From Gary... The depths of happiness

My guess is that the woman who is swinging is in her late 50's or perhaps early 60's.  Looks like snow on the ground, so perhaps it is late fall or a very early spring.  Now swinging is usually done for enjoyment, but where is her smile?  Old folks do smile don't they?  If you don't know the answer to that one, then perhaps we have never met.  But, happiness is different things to different people; we are not all the same.  Happiness shows up in the oddest places; here is one of them...

Acts, Chapter 26

  1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” 

Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.  2 “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. 

  4  “Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;  5 having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.  6 Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,  7 which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!  8 Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead? 

  9  “I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  10 This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. 11 Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 

  12  “Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,  13 at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.  14 When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 

  15  “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ 
“He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.   16  But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;   17  delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,   18  to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 

  19  “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,  20 but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.  21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me.  22 Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,  23 how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.” 

  24  As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 
  25  But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness.  26 For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 

  28  Agrippa said to Paul, “With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Christian?” 

  29  Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these bonds.” 

Paul was in chains and yet he says he is "happy" (verse 2)?  Doesn't seem to make sense, does it?  Festus didn't think so, and thought Paul was "crazy"!!!  The way I see it, Paul had tried to follow God all of his life and when Jesus showed him the error of his ways, he was glad to know and follow the truth- THE REAL TRUTH!!! The depths of happiness that only a Christian can know is grounded in the knowledge that ultimately there will be fellowship with God Almighty for eternity.  That changes everything!!!  The only question I have at this point is: I wonder, did Paul have a smile on his face when he spoke these words?  Is it possible to be happy without smiling?  Review- look at the picture again and make up your own mind!!!

From Mark Copeland... The Falling Away Must Come (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)

               "THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS"

                   The Falling Away Must Come (2:1-3)

INTRODUCTION

1. Paul's epistles to the Thessalonians have much to say about the
   coming of Christ...
   a. Every chapter in 1st Thessalonians makes some reference to His
      return
   b. We have seen Paul refer to that great day coming in 2Th 1:7-10

2. It appears that misconceptions existed in the church at
   Thessalonica...
   a. At least some were being told that the day of Christ had come
   b. Paul writes to reassure them such was not the case - 2Th 1:1-2

3. Paul explains that before the Lord returns, two events must take
   place...
   a. The "falling away" will come first - 2Th 2:3
   b. The "man of sin" will be revealed - 2Th 2:3

[In this study, I would like for us to focus our attention on the
"falling away" as described in the Bible, as fulfilled in history, and
its implication for us today.  Let's start with the fact...]

I. A FALLING AWAY WOULD COME

   A. PAUL WARNED THE EPHESIAN ELDERS...
      1. It would occur after Paul's departure (death?) - Ac 20:29a
      2. It would be affected by forces outside and within the church
         - Ac 20:29b-30

   B. PAUL WARNED THE EVANGELIST TIMOTHY...
      1. In latter times some would depart from the faith - 1Ti 4:1-2
      2. Examples of the doctrines taught by the apostates are given
         - 1Ti 4:3

   C. PETER WARNED THE CHRISTIANS IN ASIA MINOR...
      1. There will be false teachers - 2Pe 2:1
      2. Many would follow their destructive ways - 2Pe 2:2

[The Scriptures are clear that a "falling away" or "apostasy" would
occur.  Did it happen?  Unfortunately, it did...]

II. A FALLING AWAY DID COME

   A. IT BEGAN IN THE FIRST CENTURY...
      1. John described it in his epistle
         a. Telling of "antichrists" who had gone out from them - 1Jn 2:18-19
         b. Warning of "false prophets" who were already in the world
            - 1Jn 4:1-3
         -- Who were teaching false doctrines about the nature of Christ
      2. Jude described it in his epistle
         a. Certain men had crept in unnoticed - Jude 4a
         b. Ungodly men who turn the grace of God into lewdness - Jude 4b
         -- Who were denying the authority of Jesus Christ

   B. IT CONTINUED IN THE SUCCEEDING CENTURIES...
      1. One of the first changes involved local church organization
         a. From self-governing congregations with a plurality of
            bishops (elders) over each congregation - cf. Ac 14:23;
            20:17,28; Tit 1:5-9; 1Pe 5:1-2
         b. To a distinction between bishops and elders in which
            individual bishops had oversight of geographical areas and
            multiple churches (ca. 150 A.D.)
      2. Other changes were slowly introduced, as traditions of men took
         precedence over the Word of God
         a. Clergy-Laity distinction, borrowed from the OT Jewish
            priesthood concept
         b. Religious holidays, such as Easter; then later, Christmas
            (3rd, 4th century)
         c. Pouring, then sprinkling, in place of immersion for baptism
            (251 A.D.)
         d. Church councils, meetings in which doctrinal matters were
            decided (325 A.D.)
         e. Creeds, statements of beliefs developed by church councils
         f. Instrumental music (first used in the 5th century)
         -- Other doctrines developed along the way, such as original
            sin, infant baptism, penance, millenialism, veneration of
            Mary

   C. IT REMAINS IN THE PRESENT CENTURY...
      1. Appeals to "reformation" did not work
         a. Despite efforts of Luther, Calvin, etc., to reform the Roman
            Catholic church
         b. Their followers simply created a myriad of denominations,
            keeping some of the human traditions, and adding new ones of
            their own
      2. Appeals to new "revelation" have not worked
         a. Several have appealed to "modern-day" revelation, believing
            it to be the solution to the religious confusion
         b. Such efforts have only added to the confusion, with such
            religions as Mormons, Christian Science, Seventh-Day
            Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many Pentecostal
            churches
      3. The only solution that has a hope of working is "restoration"
         a. Like Ezra and Nehemiah did when they restored the Jewish
            worship after the Babylonian exile - cf. Neh 8:1-18
         b. Like John the Baptist did when he prepared the people for
            the coming of the Lord - cf. Lk 1:13-17
         c. I.e., restoring the hearts of the people back to the Word of
            God
            1) Taking heed to the Word of God is the only way to prevent
               apostasy - cf. He 2:1-4; Ac 20:32
            2) Restoring ourselves back to the Word of God is the only
               way to return from apostasy!

[A survey of church history confirms that a falling away from the New
Testament pattern has occurred, exactly as foretold by the apostles.
While it is always possible to be restored back to the New Testament
church, we should never forget that...]

III. A FALLING AWAY CAN STILL COME

   A. APOSTASY IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE...
      1. The Scriptures are filled with warnings against falling away
         a. Not just of a general apostasy, such as in our text
         b. But of individual apostasies as well - e.g., 1Ti 1:19-20;
            He 6:4-6; 2Pe 2:19-22
      2. Therefore we need to heed the warnings!
         a. To give the more earnest heed, lest we drift - He 2:1-3
         b. To not develop a heart of unbelief - He 3:12
         c. To not becoming hardened by sin - He 3:13
         d. To hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end
            - He 3:14; 6:11

   B. IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE...
      1. With the rise of Catholicism, and the development of
         denominationalism
      2. Previous restoration efforts have often reverted back to
         apostasy
         a. As with many in the Stone-Campbell movement
         b. E.g., the development of the Christian Church-Disciples of
            Christ denomination

   C. IT IS HAPPENING NOW...
      1. The pull of the world continues to draw many Christians away
         a. Just as it did with Demas - 2Ti 4:10
         b. So the love of money causes many to stray from the faith
            - 1Ti 6:9-10
      2. The appeal of denominationalism and sectarianism continues to
         have their affect
         a. E.g., the development of the International Church of Christ
         b. E.g., many "mainstream" churches of Christ developing the
            "Church of Christ" denomination
         c. I also see the beginning of a "Non-Institutional Church of
            Christ" denomination (as reflected in the question, "Can
            someone help me locate an NI Church?")

CONCLUSION

1. The "falling away" of which Paul wrote appears to have come...
   a. There has certainly been a general departure from the faith and
      practice of the NT
   b. This apostasy is clear to anyone familiar with the pattern of the
      NT church

2. But the danger of "falling away" is an ever present one...
   a. It has happened once and again, many times
   b. It happened to those who were once restored, it can happen to us
      just as easily

3. Apostasy rarely happens overnight...
   a. The path to departure is usually gradual, hardly noticed by those
      involved
   b. It begins with a mindset, develops through a pattern of speech
   c. It is encouraged by a desire to be like the world, rather than to
      be as God would have us

To avoid apostasy, make sure our hearts have been restored to the Word
of God, then give earnest heed to the Word lest we drift away!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

From Jim McGuiggan... Why God punishes (1)

Why God punishes (1)

Why does God punish? It seems clear from scripture that there is more than one reason. In discussing punishment Utilitarians like Beccaria, Bentham and Mill, and others stressed deterrence almost to the exclusion of everything else. What justifies punishing anyone, they said, is a double deterrent effect. It will deter the specific criminal and so protect society from him and it will deter criminal behavior in general. We find this in scripture when God brings an oppressive power down to keep it from continuing to abuse its neighboring nations. In bringing Assyria down we would have a case of individual deterrence (that criminal is stopped) but Assyria’s punishment would warn the nations at large and deter them from abuse—general deterrence. When God’s judgements are in the earth all the nations learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9).

The book of Jonah says God cares deeply for Nineveh the oppressor and the book of Nahum says God cares deeply for the nations Nineveh is oppressing. God punishes nations (and individuals) to deter them from hurting someone else but he also punishes them for their own sake. He wants to deter them from oppression because by sinning they dig a grave for themselves. They do it internally by moral deterioration and eschatologically because final judgement is coming. Romans 2:4 and Acts 17:30-31 would illustrate.

Repeatedly in the prophets we hear of God punishing Israel for her wickedness in order to bring her back to him. Haggai 2:17, Jeremiah 5:3 and the whole of Amos 4 make the point that God wants Israel to return to him that they might live. "I gave you empty stomachs in every city," God says, "yet you have not returned to me." This phrase runs through the chapter (4:6,8,9,10 and 11) and underscores what it was that God was after in punishing them.

But it would be a mistake to think that God was interested in a heartless obedience. It would be a mistake to think that he would have been satisfied if the idols had been smashed to pieces, the heathen shrines torn down so that Israel was towing the line in order to get blessing rather than punishment. God watched Israel carefully and at one point says (Isaiah 29:13). "These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." See Christ’s use of the text in Matthew 15:8-9. Repeatedly he condemns mere external-ism and at times sounds almost out of patience as he does it. In Isaiah 1 he is weary of all the ritual and ceremonies and sighs that he has had enough of their sacrifices and church-going (1:10-14). He then goes on to tell them what he truly wants from them (1:16-17) and what grand possibilities lie before them. The same message comes through in Micah 6:6-8 when in response to people who say they don’t know how to please him he thunders back that he has shown them what he wants. He wants them to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with the God who saved them, the God to whom they had committed themselves. God punishes Israel in order to bring them back to holy fellowship with him so while it’s certainly legitimate to define punishment in the abstract, punishment in the biblical context when God is the one administering punishment is a reality of a different order. The righteous God is dealing with moral beings and he wants them to turn back to him in a heartfelt return.

But punishment does not atone for the wrong though when rightly administered (as by God) it marks the presence of wrong and an opposing righteousness. Nothing can change the fact that the wrong has been done and punishing the offender does not obliterate the sin, especially if the offender still inwardly cherishes the offence. Punishment doesn’t turn back the clock to the time before the wrong was committed nor does it obliterate the harm done to others by the wrong. Transgression has an inner and moral effect that is downward and punishment as administered by God is meant to redeem the sinner from that moral deterioration. It isn’t a legal issue at all though a Holy Father’s law has been broken. Punishment is not so much pain for so much punishment for so much wrongdoing; it is righteousness opposing unrighteousness with a view to overcoming it in that person or people. Its aim is to produce in the sinner a change of heart and is not a divine tit for tat.

That heartfelt return to God we most often call "repentance". Like any loving and righteous parent that must take account of their child’s evil God would prefer not to have to punish his children. "Do you think I find pleasure in the death of the wicked?" he wants to know in Ezekiel 18:32. "I’d rather they turned and lived." But there’s more than that. We hear that in all their distress he was distressed (Isaiah 63:9) and in the book of Judges we’re given the picture of God watching Israel’s misery until he could bear it no longer (10:16). In all of these cases Israel has behaved abominably and God punishes them but it’s clear that this isn’t something he relishes. Nevertheless, because he means to bring them to repentance that they might have life with him, he is willing to subject them to pain or loss.

The punishment aims to bring Israel (or whoever) to repentance and not simply to a return to material prosperity because prosperity and repentance while they may be connected are not at all of the same order. Repentance is an inner realignment with the heart and will of God which may or may not exist alongside material or social prosperity. Repentance may be connected with material prosperity but it is inextricably connected with internal and moral prosperity. Punishment may lead a person to think only of ease or relief without any inward transformation but repentance is an inner transformation. Rightly administered punishment aims to bring a person to repentance. [The matter of eternal punishment would need to be considered as outside the boundary of humanity’s present phase of living before God. It would suggest that there comes a point when God closes the door to the opportunity for repentance. But as long as God allows for the possibility of repentance punishment would need to be viewed as working to achieve that.]

Punishment as administered by God, in the words of Walter Moberly, is "not simply a hurting, but the hurting of righteousness, the assertion of righteousness in the form of the chastisement of unrighteousness." The hurting is not righteousness but it is righteousness responding to unrighteousness with a view to bringing the unrighteous person to a heartfelt homage to righteousness (to repentance).

Sin is not simply an act. It is an act by a moral being that is accountable. (Infants and others who are disabled or diseased in mind could not commit sin.) But sin is more than simply an act by a morally accountable being for it is an act that expresses the inner state of the one that acts. Our sins are us in action and not something external to us or independent of us. When a man commits a crime we do not punish the crime. We do this for several obvious reasons among which is the fact that the crime is the criminal in action. When God works to bring a person to repentance he is not dealing merely the sinful acts nor is he merely wanting him to avoid doing such acts. He wants to change him so that he will avoid doing them because he is morally realigned with God and pays homage to God’s righteousness. God wants more from the sinner than a confession that a specific act is wrong, he wants a change of heart that rises beyond a long series of confessions about a long series of actions. He wants to change the person! He is not aiming at convincing him that that deed, viewed in isolation, is evil—end of story! He aims to bring him to a new moral state. Repentance is more that prudence. Many of us will avoid doing some evil not because we do not hunger to do it—for we do hunger to do it—but because we are afraid of the consequences if we are discovered. This prudent avoidance of the evil act is not repentance because there is no inner homage to God’s righteousness. The prudent avoidance of evil for fear of consequences expresses an inner moral state that cares more about self-satisfaction and self-preservation than about God’s heart’s desire. Repentance is more than the mere (but genuine) confession that this act or that is sin for there may be many causes at work that lead us to confess (will we be given more sympathy if we openly confess?). Repentance has to do with the moral state as well as other fruits that would grow out of it.

Repentance is not "the state of having been punished"! The state of "having been punished" is external to the offender whose inner moral state may still be unchanged. Punishment does not atone nor does it reconcile! A spiteful child sent to his room is now "a spiteful child in a room" until he comes to the inner and embraced-as-his-own conviction that the righteousness that expressed itself in sending him to his room has indeed done the right thing. He now agrees that the judgement against his spitefulness is fully warranted and is not to be seen as mere retaliation or returned spite. He now sees his spite with the eyes of the loving and righteous parent. This heartfelt agreement is his change of mind and to the degree that it is genuine he will consider all spiteful behavior as rightly subject to judgement by righteousness. He has now become the judge of his own crime! Though he cannot change his I-have-sinned status, inwardly he has now crossed over to the judge’s side and is at-one with the judge.

©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 Ben Fronczek... Why God Makes Us Wait

Why God Makes Us Wait

Why God Makes Us Wait              by Ben Fronczek

Over the years I’ve come to realize that the most important lessons in life, those which we learn the most from, are lessons that are learned when life seems the most difficult, or the lessons we learn when great demands are made of us, or when we are the saddest. Some have even given this form of education a nickname. They call it ‘the School of Hard Knocks.’

And this does not change because you become a Christian.  I don’t know if it’s true or not but a scholar by the name of A.W. Tozer once wrote:    “I don’t believe God can bless a man until He hurts him deeply.”

Part of me doesn’t like what he is saying here in that quote. None of us want to be hurt deeply or broken, but on the other hand if you take the time to study the lives of great men and women in the Bible it doesn’t take too long to see that God has allowed men and women to go through the School of Hard Knocks time and time again, usually for a good reason.

One of most difficult times of learning, a time almost all of us have trouble with, is when we have to wait. Waiting on others, waiting for something to happen, waiting on God, waiting for Him to answer things we prayed about over, and over, and over. We want things to get better. Some are waiting for a better job. Some are wanting and waiting a significant other or a marriage proposal. Some are wanting and waiting for a child, or their own home, or for their adult children to grow up… and the list goes on. We want what we want when we want it and that’s usually, right away. And when we don’t get what we want, we cannot help but wonder why, and sometime get we frustrated.

This past week as I thought about those great men and women in the Bible and I realized that they too had to wait, sometimes for many, many years. 

For example:

God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son through whom He would build a nation of people, who would eventually possess the promise land, and through whom would come one whom would be a blessing to all nations (Jesus).      But do you remember how long that they had to wait for that child? Isaac wasn’t born until many years after that promise was made when Abraham was 80 years old. I wonder how many times Abraham and Sarah asked God, “Lord when is this going to happen?”

Joseph was put in prison on false charges for more than two full years on false charges. He shouldn’t have been there. I wonder how many times he asked, “Why Lord?”

After the Israelites moved down into Egypt, all went well as long as the Egyptians remembered Joseph and the great things he had done to save them. They grew in numbers but were later enslaved and were treated harshly.

 After Moses came on the scene at the age of 40 he saw the oppression of his fellow Hebrews and wanted to do something about it, but after killing an Egyptian, he fled into the desert and would have to wait some 40 more years before God told him to go free the people. Not until he was 80. God eventually sent him back to free the Israelites after they lived there some 430 years.

I wondered how many times over those 40 years in the desert Moses asked “Why Lord, When are you going to free your people?

Because of their sin the Israelites would have to wait a whole generation, forty years more before God would let them enter the Promise Land.

Not only did Sarah have to endure and wait many years barren before she had a child, but so too did many other famous women like, Rachael, Joseph’s mom, and then Samson’s mom (Judges 13), Hannah mother of Samuel, and then later Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mom. I wonder how many times they asked God for a baby and why they couldn’t have one?

After being anointed King of Israel by the prophet Samuel, David would have to wait many hard years before he would sit upon the throne of Saul.

Israel would remain in Babylon in captivity some 70 years before they were again set free.

Paul who waited about 6 or more years before he went on his very first missionary journey. And later he write to the Romans that we and all of creation are waiting for renewal of all things (Romans 8:22-23)

Wait, wait, wait!  Some of you know what that’s like. You have something on your heart and you have brought it to God and prayed about it over, and over, and over again, but nothing seems to happen. It’s as though your prayer has fallen on deaf ears.  But let me reassure you, it has not.

God has heard every word, every prayer you’ve made and I believe He wants us to remain faithful, but for whatever reason He also wants us to just wait.

Things are happening that you just may not be able to see right now

I’m not one much for reading poetry but I read one this past week that sheds some insight on this topic. Here it is:

 Wait  by Russell Kelfer                                                                                       

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, “Wait.”

“Wait? you say wait?” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

“My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:
I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.”

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, “Wait.”
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?”

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

“I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

“You’d never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

“The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you.

“So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.”

Closing:                                                                                                                 

Maybe today you are feeling the pain or frustration of an unanswered prayer, and having to wait for something to happen that you want to happen right now. You prayed about that something, and prayed about it, and prayed about it, and still nothing happens. It seems like no answer is not coming and you don’t understand why. I think we’ve all been there; at least some of the greatest men and women in the Bible have. 

My encouragement today is simply this: Don’t give up on God. Trust Him. Trust in His timing. Just like He worked out things for the men and women we read about in the Bible, trust that He is working something out for you as the days, weeks and maybe years go by.

Even though you know these truths some will still get impatient and frustrated with having to wait. Some will even try to take matters into their own hands like Abraham and Sarah did when they tried to have a son through Sarah’s maidservant. Things don’t always turn out for the best when we do this, just like it didn’t for them. If anything draw closer to God because His grace is sufficient, and He will bless you according to His will which is far superior to our own. And one way or the other you will eventually see your prayer answered just like those men and women of old, and maybe just like you have seen in your own past.

From Gary... Flowers, time and blessing

Last April, my granddaughter Elizabeth and I went on a "photoshoot".  It was late afternoon and we were just riding around looking for an opportunity to snap a few "good ones".  She asked me to stop and this picture is the result.  I like it because it shows the beauty of the flowers as well as the advancement of the day.  Eight months later, I imagine that those flowers are gone, but the memory lingers.  In just a few short months, "Lizzie" seems to have grown up.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she is selling some of her work on "Fine Art America".  And she has not even reached her 15th birthday.  How fast things change.  Reminds me of something Jesus said...

Matthew, Chapter 6

27  “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment  to his lifespan?   28  Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,   29  yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.   30  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

We are finite creatures: we are born, grow up, grow old and die.  We all have necessities that need to be met and somehow God has always provided what I really need.  He must think that I need a lot of "good memories", because I have so many of them.  Elizabeth's contribution to that body of treasure has many facets to it, photography being the latest development.  Now, I don't know what the future may hold for me, but if my past is any indication, then what started as a life out of focus has gradually become crystal clear.  God will do what He has always done, of that I am quite sure!!!  The thing is... I just don't understand WHY I have blessed as much as I have been.  Maybe the flowers know?  But they aren't talking!!!

PS.  You can see some of Elizabeth's photos at this link:

http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/elizabeth+merwin/all

From Ben Fronczek... The Devil’s Favorite Tool – Discouragement

The Devil’s Favorite Tool – Discouragement

The Devil’s Favorite Tool – Discouragement

To begin with I would like to read you a story from Luke’s Gospel account.

Read Luke 24:13-21a

“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.  ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.  “About Jesus of Nazareth,”they replied. “He was a prophet,powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

There is nothing so devastating as having lost hope. It seems that these men lost all hope. The one they had hoped to be the redeemer of Israel, was in their minds dead. With the death of Jesus, came the death of their hope. We have all lost hope in some sense, at some point in our live. Maybe you did not get the job that you wanted. Maybe the bottom fell out of your  business, or maybe you lost a good job. Maybe it was because of a health issue and you thought there was no hope for you or a loved one.  Maybe your family gathered around the grave of a child, and through tears you asked, “Why God?”  Maybe your family has been torn apart by strife. Or your children are rebellious. Or, your parents are suffering from a loss of memory. Or things just did not turn out the way you hope they would.

In our midweek Bible study we are looking at the life of Joseph. I believe the story Joseph was one of the greatest stories recorded in the Bible.  As one reads the story of Joseph, if you did not know the entire story including how it ends, you would probably wonder why God was allowing this young man to suffer through so much unwarranted trouble. First we read about how Joseph was his dad’s favorite son. Even though his family was blessed by God, we also read about how dysfunctional that family was. Jacob’s household was plagued with feelings of jealousy, envy, unwholesome completion, envy and rage. As a young man Joseph was also exposed to deception, polygamy, incest, and murder. Then we read about the poor treatment and hatred his brothers had for him, eventually selling him into slavery. And then he was later falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife who said that he tried to seduce and rape her, and so he ends up in prison. What probably really confused Joseph was the fact that he knew that he was innocent and didn’t do anything wrong or anything to deserve such treatment. After he correctly interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh’s Cupbearer and Baker, he asks the cupbearer to speak to the Pharaoh on his behalf. But we read that he is left in jail forgotten for another two full years before he is remembered. Talk about a hopeless situation and a reason to be discouraged, depressed and led to despair. In class we talked about how we would feel if we were in Joseph shoes. And I found the list of emotions similar to what people feel today when we get discouraged and loose hope:  Feeling of resentment, bitterness, hostility, anger, hurt, and discouragement, maybe even some feeling of agitation or revenge. But the wonderful thing about Joseph in this story is the fact that Joseph doesn’t seem to let these feeling get the best of him.  Even though many could perceive his life as cursed and unfortunate, Joseph remained faithful to God, and to those over him, and to his responsibilities. The author does not record one negative word about Joseph or his conduct even though he suffered one disappointment after another.

We like to come to church here and sing up lifting songs and hear a positive message, but there are times when that is simply not where we are. Sometimes we just feel down and out, maybe even angry because things are not going the way we hoped. Or maybe we feel guilty because we are not as strong and faithful as Joseph seem to be here. So what are we do? First of all we need to realize that these feeling are bound to come at different times in our life. If you are human everything is not going to go your way and sometime even the best of us will be disappointed. What matters is how you are going to handle these disappointments, and how you are going let them affect others around you.

Here is an example… Listen to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

 “ ⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us,  as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

To despair is to lose all hope, or to be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat. The Apostle Paul said he despaired of life. It seems like he was just ready give up and die.
But based on this text, he and his companions eventually recognized God’s hand in their situation. Comfort and peace comes upon the child of God when he or she realizes that God is ultimately in control even in their most disastrous, heart wrenching moments of our life. The Lord, is still Lord even over great personal tragedies, and with Him no situation is ever meant to lead us to despair. In this text Paul goes on to say that he recognized that some of those disappointing things that happened in his life happened

#1 so that he might not rely on or depend on himself, but rather on God, who can raise the dead. Later in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10,  Paul said that he realize it is when things were at their worst and he was the weakest, he was really stronger because it was in those moment of weakness that he would lean on his Lord more than ever.

#2. In the text he also implied that he recognized that God is the one in control and the one that could deliver him, and he recognized He had delivered him over and over again throughout his life and would do it again.

#3. And because of that reality, knowing that God has and would continue to deliver him, Paul said that he learned to set his hopes on Him, no one else.

#4. And because so many prayed for him, many more would give thanks for the answered prayers .


I want to give a few more reasons why I believe we should not lose hope. First is because the WORD OF GOD GIVES HOPE.


Romans 15:4 says;  

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope.”

The stories of old are there for us to read and show us that God is in control and works in the lives of mankind. The scriptures are meant to give us hope. We may think that our problems our unique, that what we are feeling is unique, but God has preserved stories of individuals that experienced trouble, some far worse than ours, & yet survived and grew stronger because of them. God ministered to them in their situations and there is no reason why we should believe that He isn’t doing the same for us today. The same Lord and God who worked in the lives of the saints of old, is working with us today. These stories have been preserved for us that we might have hope, and to reassure us that God is still involved in our lives, and that He cares for us. The stories in the Bible are also meant to give us hope and so too are the promises.

The Bible is just loaded with promises that should give us comfort and hope. I like what it says in Hebrews 13:5, it says   

“…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 28:20 where He said,

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Like a loving parent who watches over their children maybe without them even knowing it, our Lord watches over us. He was with Joseph in prison. He was with David when Saul wanted to kill him. He was with Daniel in the lion’s den. He was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.

No matter what our situation, it is important for us to remember God’s word; not only the promises He made, but also the stories of how He took care of His own over and over and over again. If you focus more on God’s word and what He has preserved for us and less on your disappointments, it should help you in those times of despair and help you become hopeful again.


The second reason for hope is the Cross of Jesus Christ. If the cross communicates any message, it most definitely should remind you how much God loves you and me. Do you actually think that God would send His son into the world and allow Him to suffer the humiliation and pain He suffered, or do you think He would allow His son to be nailed to a wooden crossbeam to save us from our sins if He did not have an incredible amount of love for us? You may be sad, and you may not understand why you did not get that job,  or why a family member died in an accident, you may not understand why things don’t go the way you planed.  But if you want to feel better you need to believe that God is ultimately in control and will work all things out for your good and He’ll do that because He really, really loves you. It’s crucial and imperative for us to know and believe that He may be protecting us from something, or He may have something else better in mind, or what we want is not in our best interest, or what you may want may upset a whole chain of events that only He can see.
If you remember His deep love for you and me, it will help you in those difficult times of despair and it will help re-ignite feeling of hope again.

Before I end this lesson I like to share a story with you I read this past week about a yard sale that the devil conducted. It goes like this:

The devil was holding a yard sale one day and displayed his most useful tools, marked at different prices, on a table. Lying side by side were some of his most notable implements of destruction: hatred, envy, jealously, deceit, lust, lying and pride- all on sale. But over to the side of the yard on display was a worn-out tool that cost more than all the others combined. The tool was labeled DISCOURAGEMENT. When asked why it was more expensive than the other tools, the devil responded, “It’s more useful to me than any of the others. When I can’t bring down my victims with the rest of my tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize it belongs to me.” Nothing paralyzes us, nothing stops us in our tracks like discouragement and its partner in crime, hopelessness. Discouragement and hopelessness are no respecters of persons. They keep the unemployed, unemployed. The homeless, homeless. The sick, sick. They can even draw the most powerful ministry to its knees. When you’re overcome with discouragement and hopelessness, you can’t pray, you can’t worship and you become a victim of your environment. Discouragement and hopelessness drain you of courage, vision, faith, expectation and the will to make a difference in the kingdom of God . If the devil can get you discouraged and hopeless, then he has successfully neutralized you. You are left with only enough energy to feel sorry for yourself.


Conclusion: Are you tired of being discouraged? You don’t have to stay that way. Whether or not the situation changes, you can experience joy, peace, and contentment.
For the believer, circumstances don’t have to dictate emotions.

Allow Scripture and God’s love for you to permeate your mind and heart. Don’t dwell on the disappointment, rather keep busy, lean upon the Lord and His promises and discouragement will lose its foothold, and you will eventually become joyous and fruitful, and hopeful again.

To read more Sermons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

From Jim McGuiggan... Punishment——God and government

Punishment——God and government

God’s law as expressed in scripture is vast and complex. The bulk of the laws we read in the Old Testament are to enable Israel to live in covenant relationship with God. They have nothing to do with what we today would call criminal (penal) law. The rules and regulations are to shape the believing society and be the glue that holds it together. (Disputes could arise where no crime was involved and the disputants went to the judge or elder who settled the issue and everyone went back to life.) Glad allegiance to Yahweh included worship as well as proper social relationships so there are laws about how worship was to be shaped and practiced (large sections in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and the whole book of Leviticus make the point). These laws were not given so that Israelites would have an opportunity to offend. God’s instruction about the kind of fire to be used in worship by the priests was not given so Nadab and Abihu would have something to break and so sin (see Leviticus 10).

And laws governing social behavior such as "Honor your father and mother" were not laid down so that children could have a commandment to break. "Honor your father and mother" is not criminal law but the laws that laid out sanctions against law-breakers come under that heading. Penal laws exist not because there are other laws but because people break the other laws.

Aside from the primary directives, God’s laws changed with the changing face and situation of the Israelite society. For example, many of the laws in the Pentateuch became redundant when the temple replaced the Tabernacle. Laws governing the collection of manna and how Israel was to camp in the wilderness reflected current situations and were set aside when the situation changed. Nothing became redundant that was essential to Israel’s self-understanding as God’s elect servant, working with him to gain larger ends.

When God punishes the sinner personal and relational factors are always present. The righteous God sees us as moral beings with whom he wants a personal relationship and in pursuing that he uses punishment as one of his instruments. The ultimate aim is always to produce in sinners a moral state (repentance) that expresses itself in righteousness and in the pursuit of "the good" as envisioned by God.

Whatever a secular society’s vision of "the good" is, it makes laws to promote that vision. Again, law is a complex and changing reality of course because human society is a complex and changing reality and it need laws to take that into account. At the simple level we have traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, stop signs and the like so that accidents and traffic gridlock can be avoided and to enable us to take advantage of these aids there are laws that govern their use. The lights and crossings and the rules connected with them are not introduced so that people can have an occasion to offend. The rules governing the flow of traffic are laws true enough but criminal law and the question of punishment only enters when someone ignores or chooses to ignore them but in and of themselves they have nothing to do with crime. These laws govern a series of societal needs and are intended to see that a society gets what it needs so that while the laws introduce restrictions they restrict in order to enable. (In the OT the choice of a special priesthood excluded all but the family of Aaron but one reason for the restriction was to enable the whole nation to worship, something they couldn’t do if they all had to crowd into the little Tabernacle. (See The Blessing of representation.) It’s true, of course, that along with the rules to govern the use of traffic lights society brings in sanctions against those who pay no attention to the rules but the whole mass of criminal law exists because there are criminals. Law is indispensable if humans are to live in a functioning society (rather than in anarchy) and criminal law is inevitable because we will continue to be law-breakers.

Because all people in society don’t want and can’t have a personal relationship with one another they settle for less. Since they don’t care much for the inner moral state of others except where it affects their freedom and rights they settle for the process that makes their fellow-citizens law-abiding and initiate criminal proceedings were they must. Clearly there are those for whom moral states and behavior are vitally important and those who care little for such questions as long as their human rights are permitted (this itself is a moral issue of great magnitude). Society can’t stand still until these serious moral questions are exhaustively studied, debated and infallible guidance given on them so they express their majority opinions through elected officials. The laws laid down express the current opinion of the majority and the courts render judgements in light of those laws irrespective of the moral state or arguments of individual citizens. So what society via government with the support of armed forces is after is law-abiding-ness whether or not the individual or society at large has any moral convictions. For this reason we often hear statesmen and stateswomen definitively separate legal questions and moral questions. A former Prime Minister here in the UK said, "If you want morals go to your clergyman." At one level this makes perfect sense; nevertheless even people who are so definitely convicted lean on "natural law" as the basis for the human rights which they think should be enshrined in a free society. Whatever we say when pressed, we would insist that human rights and the things that are necessary to achieve those for people are moral rights and a society is "righteous" when it moves to see that they’re gained for the people at large.

This leads to the point of a just society’s punishment of criminals. The capacity and power to punish like every other capacity and power can be abused but we need not take the abuse of it as the only face it has. As Aristotle reminds us, we’re not to take a diseased and stunted tree as the norm for trees. Giving punishment its best face and leaving society’s "the good" to be defined only in general terms, it’s clear that punishment by society needs to be seen as moral and righteous.

It would be immoral for society to knowingly punish a known innocent person. It would be immoral for a society to knowingly punish a person known not to be accountable by reason of mental disability or some other pronounced condition that renders a free choice out of the question. So when a society punishes via government and court structures it wishes to have the approval of "universal moral law" (natural law) even when the crimes are lower level infringements. It is never right to knowingly punish the innocent or knowingly over-punish the guilty no matter how insignificant the offense or punishment attached to the offense. (See Deuteronomy 25:1-3 on over-punishing.) Finding a place for "morals" in governing may be difficult but in the end everyone without exception—either openly or by smuggling them in—appeals to right and wrong. We hear gang-members or police in some parts of the world talk about "a righteous" shooting, by which they mean that it was justified, it wasn’t a mistake and, more to the point, it wasn’t unwarranted.

Societal "righteousness" is shaped and indicated by the values it upholds and seeks to nurture, and society punishes to express that righteousness against the offender’s unrighteousness. Society’s righteousness exists prior to the crime and it is expressed as laws that promote the well-being and moral rights (there’s that phrase again) of the citizens. When it deals with a criminal, society’s righteousness takes the form of punishment, which is society’s homage to the righteousness it stands for. So whatever the criminal thinks or feels, society insists that there is a righteousness to which it is committed and will work to uphold. Once more, punishment is a form that society’s righteousness takes when dealing with a criminal.

In punishing a murderer or rapist society describes itself as valuing the person murdered and acts out that value. But in punishing them it also says to all would-be murderers that it values the lives of all who might be murdered. So that the judgement of one murderer or rapist is a word about murder and rape as potential acts as well as deeds done. Here we’d have specific and general deterrence. That murderer or rapist has been deterred by imprisonment and other would-be murderers or rapists are warned and society at large is better pleased with and therefore more committed to the rule of law so there is a further deterrent effect.

Imagine that the penitent transgressor now sees his crime as unrighteous, deplores it and genuinely commits to promoting the righteousness of the society that just recently acted against him. In such a case the murderer now stands outside his crime, he now rejects the mind-set of a murderer and rejects the justification he offered himself. His state of mind is an anti-murder state of mind. That is, while there is no way to undo the act, he has comprehensively and genuinely condemned the heart that produced the act and is only able to do it because his heart is a changed heart.

Punishment may not be able to achieve such a change of heart in which case the righteousness of the society in the form of punishment failed to gain something it aimed for but it did accomplish some of what it meant to do. But if society did gain a change of heart in the criminal by its dealing with him that would be more than righteousness making itself present in the form of distress inflicted, it would be righteousness echoed in the offender’s heart. It would be righteousness triumphing over the unrighteousness that the offender had championioned. (In the religious and theological realm in such a case we would see Christ truly and fully defeating sin in the person of the sinner—Christians would call it the repentance of faith..)

©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.