Fearing People

Fearing people is a dangerous trap,
but trusting the LORD means safety. Proverbs 29:25

One example of this trap comes to us in those stories where the great scientist once received a poor grade in the subject he or she is most famous for mastering. The musician who once failed at band or music class but went on to become an artist lauded by many may be another. These examples may show the fear once instilled in young students by their overbearing teachers. When taught through fear we often do not perform well and the usual method to relieve this fear is that the student comes to 'hate' the subject and does not return to it. Other authority figures in life may have done the same to us in our younger days. However, this proverb does not limit its words to youth. 

Miserable is the adult who fears people, but the proverb also offers to us a solution - trusting the LORD! Safety is offered as a reward for this trusting, and what a reward it is for us in this dark age of the world. That safety should begin in trusting the Lord is no surprise to those who believe in Jesus. We had to trust in Him to save us as we repented of our sin. As with many promises of our Lord though, we need to remind one another of these things as forgetfulness of the Lord's goodness sneaks up on even the most diligent of Bible students. 

Trusting in the Lord's goodness on this Friday!

Bucky

Preparing Our Place

 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2 

To the homeless person the promise of a mansion may seem the most important, but to those yearning for our Lord Jesus it is where He has gone and what He is doing that matters most.  We may live in one house for decades, or we may move from place to place frequently, and yet we search for our place. Having worked in a real estate office for only a few years, I have already seen that no place is perfect for anyone. Everyone who buys a new home for themselves must compromise in something and as soon as they move in the future presents itself in plans for changing things. All of us know that houses here on Earth are not our place, even as we give thanks to God for what He has given us here. Jesus has the solution to this yearning for our place. Not only that, He has gone to prepare that place for us. It was a startling promise to the disciples back then, and it is the same to us now. However, this promise is as good as the One who promised it, and He has gone ahead of us to prepare that place. 

The grace and mercy of God the Father to you on this cold morning!

Bucky

Dining With The Dead

There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.  John 12:2

'Who is this Him?' might well be the first question asked by those unfamiliar with the relationship of Martha, Lazarus, Mary, and Jesus. Without the rest of the story even we who have read the Gospel of John are not entirely sure when this dinner takes place. Lazarus and Him sit down to dinner which Martha serves. The riches of the Word are of course all around this verse as Mary is about to do something spectacular, which will in turn offend Judas. and John will make a note of a betrayal to come and some embezzlement. Dinner and a scandal! Oh, and by the way, Lazarus was dead...and he has been raised to life again by this 'Him' who sits at dinner. 

In the rest of the story we also know that it is six days to Passover. This first paragraph does not tell that this will be THAT Passover, the one where Jesus our Lord must be executed quickly so that the Passover can go on. Count on the priests and Pharisees to observe the rule of the law while rushing the execution of the Savior. Like many verses in the Bible, this one today is such an innocent little verse, but it is a bridge to the rest of the story. A story central to our salvation! Even as He dines with the dead, our Lord Jesus is on the way to make His sacrifice on our behalf. That sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God saves everyone who will believe in Him. Yes, that Him!

Love and joy in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Do You Want To?

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  John 5:6

"What do you want to do?" is a question one begins hearing fairly early in life by way of instruction or a desire to find out what it is you want, and many other circumstances. The Bible shows God dealing with the whole range of human 'want to's' throughout the scriptures. The one I selected for our scripture this morning shows a time when we have at one time said that this answer should be obvious to our Lord. And yet, we have come to know that Jesus had an understanding of our want to's far above what we think we know. The man may have enjoyed the attention and sympathy he received for his condition. I can tell you that it is a powerful good feeling to be on the receiving end of this sort of thing. Our Lord's question was not an idle one either in that upon healing by our Lord, this man would need to find employment...after 38 years of infirmity. 

What were you doing 38 years ago and could you jump right into it today if you had to? I'm sure of the Lord leading me to this today because 38 years ago today I was in the first days of Marine boot camp out in San Diego. The Lord would need to give me quite the healing to go right back to that at my age and condition! And by the way, I don't wanna do that again! The world looks at the newly healed man and says, "Congrats, what are you going to do for work?" Consider our Lord's question carefully man by the pool at Bethesda for 38 years; to re-enter the working world after 38 years idle will not be easy. Since the man did want to, do we have any doubt the Lord also saw to his keeping and working? 

We too are kept in the Lord Jesus,

Bucky

Rejoice, Today?

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

Paul often left a lot of fudge room in his writings to us, such as in the line today about rejoicing in the Lord always. Always? Did the apostle of our Lord mean even in the day after a great disappointment? That always? What about the person over yonder hoping for a job on that big project and a new power takes the throne and cancels it, just like that? Rejoice then too? The dreaded positive test result arrives for the latest virus and that feeling of feverish sickness that began a few days ago is confirmed. Do we rejoice then? We've been over this before, but forgive me if I remind myself: no, no, and NO! The command is to rejoice IN THE LORD always. 

By turning our spiritual eyes to Jesus through prayer, worship, and His word, we will find reason upon reason for rejoicing in Him. Yes, the tribulations of this world will cause tears and sorrow. Paul did not tell us to rejoice in those things, but he did want us to always rejoice in Jesus our Lord. We also have this little snippet from our Lord: 

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

The good cheer comes because our Lord has overcome the world and not from the tribulation of the world, which is why there's that big 'but' in there.

Have a great Friday rejoicing in the Lord!

Bucky

Comfort For The People

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Isaiah 40:1

A new president of our nation was inaugurated yesterday, and we are allowed to feel either elated or dismayed. We are even allowed to feel ambivalent. As we gather around the Word of God this morning, I feel the calling to speak comfort to those who feel dismayed. 

The President of the United States of America is a powerful position capable of affecting the lives of billions around the world. However, our Lord says this about Himself:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8. 

The title of The Almighty occurs many times in the Bible, but that one from the start of the Revelation seems to explain it so well. The second part also addresses the continuity of the Lord. We inaugurated the 46th president in just short of 250 years as a nation. The Lord is the Beginning and the End, and we have no idea how long that is but it is already way more than a mere 250 years. 

Sure, the president is important, but we comfort each other with our Lord. And He did not leave His throne yesterday, in spite of what it may feel like to some this morning. 

In the love of Christ Jesus,

Bucky

Thinking Of Mrs. Peter

Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them.  Matthew 8:14-15

This little story is also told in the gospels of Mark and Luke, but this is almost as close as we come in the scriptures to knowing Peter's wife, or Mrs. Peter as we might say in the nearly lost Mister and Missus notation of a passing age. Thinking of Mrs. Peter and her mother is one way to bring your faith under attack. Try it. Thoughts swiftly come such as, "He only healed her because He wanted a woman to serve them. Typical lazy man!" or thoughts about how the Lord didn't care at all for Peter's wife, taking her husband and leaving the house without income. All manner of deceitful and untrue thoughts are flung like flaming darts at us when we give some thought to the unknowns of Peter's wife. And those flaming darts give us a clue to the letters of one who by the Lord's grace also gives us comfort in the matter of Mrs. Peter. 

In 1 Corinthians 9, and I will admit to needing help with this by way of a search engine and Bible websites, there is a quick mention of Mrs. Peter. No, not by name. Like so many great faiths of the Bible, Mrs. Peter goes without a name. But Paul gives us this comfort in the fifth verse: "Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?" A believing wife? Cephas? You mean Peter and Mrs. Peter? Yes! She believed in Jesus and went along with her husband on his missionary journeys! We get that comfort from a quick question of Paul's in one of his larger letters. We might easily miss it if not for dedicated Bible scholars and the Holy Spirit of our Lord telling us to search one more time for any mention of Peter's wife. 

Praise the Lord Jesus for Mrs. Peter!

Bucky

In Your Own Opinion

Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.  Romans 12:16

Surely we know enough by now to make judgments on doctrine and the Bible? I won't speak for you, but I am not qualified to be in that camp. At times we may be tempted to offer up an opinion on the Word of God. You know, one of those statements we make as fact without going to the Bible to look it up because we think we have read that thing somewhere in the Old Testament, maybe, or was it the New Testament? An opinion is a view or judgment on something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. And of course to be opinionated is even worse. The people of Judea could tell immediately that Jesus did not make mistakes and never offered opinion. He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes did. (Matt 7:29) Jesus could not offer opinion because as God in human form His word was the word of God. Authority indeed! 

Paul tells us to not be wise in our own opinion. If every time we offered up an opinion on the Bible instead of searching God's word for the fact, we spoke to ourselves those words, "In my own opinion, I am wise," we might realize just how silly that opinionated exercise might be to those who know the Word better than us, and how dangerous it may be to the unsaved in the world. 

Be a learner in the Word; it certainly helps to be humble when associating with the humble!

Bucky

With You In Weakness

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  1 Corinthians 2:3

Just one more day and a full week of work will be in the can! A person does not know how much of an accomplishment that is until weakness comes and suddenly work becomes too great of a hill to climb. Whether you or I have suffered the scourge of this latest health crisis or not, and in various ways we have suffered even if our tests were all negative, we are with each other in weakness. Paul also mentions fear and trembling in our verse for today. As a person prone to anxiety, I can bear witness that I have indeed been with you in those two dreadful things too. 

As we grow in the faith and grace that the salvation of our Lord Jesus brings to those who believe in Him, we can look around at our brothers and sisters and know that indeed we are with them in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. Our hope and our strength both reside in the Lord Jesus. 

Great is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

The Days of Rejoicing

Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.  Nehemiah 12:43

The year is moving on toward the first half month milestone, and yet the problems that we hoped to say 'so long!' to are still in residence. I'm guessing that few among us have been vaccinated yet, we are still hearing daily about the election of 2020, and the wind is already blowing hard against my house this morning. Does anyone think that next week's presidential inauguration will be the start of some magical fix for these problems? Well, yes, it seems there might be about 70-something million voters who think/thought just that. Will they be proven correct? I don't know, I'm still working on the start of today. 

My thoughts go to Nehemiah at times these past few months as he too was once in charge of building a wall. This wall was unpopular with many, opposition forces gathered and did their best to stop it any way they could, and even those on Nehemiah's side of the wall were not all living the righteous life. It sounds somewhat familiar to things in our age. And yet there came a day of rejoicing. Doing what God wants done must be a way to overcome the forces of the world mustered against us. 

We surely look forward to that day of rejoicing our Lord has foretold to us!

Bucky

The Taking Of Property

"...but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hands and take it. ”  1 Kings 20:6

It sounds like a communist takeover or maybe a total surrender to a conqueror, but neither worked out in this story, for the Lord God of Israel had another plan of His own making. The Lord gave to King Ahab the victory over the Syrians at this time, and then again the next spring. Must be a different Ahab than the one we know, we might say, but nope, it's that Ahab. It would not be long in the scriptures before Ahab and Jezebel would become the evil rulers we are familiar with and a certain famous prophet would arrive on the scene. Can it be that a man, the king of Israel, would have the favor of the Lord for a period of time and then lose it to his evil ways? Surely it is so, there are stories throughout the Bible of those who did well before the Lord and then later fell into sin and suffered the consequences. Moses and David are a couple of names we may have run across in the Bible stories. However, if a man shows up at your door with a message about the taking of your property, check with the Lord first. He may have a different plan in the works. 

May the Lord grant us wisdom as we walk in His light,

Bucky

Thank You For That Thing

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; Colossians 4:2

Struggling to find just the right words to use in expressing your gratitude to God? Sometimes we may just want to say, "Thank You for that thing!" Gratitude like its friend forgiveness does not always need the exact words or big words or even unnecessarily precise words. A psalm or poem of gratitude does make a good sacrifice to the Lord, but there are those times when expressing our thanks to God however we can get it done is the way to go. This is one of those cases where the wealthy wordsmith will not accelerate past the wordless widow to the finish line of grace if he depends upon his beautiful verses to impress the Lord God. The Lord will not reject a heart full of gratitude, not even one too full to speak! 

Have a great day of grateful love in our Lord Jesus!

Bucky

How Useful Is The Word?

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12

To those who believe in Jesus, the question in the title is almost dumb. We memorize and study scripture, and the word of God builds us up and cuts away the old life of sin and shame. The Word is a comfort ever present in times of trouble and stress. And yet, we recall those days when the Bible was a dusty old book on the shelf with difficult concepts, stories of woe, and scary prophecies of impending doom. We can recall a time when the title question was one we might have asked. So, how useful is the Word of God? 

One begins to answer that question by living it. The entire answer is worth a lifetime of study and application. A short message on a Monday morning cannot do justice to the adventure of learning from God's word and seeing glimpses of the epic journey ahead of us. And this journey is not one where we return home unchanged; we likely will never return to that 'home' at all with the exception of brief visits to wallow in a bit of shame at the instigation of our old nature. The Word is always useful for reminding us of the One who spoke it and His ever saving grace! 

May the Word of God live in us today,

Bucky

Awake

Therefore He says:

“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”  Ephesians 5:14

To those who do not yet believe in Jesus this verse is a call to repentance and salvation. To those who have become what was a favorite word of a preacher from my youth, backslidden, the words of this verse are a call to revival. To those more literal this verse is a call to the resurrection for those who fell asleep or died during the times before the good news of Jesus went forth. For Paul this was a quote directly from our Lord, but we can't find it. 

No reference in the study Bible points to the scripture of old that Paul pulled this from for our benefit.  And yet, that sleep-dead thing does seem to remind us... Oh, yes! Did not our Lord show His disciples in the story of Lazarus how He saw sleep where we see death? We can read once more the story in John 11 of our Lord's friend and how Jesus went to awaken him that the world saw as four days dead, dead, dead. He sleeps, our Lord told His disciples, and they did not get it. I go to awaken him, the Lord tried to make them understand, and they said how good the sleep would be for his illness. Finally, our Lord spoke plainly that Lazarus was dead, and the disciples said that they would go with Him to die also. Dead, dead, dead, we see death and call it final, but our Lord Jesus says, sleep, and shows us that it is not final at all. And so the word goes out from our Lord, "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."  

See the light of His resurrection! 

Bucky

They Prayed, and God Answered Not

A Psalm of David.

Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
And in Your righteousness.   Psalm 143:1

Reading the story of a nineteenth century disaster, I rejoice to see the story of some praying to God in their distress. What was not a cause for rejoicing was in seeing the author's heart hardening before me as the Lord did not save those people from the approaching disaster. To many who do not believe in the Lord, it goes something like: they prayed, and God answered not, therefore God does not care or does not exist. The Lord is not invited to testify in His own defense, further evidence is not sought out, and judgment is swift. They see so little and judge so much. 

In the flesh we are like a judge who takes his seat on the bench, looks over at the defendant, and passes judgment with a swift slam of the gavel. Both counsels are left stunned, the court reporter is not sure what just happened, and the defendant is elated or crushed in one quick moment. The next case is brought and the judge does it again, and again, until the docket is clear for that day. What? One quick look at a defendant and judgment is passed? It should never happen in our courts, and faster than a person could read the contents of a city library, the state supreme court would censure the justice and have the cases retried. And yet, this is the sort of judgment our Lord gets every day. With just a glance the person sees a little and judges the Lord to be not good or not in residence or never has been. 

And then there was David's prayer in our verse for today. A prayer of faith to the One who is faithful. In this verse we can see a man who would wait on the Lord's answer whether it be yes, or no, or wait, or even a blessed silence. In faith we know the Lord always hears us, and in faith we accept His answer as good and loving, no matter what it may seem to us in our limited view. We know it is His view that matters. 

Love and joy to you in Christ the Lord!

Bucky

Does My Inner Match My Outer?

Astonish yourselves and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink! Isaiah 29:9

The verse for today may just describe 2020 all too well. Rather than grieve you with all of the ways it works by reviewing the events we have endured and that continue to test our steadfast faith, we'll just leave it at that. I'm quite sure there will be a news item or two in the media that reminds all of us of the testing of this past year in any case. 

In the years before Christ came to Earth, we had a time foretold in Isaiah when people would act strangely and without the usual explanations for this general insanity. Drunkenness has an easy explanation when the empty wine bottle is close at hand, but the Lord told of a time when the staggering drunks would be doing their thing with no apparent reason. As we read further into the story though, we find that the people of the Lord gave Him lip service but their hearts were far away from Him. In our various ways, we have likely attempted to live this way at some point in life only to find that it cannot be done. For most of us, the method we choose is likely that righteous front. We present that front to the world as the way our life is lived in the innermost thoughts of the heart and we know that it is not true. 

Aha! A new year resolution opportunity! Post the Law of Moses on the refrigerator and think only on that all the year long. Probably it will work about as well and as long as most new year's diets. Confess those evil inner thoughts to the Lord - He knows them already - and wait on His cleansing Spirit. We will find life in His righteousness. 

Great is the Spirit of our Lord God!

Bucky

In The Midst Of

Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.   Jeremiah 33:6

By now you will likely not need a reminder of why I might be looking up verses and passages on healing or health in the Word of God. This Covid thing is tough and long lasting. If you have not taken the pandemic seriously by now, then my testimony likely won't help to change your mind. However, you may watch a video of a church service on Facebook from last Sunday, as many of us did, and rejoice as the pastor leads and preaches a service all alone with God in the church. That should tell you beyond any testimony of mine that something is quite wrong in the land. 

There was something wrong in Israel back in Jeremiah's day, and his ministry is interesting in how the Lord sends messages much like the one in our verse for today in the midst of prophecies of woe and destruction. There is also that one in the Lamentations about His mercies being new every morning. It is a mercy to be reading of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and then right in the midst comes this promise of healing and health and a revelation of peace and truth. In the Revelation, God sends His two witnesses in the midst of such terrible judgments that their message will surely stand out like a light in the darkness. Just like the light of the world that came that night in Bethlehem! 

Pray for one another in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

A Long Time After Rest

Now it came to pass, a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. Joshua 23:1

When in a battle for our lives, it may seem that there will never be another rest. Israel had fought against surrounding nations for many years, but I was intrigued by how in Joshua's story there was a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel. There were the usual daily struggles, I'm sure, but the Lord gave to Israel a time to grow and rest. A lengthy time when the enemies were less hostile and willing to live in peace. Some of us this morning may take some time to pray that a certain virus will go away and leave us in peace. However, one enemy had come for Joshua and it was a fight he could not win. Old age would soon take another servant of the Lord. It would almost seem sad except for the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ!

At the very least, old age is our ticket out of here and the destination is to be with the Lord Jesus. We have nothing here to cling to that our Lord cannot give to us abundantly in the Heaven of His rest. Separations we have suffered are restored in the heavenly home of our God and His Christ. And there is of course that long time after rest from any and all enemies that we so look forward to from the battleground of this present darkness. 

May the Lord Jesus live in us this day!

Bucky

Looking To The New

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”  Revelation 21:5

The Lord Jesus made a promise in telling John to behold this new condition, and then told him to write it down. We can read the Word today and it says in this verse we will have something new. No, it actually says that ALL things will be made new. Now, this is not to say that we will be faced with all manner of strange things, but that all things will be made new. Familiar things such as animals are found in the prophecies, but they will not act toward us or each other as they do now. The land or earth will not produce as it does now but will be new and put forth as it did when new. Praise God that our bodies are part of all things and they too will be made new; not as in infant-new, but like Adam and Eve when they were new and God saw that they were good. New is good, we enjoy new, and we look toward the new year in the hope in Christ we have of things to come. 

Yes, I quite agree with those of you who are only too glad to see 2020 go into history. This has been a year of trial and change for us, and each of us has suffered in ways great and small. The usual things took some away from our fellowship last year, but there was also this other thing that took up most of the press space and took a few more away from us. That thing isn't over yet. This world will not, I think, evolve into a better place. What is required is a royal command from He who sits on the throne, "Behold, I make all things new." 

Praise God for the authority, goodness, and love that lives in our Lord Jesus Christ! 

Bucky