His Son, Jesus

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  John 8:42

In this back and forth exchange between the Pharisees and our Lord Jesus, the question of who Jesus is and by what authority He works is answered. However, the Pharisees in fulfillment of prophecy refuse to consider one thing, that Jesus tells the truth. And before we come down on the Pharisees, without the enabling of God's Spirit we would not believe in Jesus either. When we see the Pharisee denying repeatedly the Son of God, it is humbling to note that but for the grace of God's Spirit, there go you and I the same way as that obstinate Pharisee. Faith in the Christ is such an overwhelming and marvelous gift of God to us! 

God gave His Son, we live in Him!

Bucky

Praise God For Us

Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day.
  -- Proverbs 23:17

We find it easy to compare our circumstances with another person's circumstance and leap to some conclusions. Whatever your place is in this world today, I say praise God for both of us! The Lord God has led each of us to the place He wants us to be by our faith in Him. Now, as for our comparison to and perhaps envy of that other one, the rich one, famous one, powerful one, whoever he or she may be, if that person is a known sinner then our Lord has a proverb for us to recall. The first part can be summarized as, "Don'tcha do it!!" One of us may even ask our Lord the why of us not being rich, famous, powerful and so on. If He answers it may be to tell us of a tragedy that He prevented. That tragedy being that in those circumstances one might be forever lost as a sheep convinced that he or she did not need a savior, having accomplished in his or her little sheepy mind all this world had to offer by a sheep's own merit. The other part is of course to turn to the Lord always with reverence and zeal for Him!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend! Praise the Lord our God for those He called home in the service of our nation.

Bucky

A Treasure In A Field Of Thorns

The LORD is good,
​​A stronghold in the day of trouble;
​​And He knows those who trust in Him.
  -- Nahum 1:7

Nahum did not have a vision of flowered fields with peacefully grazing sheep. Nope, old Nahum had to endure the vision of the armored division stomping Nineveh to ruins with iron shod feet and all the x-rated violence and humiliation one might imagine...three chapters of it. And in that gore and shameful exposure of a field of thorns stands one bright jewel of a verse. You may have heard this one before but never taken the time to read the rest of the story. And with good reason! The remainder of the story of Nahum's vision is a horror show! However, it is that one jewel shining in the darkness of this field that makes it all worth the purchase price. Read our verse for today once more and remember it when your day of trouble comes.

Good is the Lord our God!

Bucky

Some Glad Tidings, Please!

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Matthew 4:23

Euangelion, pronounced yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on, is the word in Greek for what we know as the gospel or glad tidings of Jesus. And it looks like a fun word to say too! I am taking up the study of Leviticus 20 this week. If you will recall, this is the chapter where the stoning starts, so some glad tidings would be most welcome. These glad tidings of Jesus should be read and understood in the same feeling that a whole bunch of folks, mostly school-age children, are going to greet this day - joyfully and with great relief. Yes, this is the final day of the school year here in our little town. Try to remember that feeling when you read the gospel of Jesus.

What a joy to hear the glad tidings of Jesus!

Bucky

Faith In Him

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:12

That we might know, that is that we may no longer be ignorant of what God has given us. And one thing Paul mentions earlier in this chapter is one of the more difficult to maintain, faith. God has given us faith. Which means that today you and I may not see someone miraculously healed, and yet we will still believe in Jesus. We may not see a sign in the sky today, although we did have a blood-red sun yesterday evening. We may not see anything that indicates today that God is working, and yet by faith we know that He upholds the universe with the mighty power of His command. (Hebrews 1:3) Faith believes in Jesus, whether any of us see Him today or at a later date in the month of Soon.

Have a faithful day in the Spirit of Christ Jesus!

Bucky

That's Change

If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
Till my change comes.
  -- Job 14:14

Job lamented for a bit on life's woes in his time, and we know that Job had quite a few woes to lament. Job also expected a change and he resolved to wait on it. That first question is a classic though given our study of the gospels! What evidence did Job have for expecting a change though? Well, his life was not always one of woe, that would be one reason. Another would be that from the very first verse of the Bible to the end we read of changes. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth - that's change. What was not existent suddenly was by the word of God. At the end God proclaims, "Behold, I make all things new." That's change too! So, it doesn't require a prophet to read the word of God and say, "There's going to be change." Of course that first question of Job's comes round again, and what a change the answer promises to us through our Lord Jesus!

Yes, in Christ we live again!

Bucky

Bear Witness, Scoundrels!

Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people; and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, “You have blasphemed God and the king.” Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die.  1 Kings 21:9-10

The note in our scripture for today comes from none other than that infamous queen, Jezebel. I wonder if the high priests on a certain night centuries later knew that in trying Jesus of Nazareth, they were following Jezebel's plan quite well? Jesus could have brought that little tidbit up in His defense, but as we know He said nothing to such a sham trial. The trial that went so much like Jezebel's little plot. It seems that Jezebel's scoundrel's had their story straight though, and Naboth went to his death. Although the scoundrel's brought in to testify against Jesus could not get their stories to agree, the result was the same... or was it? At the age of twelve, a  young Jesus shocked the priests of the temple with His knowledge of the scriptures. Imagine if at about 33 years old He had taken up His defense in that court before the priests of the land. His silence bought our salvation on the cross. 

Bear witness, scoundrels, your Lord Jesus has saved you!

Bucky

Oh, He Boasted A Little

Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. Daniel 4:27

Oh, the splendor of Babylon! Travelling to the great city from my distant home in a village no one will remember, I had thought long on the stagnation that seemed to affect the empire these past six years. As if some time limit had been breached at the coming of the new year, sudden thoughts came into my head of how the empire could be fixed. Leaderless it seemed and without direction under that Jewish adviser, Daniel. And his removal was but one of the ideas I would present to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, greatest of all living monarchs, may he live forever!

Insisting upon an audience with the king himself, such was the greatness of my thoughts and ideas in my estimation, I passed by a field where a man was chained. This man was as a beast to me, filthy with mud and dew, covered in the grass that he grazed upon. He grunted at me like an animal of the bush. Why did they keep such a specimen of insanity near the palace? A man approached me, surely the guide to the king I had demanded of the council, I thought.

"I see that you are one of the Hebrew servants. Guide me to the great king, as you value your life," I said with some pride.

"You have an audience with the king even now," the man said, "Tell him your ideas for the running of his empire."

"You're not the king," I exclaimed, "How dare you!"

"No, this man is King Nebuchadnezzar," the man said, indicating the beast chained to a tree stump. I was, needless to say, at a loss for what to do with my august ideas and plans.

"I am Daniel," the man said to me, "Let me tell you what led to the king's humiliation..."

And the rest of the story will be familiar to those of us who have boasted of our great ideas and plans without checking in with our Lord first.

Trust in the Lord and plan with Him!

Bucky

A Verse Of Everlasting Delight

For the LORD is God,
and he created the heavens and earth
and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the LORD,” he says,
“and there is no other.
  -- Isaiah 45:18 NLT

What a verse of wonder! Stupendous! A verse such as this one leaves one in awe. You need no explanation or education from me to enjoy this. Does it not make a person want to know the Lord our God more and more? And yet there are those who would read this and utterly reject it. Therefore, we pray for those who have not believed in the word of God. What an everlasting delight they deny to themselves.

Praise Him forever our Lord God the Almighty One!

Bucky

Unbelief Is Easy

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. Matthew 24:21

Have you noticed that as movies and shows become further removed from our experience in terms of spectacle, there remains the same amount of unbelief for God's prophecies? It is a cruel thing the world does by this. As the word was spoken by Jesus here in our verse for today, and then revealed by our Lord to John for recording as the Revelation, we have good reason to believe in its imminence. However, unbelief is so easy. The world's powers and principalities would have us believe that tomorrow will be much like today except that each of us will be a lot better off in some carnal way. Jesus tells the man in the parable to not build more barns but to get ready for his judgment day. 

Let us put our faith in Jesus, and by that to beware and be ready!

Bucky

Something Strange

But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother
In the day of his captivity;
Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Nor should you have spoken proudly
In the day of distress. Obadiah 1:12

A strange misfortune, or the Hebrew word neker, happened to Judah, and his brother nation of Edom had a day of rejoicing over it. Today we hear of schadenfreude, or having pleasure from the misfortune of another person. It is not exactly the loving of one another our Lord Jesus commanded. Imagine the Levite or that certain priest not only passing by the wounded man by the road but stopping to do a little dance of joy until that despised Samaritan came by to render aid. Often we wonder whether an action may be bad, or if our inaction is not doing enough, but it seems that we can do both and be doubly in the wrong too. 

So, to avoid something strange befalling us we can avoid sin, help one another, love our Lord God, and praise the name of Jesus. No more problems in this world, right? Well, it seems that Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation. At least those tribulations will not be from sinful actions or unloving inaction, but from bearing the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

Bear your witness! 

Bucky

Discerning Justice

For the LORD loves justice,
And does not forsake His saints;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
  -- Psalm 37:28

This morning I would like to present to you a set of Biblical guidelines for looking at allegations, court cases, and verdicts to discern justice and the truth of the matter. However, when it comes to those things where either side could be lying or either telling the truth, and I wasn't there and have no reason to disbelieve either of them... I just cannot. Especially when it comes to those national media cases with political tones and coloring to them, and both sides appear to have much to gain from a victory, I would like to be able to discern justice. Yet, even after a verdict has been reached by a jury or a judge, I'm not certain in case after case that justice has been given.

So, how about some Biblical comfort? Yes, I can bring out the comfort from David, king of Israel way back about 3,000 years ago. The Lord loves justice, David writes to us, and does not forsake His saints. From the letters of Paul, we know that the saints are those who believe and have been saved by the Savior, Jesus our Lord.

Trust in the Lord and His love of justice!

Bucky

Look To The Lord

Therefore I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.  Micah 7:7

The word therefore in the scriptures tells us to look at what the prophet wrote to us before this verse. And, therefore indeed are words that could describe our time and the news reports we can read daily. Jesus quoted those words and said that He had come to put them into action. We also wait for our Lord's return for He is our salvation from these evil times. At the end of the verse comes that promise that we hardly deserve: My God will hear me.

Therefore pray for salvation and be heard!

Bucky

Heavy Handed Scripture Hammer

He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. Mark 8:32

Rain came to us last night, praise the Lord! Have you ever quoted a scripture, or what you thought was a scripture, to someone and upon later review found your application to be a bit heavy? If so, then I am glad that I am not the only one. If a jeweler should grab a 5-lb sledge hammer in place of the tiny hammer usually applied, then destruction of a beautiful gem is the likely result. And it seems that at times we too might take up a sledge hammer of scripture when a loving pat would better serve us. The swing and the clank of it make us feel the power, but later reflection brings wisdom. The disciples made mistakes too! In our verse for today we see Peter, full of scriptural righteousness to his thinking, rebuking our Lord. We know from the story that Pete's heavy-handed scripture hammer was out of line and he received a good verbal knock in return. The scripture prophecies that Peter thought were in his now were in fact a 'not yet'.

So, gently and lovingly with the scripture, dear children, for it is powerful and sharp like a sword!

Bucky

The Day We Pray

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

If you have not seen the need for prayer in this nation, then you have not been paying attention. The news media delight in showing the worst events and crimes in our nation daily and for all to see. If that isn't enough for you, then social media can fill in the gaps with all manner of evil comments. Truly we can easily see lawlessness on the increase and the love of many growing cold, just as our Lord foretold on the Mount of Olives.

Paul brought to us an answer to a world of anxiety-inducing news, be anxious for nothing! The method of this answer, the apostle writes, is through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Now prayer is no good without directing it to someone who can make a difference, and Paul tells us this is God, the One we know through Jesus as our Father, Abba. What an undeserved and unmerited privilege for us! To come to the Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and talk to Him, even to make requests of Him, should be beyond our rank and station. Not so! Paul would say, bring your prayer to the Lord, our Abba in Heaven today and every day.

May the Lord our God revive our nation as we pray this day,

Bucky

Much Is Given

For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:48

Whoop, the pressure is on! For those of us given 60 years and more of life, much will be expected with those much given years. What happened to that bit about enduring to the end? Now I have to present a big resume of my good deeds or else? For those of us questioning whether we have done enough with the much we have been given:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Without Jesus, we can do nothing. So, in place of a focus on piling up the deeds, perhaps we should work on not being without our Lord? And I see that we are to abide in Him in order to bear this fruit.

The first quote from the scriptures is part of a verse and the second is an entire verse of about the same length. Does one outweigh the other? We can get into a game of batting quotes from the Bible back and forth trying to find the one that 'slams' the other person into submission. Or we can each one take up the Word of God and enter into prayer with Him to find out what to do and where to go as we walk with our Lord. As we can see from His words, lots of effort might impress our fellows, but if it is not connected to the True Vine we are accomplishing nothing.

Rejoice in your connection to Jesus!

Bucky

One Obedience

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. Genesis 22:18

It may seem like one little obedience story in the word of God, but through it came the Christ child who would bless all the nations. Just one little obedience so many years back that we can hardly believe it. Well, some refuse to believe it and some do not want to believe it, but there it was, one little obedience. Of course, we believe that it was one little disobedience way back in Eden that began the fall of mankind. Then we have this chain of obedience from Noah to Abraham to Moses to David all the way to the king's descendants, Mary and Joseph. Story after story in the word of God shows how a little obedience and God go a long way to bless us even today. So, what little obedience might you or I do today? Perhaps like Abraham, Noah, and all those others the obedience is not so little?  Small or requiring a lifetime commitment, let us go forth in obedience to God this day. 

And He shall never leave us nor forsake us in this!

Bucky