Peter’s Posts

(I am cheating a little bit. This is a post from my Facebook page yesterday. Not everyone who reads my blog, reads my Facebook so I thought I could post this here and cover everyone who follows either one).

Somehow I got a day ahead on my daily bible reading so I just flipped open my bible to Psalm 19. Verse 14 was part of the Lutheran liturgy.

The Psalm praises God’s word.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:7-14 NIV

2 Peter, the last two verses, “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

2 Peter 3:17-18

These verses, especially verse 18, are significant to me.

When I was in my early 20s, an older guy took me under his wing and mentored me in my new faith in Jesus. He was a friend of the family, a dentist in the next town over. He would come over to our little cafe in the evening, once a week and lead a Bible study. He didn’t directly bring me to Salvation but he was around when I was saved, he did pray for me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and he encouraged me to grow as a Christian by asking me to memorize verse 18 of 2 Peter, chapter 3.

I wasn’t part of his church (yet). But he invested in my life anyway. Thank you Floyd Jacobson for sharing your life, and your savior with me.

The second reason that this verse is significant is because of what it says.

Grow.

Get bigger. Expand. Mature. Take up more space in. In Grace. Grace, unmerited favor. Whose favor? God’s favor. Why? Because the world, my own evil desires and rebellious heart, along with the hateful and destructive enemy of my soul will be actively trying to shrink, kill, distract and destruct my faith. I need to be even more actively involved and invested in my relationship with Jesus, keeping it alive and growing.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever and he is always worthy of praise and glory, yesterday today and forever.

Ever heard of the phrase “to know me is to love me”? That phrase has never been truer than when we apply it to Jesus. To grow in the knowledge of Jesus is to grow in love and trust of Jesus. There is no darkness or shadow or even a variation in him. As I’m writing these things about Jesus I am convicted that I don’t always apply this knowledge to my own life. I encourage myself then too, to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory, both now and forevermore, do you agree?

(Originally posted 1/13/18)

Jesus.

His test.

He prepared for his life and his ministry by fasting 40 days.

He fought temptations with just words, but they were Gods words.

“4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

When his cousin John was arrested and sent to prison, awaiting the death penalty he took up where John left off.

“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.”

He began calling disciples. He said to four fishermen, “come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” One of those first four would be dead in 4 years.

(For the sake of accuracy James was probably killed in 44 AD. He may have been run through or disemboweled or Beheaded. He was killed for believing that Jesus rose from the dead. Killed for following Jesus.

“2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.”)

He started teaching and preaching the “good news”. He then began healing everyone who was sick or lame, demon possessed, or even just hurting.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis,[g] Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”

Jesus. Who is he? How did he do this stuff? Why did he do this stuff? What am I supposed to do with him?

Life is the test. The questions are listed above. You have the rest of your life to finish the test. The thing is, no one knows how long that is.

This is how I answered those questions:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

(Originally posted 1/12/17)

Part of the Lutheran liturgy came to mind this morning.

“Holy holy holy, Lord God almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea, Only thou art holy, there is none besides thee, God in three persons, blessed trinity.”

I guess it’s a hymn.

I grew up believing in God. I have since childhood believed that this God I believe in is one God in 3 persons.

Today I read about it in Matthew 3.

“13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

We don’t have a plethora of gods to sort through when we pray like other cultures do. We have one God. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I have believed in God since childhood, but believing he exists and knowing and trusting him as my savior are two different things. I received him as savior when I realized that I couldn’t be good enough and God knew that and gave Jesus his son to pay for my sin. I confessed my need and received forgiveness all in an instant standing next to the dishwasher in my parents cafe.

Have you received Jesus as your savior yet? Today would be a good day to do that. He is waiting for you.

(Originally posted 1/11/17)

How will they survive? How will the newly converted believers continue in their faith in Jesus? How will this group continue to reach a lost and fallen world with the good news (aka gospel)?

That had to be on Peters mind as he approached his death. How will these people who didn’t have the privilege of face to face time with Jesus survive, even thrive and grow, in numbers and in strength?

What would bind them together? What will unify them? What will keep them from drifting or straying away.

The words. God’s words.

As Peter said to Jesus, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!”

(“Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

John 6:68)

The Old Testament was a map to Jesus. The apostles had their stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, and then there were the letters being written by Peter and Paul, later John and others would write letters, and Luke would write about the miraculous lives, ministry and Acts of the apostles in the early church.

Peter mentions all of these types of books or letters here in chapter three.

“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

2 Peter 3:1-2

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3:14-16

We are believing in Jesus because generations of believers have studied and copied and preserved the word. Now it is our privilege and duty to carry it on. To tell it, to share it, to preserve it we need to know it. We need to know it, as my pastor Rory says, to assimilate it. One teacher I heard or read recently said we need to know it, on an intimate level, like a husband knows his wife, on that level of experiential full knowledge.

Forces are at work to discredit and dilute the Word. Our job is know it and share as best we can.

I want to Remember this one other thing too “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.” Salvation is a treasure meant to be shared.

(Originally posted 1/10/18)

It’s a new year so I started a new book. I started reading the book of Matthew. In the first 2 chapters one thing stood out to me. While in the Christmas story in Luke, angels are speaking directly to Zacharias and to Mary, in Matthew, Joseph is spoken to through dreams. There are 4 dreams recorded in the just these chapters.

As I was driving home yesterday listening to the radio I was reminded of another bible character named Joseph, (my daughter Lizzy used to pronounce it Jo-fiss). He was Jacob’s son, the favored son, the son of his much beloved wife Rachel. He was also a dreamer. Not in the sense that he lazed around just thinking about stuff, but that God gave him prophetic dreams, and gave him the ability to interpret other peoples dreams. He was able to be used to interpret Pharoh’s dream and it landed him at the number two position in Egypt.

Dreams. God has used dreams in my life to help guide me and my family. He used one dream to let us know that it was time to leave the church denomination that I was raised in and find a new one, one that emphasized salvation by grace, that taught the bible and that would help me raise my children to know Jesus as their savior.

God used another dream to let me know that my food service career was coming to end. That was a scary time but He was faithful and we never missed a meal or a house payment.

God is still speaking and moving. God is still gathering his people, still guiding and providing for his people. Sometimes he speaks through dreams. Always he speaks through his word and through his Holy Spirit.

As I imagine the scene of the angel of God visiting the house of Joseph and finding him asleep. I think about the hard physical labor involved in being a carpenter in the first century. Every step of forming wood into a table, or a chair, or just the process of making a tree into a board so it could be made into something else. Exhausting work. Did he arrive at the house ready to talk but found Joseph already snoring. Do you suppose when the angel saw Joseph asleep he said to himself, “Aw, isn’t he cute when he’s asleep?”

“19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

God sees us and knows us. When we are asleep and when we are awake. He longs to communicate with us. What he most wants to tell us is, “I Love You! I gave up my only son to die in your place so we can be together. I raised him from the dead and now we can be together forever. Because he lives, you can live. Forever with us.”

I don’t want to put imaginary words in the mouth of God so here is a verse that says it.

” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jn 3:16

I grew up a Lutheran

I grew up a Lutheran, in our house we were not C&E Lutherans, where we occasionally attended, like on Christmas and Easter. No, my mom had some kind of built in radar and if the church doors opened, our family would be in attendance. Yes we would be late, but we would be there.

Lutherans have a liturgical service, and as part of that liturgy, we sang a lot. There were so many words and little songs. I was not an avid bible reader in those days. I didn’t realize that most of the words and the little songs were excerpts from the Bible. All the words drove me crazy as a kid but now I realize what we were doing, actually singing and reciting the Bible, as I have aged I now appreciate the hymnal writing and the writers and kind of miss the liturgical nature of the service.

My own personal bible reading recently took me to 1 John. As I read it I recognized it as part of the liturgy that I recited as a kid. Parts of Chapter 1&2 are part of the order of service.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”

1 John 1:5-2:2 -NLT

In Jesus, there is forgiveness for sin, but we need to confess our sins.

When we were raising our kids and they did something wrong we would make them say that they were Sorry. In addition to saying sorry we would often have them tell us what they did that was wrong. They had to confess. They to verbalize what they had done wrong, what rule they had broken, or how they violated boundaries or hurt someone else. In this way they had to think about what they had done.

We recently had an opportunity to visit a Presbyterian Church and participated in their Sunday worship service. Part of their order of service was a printed confession that we read together as a congregation. I thought it was good. I will quote it here and hope that whoever wrote it gets the credit due them.

“Father, you have revealed your will to us. It is clear. No other gods. No idols. No misuses of your name. We are to worship weekly and honor our parents. There is to be no killing and what we do with our bodies must come under your intentions for sexuality. We are forbidden to steal and speak falsely about our neighbors. And internally our hearts are not to covet what others possess. Such commandments reveal our absolute need of Jesus Christ. Forgive us for ignoring your word and our failure to take your commandments seriously. We humbly repent and ask you to forgive us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hear us in your mercy as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us.”

Then we corporately prayed the Lord’s Prayer.

I thought this was a very good way to remind us of what Gods standard is and then how we have failed to measure up. The confession is a condensed walk through the 10 commandments. We can forget where we fall short if we don’t use the measuring stick that God said is the standard. Jesus is our ruler both in that he is our King and he is the standard we measure ourselves against. The Ten Commandments are not a whacking stick to punish us when we fail, but a guide to live by and beacon to bring us back to Jesus for forgiveness when we fail.

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us… but if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness…”

I can be prideful at times when I consider my avoidance of sin, not stealing, or lying or killing or cheating on my spouse, but Jesus took it even deeper when he said that if we hate someone we have killed them in our hearts, or if we look lustfully at another person, that we have already thought about the act and are guilty. God looks at and knows our hearts so even if we have clean hands, our hearts can be dirty.

In Psalm 51 we get to read a confession from a man who had an adulterous relationship, got the woman pregnant, then had her husband killed so he could cover it up. He thought he had gotten away with it but was confronted by a friend.

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:4-7,10-12 NIV

I remembered this verse in part because it was a part of the liturgy that I recited every Sunday for most of my childhood and adolescence.

We all sin. We all break the rules in one way or another. The rules are not there to shame us but to guide us and bring us back, through confession and repentance, to a relationship with our loving Heavenly Father who sent his son Jesus to die to pay for all of our mistakes and failures, our sin.

So I say to myself, as well as to you who are reading this, repent and confess and be restored. Our God loves us and wants us to come home to him.

1 Thessalonians

Highlights

I read through the book of 1 Thessalonians this morning and it was so refreshing. Paul really loved these people and the entire letter is filled with encouragement.

I wanted to share 3 quick snippets.

This first was Paul reminding the folks how his group treated them. I see it as A word to fathers: “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.”

Fathers our main jobs are to to encourage, comfort and urge on our children. My children are all grown and now have families of their own but my job remains the same, and now I get the privilege of doing those things with my children’s children. What an honor and blessing!

Then a word about the end of all days. It was written to comfort those who had lost loved ones to death: “13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Jesus is coming back! His return is 2000 years closer than it was for the believers in Thessalonica. No one who knows Jesus and dies is really gone. We will meet them when we meet him. That is good news.

Then this, my prayer for myself and family and all who read this today: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”

Jesus loves us and he is coming back for us. In the meantime he is continuing to perfect us. Woo hoo!

(Originally posted 1/08/16)

Hebrews 13b

Finish concluding.

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”

It’s through Jesus’ sacrifice, through his spilled blood, we are made holy. No ritual or right will make us holy. Only the blood of the one true sacrifice, Jesus.

Things may not get wrapped up here. Our lives may end with unsettled debates, with questions unanswered, with things left unfinished. Our lives are not a 43 minute TV drama plot. We get fed a steady diet of conflict-resolution, conflict-resolution all tidy and complete before the preview of the next episode which will feature….conflict-resolution.

“But we are looking for a city that is to come.”

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.”

Let’s Talk about Jesus. To each other, to those around us who don’t know him yet. Normalize Jesus in our world, in our homes, yes, but in our daily lives. We can’t talk about Jesus without praising his goodness.

Share.

Be obedient. We are the slaves of who(m)ever we obey. The world culture is telling us to live to please ourselves, Jesus, through our leaders is telling us to die to ourselves and live for him. Who are we obeying? Our lord is the one who can tell us what to do and then we obey.

Be obedient.

Now this prayer for us all:

“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Thanks for reading this.

May God bless us today with a fresh understanding of how much he loves us.

(Originally posted 1/07/16)

Sonbeam

No I didn’t misspell it.

I was in church Sunday morning. We have a pre-service session of live worship music where we can individually take communion and quietly reflect. I was sitting with my wife Mary in the front row, the morning was cloudy and cold, hard surfaces outside were icy and it was unusually dark. Mary and I had already taken communion together and we had were just sitting quietly praying and thinking.

In My mind I was telling God that I felt estranged, like I was looking at him through a foggy window. I repented of my self indulgences and told him I felt like my like was slightly off. Like just a degree or two, but as I walked along, I was getting further and further from him. My physical posture while I prayed was bent at the waist with elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. Then I sat up straight and was surprised as I was suddenly enveloped in a sun beam. One beam was blasting through the cloud cover, sneaking past the arborvitae outside the windows, blazing through the glazing of the dusty window and shining on my face. I sat with my eyes closed even with my eyes closed, the light was getting past my eyelids and the sun was lighting up the inside of head.

It could’ve been a coincidence that I sat at that spot, at that time, on that day and the clouds just happened to open over our church but I don’t think so. I think I experienced a Son Beam and it was beautiful.

I read the first chapter of Johns Gospel recently. I think it describes the heart and ministry of Jesus.

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 1:4-5 – NIV

My mind tends to go to and grow darkness. I do believe in Jesus, he is my savior. He is my light. I believe he was reminding me of that role in my life.

Light has that power, darkness cannot overcome light. Darkness isn’t anything really except absence of light. When light arrives, darkness cannot stay.

King David said this about God in 2 Samuel: “You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.”

2 Samuel 22:29 -NIV

In my moodiness and seasonal and lifecycle depressions God still searches me out.

“If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139:11-12 -NIV

Where He is, darkness cannot stay.

In the past, I have been in the pit of depression and I know some of the darkness that can overwhelm a person. It’s like living in the bottom of a hole and the shaft is so twisty and contorted that no light makes it in. Like the air itself becomes molasses and sucks up the light. My recovery was helped through medication and Godly counseling where my counselor kept bringing me back to Jesus. Eventually I got better but darkness wants to leap on me and roll me up again.

So, God sent me his son. And if that wasn’t enough, he also sent me a Son Beam.

Thank you for the reminder father. God please send your light to those who are wrapped up in darkness today. Burst forth like lightning and bring them light and freedom!❤️

My truck Rusty has recently received some attention. Our story of how we came together is unique.

I would like to stress 2 things that maybe faded to the the background in the retelling of the story.

The first is I prayed, I asked God for another 57 Chevy pickup and for the years and years when I didn’t get one and His answer seemed to be “NO”, I kept asking. “God I know this is stupid, and there are so many more important things, like salvation for my family and friends, keeping us safe, keeping us healthy, providing for us, but God, after you have taken care of all that, may I have another 57 Chevy pickup?”

Then I went on with life but God wasn’t saying “no”, he was saying “wait”. While I was waiting the answer seemed like “no”. In a world where everything is available and can be had through the wonder of the internet and credit cards, I waited. I wasn’t a faith filled man, I was a poor man. Financially there was no other option.

My truck Rusty is an answer to a prayer that I kept on praying. I don’t want to hi-light my persistence, I want to hi-light our God who hears silly prayers and answers in His perfect timing.

The second thing I wanted to emphasize is the seed. Just recently I read through 1 Corinthians and in chapter 15 Paul is talking about the resurrection, Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection.

“But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.”

I had a horn button for a 57 Chevy truck. I called it my 57 Chevy truck seed. I gave it away. I buried it. From it grew my truck Rusty.

The analogy breaks down here because Rusty is not eternal but he has been “born again”, given a new life.

That can happen to each one of us too, except being mortals, we are given the opportunity to become immortal, to live forever.

“42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[f]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[h]

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”[i]

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If we confess our need for a savior, admit we are broken, accept Jesus gift of forgiveness, he has paid for all of our sin, we can be forgiven, cleansed and made immortal. We will live forever with Jesus. Come and join our family who call God our father and live forever.

(Originally posted 1/06/17)

Hebrews 12

The hard stuff.

Discipline.

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,

and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

Being Gods child means we will be under his discipline. Just coming out of Christmas, which for me is a time of relaxed disciplines, I usually take the week after Christmas off, no alarm clocks, no schedules, rules remain the same, but less structure. Diet…diet? There is food everywhere, most of it completely full of carbs. As a guy this is great, as a diabetic this is a challenge. I have maintained some control but I’m pretty sure that if I did a blood test right now my blood would spill out in little white cubes.

I need discipline to keep myself healthy. Spiritually I need discipline to keep me healthy. Gods grace is awesome, but sometimes I use it like a spiritual vacation and let myself go to unhealthy extremes. I need help, I need direction, I need discipline. I don’t like it, but I need it.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Jesus There are people who need to hear about how much you love us. Please keep me healthy, physically, mentally, spiritually so that I can be useful to you.

(Originally posted 1/4/16)

A very long time ago a man who is gifted in the prophetic gifts gave a bible verse to Mary and me. He gave us more than one but as I was reading through 1 Corinthians 16 I saw it and remembered that day.

The verse is 9 but I will put it in context and add some at the beginning. This is Paul speaking to his congregation at Corinth.

“After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”

This verse and this event take me back to a time when my belief was new and exciting and scary. God spoke to me then through this man, a prophet. He is speaking now through the Bible and through other believers but it isn’t as specific as that verse was to me that day.

I don’t know how that verse has been fulfilled in my life, at the time, it made me think of mass evangelism but that isn’t what I have done. I raised a family. I worked and lived and Mary and I stayed married. I haven’t started any churches like Paul did. I served in one, the same one for about 32 years.

This verse though makes me think of another verse that explains my life a little better.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

This verse makes me think that God isn’t a trophy maker, He is a tool maker. When we are saved he changes us into tools that he can then use to enlarge His kingdom.

As a electrician I know that every job requires specific tools to get the job done.

Father God, May I be one of those in Your hands today.

(Originally posted 1/04/17)

We sang this today at church. It was very meaningful to me. As much as I tell other people how much Jesus loves them, sometimes I forget that he loves me too.

“Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace)”

All these pieces

Broken and scattered

In mercy gathered

Mended and whole

Empty handed

But not forsaken

I’ve been set free

I’ve been set free

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I’m found

Was blind but now I see

Oh I can see it now

Oh I can see the love in Your eyes

Laying yourself down

Raising up the broken to life

You take our failure

You take our weakness

You set Your treasure

In jars of clay

So take this heart, Lord

I’ll be Your vessel

The world to see

Your love in me

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I’m found

Was blind but now I see

[As we sang this next part my mind replayed a video of Jesus’ crucifixion, the part where he was unceremoniously flopped onto the cross,his gaze met mine, his expression was not of anger or pain or disgust, but of pure love ]

Oh I can see it now

Oh I can see the love in Your eyes

Laying yourself down

Raising up the broken to life

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I’m found

Was blind but now I see

Oh I can see it now

Oh I can see the love in Your eyes

Laying yourself down

Raising up the broken to life

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost

But now I’m found

Was blind but now I see

Oh I can see it now

Oh I can see the love in Your eyes

Laying yourself down

Raising up the broken to life

[Jesus died to save us sinners. He did it, he died, because he loves us. He loves you and he loves me.]

(Originally posted 12/3/16)

I want to live beyond.

It’s a longing of my soul that nothing here can satisfy, no drink can slake my thirst.

Part of the call is a call to adventure. Mary and I took a trip to Italy, that’s how it looked on paper. What we really did was answer a call to an adventure.

I recently read this quote by Chesterton “an adventure by its nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing we choose”. Mary and I have had many late night talks about going back but if we do, it would be a trip we planned, not an adventure. I keep watching and waiting to hear adventure call again. Two years before that we went on the adventure of recording her album. An adventure has at its core, a greater purpose, a bigger story where even if our role is only as an extra, or a gaffer, (whatever that is, I’ve seen it in movie credits) we are part of a bigger story.

I said that I want to live beyond, not the great beyond necessarily, I would gladly go there, but while I’m still in this body on this planet with all of you, I want to live in the beyond. I want to live beyond hopeful, and be confident. (Right now if my wife is reading this she’s probably thinking “I’d settle for hopeful”, I tend to be doubtful). I think this is new thing.

I want to live beyond thankful and I’m not sure what that is, possibly generous? Generously.

I want to live beyond forgiven. What is that? Forgive-ing? There are more of these than i can think of now, living beyond, and I’m hoping that I live the rest of my days in the beyond.

It starts with feeling like this about God.

“Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind! Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.”

Psalm 66:5,8-9

Starting at grateful but living beyond it, worshipful? My acts of worship sometimes focus on the warm fuzzies I get when I touch the heart of God, those are so beautiful, I always cry…then the snot. Being so grateful that worship becomes my normal. But actually focusing on blessing God with my worship, without the hoping and planning for what it does for me.

Anyway, If were going to say how I want this next year to be different, that would be to start living in the beyond, and maybe my adventure will never take me outside the boundaries of my life now, but it will be moving into something new. I can feel spring breezes of change faintly blowing in my soul already, scented with petunias and pines and ocean sprays and I can faintly hear the babble of babies and rivers and i hear the unfamiliar languages of the angels.

Beyond is calling, no, Jesus is calling, he is calling me to begin to live beyond…

(Originally posted 1/3/18)

The second coming of Jesus. Boom. It’s all over. Everything stops where it is. Game play is over. No more scoring, no time outs. Banks closed. Accounts closed. all eyes closed. Last call. It’s over. The curtain is closed and the theater seats are all empty. All traffic stops. Waves stop. Wind stops. Water stops. It is over.

Naw, we don’t believe in that anymore. He said he was coming back, that was over 2 millennia ago, just in case I said that wrong, over 2000 years ago. It isn’t going to happen. Evolution will take its course, mankind will probably end itself, God won’t have anything to do with it.

Maybe.

This year in the last two weeks so many friends and family had people dying in their families that I almost resorted to copying and pasting my condolences. Most of them were older folks which somehow don’t shock or surprise me as much when they pass. Two of these people were my contemporaries, one, 5 years older, and another 5 years younger. These deaths chomped down on my life like cemetery gates, one behind me and one before me, making me feel very vulnerable and frail and sad.

Maybe the apocalypse Jesus spoke of won’t come. Or if it is coming, maybe it’s in another 2000 years. There is an end that is coming to each of us. We really don’t know when. I am writing this on new year’s day, many folks will be a little mentally foggy due to the celebration excellerent, fluid or otherwise, that was consumed last night so this may sound like doom and gloom, I don’t want it to. I do want it to sober me up.

In C.S. Lewis’ book “The World’s Last Night”, the title article is placed last in the book. Lewis discusses the subject of the apocalyptic teaching of Jesus.

On the last two pages of the last chapter, the last 4 paragraphs sobered me up and I wasn’t hung over.

Every man has an end. God’s word says at that end there is judgement.

“Our ancestors had a habit of using the “Judgement” in the this context as if it meant simply “punishment”: hence the popular expression, “It’s judgement on him.” I believe we can sometimes render the thing more vivid to ourselves by taking judgement in a stricter sense: not as the sentence or award but as the verdict. Some day (and “What if this present were the World’s last night?”) an absolutely correct verdict – if you like, a perfect critique – will be passed on what each of us is.

We have all encountered judgments or verdicts on ourselves in this life. Every now and then we discover what our fellow creatures really think of us. I don’t of course mean what they tell us to our faces: that we usually have to discount. I am thinking of what we sometimes overhear by accident or of the opinions about  us which our neighbors or employees or subordinates unknowingly reveal in their actions: and of the terrible, or lovely, judgements artlessly betrayed by children or or even animals. Such discoveries can be the bitterest or sweetest experiences we have. But of course both the bitter and the sweet are limited by our doubt as to the wisdom of those who judge. We always hope that those who so clearly think us cowards or bullies are ignorant and malicious; we always fear that those who trust us or admire us are misled by partiality. I suppose the experience of the Final Judgement (which may break in upon us at any moment) will be like these little experiences, but magnified to the Nth.

For it will be infallible judgement. If it is favorable we shall have no fear, if unfavorable, no hope, that it is wrong. We shall not only believe, we shall know, know beyond doubt in every fiber of our appalled or delighted being, that as the Judge has said, so we are: neither more nor less nor other. WE shall perhaps even realize that in some dim fashion we could have known it all along. We shall know and all creation will know too: our ancestors, our parents, our wives or husbands, our children. The unanswerable and (by then) self-evident truth about each will be known to all.

I do not find that pictures of physical catastrophe – that sign in the clouds, those heavens rolled up like a scroll – help one so much as the naked idea of Judgement. We cannot always be excited. We can, perhaps, train ourselves to ask more and more often how the thing which we are saying or doing (or failing to do) at each moment will look when the irresistible light streams in upon it; that light which is so different from the light of this – and yet, even now, we know just enough of it to take it into account. Women sometimes have the problem of trying to judge by artificial light how a dress will look by daylight. That is very like the problem of all of us: to dress our souls not for the electric lights of the present world but for the daylight of the next. The good dress is the one that will face that light. For that light will last longer.”

How much of what I do or not do, what I say,  will be suitable to the “light that will last longer”? My end may not come at the apocalyptic end of all things, it may be much sooner.

What Lewis says here of judgement, “a perfect critique – will be passed on what each of us is.”, it is not what we have done, but who we are, what we are.

I guess that is why I used the word sobered instead of scared when describing how it feels to look at death and dying. I am a child of God. He has adopted me into his family, not because I have done anything to earn it, but because Jesus his son purchased my adoption by dying on the cross. He then made a way for me to live forever by rising from the dead and proving his power over death. My judgement will be as one who is already part of the family. My victories and failures can’t alter my place in God’s family.

Jesus talks about this and it is recorded in Matthew chapter 25.

“³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The very first thing the King will do is separate the sheep and the goats. I am sheepishly a follower of Jesus, and a child of the King. You can be too.

Doing the right thing doesn’t make a sheep a goat. A sheep will do sheep things, a goat will do goat things and not do sheep things. We as a race are all born goats. A sheep is born a sheep, not by natural birth but by a spiritual birth through belief in Jesus.

In Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome he said this: ” ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

The end is coming, it may be a collective end, or it may be an individual end. I believe the end will also bring a day or judgement or as Lewis says, a verdict, not of what we have done but what we are, I am a sheep. What are you?

 

 

From C.S. Lewis

I am reading a book by C.S.Lewis called “the world’s last night” in it is a short article called “religion and Rocketry”. The article discusses the possibility of life outside our planet and the implications of that possibility to Christianity. Many who don’t believe in God or in Christ use this possibility as an argument against both God as creator and his son Jesus as redeemer. I recommend reading the book and especially this short article.

Lewis asks 5 questions, I was most provoked to thought by question 3.

“If there are any rational species other than man, are any or all of them, like us, fallen? This is the point that non-christians always seem to forget. They seem to think that the incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence in humanity. But of course it implies the reverse: a particular demerit or depravity. No creature that deserved redemption would need to be redeemed. They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it. Notice what waves of utterly unwarranted hypothesis these critics of Christianity want us to swim through. We are now supposing the fall of hypothetically rational creatures whose mere existence is hypothetical!”

Paul in his letter to the believers in Rome said this: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:6-8 NIV

We don’t have to be good for God to love us. He just does. He came to earth not that he needed us but that we need him.

It is a new year today, 2020. I am struggling for new ways to say the same old thing. Right now I’m gazing at our beautiful Christmas tree completely covered in sparkles and shiny and color. Light is refracted and reflecting every which way. I’m thinking that If I could turn a phrase like a twisting ornament and flash truth just right so it can sparkle into a heart and mind so that someone understands in a new way, the love that God has shown us in sending us Jesus, that would be a fantastic gift to end this Christmas season and start a new year.

Is it you today?

It’s a brand new year. 2020.

Want to try something new this year? How about being bathed in love and forgiveness? To be submerged in mercy? Graced with a love we cannot fathom or find the ends of?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

This is what Gods love is like.

The love God has for us is an endless fountain. Giving, giving and giving still more. The picture of it is the picture of Jesus, who is God in flesh, living a perfect life and the being tortured and crucified for us, that is, in our place.

Who knows what a day holds? Will you receive Jesus gift for us today? Will we begin this year different than any other year? Clean, forgiven and loved….welcomed into an eternal family.

Please consider this gift – Jesus is waiting to welcome us. Yes I will be there too because I have accepted this gift and am now experiencing Gods love, his forgiveness and mercy and am part of this eternal family.

Join us. Join us Today.

(A lot of references to “new” in this post but it is actually from 2017. The message and the promise of new life does not age or change or expire. That is while we are living. I have lost track of how many people that I know who’ve died in the last 2 weeks. I think 10. The youngest in their mid 50s. The oldest in their 90s. We cannot count on tomorrow to think about eternity. Today, January 1, 2020 is a good day for a new birth into a new life of following Jesus. Will you consider it today?)

New Years Eve, Christmas is done, the year is done, the calendar will be closed and taken down and a new one put up. My wife Mary and I usually use New Year’s day as a day to take down the Christmas decorations and put it all away until next year.

One year as we working on this Mary was prompted to write a song about how the Christmas message, the good news of God stooping down to earth to become a man, to live life perfectly and then be sacrificed on behalf of our sins, only to be brought back to life, this good news doesn’t need to be boxed up and put away at the end of the Christmas season. This good news needs to be like the trees we use to celebrate, evergreen, ever growing and ever alive.

This will be the last time this season that I post from Mary’s album, I hope you have enjoyed the music.

Please click on the link and listen. Share with friends and family if you like.

Happy New Year. May the message of Christmas be ever present on each day of your new year. May the message bring you hope, peace and joy.

Here is a bonus for your celebration tonight, an instrumental of Auld Lang Syne.  Enjoy!

(This is from last year, my resolutions haven’t changed since then.)

It is New Year’s Eve. 2018 is almost in the books. Some of this year has been very good. Some of it not so much. We did some amazing things. But some of my bad habits followed me. I tend to focus on my failures because I want to not repeat them. I opened my bible ap and this is what I read:

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I believe in and worship and follow and am lead by an invisible God. I believe he created and sustains everything that exists. The earth will revolve on its axis and the sun will appear on the eastern horizon because a God who can create everything from nothing has said it should be so. God has revealed himself in a couple of ways, through his word, the Bible and through his son, Jesus. This Jesus lived a perfect life, and yet was brutally killed. We sing about his death. I was struck with how odd that must sound to people who don’t know the story. Why do we sing about his death? We believe that his death paid for our sins and we believe that death could not hold this Jesus, that he physically rose from the dead three days later. We believe that since death cannot hold Jesus, that it also has no power over those who believe in him.

This is the eve of a an old year being changed into a new year. Will you give some serious thought tonight about asking God to make changes in your life? I am. I am asking God to help me in how I spend my time and how I spend my money. I have already given him my heart and life and he has forgiven me all of my sin and welcomed me into his family. He will do the same to anyone who will confess with their mouth that he is their Lord, and believe in their heart that he rose from the dead.

Will you let God do a new thing in your life in 2019?