The Word Was There

By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Hebrews 11:7

In yesterday's message we saw how the number of instances of the word faith pointed to its importance in the New Testament. Included among those are the stories in Hebrews 11, such as the one about Noah we read today. That faith as a word did not occur many times in the Old Testament does not mean that active faith was not there. What Hebrews 11 points out to us is that while no one may have said, "faith" at a particular time, they showed faith in the Lord God by believing what He said and acting on it.

The word was there, and so was the Word!

Bucky

Living Faith

Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
  -- Habakkuk 2:4

Woohoo! My first accomplishment of note for today, I spelled Habakkuk's name correctly on the first try. A search on the word 'faith' in the NKJV of the Bible produces an interesting story in itself. Moses laments in his song that the children of Israel were perverse and had no faith. Then we see the prophet (So I don't have to spell it again!) telling us of living faith. And we read the verse and don't want to be proud, since who wants to have their soul not upright in them, but wonder how to become just. In the New Testament, Jesus brings the faith in an interesting dance of contrast between His disciples with their little faith and people popping up out of seemingly nowhere with great faith, faith that has made them well, such great faith, and more. Not to worry for the disciples though, after His death on the cross and the resurrection, faith abounds in Luke's record of the Acts of the Apostles. How important does faith become? Two times it occurs in the Old Testament, 243 times used in the New Testament. And Paul comes to that just conclusion we are looking for:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1

Have faith, and live it in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Who Can This Be?

So they watched him closely, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. Mark 3:2

All those pronouns, who can this be? We can glean a few clues without much effort. He has the ability to heal people, but is it only on one day each week? He also has enemies or competitors who want to accuse him, and they are monitoring him. With the citation of the book and verse, we can learn easily that this is Jesus being watched, and that the watchers are the Pharisees using a cloak of legality hoping to turn good works of healing into crimes. Strangely, if just one of them remembered the law of neighborly love (Leviticus 19:18), would he have wanted the suffering man to suffer one more minute, much less to suffer until the next day? Of course we know from further study that these Pharisees cared not a bit about the man's withered hand, but wanted only to destroy Jesus.

If we had nothing more to go on than these first six verses of Mark 3, we could still see that something was quite rotten in the Pharisees, and that Jesus had a wonderful healing ministry. Who can this be?

Bucky

Resting Quietly

So they answered the Angel of the LORD, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.”  Zechariah 1:11

A report comes back from the field, all quietly resting. We would call that unusual from our experience thus far in life. There always seems to be someone enduring war around the world. Centuries from this verse we read today, our new presidential administration seems to be trying to bring the wars to a rest. Will that be a successful effort? Too early to tell, but perhaps these horsemen from Zechariah will be able to do another report like this one. However, this report came after 70 years of the Lord's anger at Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The angel asked the Lord how long His mercy might last against that anger. We might well ask the same question of our Lord, as if the judgement of the Lord as read in the Revelation of Jesus were only held back by the great dam of His mercy. 

As with any dam failure, it may be a long time coming but it happens suddenly at the end. Maybe our prayers will help to shore up the dam of our Lord's mercy. It cannot hurt to try. 

Pray for mercy, saints of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

God Will Know

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21

The rich man went home to consider for a bit, and decided to throw the big sale Jesus had told him to do. He inventoried, cataloged, priced, and hauled his goods to the auctioneer's warehouse, but then he saw that he would need part of the proceeds to repair a part of his house. He also found out that pricing goods for an auction was a waste of time, since that ain't how it works. But, there was no problem until he titled the sale, The Treasure in Heaven Sale in the advertising. Of course, people knew the story from the Bible and assumed that all proceeds would go to the poor. When the auctioneer warned the man that keeping back part of the proceeds for another purpose might cause some hard feelings, he was able to internalize and rationalize and come up with a way to justify it to himself. And the sale proceeded under that not so truthful advertising.

You will recognize a variation of the sin part of the story of Ananias and Sapphira from the Book of Acts. If you have some church in your past, you will also know how that story ends for the less than forthright couple. If not, then I'll spoil it for you, Ananias and Sapphira get buried at the end. Of course we have learned that if we are going to sell to lay up treasure in heaven, then we do it, give it, and keep quiet about it; God will know that we did it, and that is all we need.

Thank you for enduring my little story today!

Bucky

A Simple Question Of Misunderstanding

Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” John 2:20

It seemed to the Jews in our verse today that Jesus had said something so far out there that they could not help but point out the obvious error in his statement. They tendered to our Lord a simple question of misunderstanding. However, we can see that this question shows just how far from understanding who had come to the temple that day these Jews were. By their question, they try to show how right they were and how wrong the Son of God was. Well when you say it that way... They did not believe in Jesus, therefore they could not understand who stood in the temple with them.

Jesus stands behind a wall of misunderstanding, holding out His mighty hand through a little hole in that wall and hoping someone will take hold of it by faith. The ignorance of the world tells us we cannot fit through that hole, but faith tells us that Jesus will take care of any barrier, no matter how strong it may lo0k from the wrong side.

Bucky

Manifesting By His Word

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” John 14:22

With Judas being another common name at the time, John makes it a point to give us a 'not that one' when identifying this disciple. After the betrayal of our Lord, I'm sure this Judas appreciated that very much. However, it is the question we want to concern ourselves with this morning from our verse.

In one sense of the word, Jesus had manifested Himself to everyone who had eyes to see Him. But by the prophecy of Isaiah 53, Jesus did not appear to be God, or even a god to the eyes of the world. To perceive the manifestation of God, Jesus gives the key in His response: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." This is why we study the Bible with steadfast perseverance! The Bible is His word recorded for us and kept through the ages to read and study. To keep it means that we do not bury it in the backyard in a waterproof box, but we read, study, pray, and apply it to life and living.

Keep His word!

Bucky

The Translocation Temptation

So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
  -- Psalm 55:6

David felt it too, that temptation to relocate himself from the place of his problems to a place he imagines to be free from them. We have seen it in stories and movies, and we will feel it this week in the cold places thanks to the polar vortex thingy. If I/we just get somewhere other than here, then things will be all better. You may notice a certain similarity to our desire to be done with this place and in heaven with Jesus. However until His time comes for that reunion, we must learn to be content here, right where we are, and in Jesus, our Lord and Savior. We also have a mission to spread the good news of our Lord. We have place and we have purpose, let's forget that temptation to just fly away from it all. David concludes verse 22 in that fashion with:

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Bucky

Sustained By The Lord

Cast your burden on the LORD,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
  -- Psalm 55:22

Times of trouble, tribulation, and terror will come. David in this great psalm expresses several things in his complaint that would each be enough for us to cry out to the Lord. In verses 4 and 5, David's heart is severely pained within him, the terrors of death have fallen upon him, plus fearfulness and trembling and horror too! One thing we can often take away from David's anxiety psalms is a sense of maybe I don't have it so bad as I think. Of course we can also read how one of God's anointed kings had exactly what we feel at times.

As David continues through his psalm, we read of a desire to fly away from it all, and to wander the wilderness away from the problems the world has heaped upon him. Then he goes to anger and prays for the Lord's destruction to come upon the enemies. In the midst of this David presents a promise that we can use: "As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me." and our verse for today. Burdens of troubles will come upon us all in seasons, yes, often when the weather is flirting with extremes. I mean, why shouldn't the world's weather give us a good kick when we are crushed under other burdens?

The answer is always to come to the Lord; where we can say, "I am sustained by the Lord!"

Bucky

When There Is Slippage

But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.  Revelation 2:14

No one would pay attention to a teacher who was obviously corrupt. Er, unless one wanted to learn corruption that is. What we have today in our verse is a moral slippage in Pergamos, known to us as the compromising church. The church there did not start out corrupt, and the change likely was not obvious. They quite likely slipped down through some layers until they were teaching corrupt doctrine. When the Lord brings up Balaam, we know that money is part of this slippage, and He further mentions idolatry and sexual immorality. 

It happens in our day as well. You probably don't have to think hard to recall a church scandal in the news. Whatever sin ended up making the headline, it began with moral slippage, probably in several areas. In the old days they called it backsliding, but it comes to the same thing, a compromise with the moral laws from way back in the Old Testament. 

So, watch out! 

Bucky

Bubba's Back!

Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.  Acts 2:23-24

A few years ago, Bubba passed peacefully in his sleep at home. Bubba's relatives held a nice funeral and said farewell to the dearly departed. Then last month Bubba sent us all an invitation to connect on social media, and then a friend request! Bubba's back! 

For all the advances we can claim in this world, our most persistent 'resurrection' comes to us by way of the Internet. Profiles of the dearly departed reach out to us to reconnect and be friends. Email messages invite us to purchase things from the dead. And maybe we could let Bubba rest in peace but for those videos that website algorithm wants us to watch. 

Long before the Internet or social media, Peter preached of a man who did not remain in his tomb. He and many others testified of this resurrection through all manner of persecution. Their words were written down and published, and that testimony endured through all manner of attempts to destroy it. Today, you and I are heirs of this faith, and we testify of the risen Lord Jesus we believe in. 

Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

Waiting On The Shepherd

But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. John 2:24-25

Oof, this sounds just like Jesus saw us. We are born hiding from our God in shame, just like Adam and Eve after they ate of the forbidden tree. What, you don't recall any shame before the Spirit of God began to convict you in church that time? Well yes, like these people here, we are ignorant of our fallen condition. Most of us probably thought ourselves good and decent people at one time. Perhaps we even thanked God that we were not like those other folk, the tax collectors and sinners. Until we first came to realize our lost-ness, is it any wonder that Jesus did not commit Himself to us? But once the sheep knew itself as lost... then the Good Shepherd rushed to save the little sheep.

With joy we wait on the return of our Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God!

Bucky

Go Fish

But, so we won't offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you'll find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and you. Matthew 17:27

We have many serious messages for these serious times from the Bible, but once in a while it is nice to have a story that is maybe not so serious. Jesus sends Simon fishing to get a coin to pay the temple tax for both of them. And by the use of a fishhook, Jesus only wants Simon to get the one fish, not a bunch of fish in a net. Jesus had also just explained to Simon that the Son was free from taxes. We also know that someone in the group of disciples kept the purse for their needs. We could try to list all that Jesus had to know about the fish, coin, hook, time, place, Simon, and other things to bring this all together, but we don't have all day. At this time, Jesus didn't want to offend the temple tax collectors in Capernaum. So He sent Simon to go fish, for just one fish, that was cruising the Sea of Galilee with the correct coin for two temple taxes in its mouth. I'm sorry, perhaps I'm just an odd sort of oddball, but this story always makes me laugh.

Have a peaceful and loving weekend in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Believe Also In Him

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1

Troubling things in your life? I don't even have to ask, we all have things we can be troubled over. However, we have this command from Jesus, "Let not your heart be troubled." That is not a suggestion or open to interpretation, but a command. So how do we obey this command in a world where anxiety, dread, worry, and fear are heaped upon us every moment? Jesus gives that to us next, "believe also in Me," a command to give us strength for His first command in this verse.

The disciples hearing this had grown up believing in God from their earliest childhood. Jesus here shows them that He is equal to God and that He is God. We know this because Jesus had also told them that no one could serve two masters. Jesus here was not offering another master to them, but letting them know that God stood before them as the Son of Man.

Believe also in Jesus.

Bucky

Two Powers

Now see that I, even I, am He,
And there is no God besides Me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
  -- Deuteronomy 32:39

Usually I search the Blue Letter Bible website for a verse of the day, but this one caught me when I saw their verse of the day. I note with some sadness that in trying to usurp God's place with their disobedient eating from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve gained a couple of powers in this verse - killing and wounding. However, it was brought to their fallen hearts when Cain killed Abel that they lacked that next important power of God, making their child alive again. 

To live again is the great dream of those facing death, but only God can make us live again. But do not despair! That He will do it was shown when Jesus rose again from death and the grave. What great and difficult task must we accomplish to gain that life? Oh, just believe in Jesus, the Son of God. (John 3:16)

Bucky

Yes, You May

But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Mark 14:28

At times I will, with some amusement, read of a will or stated wish that there be no funeral after a person passes. As if that person has some say in the matter after they are gone. (Usually they do, but only because the next of kin are too polite to refuse.) After Jesus calls me home, yes, you may have a funeral or not, throw a wake, toss rocks at my coffin, or whatever you may need to mourn. Bury my rotting corpse upside down if you want; Jesus and I will laugh with you from Heaven. Speaking of Jesus, how do you plan a funeral when He speaks our verse for today? "Okay, folks, we have a short time to hold this funeral, after that He said we will have to catch up to Him in Galilee!" Chasing down the former corpse probably put a damper on their funeral plans.

He has risen, forget the mourning!

Bucky