3/9/2008

The Snow

            Last week there were warnings all around concerning the imminent snowstorm.  When the question of how much accumulation was expected was asked, there were various totals given from nearly everyone.  Two to four inches, four to six inches, six to twelve inches and even more.   No one seemed to know what was really going to happen.  I decided I would believe it when I saw it.  During these winter storm warnings, I had the distinct pleasure of going to Wal-Mart on Thursday (the day the snow was expected to start).  As expected it was madhouse with people everywhere stocking up on those last minute items they somehow decided they could not do without for a few days, especially the all important staples of bread, milk and eggs. 

            As Thursday evening progressed, as promised the snow started to fall.  Friday came and went along with even more snow.  Saturday morning I awoke to find the deepest snow I have seen in years; 11 inches with some drifts as high as 3 three feet at my house.  I told my Grandmother (who is hard of hearing) about the 11 inches of snow here.  When she replied in surprise, “what had they been doing?” it was evident she had misunderstood me.  She thought I said, “We had 11 people restored here.”  Much to here relief she heard me correctly the second time.   

One thing about the snow, especially in the spring, is it is really beautiful as it falls and covers the landscape, but it does not last very long.  Almost as suddenly as it came, the snow also disappeared.  Sunday brought sunny skies and temperatures in the 40’s.   Monday brought light showers and the rest of the week brought more sunny skies and warmer temperatures.  In short snow does not usually stay around very long. 

            With these comments about the fleeting nature of snow, how wonderful it is that God is not like this.  God is unchanging in His nature (Mal 3:6, Jam 1:17).  He does not show regret in His actions (I Sam 15:29).  God is never here today and gone tomorrow, He is ever present and always reliable (Mt 28:20).  He does not favor one person/s over another (Rom 2:11).  So what does this mean to me?

            First, because God is unchangeable in His nature, this shows He still has the same requirements and expectations of man.  He still desires man love Him first and foremost (Deut 6:5, Mt 22:36,37).  He still requires all to obey Him for salvation (Mk 16:15-16).  So when people claim they do not know what God desires from them or they scoff at His commands, they have actually misunderstood His Divine nature.     

            Second, because God is not partial, His commands are universal.  He equally desires all to be saved (I Tim 2:4; II Pet 3:9).  Christ blood was shed for all (John 3:16; I John 2:2).  God’s infinite wisdom is displayed in His plan of salvation.  The simplicity of it is something anyone anywhere can do it is truly universal.  

Let us never underestimate God or His desires for us.  As always, God means what He says. 

Brian

2/24/2008

A Fresh Coat

            After having lived in our new house for a few months, Amanda and I have decided it is time to paint.  The walls in our home are currently the traditional boring white.  There is one good thing about white; it is a color that can quickly be painted over without a lot of problems.  So last week Amanda and I (okay, it was primarily Amanda) picked out our colors and purchased both the paint and necessary supplies.  Late Friday night, Amanda decided to get started by painting around the trim in the living room.  Soon after finishing we decided she should go ahead and finish painting the whole room.  Two hours later she was finished and the room looked great.  After a little touch up the next morning, the room was put back together and the job was completed.  Needless to say it does not look like the same room. 

            One of the great things about painting is if you do a good job, it will completely cover all of the stains, scuffs and stray marks on the walls.  In most cases there is no visible trace of their ever having been anything wrong with the walls.  Also if you get good paint, in most cases you can wipe off smudges, marks and scuffs with a wet cloth.   Once we finished painting the living room, we both soon noticed how blemished the rest of the walls looked in comparison with the fresh coat of paint.  Now for the spiritual application.   

            As the walls were being painted, I thought about something even greater at covering stains and unwanted marks than paint, the precious blood of Christ.  The stains and scuffs covered by His blood are far more than pencil marks and dirt; these are the stains of sin.  But God has promised to remove the stains of sin (Isa 1:18-20).  The death of Christ was the primary means by which God has determined sins would be covered    (I John 2:1; Rom 3:25).  His blood was shed for the purpose of forgiving sins (Mt 26:28).  Ones sins are then covered by the blood of Christ at the point one comes into contact with this blood through Baptism for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  Just like the way paint covers the marks of the past with no evidence of them having been there before, once Christ blood covers your sins, there is no evidence of them having been there in Gods eyes.  Also in contrast to ones past life, their new life in Christ should look vastly different.  Unlike paint that is rendered useless once it dries (one cannot repaint with it), the blood of Christ never stops flowing.  Once His blood at Baptism initially covers ones sins, this same blood can then be accessed as often as needed and forgiveness is continuously available (I John 1:5-10).  Is it not only wonderful but also almost inconceivable that God loved you enough to make it possible for your sins to be forgiven?  Are your sins covered?

Brian

     If a man dies, will he live again? (Job 14:14).  Life after death has been the great question of the ages.  Many have sought to find the answer to this question.  Many jokes have seemed to remedy this question in both a positive and negative light.  Movies, television shows, pictures, comic books, novels and creative stories have all been employed in response to this question.  Many speculate upon the existence of life after death, while some plainly deny it and others confidently affirm it.  But what does the Bible say about this subject?  No doubt the great hope of Christianity is the hope of eternal life in Heaven  (John 14:1-6; I Thess 4:13-18; John 10:10, 3:16).  Yet one question that is often asked is where are the dead?  Do the righteous go directly to Heaven and the evil go to Hell?  Is there a waiting place? 
The follow has been adapted from a tract by Bro. Perry Cotham, “After Death. . . what then?” 
    Death occurs as the spirit leaves the body (James 2:26, Ecc. 12:7).  But where does the spirit go?  Jesus said upon His return there would be a resurrection of the dead both the righteous and the unrighteous and then the judgment would follow (John 5:25-29; I Thess 4:13-18).  There is an intermediate abode where disembodied spirits dwell between death and the resurrection.  This place is called Hades.  Both the rich man and Lazarus were in Hades (Lk 16:19-31).  Peter declared Jesus went to Hades after His death (Acts 2:27,31).  The KJV has inaccurately translated Hades as Hell in these passages.  This is incorrect because Hades is not Hell itself.  Hades denotes the unseen realm of the dead.  Hades is a place divided into two compartments, Paradise the abode of the righteous (where Jesus and the thief went Lk 23:43) and Tartarus the abode of the wicked (Lk 16:23; II Pet 2:4). 
    There is also another word that needs to be considered.  The word Gehenna is translated Hell.  This word denotes the final abode of the wicked, the hell of fire (Mt 5:22, 29-30; Mk 9:43; Lk 12:5; Jas 3:6).  Jesus did not say the rich man was in this place, nor did Peter say Jesus went there.  In Luke 16 the rich man and Lazarus were not in their final destinations.  They were awaiting the resurrection and the judgment that had not yet occurred at the end of time.  So to affirm at death people go directly to Heaven or Hell or that the Paradise of Hades has been transferred to Heaven itself since Christ has ascended there, is not in harmony with the scriptures.
Peter said David was not in Heaven yet (Acts 2:34).     
    Also we must consider the fact there is no way of escaping Hades.  No one goes from one place to the other and no one returns from the dead to communicate with loved ones or haunt others.  Once you have entered either place there is nothing that anyone, (alive or dead), including yourself, can do to change their condition.  One cannot be baptized on their behalf, prayed out, or good deeded out.  The Bible teaching on Hades differs greatly from Catholic purgatory because in purgatory one has the possibility of being released and brought to Heaven once they have satisfied the punishment due for their sins, or others still living have either prayed, payed or good deeded them out.  The Bible is clear upon the reality of the finality of death.  Why not choose to get your life right with God now before it is eternally too late?  If you were to die today, nothing doubting, would you go to Heaven at the judgment? 

Brian  

            Throughout the past few decades, a fashion trend has continued to grow.  More and more people (especially males) have pierced ears.  At one time this was considered by our society to be unthinkable/taboo, and only reserved for females in our society.  Yet times have changed and there are many who not only will pierce their ears once but multiple times along with other piercing’s.  This has come to be seen in our culture as a type of self-expression. 

            At one time God actually had a law concerning the piercing of ones ear.  This law was not, “Thou shalt not pierce thine ear like a woman.”  In fact, instead of forbidding one to do so, God actually permitted it.   

"Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.  When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.  If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone.  But if the slave plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever” (Ex 21:1-6). 

When a freed slave had their master pierce their ear, it was a way of symbolizing the slave was freely giving himself to his master.  Notice the motivation for this was love.  The doorpost/doorway was seen as being an authoritative place where legal agreements could be made.  So when the slave’s ear was pierced to the doorpost it was a way of saying he legally belonged both to his master and the house. 

            Today God still desires you to have a pierced ear.  He is not asking us to make a fashion statement with a new earring/s.  Rather He still desires and deserves those who are willing to bind themselves to Him out of love (John 14:15).  James, Paul, Peter and Jude all referred to themselves as “servants” of Christ (Rom 1:1; Tit 1:1; Jam 1:1, Jude 1; II Pet 1:1).  One becomes a servant of the Lord by entering into a legally binding agreement with God through baptism (Acts 2:38, 22:16; I Pet 3:21).  At this point based upon the cleansing blood of Christ they now belong to God.  He has in essence “pierced their ear.”  But for this to be valid in God’s sight it must always be from a willing heart.  God does not force Himself upon those who do not desire Him to be their Master.  His invitation is open for all who will freely come (Mt 11:28-30; Rev 22:17).  So therefore let us remember daily not who we are but whose we are.  We belong to the Master (God) and are members of His household (the Church I Tim 3:15).  Is your ear pierced?  

Brian  
             


    It is often easy to take someone else’s word for it in most cases.  This is the easy way out of most things because this gets us off the hook.  Then we do not have to investigate the situation for ourselves.  Basically all it requires is our acceptance of what is being said.  Most of the time this is harmless and people are telling the truth.  But occasionally it can have negative consequences.  Years ago while I was working at a factory, there was an electrician who came by occasionally to check on some things.  On one occasion I was asking him about his experience as an electrician and if he had ever been electrocuted.  He replied yes and told the following story. He was working on some high voltage lights in a parking lot.  One of the guys he was working with accidentally turned off the power to the lights and then immediately turned it back on.  Because the lights did not come on immediately (they take a few minutes to cool down and then come back on) he thought the power was off.  When the electrician asked if it was off, the other man replied, “Yes, go ahead that wire’s not hot.”  So the electrician reached out and unknowingly grabbed a high voltage wire and was electrocuted.  All because he took someone else’s word for it.  Fortunately he was not severely injured.  
    The Bible has several instances where someone took someone else’s word for it and paid a heavy price as a resulted.  First, there is the story of Jacob and Joseph (Gen 37).  Joseph was  despised by his brothers.  Joseph had two dreams that amounted to his brothers and father each bowing down to him.  This caused them to hate him even more (Gen 37:5-11).  Later while his brothers were feeding the flock, they saw him coming and conspired to kill him but instead they decided to sell him into slavery.  Then they took his coat and made it look as if he had been killed.  They told his father he was dead and he mourned greatly (Gen 37:12-35).  Because he took their word for it (although the evidence was convincing) he mourned needlessly for years.  Years later when he was told Joseph was alive he did not believe them (Gen 45:26).  
    Second, consider the 12 spies sent to spy out the promised land (Num 13).  Upon their return they brought back fruit and knew the land could sustain all of Israel (Num 13:27).  Yet despite the fact God had promised to give it to them, ten of them gave a bad report, saying the people are too strong and the cities are fortified.  Against Caleb and Joshua’s warnings the people accepted some ones else’s word.  The result of their disbelief was they were wiped out and God condemned them to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Num 14:33-35).  
    We must realize we are never to take some one else’s word for it concerning salvation.  We are to investigate the evidence for ourselves.  Jesus words will judge us in the last days, so we need to know what he desires from us (John 12:48).  Further we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God (I John 4:1).  God expects us to grow in this respect (I Pet 2:2) and continue on to maturity (Heb 5:12-14).  Just because someone claims to be preaching/teaching God’s Word does not mean we should accept it as being such.  The Berean’s did not take Paul’s word for it when he preached the gospel to them (Acts 17:11).   We have the individual responsibility to search the scriptures for ourselves.  May God bless us as we seek to ensure we are hearing and following His Word.  

Brian