Waiting On Him

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.  Revelation 21:4

It is no easy walk to live life waiting on this verse to come to pass. And yet, yesterday evening came and the prayers of thanksgiving and sorrow were prayed to God our Father. Somehow Jesus walked each of us through another day of mourning while we also worked, learned, taught, and performed many other daily tasks. And it still bothers me that I am writing another message much like so many that have come before. This is not a day to give up though. While social media makes it apparent that the love of some has grown ice cold in this age, keeping the love of Christ active in the heart remains a primary concern for those who believe in Him. 

To love, and Jesus who makes loving possible!

Bucky

Comfort Them

Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
  -- Matthew 5:4

Before yesterday I was not familiar with Charlie Kirk and his work. Before yesterday I might have hoped for a time to mourn for those closest to the man after his death. Social media put my naivety to rest rather quickly on that! What do I learn from this? That Jesus gave to us a potential response to the bereaved in His great sermon, those mourning shall be comforted and we have a great opportunity to be among the comforters. Some will choose something else, especially on social media, but we are only responsible to the Lord Jesus for our response. And that is to love and comfort those hurt by the actions of evil in this world. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ comfort us all,

Bucky

Then You Will Know

Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  John 8:28

Wait, what? After Jesus was lifted up on the cross and rose again from the dead, the Pharisees still did not know or admit that Jesus was the Son of Man. Even as Peter, James, and the other apostles spread the Gospel of Jesus, the Pharisees threw them in prison, killed them, and refused to know. So, when does this knowing take place? It may be one of those things where one, Nicodemus, began to know, then another, Joseph, and still another in Paul some years later came to know that Jesus was who He said. It may be that in the final years of this age the Pharisees become the largest force of our Lord's evangelists the world has ever seen, when they lift Him up as the Son of God and the Son of Man all at once. It happened with Paul, it could come once more. 

Rejoice in the Lord Jesus, He has this!

Bucky

Casting Doubt

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 1:9

These days it is popular to cast doubt at any group other than your own. If you do not feel this in your life, run for public office and you will soon have all the doubt you can wish for cast right at your door and yourself. John wrote a letter to the seven churches which are in Asia, and from the get-go doubt has been cast. Some doubt the revelation happened, others doubt that it will have any literal fulfillment, and one book I began last week even cast doubt on poor John himself. Why all this doubt? Well, it is right there in our verse for today, "for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Yes, state your testimony of Jesus and you too will have doubt cast at you. It might even come more quickly and with more force than any political position one may take.

Who knew that your testimony of Jesus or mine could be so divisive? Well, Jesus did of course. Even His people voted Him out before the Roman governor.

Bucky

The Prince Of Division?

Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. Luke 12:51

This morning with but a few words I can become to some a flaming liberal Christian, while with those same words become an intolerant fundamentalist Christian to others. I will not attempt to write those words lest I break apart from the strain of conflicting opinion this morning! It may seem a little funny that some of us may have thought that these words of Jesus in our verse today would somehow pass over the Church, maybe even our particular little church. Division, we don't want no stinking division; the Lord Jesus is supposed to be the Prince of Peace, not division! And yet, from what may be the most recent writing of the Bible, if AD 95 can be called recent, John wrote to seven churches in Asia Minor, and they were all different. What! Already? Ha, Mary Magdalene met the risen Jesus outside the tomb that first morning, and the disciples did not believe her story. Yes, division came that quickly.

And still, the Lord will bring us all back together in Him, and He will be the Prince of Peace, Isaiah foretold it! (9:6)

Bucky

Not In Despair

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.  2 Corinthians 4:8

Despair is an easy thing to slide into, but entirely inappropriate for those who believe in Jesus our Lord! Paul reported being hard-pressed, in that proverbial space between the rock and a hard place, and yet he was not in despair. He confessed to being perplexed, but still not in despair. I don't have to guess that at some point in your life, you have been perplexed and hard-pressed just as Paul was in his time. But did you despair? That may have happened, Paul may not have succeeded in remaining despair free his first time either. In fact this may have been the 76th time he faced a tough test before he remembered the Lord Jesus and did not fall to despair. We sometimes think that Paul always got it right the first time out, but that is likely not the case. 

I pray that none of these are in despair now, dear Lord Jesus. And if they are, please rescue them quickly!

Bucky

The Easy Part

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. John 2:11

Heyo! The disciples have believed and the journey begins. So, why did the disciples have so much trouble with belief later on? Well, ya know friends this miracle may seem tame or easy to our fledgling belief. As for the disciples, they may not have seen the water, or they may have enjoyed a bit too much of the really good wine. If belief in Jesus came easily to them at the first, it would also depart easily later when challenged by His words and other actions. Wine could be left behind, walked away from, even eliminated from the body. "You must be born again," challenges the faith to remain faithful to the One who does the rebirthing. And as adults, like Nicodemus, they had reason to doubt that to be born again was even possible. However, this rebirth must be faced and decided on, to believe in Jesus or not. And the disciples had not even heard the drinking His blood and eating His flesh part yet, the old vampire-cannibal thing that would strain their new faith to the max!

The beginning of His signs was the easy part, and then He kept going on about dying and rising up again.

Bucky