From Gary... A walk in the park

Yesterday, I felt like I was in a rut. About noon, I just couldn't take this "cabin fever" any longer and said to my wife that we should take the dogs for a walk- but someplace different!!!  So, we all got into the truck without knowing where we were going.  All the dogs seemed to understand was "walk"- and we didn't seem to know much more than that ourselves.  Then Linda told me of a park she wanted to go to in Dade City.  So we went downtown to the bank and took a left onto Meridan street.  Then we came upon the Price Park and I decided to take the pictures you see at the top of the blog post.  Nice park!!!  I especially liked the "dog walk"- very nicely done!!!!  However, I was a little surprised at the last picture, as it was "news to me". Well, we all had a good time (I even jogged a little- if you can believe that!!!) and after we were soaked from the exercise in the oppressive heat, we left for home. Only thing was- that sign bothered me.  I guess I must have thought about it a lot because it was still in my thoughts this morning. Then, I came across this passage from the book of Ezekiel....

Ezekiel, Chapter 7

1 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,  2 You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, An end: the end has come on the four corners of the land.  3 Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.  4 My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in your midst: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.  5 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: An evil, an only evil; behold, it comes.  6 An end has come, the end has come; it awakes against you; behold, it comes.  7 Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains.  8 Now will I shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.  9 My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring on you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in your midst; and you shall know that I, Yahweh, do strike.  10 Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom has gone out; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.  11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There shall be nothing of value among them.  12 The time has come, the day draws near: don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude.  13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude of it, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.  14 They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude.  15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within: he who is in the field shall die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.  16 But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.  17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.  18 They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.  19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.  20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing.  21 I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they shall profane it.  22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.  23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.  24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned.  25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. 26 Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumor shall be on rumor; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.  27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 

I am not making any direct application of this verse to that infernal sign, but our country has been changing in ways that I never dreamed possible- so anything is possible.  I just don't know if I can trust anyone in the media or the government to tell me the truth.  Could that sign be true?  Here are a couple of links that I found on the internet...

Russian Soldiers on US soil

Snopes take on the Russians

What was supposed to be just "A walk in the park" left me wondering about the future.  Honestly, I still am unsure about the sign.  However, if the very worst happens, I know that God will take care of me.  After all, there have been wars and murders since the beginning of mankind, so why should things be different today?  

That wise King of ancient Israel said these words- and they are worth remembering...

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 12

13  This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.  14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil. 

Gary- Don't worry; God is in control. You obey from the heart and whatever happens, happens.

Everyone else - Look at the pictures and give these things whatever consideration you think is appropriate.  You might want to re-read the Ecclesiastes verses- something to think about!!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... George Dawson's mule

George Dawson's mule

  George Dawson died a few years back but not before he reached 103 years old and walked without a cane, he told us. A sweet-spirited black gentleman. He was a good boy that grew into a good man. I never met him but I know it would have been a privilege. When he was a little boy his friend Pete gave him a baseball. (Pete was later lynched by irate white people.) When George was a twenty-one year old man he went north to find a job and got one working at building levees. They told him to pick out the mule and wagon that he wanted. The mule's name was Joe. George's job was to go get dirt and rocks that would act as filler and come back to the levee and pour it all in the right place. He spoke of "his" mule and "his wagon". He explains. "I say 'my wagon,' because when I clucked at Joe to follow along behind Henry's wagon I was so excited about 'my wagon' and 'my mule' as if I was a kid and not a man of twenty-one years of age. I may have been grinning like a kid, but I felt like a man, all right. I admit it. With my own mule and wagon, I was mighty proud of myself. I had never really owned anything of my own, except for Peter's baseball. And I knew that wagon and mule were mine, at least as long as I was working there."

I'd hate your thoughts to degenerate into making this "a white and black thing". I have a sense of the pain and shame of the history of so many of us white people in relation to many black people but this gorgeous piece of George's history rises way beyond that. It implies his poverty but I'm white and Irish, born in the late 30's of the last century, one of thirteen children and I know about in-your-face poverty (as millions of us do). But while that hovers around Geroge's experience, the piece isn't about poverty or deprivation or past mistreatments for which people should repent on their knees. It's about joy! It's about the loveliness of self-respect. It's about the sweet pleasure of honorable success. His passing remark of comparison—sweeter because it is a passing remark—underscores the poignancy of the whole scene and the emotions of it. "I had never really owned anything of my own, except for Peter's baseball." Twenty-one years of age and had never owned anything but a baseball his friend Peter gave him and now "my" mule and "my" wagon.

Haven't you—oh I hope you have—at some point in your life felt what George felt at that moment? The sheer can't-keep-from-grinning pleasure of having broken through a barrier, of rising higher than you had reason to think you might? I remember vividly when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier. The thought of it pleases me but George's mule and wagon beats it all to pieces. Ah, sometimes life hands you a lovely piece of news and it makes more than your day—it brightens your life. This sweet man still thrilled at it more than eighty years later.

What can you remember?

©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.... The Three Tribunals (1 Corinthians 4:3-5)

                 "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS"

                      The Three Tribunals (4:3-5)

INTRODUCTION

1. Among the many problems that existed in the church at Corinth...
   a. There was the problem of division - 1Co 1:10-11
   b. Which involved "preacher-itis" or "personality cults" - 1Co 1:12

2. In dealing with the problem, the apostle Paul...
   a. Rebuked the spiritual immaturity of such division - 1Co 3:1-4
   b. Revealed how one should view the role of preachers - 1Co 3:5-9;
      4:1-2
   c. Remarked that in his own case he was more interested in what the
      Lord thought - 1Co 4:3-5

3. In the text for this study (1Co 4:3-5), we are introduced to three
   different types of judgment...
   a. The court of judgment by men
   b. The court of judgment by one's conscience
   c. The court of judgment by Christ
   -- We might call these "The Three Tribunals"

4. In our federal court system, we have...
   a. The local federal court
   b. The federal district court of appeal
   c. The federal supreme court
   -- In which the judgment of one court is more final that the others

[So it is with "The Three Tribunals" of our text.  There is a difference
between them, and we do well to see what the Scriptures say about each
one.  We begin with the lowest "tribunal"...]

I. THE COURT OF JUDGMENT BY MEN

   A. PAUL'S VIEW OF THIS "TRIBUNAL"...
      1. "... it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or
         by a human court" - 1Co 4:3a
      2. Note carefully that he said "a very small thing", not "nothing"
      3. Paul was often concerned about what people thought in some
         matters
         a. About what his weak brother thought - 1Co 8:13
         b. About what the lost thought - 1Co 9:19-23; 10:31-33
      4. But what people thought of him personally was " a very small
         thing"...
         a. His accomplishments
         b. His status as a preacher

   B. THE REASON FOR PAUL'S VIEW...
      1. He knew how fallible the opinions of others could be
         a. The world loves false teachers - Lk 6:26; cf. Jer 5:30-31
         b. They hate those "not of the world" - Jn 15:18-19
      2. He new their criteria for judging was wrong
         a. They often look at the outward appearance - cf. 1Sa 16:7
         b. A problem Paul had to deal with - 2Co 10:7,10
         c. Yet he knew what the Lord had said - cf. Jn 7:24

[While there are times we should be considerate of what others think,
the final estimation needs to look to a higher court.  Some would say
"Let your conscience be your guide."  But let's examine...]

II. THE COURT OF JUDGMENT BY ONE'S CONSCIENCE

   A. PAUL'S VIEW OF THIS "TRIBUNAL"...
      1. "In fact, I do not even judge myself." - 1Co 4:3b
      2. Paul is not totally discounting the need to examine oneself
         a. We are to examine ourselves at the Lord's Supper - 1Co 11:
            28-31
         b. We should periodically examine our own salvation - 2Co 13:5
      3. He certainly stressed the importance of a good conscience
         - 1Ti 1:5,19; 3:9; 4:2
      4. But in the matter at hand (evaluating preachers), Paul refused
         to depend on this "tribunal"

   B. THE REASON FOR PAUL'S VIEW...
      1. He knew how fallible one's conscience or self-estimation can be
         a. He had always served God with good conscience - Ac 23:1
         b. Even when he was killing Christians - cf. Ac 26:9-11
         c. When misinformed, one can have a clear conscience and still
            be dead wrong!
      2. Paul acknowledged this possibility
         a. "For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified
            by this;" - 1Co 4:4a
         b. While his conscience was clear, he knew that it did not make
            him right

[Paul knew there remained a final and infallible judgment...]

III. THE COURT OF JUDGMENT BY CHRIST

   A. PAUL'S VIEW OF THIS "TRIBUNAL"...
      1. He knew that "He who judges me is the Lord" - 1Co 4:4b
         a. This refers to the judgment by Christ is evident from v.5
         b. For Christ will judge men at His coming - 2Co 5:10
      2. He viewed the Lord's judgment as superior, for He will:
         a. "bring to light the hidden things of darkness" (things a
            clear conscience might miss)
         b. "reveal the counsels of the heart" (things often hidden from
            the view of others)
      3. Thus Paul viewed this "tribunal" as final, with no court of
         appeal!

   B. THE REASON FOR PAUL'S VIEW...
      1. He knew the judgment of Christ was certain
         a. For God provided proof through the resurrection of Jesus
            - Ac 17:31
         b. And so Paul often wrote of this judgment - 

            Ro 14:10; 2 Co 5:10; 2Ti 4:1
      2. He knew the judgment of Christ was superior
         a. He knew the Lord was judging even then (cf. the present
            tense) - 1Co 4:5; cf. Re 2-3
         b. He knew the Lord could know the secrets of men - Jn 2:24-25;
            cf. Mt 9:4

CONCLUSION

1. And so we have "The Three Tribunals"...
   a. The court of judgment by men
   b. The court of judgment by one's conscience
   c. The court of judgment by Christ

2. To which "tribunal" are we appealing for the hope of salvation...?
   a. Is our hope based on what fallible men have said?
   b. Is our trust based on what we feel in our hearts, or what our
      conscience tells us?
   c. Or do we place our trust and hope in the words of the Lord who
      will judge us? - Jn 12:48; cf. Mk 16:16; Re 2:10

I trust that we have seen there is only one "tribunal" we should look to
for the final answer to such questions, and that we might truly have the
attitude of Paul...

   "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be
   well pleasing to Him." - 2Co 5:9

Note:  The main points of this outline are based on a sermon by
Alexander Maclaren with a similar title in his Expositions Of The Holy
Scriptures.

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011