The Working Together Wagon

But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm. 2 Corinthians 1:24 NLT

From this verse for today, we might gather that Paul did not want to be the dictator-for-life of the church in Corinth. That should not cause a pause for us, but it might. We are so accustomed to those in power, yes, even in church power, wanting to dominate us that we may be surprised by this verse. Paul knew that he was just the messenger of the Word, and not the thing itself. As it is with all of us who write, preach, teach, sing, and speak the good news of Jesus Christ. We are just messengers, and if any of us begin to dictate to you, then feel free to remind us of this verse. Working together does not belong only to those corporate platitude posters, it should be those of us with the good news of Jesus who are leading the working together wagon!

And of course we know that leading in Christ means serving!

Bucky

More Than Enough

I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed.  Mark 14:9

The awards given by actors to other actors seem overly exposed to me already, and so I do not watch the show each year. It would seem to have become a form of light combat in my absence. However, since by now you will have heard, read, and seen more than enough about that event, I'll point you toward another one heard around the world. Seemingly small interpersonal exchanges can be told and retold down through the ages, but this one was promised by the Lord Jesus to be known wherever the Good News went in this world. In Mark's telling of the event, the woman is not named, but that jar of perfume went a long way in the telling! We are approaching 2,000 years for this tale and as long as the Gospel of Jesus is told, we are going to rejoice with her in the anointing of our Lord Jesus for His burial. And as we are about to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we get to hear this story once more. The good deed of this woman is so much better to read than that other one from Monday night.

 

Rejoice with our sister in Christ!

Bucky

No Force Required!

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12

If I should find myself with nothing to do, it seems that I might examine this golden rule in our verse for today and find that something I seek. What is it that I want my fellow humans to do to me?

Now asking someone else is always an option that will produce a great many suggestions, and we each know of someone who perhaps excels at this sort of thing, to put a polite spin on it. Sometimes we do not even get the chance to ask them before the suggestions come forth! The rule, as we call it, does not say to ask that other person though, it tells us to consider what each of us want others to do to us, and then to go forth and do it to them. Right away this leaves off anything requiring force or coercion, as not one of us likes to be forced to do a thing. And of course there is that deep dive into ourselves: would 'Me' really and truly want this thing done to/for me? The answer might not be so easy sometimes.

Have a joyous day this lovely Monday in Christ!

Bucky

Freedom To Not Speak

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” John 19:10

Easter might seem a bit late this year, being about 4 weeks from the start of Spring, but well, yeah, that is about as late as it can be by the method of arriving at the date each year. So, hitch up your rucksack and I'll give us an Easter teaser for today!

Jesus stood before the Roman governor, Pilate, in that famous scene we read in our verse for today. Pilate utilized his freedom of speech while Jesus took up His freedom to not speak. As Jesus is our true example in all things, we might do well sometimes to remember that we too can avoid some regrets by utilizing our freedom to keep quiet in certain moments. As we know, a bit later Jesus our Lord also gives Pilate a reminder of where his governing authority truly comes from, and it is not ultimately the emperor in Rome. We look forward eagerly to the many lessons and the celebration of Easter this year. Especially we look to that revelation of a man walking out of his tomb and rising from the mount to His Father in Heaven. 

It may not be Good Friday yet, but it is a good Friday in Jesus!

Bucky

A Decision To Know Him

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.  Isaiah 64:8

The Potter and the clay, where have we heard that before? Some days in searching the Bible for inspiration, I find a verse that shows where a common church saying comes from that I had not before taken the time to look up. For a metaphor so useful in our Christian training, it also is found in more than one place in the Word. Jeremiah 18 and Romans 9 also use this same example of Creator and created to show a part of our relationship to God. Then comes the big decision: do we deny this as the world does and talk the various theories, since none of us are quite so old as to have seen the big bang, or do we believe by faith since as God asked Job, Where were you during the Creation? (My paraphrase.) Always there is space left for unbelief for those who will choose the easy and common way, and there is good help for those of us who will believe in the work of the Almighty Creator of the heavens and the Earth. It is our privilege to decide to know Him, the Creator, our God and Father, by the love He has shown in His Son Jesus. 

Have a wonderful day in Him who is called Wonderful!

Bucky

Not For Dishonor

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 2 Timothy 2:20

We have been saved to live in a great house, as Paul indicates here, but for the moment we have not yet been refined into the perfect gold and silver vessels of our Lord's wedding celebration. While we may be of wood or clay right now, we are not vessels for dishonor. Yes, I also look within and wonder at times if I am not a dishonorable vessel. However, to call ourselves thus would be to dishonor the ongoing work of the dear Spirit of God in us. Heads held high followers of our Lord Jesus! We are made honorable vessels in Christ our Lord.

Put on the honor of our Lord as you go forth this day,

Bucky

I Am That Man

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. John 8:3-4

A question often raised in the teaching from this story in the scriptures is: Where was the man? The scribes and Pharisees brought the woman caught in the trespass against the law, but was the man too quick out the window? Was the woman the married one, or was the man or both of them? Jesus should have been facing two caught in the act of adultery, but the law worshippers brought Him only one. Well, these many years later, I can tell you that I am that man. And so are you and everyone who has been convicted by the Spirit of God of their sin. We all, each of us, are that other sinner that was there by our need for His forgiveness, but not there because we were born a few years later or ran fast enough to get away in a manner of speaking. The woman, caught in the very act, received forgiveness from the One who would pay the penalty for her sin. That other one who was not there with her, what did he receive? Did that man spend the remainder of his earthly life avoiding Jesus and the mercy that was freely given?

You and I may know someone who is in avoidance of our Lord right now. Encourage them to come to the One who comes with mercy and grace in Himself.

Bucky

​Simple Dreams​

“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.  Proverbs 1:22

Or should that be, the Dreams of a Simpleton? Okay, so I had that dream last night where I knew a celebrity as a friend. Sort of an alien situation with me to be sure. The scary part of the dream came after I tossed her car keys to her and she left with her boyfriend. I went back into the house and found that the trolls and her fans had already found me on social media. Anyone who has ever wandered down to the comments section of any celebrity news knows the terror of which I speak. Rare is the person who would want all that vitriol pointed at him/herself!

Most of us, perhaps even all of us who read this message today live in a state of modern anonymity. We are online, but not online sensations. The proverb has Wisdom wondering how long we will love simplicity. This is that state of being too unaware of the dangers lurking in the world, especially the online world these days. Much of the opinion making, shifting, leveraging, and so on was done online in the past couple of presidential elections, and gradually we are becoming more aware of it. And that is the more obvious part of the online danger. Every day we are hit with stuff from those same scorners and fools trying to make us doubt our faith in Jesus. Online is a large portion of the frontlines in the battle between Christ and the world powers, and the battle is for your mind and mine. We dare not remain simple in this age!

Before I ramble on forever... place your faith in Jesus today!

Bucky​

What Happened Then Cannot Happen Now

Oppressors treat my people cruelly; creditors rule over them. My people's leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions.  Isaiah 3:12 NET

So many believe the title line in our time that we must occasionally bring back a verse from of old to show that indeed, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, things do come round again and again. To see that creditors ruled over the people of Jerusalem and Israel back in the day for us brings the understanding of sharing a common experience. Misleading leaders? Pick your flavor, blue or red, or even leaders from foreign lands, and examples will abound of the people being misled. Confusing directions? We have read those too in our time, and not only from a malfunctioning GPS. Oh, oppressors, we don't get to skip that one either. As you will know from your own experience, oppressors come in many forms and flavors in our age. The political-military sort is much in the news lately, but mental health counselors and addiction treatment professionals could tell us tales of a legion of other oppressions. Then there is that champion of all things sin who would be glad to see God's people fall. It would seem that what happened back then does indeed happen now to us.

We have only one Savior from this and much good help that He has sent to help us stand with Him. The Lord Jesus will save us from the world in whatever age we live. Have a great day in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Bucky

Jesus In The Center

And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. John 19:17-18

At the end of things, there is another separation to the left and right of our Lord Jesus. And it comes that there are those who are saved by our Lord and those who are not, much like the two crucified to His right and left. The mother of two of His disciples desired that one be raised to the right and left of Jesus, obviously not knowing what she asked, and our Lord in His mercy could not grant those places to those sons of thunder. The years of our calendar are even separated to either side of our Lord Jesus, placing our Savior in the center of time. As we walk this road with our Lord, we also find that He is in the center between the newborn spiritual life in Him and the old lusts of the flesh that cry for our attention. Yes, sometimes that yapping of the old life leaves our view slanted off to the down side, and we feel off without our Lord Jesus right in the center where He should be. Prayer, meditation on the word of God, fasting, and faith all help us to re-center Jesus in this life.

Bringing my view back to the Lord in Christ my Savior!

Bucky

Faith on a Sleepy Day

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Romans 10:17

The annual observance of Sleepy Monday has begun. On this day we are obedient to the law even as we question what purpose that law serves. We do not disobey this law by doing everything an hour late, but still we sleepily question if the reasoning seen in the beginning of this law remains valid. If we were more awake this morning, we might even stage a protest of this annual strange odd ritual. I suppose I could try to look up the origins of this thing, but I'm too sleepy this early in the morning. 

The sleepy morning, the dark night, and the times of stress and distress, these and many others are why we read and hear the Word of God. If we wait for the thing to happen in ignorance, then we will be caught wondering why or how it began. When the disaster strikes, we who hear the word of God have a storehouse full of comfort by faith in Christ our Lord. The world knocks us down, but our Lord stands ready to lift us up. 

The Lord, our constant defense on the sleepy day and in the heat of battle,

Bucky

A Friday of Perseverance

Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.  Revelation 3:10

There is a dash in front of the number on the temperature readout thingy again. Winter is an enjoyable season for me up to a point. That is of course the point where I grow weary of it and hope to not see those little dashes on the thermometer for a few months. March is usually about the time that point comes and I am tested in patience and endurance. 

That seems rather a minor testing to you, and you might think me overly dramatic, weakly faithful, or even just downright silly. Look at all the wars and plagues around the world! See the persecution of our brothers and sisters! What have you to complain about? You would say to me on this frosty morning. All too true, I say, but what we want to examine today is how easily we tramp down the sufferings of others. Always to us the real suffering is way over there in that foreign land. In the meantime, a neighbor right here is laid out with a mortal condition, a family is financially ruined, a friend suffers mental illness in silence due to the stigma she feels, and another one goes to work to get ground up in all ways by a corporate machine. 

Those of you who have read many of these messages will be thinking, "Bucky read another of those books where the author says all persecution is over yonder and we don't know nothing in our safe and secure place in America!" You're right of course, and I still hate it when they do that to us. Persecution comes in many flavors and it ain't all way over there. The Lord will see me through another cold day, but in our land are people suffering this day. And I would like to remind those 'only over yonder' authors that our Lord Jesus called them by a term we do well to recall, neighbors, as in love them.  

God's love and my love to you on this frosty morning, whatever you may be suffering this day. 

Bucky

God Done It?

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Job 1:22

The chief detective gathered the suspects in the drawing room and laid out the evidence to them. Then, he concluded to their surprise, "God done it!" What?!! A similar reaction comes to that last bit of our verse for today. Charge God with wrong? And yet, we know that this is a common thing among the fallen of this world. The dying spouse or suffering child is but the beginning of the many things humans blame God for in this age. Following our father Adam and our mother Eve, we reach for the forbidden fruit again and again, and then pause in our chomping to blame God for the state of the world. However, patiently God grants to us His mercy until we can know the precious gift He gave to us in His Son, Jesus. And one day we confess: I am the sinner, Jesus is my Savior, great is the name of the Lord God!

And the chief detective said, "Not God, y'all done it, believe in the Lord Jesus and be saved!"

Bucky

Where The Grass Grows

So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. Judges 14:5

Surprise! A lion comes to rend and tear and devour. But, this prey is no ordinary prey and the Lord is with him. In this story we understand how a predator is dependent on the prey to be weaker, slower, less crafty, or something lesser that allows the predator to overcome and devour. One might imagine that the nightmares of predators involve herds that all become faster or never come close enough to catch. Then there is that performance anxiety one, the one where the predator leaps and the prey is completely unaffected as the claws and teeth will not penetrate. Maybe predators on the Serengeti have that dream where they leap and find that they have left their britches behind and all the antelope are laughing at them. The grass eaters can go wherever the grass grows, but the predators must follow or starve. And the predators are the ones we tend to admire?

Praise God that we can be the sheep of the Good Shepherd. We will follow Him to the green pastures!

Have a great snowy day in Christ the Lord!

Bucky

You're Going To Hear

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him...  Ezekiel 38:2 KJV

After the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the prophet again, the prophecy begins with words that you're going to hear quite a bit for a time. We are going to study it in our Bible study tomorrow. However, is this the beginning of the prophecy in our time that we read in the news feeds, or is it another war and rumor of war that are but the beginnings of those labor pains of the end time? Until the mountains of Israel become involved with an army of a great coalition, this is but one of those other wars. This does not mean that we can set this aside lightly, for every war brings with it suffering and death of innocents, plus the deaths of military personnel who are sons, daughters, fathers and mothers of someone who loves them.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did not so long ago, as did a great many other wars going back many centuries. We can join in the outrage over this latest war, or study and learn from it, or we can pray that it ends swiftly, but the first thing Jesus told us to do was, "see that you are not troubled." Yes, it's in Matthew 24, right after 'wars and rumors of wars'.  

Set aside that worry, depression, or anxiety and pray to the Lord in faith!

Bucky

The Man Covets

They covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.
  -- Micah 2:2

No one needs to tell you the subject behind today's verse. It is a sad and familiar tale that comes to us from history as well as the present. A man holds the power of a nation and he covets another nation. His armies invade but there is resistance and so more weapons are called for to complete his theft. However, more weapons deployed means more destruction. And so the ends of covetousness become apparent to all: if the coveting one cannot gain it without a fight, he will destroy and kill so that the victim cannot have the property either. If we did not understand the reason behind that tenth commandment before, we can see how it plays out in the news right now. The man covets, destruction and death come after.

We are not without recourse though. We have the honor to make our request to the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth. Please do so for those who take their stand and face the conqueror this day.

Bucky

A Well-Trodden Pathway

“Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard,
They have trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
   -- Jeremiah 12:10

Can a shepherd, or in our day, a pastor, go wrong and tread down the Lord's pleasant portion? Whether using ruler, shepherd, or pastor, what we have in our verse for today is a leader. A pastor can lead a congregation down a well-trodden path to desolation of God's word if he goes astray. A CEO can lead a company to financial ruin. A person who desires nothing but to be master of his own life can also tread that well-trodden path to desolation. It began when Adam and Eve each led themselves away from the Lord by their disobedience. Of course, the opposite course is possible too. A pastor who follows Jesus can lead a congregation to a pleasant vineyard in the Lord's delight. Whether CEO or servant, each of us can believe in Christ and be led to pleasant green pastures of our Lord's tender care. This does not free us from the tribulations that our Lord foretold would come, but does keep us close to the Good Shepherd who will lead us through the tough times. Just imagine trying to endure the tough times on your own! We don't have to of course, as we have tried it and both found and made the desolation our Lord does not like. The narrow gate beckons, let us tread quickly back to the Lord Jesus our Good Shepherd!

Love to you in Christ our Lord,

Bucky

He Came Home To Rejoice

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ Luke 15:6

Jesus spoke many parables and this verse for today is a snippet of just one of those parables. However, we can easily see this in a different setting too. The Lord Jesus having died on the cross and risen again on the third day, ascends to Heaven from the mount and here He comes home. What does our Lord do? He calls His Father, and the Holy Spirit, and the angels and archangels, His neighbors, and they have a rejoicing party as our Lord has found and saved His lost sheep. The imagining of such a scene remains a bit beyond our means just now, but the invitation to join the celebration has gone forth by us to all the Earth. Indeed it is one of our mission statements from the Lord to spread the good news. We do not have to go about saying, "Sinner, sinner, sinner!" We can instead offer an invitation to believe and to go with us one great day to that great party of rejoicing as the sheep come home.

We were lost sheep but in Christ are found; no longer do we fear the cold, cold ground.

Rejoice today in Christ the Lord!

Bucky