Most Assuredly

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24

Let us close the first month of 2020 with an assurance from the Lord Himself. Most assuredly, our Lord tells us, and gives to us once more the words of eternal life: believe in Him who sent Me. Yes, believe in God and do not come into judgment. Pass from death into life through faith in Christ Jesus. Rest most assured in the word of Christ the Lord, the light of the world. 

Rules can be such a burden to us. Therefore, let us end this month with the basics. Believe. Hear the words of life from the Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Believe. So often we believe and then let the rains come down on our victory parade by snatching up a rule book. Just believe, and let the Lord our God work in us to fulfill those rules of the Law. Growth in knowing our love for the Lord our God will come in time as His Spirit works in us. For now, just believe in Him. And the basics of that is to believe what He says to you and me right now, up there just after the title, it begins with, "Most assuredly". 

Most assuredly, the Lord our God loves you this day,

Bucky

My Need Is Him

You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
Psalm 32:7

We might like to live trouble free, but then how would any of us know our need for the Lord? Tribulation brings to some a chance to show their strengths. For me, I hope that it shows once again my weakness.

A strong man does not seek out a hiding place. A smart person outwits her tourbles...tourbles? I guess we know that I need not fear outwitting troubles with her. Even the relatively simple act of typing leaves me in need of the Lord. Those who are so talented, intelligent, strong, and so wealthy with energy and movement that they sing no songs of deliverance with the Lord cannot know their need for salvation. What a horrible situation to be in! 

One who is never sick sees no need for doctors. Those who know the tribulation of this world, we know well our need for the Lord Jesus. As we grow more in Him, we also see our sin more clearly and it hurts. It is the grace of Christ the Lord that saves me and you as we look to Him. 

Bucky

What Was His Motive?

The LORD’s light penetrates the human spirit,
exposing every hidden motive. Proverbs 20:27

When we speak of motive, some among us might be reminded of the latest installment of our favorite murder mystery show. However, motives are with us every day. To lack all motivation at any time might be a sign of depression. We find a reason to get up and go to work or see a friend, and voila, we have motivation, a motive for doing something. Some are born full of motives and do much, others have less motivation and do not so much. Of course, life and its pitfalls have much to do with our state of motivation too. 

Who can change his own motivation? That depends on so much that I'm not sure all can be listed. Circumstance has something to say - sitting in the woods feeling sorry for oneself and a big ol' grizzly bear pokes its head around the tree. New motivation! Attitude also has much to say in the matter. A pleasant dream can change ones attitude or a good reading of the Word can effect a change in us. However, there is no more intimate contact we experience than that of the Holy Spirit coming into us. Believe in Jesus and a great Friend comes aboard, and the Spirit of the Lord is the greatest of motivators. Unlike the sudden threat of that ol' griz though, our Lord's Spirit is also the gentlest and most loving of motivators. 

Praise God for our Comforter, God's Holy Spirit!

Bucky

Praise, On A Monday?

The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father's God, and I will exalt Him.
  - Exodus 15:2

Praise, on a Monday? Sometimes it seems that Monday should be a day of mourning after the weekend. This Monday certainly has its share of reasons to mourn for all of us. There are separations both among our brothers and sisters in Christ right here and losses of the well-known nationally that we mourn. And yet, I am blessed by the urge to praise the Lord on this Monday. Why should that be?

We mourn, but not as those who have no hope. While we mourn, we also recall that the Lord is our strength and song. As Moses said so many years ago, "He is my God, and I will praise Him." One good reason for this is the second line of our verse today - salvation. When the Lord became our salvation at Calvary we gained a hope that cannot be denied by death and the grave. 

Let us exalt our Lord! 

Bucky

How Strange

Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.  Isaiah 19:21-22

In our day this seems such a mighty work of God, and how strange too! Egypt is at this time one of the nations around Israel known for Islam. To us there seems little chance to see a turning to the Lord's Christ in our lifetime. Once there was a zealous persecutor of the church named Saul from Tarsus. He did not seem likely to become a mighty apostle of the Lord's Christ until a certain trip down the road to Damascus. Watching the world we see little chance that anyone should believe in our Lord's Christ and yet we do, how strange.

Has our Lord been about mighty and unlikely works all along? Is turning a few cities in Egypt and then the entire nation to the Son of God such a mighty work that we would doubt Him? No worries, it is good to read in prophecy that Egypt is just another prodigal who will return to the Lord. 

His mighty works abound! 

Bucky

Those Promises Too

The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries. 
 - Lamentations 2:17

When everything 'goes south' we tend to think of it not going well. However, as we near the middle of winter going south does not seem quite so bad. Where am I going with this? Beats me. In the middle of winter there are thoughts that go somewhere and thoughts that are just frozen in some kind of muddled limbo. At such times it is time to go to the Word of God! And, oh dear! This is not the cheerful words of joy we had hoped for, is it? 

There are a great many words of such wonderful promise in the word of God that sometimes we forget something. Those promises too shall be fulfilled. The ones we may not want to read in the dark days of winter. The promises that if God's people walk in their own way and away from their God then an enemy will rejoice over them. Israel experienced this several times, and yet they still struggled to walk upright before the Law. Surely there is some other help for us in this dark time of the world? 

Well, yes there is, and He is coming back for us soon! Jesus our Lord is the light that shines in the darkness, the fulfillment of the Law, the rescue from sin we so desperately need, and when we believe in Him, the way back to the Father and eternal life. Our Lord Jesus is the promise we cling to! And our adversaries can go tootle their horns somewhere in the outer darkness! Amen! 

Love for  you today in Christ Jesus,

Bucky

Working It On My Own

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 Corinthians 5:21-6:1

Vanity by the ecclesiastical definition is to do something without God. What Paul is trying to get through to us is not to be born again only to go off and try to grow on our own. Grace without the Lord is like the branch trying to grow with only the one thin connection to the vine. Now the connection is strong and unbreakable, as it was made by Christ Himself, but growth will not be seen until we learn to work with Him. 

Paul saw it in his time and we have in ours, those who were saved long ago but are still infants in the faith. We also have experienced it for ourselves where we come to a time of no growth in love and faith because we have gone off on our own in place of working with our Lord and Savior. 

For those of us who want to do, I like the part about working with Him... and I'm liking it more each day!

Bucky

He Started When?

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

The beloved of Christ often starts the story with an 'I was saved at...' and mentions some age. To the unbeliever this may seem like the Lord stirred Himself up at this particular age of the person and then went out looking for His lost sheep. The saved one, he and she who have surrendered to the mercy and grace of Christ Jesus, knows that the Lord knew from the beginning where to find this lost sheep and that all things were worked by God toward that good work. 

Paul felt the goads or pricks from well before his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. We too can recall the many times from before our surrender when the hand of the Lord tapped us to point out our sinfulness. To think back to those times for instruction in the Word , we might find it simply amazing that all things were worked by God for our good. Wait, what does Paul mean by "all things"  - surely he couldn't mean that shameful time I did that thing?! What a horrible sin that was that I did! Well, 'all things' kind of broadens the list out to include, all things. And the Lord provided such a wonderful example in Paul who came to Him bearing such a load of opposition to the Lord's new work in salvation. On the road to Damascus, we know that Paul was going to that city to stamp out as much of the Lord's work as he could, all of it if possible. 

No doubt there are some heinous sins in your past and mine, but at any meeting of the repentant, Paul could easily trump those stories. "You think that is bad? Let me tell you what I was doing when the Lord Jesus saved me," Paul might begin his story. 

God's great love and kindness to you on this new Monday,

Bucky

Be Wary O Dietary Pharisee

 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.  Genesis 9:2-4

Strangers will often want to know where we are from. It is fun to freak them out just a bit by saying,  "My family descended from an ark in the mountains of Ararat." From this story comes a dietary change for mankind, as we read in our scripture passage for today. 

In this age of woe and confusion, we have been told somewhere in the neighborhood of 456 thousand times, or so, what it is we should eat or not eat. Yesterday I was even asked if Jesus would kill something to eat it. That is a good question, and a tough question, but should it be? Our Lord would be the worst of hypocrites if He gave us the command by Noah to eat the moving things without their life blood in it, and yet refused to kill and eat Himself. Then, comes a certain dream to the leader of a new church, and it involves a command: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." (Story in Acts 10:9-16)

Peter recognized the voice of His Lord Jesus. 

So, be wary, O dietary pharisee, of what you tell me should be eaten or not eaten.

Love in Christ Jesus! 

Bucky

A Payment On Your Account

 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ Luke 10:35

Certainly the despised Samaritan's duty was done by granting the victim first aid and getting him to the inn. However, the innkeeper was not running a free clinic and the victim had just lost his means to pay. The Samaritan made promise to pay more should the man run up further costs. We can see a situation ripe for exploitation by the innkeeper. 

You don't have two silver coins to pay the tab? Yes, I understand. For many of us the challenge in the Good Samaritan parable is not that we do not desire to help, but that the Samaritan and his means seem far above our own.  Imagine that the inn is a hospital here in the US today and that the two silver coins are a $20,000 down payment on the man's hospital bill.  You will know by now that is not an exaggeration for a man with serious injuries that left him unconscious by the road. We must remember that Jesus already made a payment on our account at Calvary for a bill that no dollar figure could ever pay, and if any of us run up a higher bill before His return, He has promised to pay that too. So, be sure to help your neighbor confidently in the knowledge that our Good Shepherd does indeed have means greater than our own, spiritual or monetary. 

Have mercy today on those in need, in the strength and grace of Christ our Lord,

Bucky

Whistle, and They Will Come

I will whistle for them and gather them,
For I will redeem them;
And they shall increase as they once increased. Zechariah 10:8

The whistle as a means of summoning has been used for quite a while it seems. The prophet of old writes of a whistle going out from the Lord to gather the people of Israel back to their homeland. However, more important than the gathering is the redemption. 

Lots of folks gather together, witness the enormous crowds gathered for a sports event, but that will not save them. Redemption from the Lord speaks to His enduring salvation and wonderful provision, all the lovingkindness of the Lord gathered into a whistle. Come home! The Lord whistles to us. Open the door of your heart and let Me in! He calls to those who are enslaved to sin from birth. A whistle from the Lord is worth far more than the world can offer to us. 

A whistle from the Lord to begin the redemption of Israel. I like it. The proud will not answer such a call. But for those who want to be with the Lord, any form of the call - whistle, shout, song, or still small voice - will do to bring us home to Him. 

Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

We Were Really Something!

And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Genesis 11:6

For quite some time it has been the dream of many to be part of project where people work together to accomplish something. It would seem that the last time that happened without striving, envy, backstabbing, and other fallen behaviors was at this place called Babel. This was also the last place where people understood one another well. We were really something back in the day! 

Now to the unbeliever, this is a myth that tells a tale of an envious god who feared that we were competition for him and in a petty fit of rage he called upon some others to help him make it hard for us to talk to one another. To the believer though, this is the story of God's love that made it an imperative to obey God's commandments. Those were to multiply and fill the earth, which He had twice given - to Adam and then to Noah - and at the time of Babel was directly disobeyed as a mission statement in verse 4, to wit: "...lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." Yes, we were really something making a city and a tower specifically to disobey the command of God! 

May the mercy of the Lord fill us today,
Bucky

I Am Adam and David and Paul Too

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12

It was so quick! I sighted down the length of my outstretched arm to my pointing finger and found that I done an Adam by blaming something else for my sin. 

...because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 1 Kings 15:5

Except, that little word of condemnation for God's chosen one. That little exception is one of the worst stories of sin in the Bible, and yet I have no right to look down on David for I am no better. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Saul was one of the worst persecutors of the Lord's new church, and yet the Lord Jesus met this very man on a dusty road one day and turned his life to the light. We came to know the man as Paul through the Acts and his letters to the churches in the Roman world. In reading the Word of God, I realize that I am Adam and David and Paul too. All have sinned and all can receive the gift of God. Of myself I can be only the worst of sinners, but with Jesus I am forgiven and live in the grace He shares with all He saves. 

Praise God for the mercy and grace He showers on us new each morning!

Bucky

Is The Greatest Sin, Giving Up On The Lord?

And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.” Jeremiah 18:12

They said, "evil heart", just like that, really? According to the word of our Lord, the Israelites responded to the illustration of the Potter and His clay in that way. They gave up and went their own evil way. 

The potter and clay story is used in many songs, stories, and sermons. If you need to review it sometime, the story comes from our Lord in Jeremiah 18. Their response though, made me wonder if giving up on the Lord and going your own evil way is not that greatest of sins that Jesus stated in His ministry. Is this that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, that we are to avoid at all costs? It may well be, for this is that turning away that condemns the unbeliever who is not ignorant but fully aware of his or her decision. This is that sin of ours that our Lord shouted from the cross, "Why have You forsaken me?" Note that our Lord did not go the evil way of the unbelievers! 

They are correct in one important way in our verse for today; it is hopeless for us. Jesus took this up many years later in telling the disciples that with God all things are possible. Indeed the better response to the commandment of the Lord is to depend on His ability. That is where we get responsibility from - it is our response to His ability! (I didn't make that up; I heard it years ago from Pastor Adrian Rogers.)

Yes, give up on yourself, and respond with love and praise to His ability to save and sanctify us!

Bucky

The Ax Is Dull

If the ax is dull,
And one does not sharpen the edge,
Then he must use more strength;
But wisdom brings success. 
- Ecclesiastes 10:10

As our landscape out here tends toward the dull, we often talk of the sky. Usually it is the weather, but now we have mysterious drones to fill our conversational vacuum. Dull no more for a brief moment, we have even made the national news. Along with the ration of exotic fears this has brought to the area is one that is more mundane: yahoos, pickup trucks, rifles, social media and liquor mixed up in a disaster about to happen. A drone hunt is a fine example of the blunt ax approach to a problem, and it is illegal with good reason. How do I know this is a potential danger? I grew up out here and I have been among them. 

Wisdom comes from the Lord, and we all need it. One of the old-timers writing part of what would become the Bible told us a bit of wisdom: if you don't have enough of it, ask of God! (James 1:5) It seems so obvious in retrospect, but I have at times flailed away with the blunt ax first before stopping to ask of the Lord in prayer for wisdom. Whether you subscribe to the flat hand landing vigorously against the forehead or applying derogatory epithets toward yourself, I have deserved both in a few circumstances in my past. Wisdom is the better way to go, but we are often so dull in asking for it from the One who holds it. 

Solomon once asked for wisdom, and the Lord provided!

Bucky

The Latter Days Coming

 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. Ezekiel 38:8

Sometimes we do want to think about them and sometimes we don't want to ponder on the excitement of the day, but the latter days come closer and the latter years are upon us. The world does today exactly what our Lord said would be done near the end as people will this day return to school and work, get married and give in marriage, get drunk and stupid (the link between those two is well established), and sleep to our Lord's coming. I paraphrase a bit, but we know well that the end times are here and the great return of our Lord Jesus is near. 

Now, what do we do about it? Certainly we do not want to stop it like the unbelievers do. Nor do we want to delay it, as if anyone could. Our Lord cannot be rushed, though we are welcome to pray that He hasten while we endure our tribulation in this age. Of course we know that we have been given a mission, a great commission to perform until the day of His coming. We who live in the salvation and grace of our Lord Jesus have some good news to spread to those without much time left. 

Praise God it is not long now!

Bucky

I Looked Up

‘O Sovereign LORD, you have only begun to show your greatness and the strength of your hand to me, your servant. Is there any god in heaven or on earth who can perform such great and mighty deeds as you do? Deuteronomy 3:24

I heard a news report this morning, and it held fear in it. The world woke up more tense today as the United States leadership has done a thing which will cause retaliation. The markets have reacted in the expected way and the news media is asking its questions this morning. As for me, I looked up in prayer and saw that God was still sovereign. 

One of my favorite sayings from the late Pastor Adrian Rogers may be useful here as well. The Holy Trinity did not meet in emergency session last night. We might even imagine the angel Gabriel running into this session with a message from down below. "What have they done now?" the elders ask from around the throne. But all of that would be a useless and false exercise of our imagination.  For the Lord our God was not caught off guard by the latest action of our government, nor is He unaware of what has gone before and what will happen tomorrow. Let us all look up in prayer and see that our God is still sovereign. 

The next Middle East update from Behold Israel should be interesting; that is, even more interesting than the exciting coming together of the encircling enemies of Israel and God that Amir reports concerning Ezekiel 38. It may be that this latest event is the trigger for that great invasion foretold so long ago and we are alive to see prophecy unfold before us! 

Rejoice in Christ!
Bucky

A Dark Ark?

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. Genesis 8:13

By my count this is the fourth Monday in less than two weeks. At least it surely does feel like it; there may even be a fifth one lurking around the corner this coming week. Garfield must be utterly cranky by now, or maybe he worked yesterday and does not have this problem. 

As we are making our way day by day out of the darkest days of the season, I thought about the ark and that covering that Noah removed. Did this mean that Noah and the animals spent 150 days in a dark ark? And then some more time as the Earth dried up and plants began to grow? They lit some fires or torches of course, we might say. However, fire would be a great danger on a wooden ship sealed with pitch and with nowhere to land. That covering would also prevent any smoke from leaving. Two great reasons for Captain Noah to give what may have been his first standing order of the voyage, "No fires!"

And that 150 days of darkness in the ark? That would be tough. I'm glad God promised no more destroying floods. The days may seem short at this time of the year, but we don't have it so bad.  Like Noah and his family, we too are held in God's almighty hands. 

Rejoice in a new year in Christ Jesus!

Bucky