4/10/13

From Terry... look, aim and paddle




I like to fish from a kayak. Well, I like to fish from anything on or near a good body of water. I own a lot of small boats. A few of them I have built myself from scratch with only a set of plans. Hours later. Actually, hundreds of hours later, you have a boat.
Maybe it comes with age, but going fast in a speedboat doesn't excite me like it did when I was 14 years old. Things change. Plans change. The direction of your life changes. Many times those changes feel like it is beyond your control.

Have you ever paddled a kayak or a canoe? If you have you know the basic rule. If you sit in the boat at the water's edge near the shore you will go now where unless... you paddle. You have to make the effort.
On a sunny windless day, with water as smooth as glass and no sounds to overcome the joy of your surroundings, you can actually hear the the kayak slicing through the water as you move forward.
Stop paddling and you will glide to an eventual rest. To move forward or to the side, you have to put in the effort. There you go again and what a joy to share in the beauty of solitude and God's nature.

Have you ever paddled a kayak or a canoe on a windy day? You remember. You started out out and paddled a long distance when when suddenly the weather changed. The direction home meant paddling into the wind. Stop paddling and you will glide for a fraction of a second before the kayak starts moving in the wrong direction. It turns sideways to the wind. It's dangerous being broadside to the wind as you may flip over if a gust of wind and a wave unite their energies against you.

So what do you do? Well be ready for some hard work. The stronger the wind- the more energy and determination it will take to keep you going forward - toward your goal.

It's a frustrating time. It may even hurt. Your arms may tell you "Just stop!" But you can't or you won't make it home.

Before technology. Before GPS and satellites. Yes, even before compasses were invented, people navigated away from home and back by one of two methods. Both having to do with sight. Day time and night time.
So imagine again paddling the kayak forward, facing where you want to go. Pick a point. Make it a landmark. Now paddle and paddle hard into that wind toward your goal.
So easy, right? Except for the wind and the torrential rain. But you ignore the elements with your concentration and your focus fixed on that landmark. The result is progress, forward momentum.
Have you ever paddled a kayak or a canoe at night? At night in bad windy weather? I don't recommend it. But those explorers of the pre-technology age were able to do just that, and they used their sight. They used the stars of the night. You choose a star and aim for it. Once again you paddle.
You don't have to be afraid. You have to be determined. You have to choose your goal and trust that with every stroke you take, you'll be closer to home.



To each of you blessings and remember to look, aim and paddle.

Thanks Terry!!!
Your post reminds of this passage from the book of Isaiah...

Isaiah, Chapter 48
  17 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

  18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea: 

Gary



From Brian Donovan... To meet such a man




Posted on Facebook 
by 
Brian Donovan



TO MEET SUCH A MAN

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square.. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him.. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways.. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied. 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.

Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?'

' St. Louis

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida '

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles.. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What? '

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food , when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see'. I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked..

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

'A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem .'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.
Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

If this story touched you, forward it to a friend!



From Gary V. Womack... WHAT'S DIFFERENT?



WHAT'S DIFFERENT?

Now that I'm a Christian

This lesson is intended primarily for those who have recently been baptized into Christ -for those who are very young in the faith - But beneficial for all who are in Christ as areminder to us that we are to be different than we once were.

Jn. 11:1-44 Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
                  (proof of His power over death - 
                   physically)

vs. 11 "...I go that I may wake him up."

vs. 25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life...though 
                he may die, he shall live"

                (Jesus' rising from the dead proved His 
                 power over spiritual death)

vs. 39 By this time, Lazarus would be decaying 
          (4 days) & stink.

NOW CONSIDER JESUS' ENCOUNTER WITH NICODEMUS

Jn. 3:1-8 Jesus teaches about the new birth. A 
               spiritual newborn

Physically - newborns are a marvel of God's creation

Psm. 139:13-14 "For You have formed my inward 
                           parts; You have covered me in my
                           mother's womb. (14) I will praise 
                           You, for I am fearfully and 
                           wonderfully made; Marvelous are 
                           Your works, and that my soul 
                           knows very well."

CONSIDER HOW DIFFERENT THEY LOOK - the dead & new born

Eph. 2:1-10 We were spiritually dead - now alive
We are a product of God's handiwork - physically & spiritually

WHEN GOD CREATED MAN - IT WAS VERY GOOD (previously it was said 6 times that what He had made was good - only once, after making man, it is described as very good)

Gen. 1:31 "Then God saw everything that He had 
                  made, and indeed it was very good. So 
                  the evening and the morning were the 
                  sixth day."

WE ARE SPIRITUALLY A NEW CREATION:

2 Cor. 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a 
                    new creation; old things have passed 
                    away; behold, all things have become 
                    new."


NOW THAT I'M A CHRISTIAN
Now what? What's different? - I don't feel any different.


1. INITIALLY we experienced a clearing of our conscience:

1 Pet. 3:21 "There is also an antitype (true likeness
                   which now saves us, namely baptism 
                   (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, 
                    but the answer of a good conscience 
                    toward God), through the resurrection 
                    of Jesus Christ"


2. We change our RELATIONSHIP - with His help we change our CONDUCT

1 Jn. 2:3-6 Obedience is our assurance of being 
                  in Christ - thus walk in Him.

In physical birth, we receive our parents' genetic looks without choiceBut we do choose our course in life which gives us our spiritual looks.

My mother said:
"Who you are is God's gift to you. What you become is your gift to Him."

My dad said: "Remember whose name you wear." (Physically & spiritually)



3. May not feel different but - NOW WE HAVE A CHANGE IN ALLEGIANCE:

2 Cor. 5:15 "and He died for all, that those who live 
                    should live no longer for themselves
                    but for Him who died for them and rose 
                    again.

Gal. 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no 
                 longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; 
                 and the life which I now live in the flesh
                 live by faith in the Son of God, who loved 
                 me and gave Himself for me."


4. May not feel different but - NOW WE CHANGE OUR BEHAVIOR

1 Pet. 4:3-4 "For we have spent enough of our past 
                    lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles 
                    - when we walked in licentiousness 
                    (unrestrained), lusts, drunkenness, 
                    revelries, drinking parties, and 
                    abominable idolatries. (4) In regard to 
                    these, they think it strange that you do 
                    not run with them in the same flood of 
                    dissipation, speaking evil of you."

Some might say, "I never did those things." The very young may not have lived long enough to be involved in those things. Did you ever disobey your parents, or tell a lie, or treat someone unkindly? those are things of our past.



5. May not feel different but - FRIENDS SHOULD SEE A DIFFERENCE

2 Cor. 6:14-18 We may have to change some of 
                        our friends if they don't change.

Remember - Our outward changes start in the heart

"You can change the man's clothes, but the clothes don't change the man"

Paul spoke of those "who glory in appearance and not in heart" (1 Cor. 5:12)

2 Cor. 5:14 "For the love of Christ constrains us
                    because we judge thus: that if One 
                    died for all, then all died."



6. May not feel different but - OUR OUTLOOK (PURPOSE) CHANGES

ALL THINGS ARE NEW - New purpose, new meaning, new reason to live.

2 Cor. 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a 
                    new creation; old things have passed 
                    away; behold, all things have become 
                    new."

Eph. 5:17-24 We are a new person - so we live as 
                      a new person.

We now have a new motivation for all that we do.

WHY DO WE NOT LIE, HATE, STEAL, OR USE FILTHY LANGUAGE?:

Eph. 5:25-5:7 It is not "fitting" behavior for 
                      saints (vs. 3) (does not fit us)

WHY DO WE DO A GOOD JOB AT WORK?

Eph. 6:5-9 Whether an employee or an employer.

WHY DO WE OBEY CIVIL LAWS - not to get caught or because it is right?

Rom. 13:1-5 Being subject to civil authority is 
                    being subject to God.



7. DON'T RELY ON FEELINGS - BUT CONCENTRATE ON GOOD WORKS
It is my responsibility to remind you of these things:

Tit. 3:1-8 (vs. 8) "This is a faithful saying, and 
                            these things I want you to 
                            affirm constantly, that those 
                            who have believed in God 
                            should be careful to maintain 
                            good works. These things are 
                            good and profitable to men."



INVITATION: To those who have not been born 
                      again

Jn. 3:1-8 Nicodemus hears about the new birth - 
               BUT

Jn. 3:9-21 (vs. 21)"...he who does the truth
                              comes to the light..."

Mk. 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be 
                  saved; but he who does not believe will 
                  be condemned."

From Jim McGuiggan... Lazarus And Us


Lazarus And Us

Whether we like it or not God has an agenda he is pursuing but if we can give him a brave hearing we'll be assured that we'll see it all with shining eyes and astonished at its wonder. He will glorify himself and in the process he will bless us beyond our imagining with life that is brimful of life.
And, again, whether we like it or not God has created us not as billions of independent and free-standing human units but as a family of interdependent humans. Of course he works with us at the individual level but always and only as individuals who are part of a family.
What complicates matters further is that God takes sin more infinitely seriously than we do. But that's all right because God does not expect us to see sin as he is able to see it; especially since we have become used to it and we lack the purity of his vision. But it isn't sin that God is ultimately concerned with he is concerned about giving us fullness of life and the kind of life that can only be enjoyed in relationship with himself. Since he wants to give us this life he has to deal with sin which is the negation of life with him.
Part of the way he deals with it is by chastisement. He brought the curse on the human family when we rebelled against him and that curse that involves suffering and disappointment and death falls on the whole human family the innocent and the guilty. See Genesis 3:8-19.
But God never intended the curse to be absolute nor did he intend it to be permanent. It will continue until his work of redemption and glorification is completed. In the meantime along with the curse there is blessing everywhere we look and there are countless promises and prophecies that the curse will be brought to an end and life that is full of life will reign.
John 11 makes it clear that Jesus has a special friendship with Lazarus and his sisters which makes it more difficult to understand why he deliberately chose to stay away when he heard his friend was sick (11:5-6). This was hard on the sisters who couldn't understand why Christ didn't hurry to his side and heal him (11:21). But Jesus was unapologeticin fact, when he knew Lazarus was dead he said he was glad he wasn't there while his friend was dying (11:15). He knew that this whole incident would have a "happy ending" and that God would be glorified and life would triumph over death. Christ refused to step in as the sisters and others expected because he intended it to work greater blessing and glory (11:15). Just the same, it was hard on all concerned.
Lazarus wasn't the only one in the graveyard. And while socially he was a friend of Christ he was no "pet" and he didn't have a special claim on God. Like every good father God cares for all his children but he doesn't make "pets" out of any of them. Just the same, the raised only Lazarus at this point and left others dead though he could have raised them all.
Lazarus stands as a promise and a prophecy that death will be destroyed for all of us. "If he did it for me he'll do it for you," is Lazarus's message. He is one of the assurances that God will completely obliterate the curse. That Christ didn't raise others on that occasion is the way he called it but that raising has a message for more than Lazarus. The Master made himself absent for a while so that he could be present in a way he could not have been present if he had not chosen to be absent. If you had seen Lazarus the next day sitting eating and smiling (John 12:2, 9-11) he would have been a sign that said, "There's a wondrous day coming. This was only a promise and an illustration, wait until you see the real thing!"
These miracles were not only for the people to whom they occurred...they were and are for all of us that we might believe and rejoice and spread the word.
(I've developed this in a little book called "Celebrating the Wrath of God". You might find that helpful.)

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Jesus Questioned About Fasting


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                Jesus Questioned About Fasting (2:18-22)

INTRODUCTION

1. The nature of Jesus' ministry caught the attention of many...
   a. He healed the sick, cast out demons - Mk 1:34
   b. He traveled from city to city, preaching in the synagogues - Mk 1:39

2. The attention of religious leaders led to close scrutiny...
   a. As when the scribes took issue with His claim to forgive sins - Mk 2:6-7
   b. As when the scribes and Pharisees took issue with His dining with
      sinners - Mk 2:16

[Not just Jesus, but also His disciples were scrutinized.  When His
disciples were not fasting like other men's disciples, Jesus was asked
why...]

I. THE NARRATIVE

   A. JESUS QUESTIONED REGARDING FASTING...
      1. Why did His disciples not fast? - Mk 2:18
      2. Both disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fasted
         - ibid.
      3. Fasting was commonly practiced at the time
         a. The Law of Moses ordained one fast, on the day of Atonement
            - Lev 23:26-32
         b. But Jews fasted on many other occasions, for different
            reasons, lengths, and degrees of abstinence - 
            cf. "Fasting In The Old Testament"
         c. In the first century, many Jews fasted twice weekly - cf. Lk 18:12; Didache 8:1
      -- Since it was so common, why did the disciples of Jesus not
         fast?

   B. JESUS' RESPONSE REGARDING FASTING...
      1. He first gave the illustration of friends and the bridegroom
         - Mk 2:19-20
         a. Friends with the bridegroom do not fast while he is with
            them, it is time for feasting!
         b. When the bridegroom is taken away, then they will fast
      2. He then gave the illustrations of new cloth and new wine - Mk 2:21-22
         a. New cloth is not sown on an old garment, or the tear is made
            worse
         b. New wine is not put in old wineskins, or the old wineskins
            will burst
      3. Jesus' explanation was two-fold:
         a. First, it was inappropriate for His disciples to fast while
            He was with them
         b. Second, ritualistic fasting would be out of sync with His
            "new doctrine" (Mk 1:27)
      -- The trappings of Judaism would be incompatible with the
         religion of Jesus

[So was Jesus saying that fasting would have no place in the New
Covenant?  Here are some observations taken from the text and other
passages related to fasting...]

II. SOME OBSERVATIONS

   A. JESUS INDICATED HIS DISCIPLES WOULD FAST...
      1. With His illustration:  "...they will fast in those days" - Mk
         2:20
      2. When Jesus' ministry on earth was over, some fasting would be
         appropriate
      -- Thus Jesus did not rule out fasting altogether

   B. HE TAUGHT FASTING THAT PLEASES GOD...
      1. In His sermon on the mount - Mt 6:16-18
      2. Done not to impress men, but to please God
      -- Thus Jesus expected His disciples to fast

   C. EARLY CHRISTIANS PRACTICED FASTING...
      1. The church at Antioch, as they ministered to the Lord - Ac 13:
         1-3
      2. The churches of Galatia, when they appointed elders - Ac 14:
         21-23
      3. The apostle Paul, as part of his ministry - 2Co 6:5; 11:27
      4. Husbands and wives, by mutual consent - 1Co 7:5
      -- When joined with prayer, fasting apparently is suitable for
         Christians

   D. WHEN FASTING WOULD BE PROPER TODAY...
      1. Whenever circumstances require God's help
         a. These may be occasions on an individual level
            1) When faced with difficult temptations
            2) When faced with the serious illness of a loved one
         b. These occasions might be on a congregational level
            1) As when appointing elders
            2) As when sending out missionaries
      2. Whenever circumstances call for much prayer
         a. Is not God more likely to answer our  prayers if we are
            persistent? - cf. Lk 18:1-8
         b. Is not God more likely to respond if we fast in the proper
            manner? - cf. Mt 6:17-18
      -- Not as some ceremonious ritual, but when appropriate for the
         occasion

CONCLUSION

1. Richard Foster (Celebration Of Discipline) wrote that in a culture
   where the landscape is dotted...
   a. With shrines to the "Golden Arches" and an assortment of "Pizza
      Temples"
   b. Fasting may seem out of place, out of step with the times

2. Views about fasting usually go to extremes...
   a. "Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and
      reason, and others have utterly disregarded it." - John Wesley
   b. Some consider fasting unnecessary, something to be ignored; others
      think it should be bound as a matter of faith (like baptism)

3. From this brief study we have observed...
   a. There is a place for fasting, but its practice would not be
      ritualistic
   b. For the disciple of Christ, fasting is left primarily to
      individual discretion
   c. When properly understood and practiced, it can be a valuable
      spiritual discipline
   d. A way to humble oneself before God; when joined with prayer, a way
      to solicit God's help - cf. Ezr 8:21-23

We do well to carefully study the subject of fasting (cf. "Fasting - A
Special Study").  It would be a shame to have a spiritual tool at our
disposal and not make use of it as disciples of Christ...


Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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