Wait On the Lord

Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!
  -- Psalm 27:14

David, the youth who found the king's army waiting in fear, because of that giant fellow, and acted in courage, would later write psalms of waiting on the Lord. As it was time for him to act in one circumstance, other circumstances taught David the value of waiting on the Lord. Wisdom comes from the Lord to teach us also when it is time to act and when to wait in prayer for the Lord.

Of course to the world around us, it will often look like acting quickly equals rash foolishness and waiting in prayer appears to be doing nothing. And the voice of temptation will be there to help us know how the world sees us in those times too. This is why we need the strengthening of the heart only our Lord can provide!

Have a blessed day in Christ Jesus,

Bucky

New Speech, Please!

He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
  -- 1 Peter 3:10

The verse today looks like a psalm, and it is as Peter wrote from Psalm 34 in his letter. And it still addresses issues we have today. So a psalm of David from about 1,000 years before Jesus, came to a letter from Peter written about 2,000 years before our time, and still we struggle with those two lips and one tongue.

May God grant us mercy, and clean, loving, and encouraging speech.

Bucky

An Unlikely Gospel

As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.  Mark 2:14

Each of us may recall back in those days of our youth when we were caught in that hard place where experience came from jobs, but jobs were closed to us by that same lack of experience. Many of the jobs we ended up taking we would have easily given up to follow a traveling rabbi, if we had  such a thing in our time. However, let's say we each had a job that paid really well, as in destined for great wealth kind of well paid, and there was personal security in that job from the governing authority, and performing well in that job directly benefited our savings accounts. Sounds too good to be true! The tax collectors in Levi's (Matthew's) time had it that way, and they liked their jobs. Their only problem was that their nation and people hated them for doing those jobs. No doubt counting their money in the evening helped them get over their most-hated status. What could be more unlikely then for a travelling rabbi with no money to call one of the most hated men of Galilee to follow him and give up that lucrative job? I guess it would be for the tax collector to drop everything and take off following that same rabbi! And so from a couple of highly unlikely choices, we have the wonders of the Gospel of Matthew. 

Praise Jesus for choosing the unlikely ones,

Bucky

A Prayer For Jesus

Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name's sake!
  --  Psalm 79:9 

Centuries before the Christ came to Bethlehem, Asaph wrote a psalm praying that the Savior would come and deliver them. This prayer for Jesus asked God for just what His Son did for us as told in the gospels. What an awesome answer to this prayer God gave to us in His Son Jesus!

Bucky

Servant He Is

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. John 13:13

After one of His great examples of serving by doing, Jesus sat down with His disciples having washed their feet like the lowest household slave. And then He acknowledges titles of honor the disciples had used for Jesus the Christ. Rabbi or teacher of us the students and learners, and master or lord, as in we belong to You. It was a strange thing the disciples witnessed: the teacher and master had just taken up the lowest slave position and done the dirtiest job available. And in the next verse, Jesus told them to do the same. Even today we are encouraged to strive for the highest position in the corporation or government. And at some point in life, most of us join in that game with enthusiasm. Imagine achieving that high position of CEO, president, or king, and then going out back to do the lowest and dirtiest job. The disciples were freaked out a bit, I'm sure, just as we would be.

So, are we okay as servants yet?

Bucky

Fearless All Day

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
  -- Psalm 91:5,6 

Night, day, darkness, and noonday, we have the day covered in these two verses. Terror, arrow, pestilence, and destruction covers all our fears as well. But it's that promise from the start that gives the assurance needed to be fearless through every day. "You shall not be afraid..." Of course I seem to be still working on that. Nope, cannot claim to have stood fearless all day of pretty much any day yet. Call it anxiety, PTSD, nervousness, trepidation, or any other term, it remains and has always been plain ol' fear. Even worry has its basis in fear. Worried about that? Then you might be afraid God won't. Worried about this? Then you may be afraid God will. Worried the world will soon be blown up? Then maybe you're afraid God ain't. Read Psalm 91 sometime this weekend and see that God is, and that God loves, and rejoice!

Yours in Christ,

Bucky

No Other Burden

Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. Revelation 2:24

Thyatira had some sin problems, including sexual immorality, but there were those in the church who did not fall into this sort of thing. And the Lord Jesus remembered them too as He promised to put no other burden on them. Is that even possible? We might ask because we gain this impression from certain preachers in our past or present that this life but one burden after another piled on us until we drop. Whatever problem that preacher had, or whatever misunderstanding we jumped into from their teaching, we should not have gained that from the Son of Man who said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)

From the story of the church at Thyatira, we understand that it is sin that burdens us, along with the chastening that must take place for that sin. Avoid the sin, and no further burdens will be put on.

Happy Juneteenth! Rejoice in Christ our Lord for the freeing of slaves to sin.

Bucky

Emergency Verses, Quiet Reflection

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
  -- Psalm 91:1

Sometimes the unexpected pounces upon us with tribulations we might rather not face on a particular day. In the Bible we have what have been called emergency verses for those sudden tough times. And one of the easier to recall is the reference for today's verse, 911, or Psalm 91:1. However, these verses are also quite suitable for a calm time of Bible reflection and study. Dwelling is a place where we live, but in this verse if we dwell in one special place, we get to abide in another. It may seem that to dwell in the secret place of God, the Most High, would be Heaven, but that is not secret. The secret place we all have is in our heart or mind, where even repressive governments cannot see what is going on in those thoughts. Much of the time they wouldn't want to, but that's a story for another day. When the seeker comes to believe in Jesus, the door opens to the Holy Spirit and we dwell from then on in the secret place of the Most High. Which grants to us an abiding under the protecting shadow of the Almighty. This is not to say that tribulations will not come, as our Lord Jesus has said, but now we do not face them alone. 

Have a heart safe day under the shadow of the Almighty!

Bucky

Working A Change

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  James 2:5

Last night I looked out a window after midnight, as I often do to see what is going on, and I saw something out of the ordinary. For a moment or two, my mind didn't want to believe what my eyes clearly saw. A branch had fallen onto my truck bed. That's what made the ordinary look odd. What does that have to do with a Bible-based message, you might ask? So glad you asked! 

When Jesus began his ministry, the disciples he chose, the people he preached to, and even his brothers looked and saw, but failed to comprehend all that he taught them. Here in our verse for today we see James presenting two faith arguments in the second chapter of his letter to the twelve tribes scattered throughout the world. This would not have happened in those early days when those known as James did not believe a brother, wanted to bring the thunder down on some scoffers, or simply did not understand the new covenant. Someone worked a change on James and he became as he says, "A bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

That is some change!

Bucky

Shining Light

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  John 1:4-5

So many thoughts this morning. That comes from looking into the darkness, I suppose. Looking at the life that was the light of men seems simpler, calmer, and a way to peace. The Son of God who lived that life shines through the darkness so well in such a time as this. How much greater did His light shine on that day His tomb was found empty? 

Shine on, dear Jesus, shine in me!

Bucky

Already Done It

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28

For those sitting in the grass listening to this great sermon, thinking, "I have not touched, therefore it was just harmless fantasy." Jesus brought them up short by letting them know their guilt just by thinking of the sin. We have been brought up in a time when our thoughts and even our speech are protected freedoms. Hmm, so if I pass a law for myself that I can think of anything I want, then I'm good! Utter nonsense, that is simply restating what Adam and Eve did when taking from the forbidden tree. The government may not prosecute a person for thinking sinful thoughts, but challenging the judgement of God would not be a way to eternal life. So, how can I stop those thoughts? Prayer for a clean heart, and perhaps most immediately, quit feeding the beast!

Praise God, who can cleanse us from the lust in the heart!

Bucky

Whatever He Says

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:5

Mom knows. Without the rest of the story, we are left with a number of guesses as to what our verse for today tells us. From our Bible studies though, we know that this is Mother Mary telling the servants to do whatever Jesus says to do at the wedding in Cana where Jesus would soon perform His first miracle. It is a simple instruction to servants. And as we from other teachings of our Lord Jesus want to become servants, it seems that simple instructions are good for us as well. "Whatever He says to you, do it." And that is where the battle with our first birth begins as our sinful flesh immediately rebels, gripes, grumbles, and complains against following our Lord's simple instructions.

Praise God that Jesus His Son can overcome us too!

Bucky

He Sees You

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” Revelation 1:10-11

A penal island out in the Mediterranean Sea. And the Lord tells John to write what he sees in a book. Water will figure into this writing, we might expect. But no, the Lord Jesus is about to show John many things. So, 'write what you see' becomes much more than a description in words of a Roman penal island and the sea around it. In the first part of the Revelation, John sees many things about these seven churches that he could not see from the shores of Patmos. As the book or scroll reaches the churches, each church receives a specific message showing what they have been up to, some of it quite personal and perhaps surprising to many in that church. John sat on a rock in the briny deep, but Someone saw the churches and how they chose to behave.

This revelation is why we who believe continue to repent of our evil deeds and thoughts, while we also have the assurance that no good deed or thought is missed by our ever watchful Lord and God. Therefore, how do we want to behave today?

Love and joy to you in Christ the Lord!

Bucky

Who Is Worthy?

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.  Revelation 5:1-3

John, the disciple beloved of Jesus, sees a scroll, and a question is presented to everyone, everywhere. The simple part of the question trips up all of us: Who is worthy? In Heaven, Michael and Gabriel do not step forward. Under the earth none of the proud ones say anything. On the earth, not one of the kings or emperors has anything to say. What happened to those bearing that recent appellation of 'self-made'? Should not at least one of them be worthy to open that scroll? And yet even the strong angel who issues the question does not try to touch that scroll. 

As John turns to weeping, one is found worthy to open the scroll. And it is a lamb who was slain? 

Praise God for the Lamb who was slain!

Bucky

What Was Inside

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

Jerusalem, Passover, disciples ready to rock the new kingdom, but Jesus knew me. The time may have been a thousand and nine hundred or so years before my birth, but I would have fit right in with those in whom our Lord would not commit. It seems that even as I have believed in Jesus for longer with each passing day, the time is used to turn over rocks in my heart and show me the sin. This is not to say that change for the better has not taken place, but about the time I feel a bit of pride in myself, flip, then there's that hidden sin revealed.

Then faith has a word for me: forgiven! Praise the Lord Jesus!

Bucky

I don't usually key off another message, but this one from my sister may help us to understand the feeling.

https://www.facebook.com/kerri.nohr/posts/pfbid0362HmsAxhh5k4KpEcWAYtqLyuQBRbcFMxuqiWeY1Wr2uRCk6289UQamgEfLXrwwQEl

One Day He Made A Whip

When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. John 2:15

Part of the temple of the Lord had become a livestock market complete with money changers. History and experience may tell us that some money taking was going on at the same time, over and above an honest profit on the sales. However, the text in John 2 simply states that these things were there. Our verse for today tells of Jesus making a whip of cords, but does not say that our Lord Jesus struck anyone with it. The whip certainly got the sheep and oxen moving though. He poured out the money and overturned tables, which sounds rather violent for this gentle teacher from Nazareth. A place of worship of His Father had become a place of merchandising, and it angered our Lord and Savior.

There may be a time or place for anger in our age as well, but prayer first!

Bucky

Reminded

Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. John 2:22

At the time Jesus had said He would rebuild this temple in three days, the disciples no more believed Him than the Pharisees did. That just cannot be, we want to say. And yet here John admits years later that they needed a crucifixion, a resurrection, several appearances from Him, and finally a reminder in the outpouring of the Spirit of God before finally believing the word which Jesus had said. John only wrote of the resurrection in this verse, but with Jesus it all comes together like a package of heavenly blessings.

And by His Holy Spirit we are reminded (John 14:26).

Bucky