God loves you and wants the best for you.
You also know that sometimes bad stuff happens anyway, and it doesn’t matter a fig whether you want it or not.
My wife is ill with multiple sclerosis and there is nothing we can do about it. We have prayed for healing and it has not come. Yet we know God cares for us and will use us anyway.
That was the point in 2 Corinthians 12 when the apostle Paul talked about pain and suffering in a Christian’s life. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
He knew that God loved him anyway, even when he would not give him what he wanted.
As my wife progresses in her pain and suffering, she become sweeter and more gracious. I do not know why, but she does. When she prays for healing, she hears God say the same thing he said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.
She doesn’t like it, nor do I, but it is a fact that she is going to continue to suffer. Unless God smiles on her and decides to release her from her suffering, she will continue and get worse.
I hate it. But I love God. The pain and suffering did not come from God, but from evil in the world. And the only way God could get rid of it would be to get rid of evil, and then we would be like robots. Then we would not praise, but merely fulfill programming.
I like the choice myself. But with the choice comes the downside: the results of the choice, not only in your own life, but in the world in general.
I suppose that is why it is so hard to help a friend who is suffering who is not a Christian, who doesn’t have that internal peace in times of trouble. There is no focal point for them. All they see is the pain.
Thank you, Lord, for the grace in our lives that gives us the ability to see you through all the problems.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
getting ready to move
We are getting ready to move and I am taking boxes out to the van. I am of two lines: excited and depressed. Depressed because I have moved entirely too much these past few years, but excited because I am going into the Foursquare Church as a pastor.
We are going to an apartment suite until we find a house. As soon as Colorado Springs (headquarters for the Foursquare Church in this region) gets my credential fee, we will be appointed. Installation service will be Palm Sunday, March 28th. I am surely loking forward to it.
Lord, give me the strength to do what I need to do in your service, and give me the patience to do it in your time. and help me to know the difference between the two.
We are going to an apartment suite until we find a house. As soon as Colorado Springs (headquarters for the Foursquare Church in this region) gets my credential fee, we will be appointed. Installation service will be Palm Sunday, March 28th. I am surely loking forward to it.
Lord, give me the strength to do what I need to do in your service, and give me the patience to do it in your time. and help me to know the difference between the two.
last tuesday was texas independence day
Last Tuesday was Texas Independence Day.
It came to my attention that no one but me around here was celebrating it.
Unfortunately, no one in Missouri seems to care about the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 and all of the stuff that went with it.
But consider for a moment. A group of people wanted to be free from foreign oppression so badly that they were willing to die for that freedom.
The Alamo and the Massacre at Goliad were examples but on opposite sides of the coin.
At the Alamo, about 185 defenders fought for 13 days against an overwhelming Mexican army led by Santa Anna, the Napoleon of the West. Ultimately, it was a loss and they were all killed except for two women and their children and possibly a slave named Joe.
At Goliad, almost 400 men were rounded up, imprisoned in a chapel, led out on the prairie and executed while they were trying to run away.
Completely different military exercises, yet done completely differently. One group fought to the death, the other ran and were killed.
These people wanted freedom. Freedom has always been a watchword. Many of us want it enough to die for it. But it has to be earned.
The Goliad people tried to run and were killed. You cannot run from problems. The Alamo people faced it head on and were still killed. But they are remembered for their courage. It takes courage to fight.
How badly do you want to be free from sin? That freedom is not something that you can earn necessarily, but it is something that you have to die for. Galatians 2:20 says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ who lives in me. In order to be truly free, you have to die.
The Texans wanted it badly enough to die for it, as did the American colonists, and multitudes from other cultures throughout history.
God gives you freedom but in order to be free, you have to die. And when you die, you are raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6). You cannot run from sin, because sin will find you and ultimately kill you.
Live free in him who gives you freedom.
It came to my attention that no one but me around here was celebrating it.
Unfortunately, no one in Missouri seems to care about the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836 and all of the stuff that went with it.
But consider for a moment. A group of people wanted to be free from foreign oppression so badly that they were willing to die for that freedom.
The Alamo and the Massacre at Goliad were examples but on opposite sides of the coin.
At the Alamo, about 185 defenders fought for 13 days against an overwhelming Mexican army led by Santa Anna, the Napoleon of the West. Ultimately, it was a loss and they were all killed except for two women and their children and possibly a slave named Joe.
At Goliad, almost 400 men were rounded up, imprisoned in a chapel, led out on the prairie and executed while they were trying to run away.
Completely different military exercises, yet done completely differently. One group fought to the death, the other ran and were killed.
These people wanted freedom. Freedom has always been a watchword. Many of us want it enough to die for it. But it has to be earned.
The Goliad people tried to run and were killed. You cannot run from problems. The Alamo people faced it head on and were still killed. But they are remembered for their courage. It takes courage to fight.
How badly do you want to be free from sin? That freedom is not something that you can earn necessarily, but it is something that you have to die for. Galatians 2:20 says, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ who lives in me. In order to be truly free, you have to die.
The Texans wanted it badly enough to die for it, as did the American colonists, and multitudes from other cultures throughout history.
God gives you freedom but in order to be free, you have to die. And when you die, you are raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6). You cannot run from sin, because sin will find you and ultimately kill you.
Live free in him who gives you freedom.
daily java
Daily Java: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”- Joshua 1:9.
Our mandate from God is to do something that really cannot be done on our own power. Be perfect as he is perfect, go into all the world and preach the gospel. All those things. On our own power, it cannot be done.
I mean, we might do a lot of good things, but without him and his power, there is nothing that is lasting. That is why some people can make a great church, but have it fall apart when they have problems. It is built on their own strength and not on the power of God.
Our strength is not from ourselves and our own ability. If we could do it ourselves, it would not be from God. He can take what we have and make it powerful and his.
And he will. If we just trust him and let him work in us.
The spirit within us is one of courage. As the apostle Paul said, For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). If we are afraid we cannot do it, that is true. If we let that spirit govern us, that is not God. After all, we know we can’t do it from the beginning, yet God wants us to.
And his power and will be shown in us. As Paul also said, his strength will be shown in our weakness.
Our mandate from God is to do something that really cannot be done on our own power. Be perfect as he is perfect, go into all the world and preach the gospel. All those things. On our own power, it cannot be done.
I mean, we might do a lot of good things, but without him and his power, there is nothing that is lasting. That is why some people can make a great church, but have it fall apart when they have problems. It is built on their own strength and not on the power of God.
Our strength is not from ourselves and our own ability. If we could do it ourselves, it would not be from God. He can take what we have and make it powerful and his.
And he will. If we just trust him and let him work in us.
The spirit within us is one of courage. As the apostle Paul said, For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). If we are afraid we cannot do it, that is true. If we let that spirit govern us, that is not God. After all, we know we can’t do it from the beginning, yet God wants us to.
And his power and will be shown in us. As Paul also said, his strength will be shown in our weakness.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
nothing to say
I really have had nothing to say for the past couple of days. Tomorrow I will probably blather all day. I promise.
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