Active listening. Do you see the apparent contradiction in terms? Yet it is true: Good listeners are active listeners.

I imagine it is because of the low premium most of us place on the art of good listening.

• Pray that the Lord will help you to be a good hearer of the word: Far be it from us to actually encourage the preacher by showing him that we care about what is taking place!.

If I have heard this prayer once, I’ve heard it a million times: “Lord, bless Brother (fill in the blank) as he preaches. Give him a (you know the next phrase, right?) a ready recollection of what he has studied.” I am amazed at how common this prayer is in congregation after congregation. While I do not doubt that we should pray for the preacher, I wonder why we don’t pray more often for we, the listeners.

• Be quiet: As long as you’re talking, one thing is sure – you won’t be learning anything. Being quiet is a major emphasis of Scripture (Habakkuk 2:20; Romans 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:7; 5:1,2; Matthew 6:7; Proverbs 12:15; 13:1; 13:20; 17:28; 18:2; 18:13).
• Get a good night’s rest: Remember all the jokes about sleeping in church? Is it about the preacher’s long sermon or the hearer’s short attention span? Even the Bible has a great story about how the young Eutychus slept as the preacher went “on and on” (Acts 20:9). Give yourself a chance to gain from the lesson by being rested and ready.
• Look up the Bible passages, Bring a notebook: Your Bible is not a sacred museum exhibit behind a glass case; it is a tool to be used. Underline, write notes in the margin, develop a chain reference. Over time you will have a library of practical, spiritually-minded direction for life!
• Smile and nod your head: The preacher is like a pump with a handle – if you nod your head on the one end, he will pour out (life-giving) water on the other.
• Thank him: If he is not using Scripture, or exhibiting enough dependence on Scripture, demand that he does so. If he is, thank him, encourage him, support him against those who wish less substance and more style.

Listening influences the speaker. There is a sense in which we are the director in our own television control room. We are bombarded with thousands of sensory messages, and we must choose and select those which we see and hear. The choice we make is called attention, and we must select from all of these options! When it comes to listening from God’s own word, the stakes are higher, and the rewards are higher, too. Like Samuel, we should respond: “Speak Lord, for your servant hears,” (1 Samuel 3:9).

Stan Mitchell

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matt. 5:43-46)

Every generation of Christians must learn to reimagine what it looks like to be a Christian in the times in which they live. The ethics and morality of Christianity do not change. We still follow the same commands that Jesus gave 2,000 years ago, but we live in much different times than the first followers of Jesus. We face new and different challenges.

One significant change we have seen in the last few years is the role social media now plays in the lives of many people. Because Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are new does not mean they are exempt from the ethics of Christ. Instead, we must consider what it means to be a Christian on social media.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear how we are to treat others. If we only love the people who love us, then we are no different than everyone else. Jesus calls us to love our enemies. Much of social media is comprised of people who only love the side that agrees with them. Facebook and Twitter are full of people who hate those who are on the other side, but Jesus expects us to act differently. We are not to be like the world. We are to love those on the other side. This does not mean we have to agree with them, but it does mean we are to treat them with kindness and respect. We should treat them the same we would like to be treated. We should give them the benefit of the doubt. We should strive to understand their positions rather than make assumptions. We are to love our enemies, even on social media.

If we cannot love our enemies on social media, then we should log off. For some Christians, this might be the only option, but a better way to engage social media is to show people Jesus. We do this by being different from others. The world expects us to love those who love us and hate those who hate us, but we are called to give them what they don’t expect. We must envision a different kind of social media. We must seek to transform Facebook and Twitter. We must be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever we go.

Scott Elliott

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV).

As our party traveled by foot to a remote village in the middle hills of Nepal we came to a pool in a river where two men were washing something that I first took to be clothes or at least rags of some kind. As we got closer, however, I realized they were washing out the intestines of an animal that they had slaughtered. The intestines had come from a water buffalo. There was still a considerable pile of unwashed entrails, and to say that they looked “unappetizing” would be a tremendous understatement. Yet it has not been that long ago that “chitlins” (pigs’ intestines) were considered good eating in the southern U.S., and in some places, they remain so. It did not really surprise me that people in other places would have similar tastes and customs.

We often find ourselves put off, or even offended, by the food that someone else finds tasty. Many are unable to eat at the same table with someone whose steak is less cooked than they prefer. Others find certain foods, especially the meat of some animals, to be repulsive. Personal taste is one thing. To proclaim a category of food unclean or defiled is going much further, however.

Paul reminds us that all creatures were and are designed and made by God. And God is the creator of good, not evil. To condemn foods is in some instances at least tantamount to accusing God of making bad things. Or at least that seems to be Paul’s conclusion in 1Timothy 4. In former times in the U.S. children were often taught the simple mealtime prayer, “God is great, God is good, God we thank thee for our food.” If God is good, it follows that the food he created for us to eat is also good. Paul and the Holy Spirit agree.

The same idea is found in the vision which Peter received in Joppa (Acts 10:9-16). When Peter refused to “kill and eat” unclean animals after God had invited him to do so, he was told, “What God has cleansed you must not call common (i.e., unclean).” In that case, God was preparing the Jewish Apostle for the revelation that Gentiles were also acceptable to God through faith in the Gospel of Christ.

But whether we are speaking of races of people or of animals the principle is the same: God is good, and what God has made is good. It may be contaminated or perverted but in its initial form, God intended it for and made it to be good.

Paul’s warning in the initial text I have quoted is not intended to force us to eat anything and everything which we may be offered. It is rather to prevent one person from imposing his own preferences or tastes upon others. In another text, Paul discusses those who believe they may eat all things and those who eat only vegetables. He then ordains, “Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats” (Romans 14:2-3). We have the freedom to eat or to fast, to be vegetarians or meat eaters. We do not have the freedom to bind our decision upon other Christians.

While the principle of freedom is Paul’s emphasis here, I believe it is also appropriate and important to note the other principle which these texts support – that of God’s inherent benevolence. He is good, he does good, and he wishes good for his people. We can trust God and depend upon him because in all things he is moved by love for us and by his desire to help us.

It is also important to note our appropriate response: to receive God’s blessings with thanksgiving. Let us be thankful for all of God’s gifts, for he indeed has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

Michael Brooks

I have two questions for you:

First, is slander the same as a lie? Not exactly, I guess, because slander implies an added ingredient: A lie told with malice. Sort of a verbal mixture of gasoline and sparks.

Second: When a gossip or slanderer is not gossiping with you, what is he saying to the people he’s with?

Will Rogers once declared: “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” Can you just imagine it? “Polly wants a cracker: And what do you think about widow Smith hooking up with brother Jones?”

Oops!

We all know that gossip is wrong. There are more Bible passages against gossip than there are parrots in Tennessee. “Do not speak evil of a brother,” James warns. “The one who speaks against or judges a brother, speaks evil against the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge” (James 4:11). Note that James says not to “speak against a brother.”

Period.

We can’t speak against him (or her of course) when we have our facts right or wrong. Sometimes, you see, a gossip declares in flimsy defense: “But what I say is true!”

Yes, my beloved, it may be true. But is it kind?

Most of the time, it’s neither true nor kind.

“Rumor,” Rogers says again, “travels faster, but it don’t stay as long as truth.” The wise man adds: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).

Turns out new Christians have feelings, and they can be hurt. So do preachers have feelings, and elders, and members …

Speak tenderly, speak softly, speak truthfully, and most of all, speak encouragingly of, and to others.

Mostly gossips care little for the facts, less for kindness, and still less for the people whom they hurt.

Gossips don’t care; Christians should.

Stan Mitchell

Her name is Norma McCorvey. Just a few years ago she was baptized into Christ. It became a national story, with interviews by ABC News and other media outlets.

Normally the faith response of a single mother in Dallas, Texas does not warrant national attention. She came to Christ bruised and beaten by life’s cruelties. Today the Lord Jesus is binding the bruises, and pouring salve on to the wounds, for that is what he does.

In the early 1970’s she was pregnant and unmarried. She made the harrowing, heartbreaking decision to end the unborn child’s life. Close to fifty million children have perished because their mothers “had the right to choose.” For perspective, the Vietnam conflict accounted for 58 thousand deaths, and World War II almost half a million. Please allow that figure to sink in. Fifty million. The most terrifying weapons of war man could devise, designed to tear into the bodies of young men, wielded by yet more young men trained specifically to take those lives, failed to kill as many as have been lost to the surgeon’s knife.

No one questions the enormity of the decision for a scared eighteen year old who feels as if she has been abandoned by her family, her sexual partner (where are the men responsible when the decision comes down?) and her church. I am sure that the presence of a child represents a significant inconvenience to the young mother’s lifestyle. It’s not easy for a once freewheeling young woman to contemplate the burden of motherhood, especially if she faces those responsibilities alone.

And it should be said that the damage was not limited to Norma’s unborn child. Norma herself spent the next twenty years beaten and broken by the magnitude of what she had done. Guilt tore away the lining of her soul. Her heartbreak drove her to drugs, drink and a broken family. Yet the same Jesus who forbade her action also sought to forgive her sin!

She rose from a watery grave in a suburban Dallas swimming pool. Then she faced the unblinking lights of the nation’s media and the antagonistic questioning of its journalists.

But why did they do this to Norma, whose mistakes, and whose return to her Lord was certainly not unique?

Television anchors implied that she was mentally disturbed, emotionally troubled and that she was being exploited by the religious right. So why did Norma decide to endure the glare of the media, the hostility of its powerful spokespersons?

Because though her given name is Norma, you know her as Jane. Jane Roe, the plaintiff in the landmark 1973 Roe versus Wade decision to legalize abortion. Norma understood that her action then had a national effect; now she wanted her latest decision to begin to reverse that effect.

Now that you know her name is Norma, I want you to know something else, something that transcends politics, “personal” decisions, one’s own body, and the body of the dying infant.

I want you to know that whatever you have done, no matter how horrifying, no matter how deep a hole you have dug yourself into, that Jesus Christ can, and what is more, deeply desires to forgive you.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

The Lord forgave Norma; he wants to forgive you, too.

Stan Mitchell

Just to clarify, I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I believe there is ample evidence for that assertion. Some might ask, however, “Did Jesus even exist?” Is there reason to believe that an historical figure named Jesus of Nazareth even lived? Aside from the four Gospels (because four witnesses aren’t enough, apparently), there is no other mention of Jesus Christ (They also missed Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians etc.).

Well, there were at least five ancient historical writers who mentioned Jesus. None of them were believers in Jesus as the son of God, you understand, and none of them mentioned Jesus for any reason than the fact that he was an important historical figure in the first century.

1. Josephus was a Jewish historian. He was Jewish by nationality and faith. My point is that he had no theological reason to mention Jesus. Yet in his Antiquities he mentions Jesus’ birth, trial under Pilate and execution. He calls Jesus a “rabbi” and a wise man.
2. Tacitus (AD 55-120), a Roman historian noted for championing a historical style that sought to investigate both sides of a story, writes of Jesus.
3. Gaius Suetonius (secretary to Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138) writes of Jesus.
4. Pliny the Younger, a Roman author and administrator, writes a lengthy and interesting study of Christians in Asia Minor and spends some time detailing the story of Jesus.
5. Julius Africanus quotes from a history of the Eastern Mediterranean written in about AD 52 by Thallus. Thallus, just twenty or so years after the execution of Jesus describes the day of his death: “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.” “This darkness,” Julius Africanus observes, “in the third book of his (i.e. Thallus) History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”

None of these writers had any reason to mention Jesus other than the fact that he was historical. They mention him in the same way a historian of World War II would mention Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin because you cannot adequately explain the events of the first century without him. There is no reasonable way one can deny that there was a man named Jesus of Nazareth. The Bible reflects this truth.

Stan Mitchell

A defense attorney was cross-examining a police officer during a felony trial. It went like this:

Q: Officer, did you see my client fleeing the scene?
A: No sir, but I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender running several blocks away.

Q: Officer, who provided this description?
A: The officer who responded to the scene.

Q: A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called
offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?
A: Yes sir, with my life.

Q: WITH YOUR LIFE? Let me ask you this, then, officer — do you have a locker room in the police station — a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?
A: Yes sir, we do.

Q: And do you have a locker in that room?
A: Yes sir, I do.

Q: And do you have a lock on your locker?
A: Yes sir.

Q: Now why is it, officer, IF YOU TRUST YOUR FELLOW OFFICERS WITH YOUR LIFE, that you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with those officers?
A: You see, sir, we share the building with a court complex, and sometimes defense attorneys have been known to walk through that room.

Sometimes it’s best not to pursue a particular line of questioning!
But it’s true that there are some people we can’t trust at all and there are others we can trust with our very lives. Our level of trust is based upon how someone has proven themselves to be faithful in the past. As you probably know from personal experience, it takes months and years to establish a high level of trust, but only a moment to destroy it. Because people do let us down, we are sometimes made to feel that there is no one we can trust. But fortunately, there is someone.

“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.  When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — the LORD, who remains faithful forever.” (Psa. 146:3-6)

Father, thank you for being faithful, for proving over and over that you are indeed a God we can trust with our very lives. While there are others who have let us down, you never have. For that we praise you! May our trust in you be reflected in our willingness to allow you to guide us this day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.’” Matthew 26:39-46

 Peter, James, and John slept while Jesus prayed. Later that evening Jesus boldly confronts the mob that came to arrest him while Peter, James and John fled. If they had prayed instead of sleeping, would their response have been different? One thing is certain; they would have been more responsive to the agony of Jesus. Jesus took them with him further into the garden that night and asked them to watch while he prayed.

The word “watch” used here and in many other places in the Bible is a form of the Greek word “gregoreo” and it means “to be awake, to watch”. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says that this word means “to live, be alive on earth”. Thayer’s further states, “Metaphorically, to watch i. e. give strict attention to, be cautious, active: — to take heed lest through remissness and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtake one, Matthew 24:42; Matthew 25:13; Mark 13:35,(37); Revelation 16:15; or lest one be led to forsake Christ, Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; or lest one fall into sin, 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 3:2f; or be corrupted by errors, Acts 20:31.”

It is important that as Christians we “stay awake and pray” because even though our spirits are often willing and we have good intentions, the flesh is weak and we are prone to fall asleep on the job. Peter is an example for us on this night of Jesus’ arrest. After boldly proclaiming that he was ready to die with the Lord, Peter denied the Lord three times. Did Peter remember Jesus’ words to him in the garden, “watch and pray”?

It is always amazing to me how we seem to “sleepwalk” through our lives. We see examples of it all around us in these days of pandemic. We will put on a mask and go to the grocery store; we will put on a mask and order take out food; we may even put on a mask and go to a ball game. We can do all those things, but we will not put on a mask and go to the church assembly. Why is that so?  Are we asleep? Have we forgotten to watch and pray?

I am reminded of a verse from the song “Excuses”: “…a backache Sunday morning, and a headache Sunday night, but by work time Monday morning, you’re feeling quite all right. Why, one of the children has a cold, pneumonia do you suppose? Why the whole family had to stay home just to blow that poor kid’s nose.” Are we awake or asleep? Are we watching or are we dozing? Watch and Pray!!

Scott Gage

Until this time, you may wish to follow one of our other online works, https://www.lordletmegrow.com/freebiblestudy (this site will offer a special series of Bible studies until our regular posts resume).

Looking ahead

“Brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13,14, ESV).

We make the mistake of looking back in three ways:

• Mistakes in the past: Here we marinate in our mistakes, hobble our current Christian endeavor, because we made mistakes. Paul certainly had much to regret in his past. Yet we can learn from our mistakes, repent of our sins, and grow. Don’t look back in regret.
• Past achievements: The church had good preachers “back then.” The church was successful and victorious “back then.” Constantly saying so is not respectful to current servants of the Lord, discourages them, and appears to be our excuse for doing nothing now.
• Past wrongs: Here we recall – in vivid Technicolor! – the wrongs someone did to us in the past. We recall each inflection of their voice, every gesture of their betrayal, nursing again and again our hurt. Yet you cannot live any length of time without collecting cuts and bruises.

If you have sinned or hurt someone, by all means make amends, repent. Upon doing so, however, don’t look back.

Paul employs the image of a sprinter in the final instants of his race. Every ounce of strength, every glimmer of his attention is concentrated on the finishing line. He looks forward, not backward. One glance to the side or the back and he loses the race!

God has graced us with many opportunities to start over. We begin a new day every 24 hours; we gather round the table of the Lord every week, we begin a new year with opportunities to start again.

If you made a mistake this year, join a humongous demographic group – human beings! Now, start again. The finish line is ahead, not behind you.

Stan Mitchell

Pompeii was the scene of a horrific tragedy in 79 AD  Nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted, showering the nearby city with hot ashes, lava, and destruction.  It happened so suddenly it essentially “froze” people and animals living there.  Archaeologists have unearthed some chilling scenes of everyday life unexpectedly coming to an end.

Nicole (no last name given) was a 15-year-old Canadian who visited Pompeii in 2005.  When she left the city she took with her some pieces of tile and remnants of a vase.  But recently Nicole returned these to a travel agency in Pompeii, with a letter explaining her reason for making the return.  It was more than a guilty conscience.

Since taking these artifacts, she explained, her life had been marked by misfortune.  She has suffered two bouts of breast cancer, and her family has experienced financial setbacks.  The reason for all of this misery, she believes, was because of an apparent curse on the Pompeii objects.  She hopes their return will finally break that curse.

Long before Nicole and before Mount Vesuvius erupted, Achan experienced a tragic end for a similar reason.  Achan was one of the Israelites who were entering Canaan, the land God had promised to Abraham as the inheritance for his descendants.  Before assaulting Jericho, a mighty and fortified city, God gave clear instructions.

“And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it” (Joshua 6:18).  Joshua relayed these instructions to the people, but Achan didn’t resist the beautiful garment, the silver shekels, and the wedge of gold he stumbled upon (Joshua 7:21).  But he should have resisted, as the following verses show.

Paul also had something to say about not partaking of forbidden objects.  He quoted from Isaiah 52:11: “Therefore, ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you'” (2 Corinthians 6:17).  If they ignored the warning and touched the unclean, would God receive them?

To understand the point Paul was making we need to go back to verse 14: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Christians are called to be a people separated from the world.  Peter put it this way: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).  Those who remain in darkness will suffer the curse.

Let’s learn from Nicole and rid ourselves of all of our “cursed objects”.

Come to the light God offers!  Study His word, the Bible.  Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copyright, 2020, Timothy D. Hall

Jesus, the Son of God

“Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him. So he told them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I too am working.’ For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God” (John 5:16-18 NET).

Jesus was in Jerusalem because of a “feast of the Jews” (John 5:1). Although which feast is not specified in the text, most scholars take this to be Passover. If this is true, one year had now passed since the first Passover recorded in John 2, when Jesus cleared the temple. He would have two more Passovers, two more years, before his crucifixion. While in Jerusalem, Jesus did two things which angered the Jewish leaders.

The first thing Jesus did is something that seems to have characterized him – he healed a man who had been disabled for 38 years (v.5). The problem was not so much that he healed a man but that he did it on the Sabbath Day. When God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments after leaving Egypt, they were told to “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy” (Exodus 20:8). Specifically they were not to work on the seventh day of the week because God had rested after creating everything on that day.

Nehemiah, after returning from captivity, prohibited carrying any commercial burden on the Sabbath because the Sabbath was being used as just another day to carry out work. When the Jewish scholars eventually debated what was and wasn’t work, they concluded that nothing could be picked up on the Sabbath, including moving a chair or even lifting the covers on a bed.

The Pharisees would have given this man two possibilities: stay by the bed until the Sabbath was over, even though this is the first time he had been able to walk in 38 years, or leave the mat behind, which might result in it being stolen. Jesus gave the man a third option – take it home with him where he would need it. When asked why he was carrying the mat, he replied that the one who had healed him had told him he could (after all, if he could heal him he undoubtedly knew the proper interpretation of the Law – see verses 10-11).

When asked to explain himself, Jesus further enraged the Jews (see v.16-18). Not only was Jesus, in their minds, breaking the Sabbath (although he wasn’t, he was breaking their interpretation of work), but he made himself equal with God! He referred to God as his own Father, which Jews didn’t do. But there was more: he used this relationship to justify his healing on the Sabbath.

Within a year of Jesus beginning to teach, he had so angered the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem that they wanted to kill him. The signs Jesus did should have been irrefutable evidence that he was not only from God but the longed for Messiah. Instead, he was rejected because he did not agree with their interpretations of God’s word.

What about us? Are we willing to examine the evidence of who Jesus really was? Or do we also reject Jesus because he does not meet our preconceived expectations? May we always be open to listening to God’s word and taking in what has been revealed to us.

Jon Galloway

Our influence

Do we realize the influence we have on those around us? Although we may think that no one pays attention to us, we influence more than we realize. Notice this parable of Jesus.

“The kingdom of God is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head. As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29 CSV).

This is how it works in God’s kingdom. Seed is scattered. As the Parable of the Sower is in the same context (Mark 4:1-20), and it identified the seed as the word, the seed that is scattered would make sense to still be God’s word. We scatter seed by teaching people about Jesus.

Sometimes it may seem that nothing happens. If the day after we planted seed in our garden we went out to see if anything had come up, we would be sadly disappointed. We realize that as far as crops go, these things take time and patience.

But isn’t it the same when we are teaching people about Jesus? Some people may immediately respond to God’s word while for others it may take some time. There have been numerous times in my life when I have taught people or encouraged them in their walk with Jesus, but nothing seemed to happen. Sometimes it is years later that I discover that they have become Christians and have grown into strong, spiritual leaders. Sometimes they have told me that it was something I had said or taught them years earlier that helped them get on the right path.

We need to make sure that our lives are consistently being lived for Jesus and that what we teach is always from God’s word. People are watching us. People listen to us – even if we think they don’t. Jesus said that we need to make sure our lamp is being seen: “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand?” (Mark 4:21).

Who knows the influence we may have on someone, just because we took the time to encourage them and point them in the right way. When the planted seed grows, it will be ready for the harvest.

May we always take opportunities to speak a good word for Jesus.

Jon Galloway

We can master the technique the first time. We complain about how busy we are, while smiling on the inside how important this makes us feel. Unfortunately, such a self-esteem quick fix comes at a price.

Many reasons exist for being busy. Maybe we never choose to stop. Maybe others impose it upon us. Nevertheless, do we associate busyness with acquiring significance or is it simply our routine?

If our answer is the former, we are wading in dangerous waters. To be bluntly concise, we either derive our identity from God or from another source such as this world. If it is from this world then we will be driven to acquire “more” whether it be position, people liking us, power, possessions, being busy, etc. We will serve (worship) whatever gives us meaning. Paul called this insatiable appetite for more – idolatry (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5).

If our answer is busyness is just our routine, scripture calls us to reconsider our lifestyle.

How important does God regard it for his people to rest? On three separate occasions within Exodus God insisted they rest (Exodus 20:8-11; 31:14-16; 35:2-3). God modeled resting. Taking a break causes us to rely upon God. It can remind us whose we are.

While observing the Sabbath is not a requirement for our relationship with God (Colossians 2:16), Jesus rested and he invited his disciples to rest (Mark 6:31). To take a break is godly.

Barry Newton

Doors

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:8 NKJV).

One of the most visited sites in Kathmandu, Nepal is the Hindu temple called “Pashupati Nath.” This is actually a large complex of temples and related structures including schools, housing for priests and other religious officials, and administrative buildings. One notable feature is the limitation on entry. The main temple door has a sign posted denying access to anyone except Hindus.

Doors can be many things. They are normally entries (and exits) which provide access. This may be literal or metaphorical (for example, “doors of opportunity”). At the same time, a door may be a barrier. A closed, locked, door prevents entry and/or exit, either barring one from the privileges of an insider or keeping one as a prisoner. In other usages, a door may be a passageway or transition from one place or situation to another, a frame (at least the door-way) through which other views are possible, or a prized artifact, valued for itself.

Of all of these possibilities, the normal meaning of access or denial is most prevalent. An open door is an invitation to enter; one that is closed at least raises the question as to whether access is possible. A door which does not yield to knocking is a rejection – it denies us of any privilege or advantage which access might promise.

In the Letters to the Seven Churches in the Book of Revelation, there are many promises made to faithful disciples. None hold more promise or encouragement than that offered to the Church in Philadelphia in which Jesus describes an open door which no one can close. Where that door leads, and what advantages it provides is subject to interpretation and analysis. Perhaps he is describing a door of opportunity for service in his kingdom. Perhaps he is promising eternal rewards to those who overcome. It is, of course, possible that both these and other meanings may be included.

Whatever the specific nature of the promise, Jesus is emphatic in making it an unlimited guarantee. He presents this certainty: “And no one can shut it!” What God gives his followers cannot be taken from them by any enemy, whether the opportunity to serve or eternal bliss.

Men make many promises, some honestly and others hypocritically. Those made sincerely are subject to human frailty. We often intend to do a thing but are simply unable to complete it. Jesus does not suffer from those weaknesses. He is all powerful and all knowing. As he identified himself in the previous verse, he is “He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.” What the Lord promises he will provide.

The door which Christ opens to us offers incredible blessings. Only one thing can prevent our receiving those blessings. That is our own choice. Whether we enter through the door is up to us. If we believe him and choose to enter, we cannot be prevented. If we deny him, we cannot be forced to enter. But until and unless we enter through the door, the blessings are unattainable. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:13).

Michael Brooks

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18–19 ESV).

What a stern warning to end this book of prophecy! And what a stern warning to end the collection of books we call the “New Testament.”

We realize the order of books in the Bible was not given to us by God – in fact, the order we use in our English Bibles of the “Old Testament” is different from the order that the Jews had. Our New Testament order of books and letters starts with Jesus (the Gospels), proceeds through the history of God’s people (Acts) and then has the letters, largely written by apostles. The letters begin with Paul’s letter and are arranged in order of length, with Romans being the longest and Philemon being the shortest (those with “sequels” are kept together). But it seems that Revelation has always been placed at the end of our collection.

This warning is something we find throughout God’s word: at the beginning of the Torah, in the middle, and at the end.

Before Israel entered into the Promised Land, Moses told the new generation of Israelites what God expected of them. Twice he emphasized to them the need to not add to God’s word or take away from it.

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32).

Even in the Proverbs, a book of wisdom for living, we find this same emphasis: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6).

And, of course, the warning at the end of John’s “Revelation.” Although it speaks specifically about “the words of the prophecy of this book,” the principle is not a new one. It is found throughout the pages of scriptures. Don’t add to what God has revealed; don’t take away from God’s words. It is difficult not to understand these words.

Why would someone wish to add to any section of scripture? Why would anyone want to remove anything from scripture? The reason people would want to do this is that they don’t like what it says. Perhaps they feel it is too restrictive. Or maybe they think it is not restrictive enough. Sadly, people often want God’s word to reflect their thinking and what they want rather than change their lives to be in step with God’s word.

When you think about it, isn’t it quite arrogant to think that we know better than God? God, who knows everything and created us, knows what is best for us. Like children, we may not always see the wisdom in what God has revealed, but if we want to be with him for eternity, we need to listen to him.

May we learn to trust God more. May our lives better reflect Jesus, remembering that he said to the Father when facing death, “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

Rather than trying to conform God to us, let’s conform our lives to what he has revealed. Don’t tamper with God’s word.

Jon Galloway

I want us to notice a few things from Acts 2:44-47. First, notice that these Christians were “together.” The text literally says, “all those believing were in / on the same.” There was a unity among the Christians that was strong, obvious, and widely felt. They also “had all things in common.” This word “common” is from the same word family as the word for “fellowship.” These Christians were spending time together and enjoying that time together and it wasn’t just in worship.

In verse 46, I want you to notice how frequently these Christians were getting together: “day by day.” Luke refers, again, to their unity (“with one mind”) and this unity was expressed and felt both in worship, in the temple, but also in meals they shared with one another. They were “breaking bread from house to house, taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity.” As a part of their common lives together, they were “praising God and having favor with all the people.”

God wants His people to spend time together. The focus of the book of Acts is the spread of the Gospel of Christ, evangelism. Beyond that, we have several pictures of worship, which will be a future lesson. But we also get glimpses of Christians being united in heart so that they care about one another and this finds expression in spending time together.

In Acts 4, when Peter and John were released from prison, where did they go? They did not go home first! They went to assemble with the church. We’re going to have a separate lesson on God’s pattern for worship as it is revealed in the book of Acts but I want to emphasize here that Peter and John went to their friends, their Christian friends and they had fellowship together with them. They prayed together (4:23ff).

I want you to take a look at the apostle Paul’s earliest days as a Christian, in Acts 9:26. The text says that when Paul left Damascus, he came to Jerusalem and “he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.” This is the one text that gives us an idea of “placing membership” with a local congregation. Paul wanted to be associated with the Christians in Jerusalem. He wanted to spend time with them and worship with them.

When the church of Christ was established in Antioch of Syria, Barnabas, who was a strong encourager, visited the church. Luke records the visit beginning in 11:23; when Barnabas arrived, “he witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.” In fact, Barnabas remained with the church for a whole year, spending time with the Christians to encourage them.

In Acts 21, Paul is traveling back to Jerusalem. They stop off in Tyre and they look up the disciples and spent time with those Christians (21:4). On the same trip, they stop in Ptolemais on the way to Jerusalem and find some Christians there with whom they stayed for one day, spending time with Christians (21:7). The next day, they came to Caesarea and visited with Philip and his family (21:8). When Paul and his team arrived in Jerusalem, they spent time with the Christians (21:17).

Paul was ultimately arrested in Jerusalem and then sent to Rome to stand trial before Emperor Nero. On the way, in a ship, they came to the city of Puteoloi, where they looked up the local church of Christ and they spent time with them (28:13). When other congregations heard the apostle Paul was in Puteoli, they also traveled from places like the Market of Appius and Three Inns to visit with Paul and his mission team, to spend time together (28:15).

The church is more than a social institution but at a minimum it is a social institution. By that, I mean that God intends for His children to be together, not just in heart but together physically, spending time together, eating together, praying together, strengthening one another. There are a number of Bible verses that cannot be fulfilled, really, if we do not spend time together, specifically outside of worship.

Paul Holland

I am sure that all of us have, at one time or another, had someone jokingly say, “You can’t get there from here.” Uncertain as to the ability of someone to grasp directions, we first seek to put them in a position where the instructions are simple and easy to follow. Take for example the story of a salesman who was seeking to locate a family who had requested someone to contact them regarding a sale or delivery. The family lived in the back woods of east Texas, and every attempt to navigate the roads that had neither name nor number for easy reference produced a growing frustration on the part of the would-be salesman. Finally, the salesman came across an old farmhouse, and sitting on the front porch was an elderly gentleman sipping on a cup of coffee and reading his newspaper. The salesman stopped and asked directions to his destination. The farmer leaned back in his chair and commenced to provide instructions: “Go south on this road, and make the first turn to your left. Travel about 3 miles, cross the bridge, and follow the narrow, winding road that runs parallel to the creek bottom. This will dump you out on a gravel road, at which point you will want to turn back to the left. From there, go about 6 miles south, till you come to a small house on your right.” Anxious to get to his destination, the salesman said “Thanks,” and scurried off to his car and in search of his customer. After more than half an hour driving, he ended up right back in front of the farmer’s house. Frustrated, the salesman asked for an explanation. The farmer replied: “I wanted to see if you could follow directions before I tried to explain to you how to get to your destination.”

We might chuckle at this hypothetical anecdote, but in many respects, life is like that. One of my favorite prophets is Jeremiah. Here was a man who had the courage of a lion, and a determination to follow God’s instructions at all costs. Judah needed to repent, and Jeremiah was commissioned to call the nation back to God. Before the prophet completed his mission he would be mocked, maligned, and mistreated by his fellow Jews. God told Jeremiah, “Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (Jer. 1:9b). Jeremiah’s commission is clearly stated in chapter 1:10: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant.” Pay close attention to the order of the words. Before Jeremiah could “build and…plant” he must first “root out…pull down…destroy, and throw down.” In order to build, it was important for Judah to know, “You can’t get there from here!” Before progress could be made it was essential that the rubbish be cleared away. The heart and soul of Judah needed to be changed. Jeremiah could not reform that which was corrupt – he could not get Judah to where God wanted them to be from where they were!

The application of this principle is far reaching. Let us, for example, consider the present state of our government. Fiscal responsibility is run amuck; morality means little or nothing to many (if not most) of the politicians in Washington and/or our state governments. Methinks that Washington (from the White House, to the Halls of Congress, and including the Judicial branch) needs a lesson in simple hermeneutics. The Constitution seems to mean nothing in many circles. Sensible thinking individuals seek for a return to law and order and allegiance to the Constitution. Unfortunately, “You can’t get there from here!” Perhaps those who are seeking to “throw the bums out” are much wiser than those who simply want to reform the bums who are presently there!

“You can’t get there from here” most certainly applies to those caught up in religious error. Before you can implant the pure and engrafted word into the heart of an individual, it becomes necessary in many cases to remove the error that dominates their thinking. Political correctness and relativism stand as gigantic roadblocks to any attempt to break down error and supplant it with truth. If you attempt to point out error you had better be ready to be labeled “judgmental,” “hyper-critical,” or “homophobic.” Phil Sanders commented on just such a mind-set: “The thinking of the day is not so much to deny the reality of truth as it is to dismiss it with the back of the hand. Truth becomes trivial, irrelevant…Whatever is said may be taken back so that it may not offend. Truth must be made to become uncertain so that no solid foundation will have control over our lives; no one group can ever dominate again” (Sander, Adrift, page 26). That kind of thinking has to be broken down before we can hope to bring a person to a knowledge of and obedience to the truth.

“You can’t get there from here” is most certainly applicable to those who once “tasted of the heavenly gift…and then fell away” (Heb. 6:4-5). If you have ever tried to carry on a logical and scriptural discussion with a liberal brother in Christ (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), you quickly realize “you can’t get there from here.” Before you can convince someone who thinks instrumental music is “not a salvation issue” that it indeed IS a salvation issue, you have to break down the walls of the liberal mindset. Until the liberal is brought to the point where he can understand and apply what we call the “authority principle,” it will forever remain true that “he cannot get there from here.”

All too often the lost soul deludes himself into thinking that he is on his way to heaven (whatever his “definition” of heaven might be). Repentance means nothing to him – he wants salvation on HIS terms rather than God’s. As one author put it:

We have turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us, for our satisfaction – not because we have learned to think of him in this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him this way throughout the marketplace. And so, we transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy. We imagine that He is benign, that he will acquiesce as we toy with his reality and to co-opt him in the promotion of our ventures and careers…And if the sunshine of his benign grace fails to warm us as we expect, if he fails to shower prosperity and success on us, we will find ourselves unable to believe in him anymore (David Wells, God In The Wasteland, page 114).

Remove repentance from the picture and “you can’t get there from here.” The same can be said about any and every command that God has placed at the threshold of the church. If a sin sick soul thinks he is going to make it to heaven in his sin, or in spite of his sin, he will awaken on the Resurrection day to realize his tragic condition (Matt. 7:21-23), and will learn, too late, that “you can’t get there from here.”

Finally, there are scores of lukewarm, indifferent, uninvolved, absentee members who seem to think that God’s grace will somehow overlook their mediocrity and usher them into the eternal abode when Jesus comes to gather the faithful unto Himself. They will learn, too late, that the proverb is as applicable to them as it is to all the lost. Unwilling to commit themselves to the Lord Who died for them, or to take seriously the responsibilities laid upon their shoulders as soldiers of the cross, they will learn, “You can’t get there from here.”

by Tom Wacaster

Preaching: the Rodney Dangerfield of worship

Is the term “Long-Winded Sermon” a redundant expression?

I remember telling a brother, in jest, that according to Acts 20:7, I had biblical precedent for preaching until midnight. He laughed, then said, “That’s fine. You can preach until midnight, as long as you can also raise people from the dead” (in a reference to the sleep-deprived Eutychus). I had an answer for him. I reminded him that Paul did not stop at midnight, he was merely interrupted at midnight. He continued to talk to the brethren at Troas until the next morning!

One wonders how modern church members would react to an all-nighter! We suffer apoplexy if a preacher goes over 30 minutes!

So I have a question for you. Have you ever studied the Bible all night, even once in your life? What effect, do you suppose, it would have on your spiritual condition? I remember a high school basketball team that played continuous basketball for 24 hours in order to raise money for a new gym.

So in all seriousness, why has preaching come under such disrespect? Too many times, audiences sense that something, they aren’t quite sure what, is missing. My suspicion is that what is usually missing is biblical content. Sometimes, as human beings, we don’t like to be told what to do. We resent the fact that we are required (by All Mighty God) to change.

Some time ago a large congregation divided. The thing that caught my attention was a list of demands that one faction made: Amongst their demands was “shorter” sermons.

I wonder if this is the voice of the congregation’s most deeply spiritual members. I wonder if this is the view of the members who “hunger and thirst after righteousness”? I wonder if, as a Christian grows wiser and more mature he begins to demand shorter sermons? The great reform of Josiah’s day began when Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law while cleaning out the temple (2 Chronicles 34:15). When the book was read to the king, he tore his robes in distress and commenced the great revival associated with his name (2 Chronicles 34:18,19).

All spiritual revivals begin with the preaching of God’s word! The ancient Israelite prophets were preachers, often beginning their messages with the memorable words, “Thus saith the Lord!” Jesus went up and down the land of Israel preaching. Peter stood before the Pentecost crowd and preached. Paul stood before Synagogue crowds and pagan alike and preached.

Amaziah cried out to Amos to leave and preach to other people (Amos 7:12,13). Paul spoke of the “foolishness of preaching” (1 Corinthians 1:18-24). Reading behind the lines, it is easy to tell that our day is not the first to see preaching get a bad rap. “Jews demand signs” – the dramatic, the memorable, trying to outdo yourself in theatrics. “Greeks wisdom” – of course, Greece was the home of great philosophers and thinkers – Aristotle, Plato, Democritus. There would always be a perception that men’s wisdom was somehow more profound than God’s.

I will grant you that sometimes preachers waste their listener’s time, but mark this: A preacher never wastes the time of his listeners when he has studied and proclaimed God’s word!

Stan Mitchell

The ancient Greeks believed their gods were completely devoid of feeling and emotion. The gods, they thought, were so far above humanity they could not feel sorrow, pain, or grief.

Imagine a Greek who was alive in the first century and managed to read John chapter 11. In this text the son of God is overcome with feelings of sadness and grief at the death of his friend, Lazarus. Jesus was overcome with a wide array of emotions.

The text tells us Jesus was “deeply moved” (John 11:33). The definition of this single word in the New Testament includes “deeply moved with anger or displeasure.” Some commentators on this passage, however, point to Jesus’ ability to commiserate with suffering and death in a surprisingly human way.

There are those living in the world right now who believe the same thing the Ancient Greeks did. They believe God (if he exists) could care less about the sorrows humans must bear or their fear of death. Jesus’ actions in the text of John 11 show us God does indeed care and showed how much.

The writer of Hebrews assures us, “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14 NET).

Jesus understands our sorrows and our fears. We do not have a God that cannot feel, for we know the son of God felt every emotion we have. God gave his son to show that he feels every bit as much as we do.

John Henson