Returned to the scripture this week as we continue our journey. Addressing specifically the New Testament writings this week. We have what I call an example of God Speak. Now I stand to be corrected on this, but it’s pretty rare in the Bible, where we just see an ordinary conversation between Jesus the disciples are any of his followers. It is a biblical truth that Jesus was in fact God Incarnate among us. Through all of Jesus’s teachings and sermons he was able to paint a visual picture that people could understand, he used every day examples of places, and people in things to help those he spoke with and taught to understand.

The epistle to the Ephesians is traditionally believed to have been written by Paul around AD 62 during his imprisonment in Rome. This letter was addressed to the church in Ephesus and is recognized as one of the Pauline epistles. Early Christian writings also support this authorship. Today we will go beyond the words…the words full armor of God comes from our scripture for today. Ephesians 6:13–17… 

“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand, stand firm, then with the belt of truth around your waist, with the breast plate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take out the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”

Here in these verses, we see one of the things that are prevalent in a lot of biblical writings. Here we see some very common items that the people of that day would be very, very familiar with used to paint a picture that would be understood. Join us in the Pew and let’s go beyond the words.

Putting on the armor of God, described in the Ephesians 6:10–17, is a spiritual practice of adopting Christ like virtues for spiritual protection, involving the belt of truth, a breast plate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and word of the spirit through daily prayer, Scripture study, and righteous living to stand against spiritual challenges. It’s about equipping yourself with God’s strength, not human effort, to prepare us for spiritual warfare. Let’s break these words down.

First, we’ll look at the pieces of armor:

Here we will find the belt of truth, living in God’s truth and reality. Next would be the breastplate of righteousness, guarding your heart with Christ righteousness. And then we’ll put on the shoes of gospel peace, being ready to share the good news. We carry that good news with a shield of faith, trusting God to quench spiritual attacks. Our helmet of salvation will help us to remember God’s saving power. And the last the sword of the spirit, would be the use of God’s word, the Bible. 

Our next step would be to try and understand how to put it on and when to wear it. Well, there are six things that we need to remember as far as putting it on so to speak. We need to pray daily, asking God to help us as we put on each piece. We must study scripture, to internalize God’s word as our sword and truth. Of course, living righteously is nothing more than striving for a right standing with God, understanding his will in our life and carrying it out. In order to share the gospel, we have to learn how to walk in peace. One of our often overlooked points is we need to stand in the faith and rely on God, not our self for the strength that will be needed to do God’s work. And as we go through all this, we must remember salvation. We must keep in mind Jesus’s promise and his saving work. So now we come down to when to wear it. Well, it’s a daily spiritual discipline, often recommended to put on in the morning and evening to prepare for the days spiritual battles.

Life is Good

jk

To keep everything real and up-to-date, there’s nobody on the back porch. What little bit of pondering we could do was done on the phone with each other occasionally. I’m going to step in and give you my ponder for this day. It’s a Ponder that really and truly would require a follow up. We’re not talking politics here, although I’m sure they could certainly be inserted into some arguments but since we don’t argue here we just ponder we’re not gonna get into politics. But what we are going to get into and as nicely as we can… who are these people, where do they come from, and where did all this hate come from? This Ponder  requires one thing. To make this ponder today worth the time is to understand that the question has to be answered. Our nation is in some very serious trouble and I don’t have any numbers to support what I’m writing to you today. At what point in our nations history has it become fashionable to regard the rights of those who murder, rape, steal, deal in drugs, disrespect the religious beliefs of others and the diversity that exist in this country, and in general? I guess simply we could say make life miserable for everybody else. Who are these people that offer up their children for medical experiments in order to satisfy an agenda of some very very sick people. One of the things that comes to mind about this particular segment of our society is it loves to bring up Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and what they did. No one that I know of in law enforcement or government really have ever made that a point of operation. So here’s something else you can Ponder. During the period of the Nazi party and government in Germany, genetic experiments were quite common. So you explained to me what’s the difference between telling a boy or a girl that they are not what they believed they were. Who are these people that are advocating using drugs, surgeries, and support groups to fit their agendas.

The point of all this leads to this…God’s word says we should…

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV). Philippians 4:8.  

SO PONDER THIS… The way we are going these days means if we follow the word, there is not much left to Ponder or Think about.

Kurt

I happen to be one of those people who believe life just happens. Now I’m not so naïve as to not understand there are places within the Bible where God did place some challenges in the path of individuals. But I believe overall life just happens, by that I mean, I don’t believe that when I got up this morning, God planed for me to have a bad day. So I’ll say it again, life happens, and God gives us the tools to deal with those things in our life and we tend to use the term faith, today I’m going to enlarge that thought and ask you to kind of picture it as a big toolbox that God has provided for us. So what we’re going to look at are essentially the primary and essential tools within the Christian faith, and those are practices and resources that will foster spiritual growth. Now here are some and not necessarily in order, but these are the tools you’ll find in that box. Prayer, scripture study, reading, fellowship, worship, fasting, meditation, generosity, and living a life of service. Quite a list, but it’s designed to build a stronger connection with God and and provide the foundation we need to be strong in the faith. These things can differ by person, group, denomination, however you want to put it, but the core functions remain very much similar, they are guidance, strength, community, and spiritual discipline. 

This week, let’s take the time to look a little closer at these particular tools. First, we’ll look at prayer. I have always considered prayer to be simply put a conversation with God, making known our needs and the needs of others. It Is communicating with God for guidance, strength, and connection. The next one is is my favorite. Scripture reading and understanding the Bible, it’s kind of like God’s manual or maybe even a GPS that keeps us on track through our devotionals, deep study and memorization. I’ve also in the past referred to it as Jiminy Cricket sitting on my shoulder. Now the next one I could probably make a complete blog out of this one, but I’d have to use a different term. Our lesson today simply says fellowship and describes that gathering with other believers for mutual encouragement, learning and support is important… That’s a nice way of telling someone… go to church, don’t believe that God intended for man or woman to be alone. Fasting which has been a part of the church for a long time is possibly misunderstood a great deal. Fasting is actually a spiritual discipline that is often combined with prayer to sharpen focus and open heart. Meditation, is best understood as a time when we put all things out of our mind and begin to deeply reflect on God’s word and presence in our lives. Then we come to a Christian practice of great service to both the faith and the church. That of service and generosity, living out our faith, practically by helping others and reflecting on God’s love in action. Food banks,  community shelters, and various service projects that the faithful engage in designed simply to help others in need. There are some other tools and concepts that will aid us greatly. We can look to the Holy Spirit for divine guidance and source of strength and to point us in the correct direction. And of course there’s always  sacraments and rituals practices like Mass, Baptism, or Communion, these do differ as to traditions and denominations. A very simple term sometimes overused is Christian living. Living a moral life and developing virtues, like wisdom, understanding and remaining humble. Most churches and spiritual organizations will always have discipleship resources that you can obtain, many free that will help you find your way to keep the faith.

These tools will work together as a spiritual tool kit, helping believers grow closer to God…The Pew in these past few weeks has come to refer to it as The Good Way.

Life is Good

jk

Pew Special… Peter addresses Suffering

Jesus never hid from his disciples the truth, that they would suffer by following him. When we read first Peter 4: 12- 19, we see that lesson has traveled along through the apostles down through various disciples. Christianity is not an easy road to travel. Let’s look at first Peter 4:12–19. We see the continuation of that teaching that Christians are not to be surprised by suffering, but to see it as a test that purifies their faith for sharing in Christ’s suffering that brings blessing and anticipation of future glory, and an opportunities to commit their souls to God while continuing to do good, glorifying him rather than suffering as a criminal. Here we learn that suffering is not a curse, but a normal part of following Jesus.we learned that the spirit empowers believers to endure. It helps us to understand that our present trials are temporary compared to eternal glory. In our research of these versus, we discovered a number of key themes, and we want to share those with you today. We are told in verse 12 not to be surprised by fiery trials. The definition of that is intense, testing and prosecution and hardship. All of these things are to be expected. But they have a purpose.  We are blessed when persecuted for Christ,  we find that in verse 14, being insulted and mocked for the name of Christ is a blessing. The simplest way to explain this in my experience would be to simply say that the spirit of glory and God rest upon those who suffer for Christ, I simply explain it as a God thing. It is far better that we do not suffer as a murderer, thief or meddler. When we suffer for Jesus when we suffer as Christians, we are bringing glory to God. When we get t0 verse 17, there’s a message for all Christians that we need to make note of. And that is that God’s judgment starts with his people, purifying them, but it’s gonna be far harsher or for the unbeliever. We who call ourselves Christians need to commit our ourselves to a faithful creator. And the last thing listed in the research that I did was doing good. Continue to do good to trust God to sustain you. When we look back over this passage, we see that it’s a call to radical endurance, teaching Christians to see suffering as a normal, purifying and glorious part of their faith journey, a taste of Christ’s own path and a strong reason to trust God completely as they wait for his returning glory. The path we as Christians follow is not an easy one. In a Layman’s term, Jesus made no bones about what these disciples would go through and he told them directly that they would suffer. So those of us who call ourselves Christian and try to live best we can, make no mistake about it. We are a light to the world…Keep The Faith…

Life is Good 

jk

The pew for the past few weeks has been focusing on finding the good way and it has been there before us for over 2000 years. There is a phrase that I know all Christians are familiar with… “And the light was among us”. As a biblical phrase and turning  to the gospel of John, who was writing simply that Jesus Christ’s arrival among us was the divine life giving light of the world. Christ was made human dwelling among his people offering truth, grace, and salvation against spiritual darkness, there is something that many of us don’t really think about, but Jesus reinforced that very thought by calling his followers, the “light of the world”. First, let’s take a moment to look at it from the biblical context. It’s time now for us here in the Pew to take a few moments and go to scripture. The following scriptures are all from the NIV edition.

John 1:14 “the word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father, full of grace and truth”.

John 1:4 “in him was life, and that life was a light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”.

John 3:19 “this is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”.

Now we will turn to Matthew 5:14… “Jesus tells his followers “You are the light of the world”, urging them to let their light shine.

Now let’s take a moment for a little bit deeper understanding of the meaning…when we speak of incarnation, the phrase points to the Jesus of divine “word” and as usual, the truth passes all human understanding. Jesus became a physical person, truly present and accessible, the scripture says he dwelt among us. There is also the case of Revelation, Jesus brings divine truth and moral purity into a world that is shadowed by sin, revealing the way to God through God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. It is simply put, hope and salvation, this light offers life, hope, and the power to overcome darkness, providing a path to become the children of God which is what we are seeking, what we have been looking for… The Good Way.

 Having made such a bold statement, how is it that we prepare to continue our good journey now that we found the way? What do we need to take with us on this journey? I will challenge you to spend this next week, praying and seeking divine guidance as we discover the tools that our  faith makes available for us. God Bless.

Life Is Good

jk

Well, I have started this three different times and I think my computer is kinda messed up or something’s going on and I am having a difficult time sharing this with you. As you know here on the back porch, we like to ponder on different things never really having a solution to anything that’s going on. We have opinions and we love to ponder those opinions among ourselves. And right away tonight  it was suggested that maybe we needed to ponder on ice a little bit. Well, it didn’t take long for us given the news going around right now to understand that we were not referring to the ice in your refrigerator, but the ice on the ground in our country, and not that generated by weather. The first thing that we have to ask, ask ourselves is what is the meaning of ice when capitalized. Well the thing that comes to our mind right off is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But then we need to add two other descriptive terms to that the first one being, US and the next being Agency. Now, admittedly, we’re having some fun with this, when it’s all put together, it works out to the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Now I suppose that it would be proper to explain a little bit about what this is since so many people seem to be opposed to it. United States immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is a federal law-enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The  mission is to conduct criminal investigations, enforce immigration laws, preserve national security and protect public safety. It was founded in March 2003 and it’s jurisdiction is the United States. It’s headquarters are in Washington DC. To my way of thinking and many of us here on the porch tonight it has become the Rodney Dangerfield of law-enforcement or government agencies. It definitely gets no respect. So our ponder tonight is really very simple. Do you want to live like the people in Portland, Oregon, or Minneapolis, Minnesota? What kind of people could possibly find any value in this type of disrespect and activity? Let’s make this very simple, the ponder tonight is what will you do if this type of thinking comes to your community? Ponder That…

As we travel along a Good Way, it’s important that we realize that there was a time before the Good Way. There is always the tendency within the church today, not all churches, but some to spend little time in the Old Testament. Those of us, here  in the Pew tend to look at it in this manner, kind of a love and marriage and baby carriage thing, the Old and the New go together. Knowledge of each strengthens the other. We can actually go back into the past as far as Genesis up to Exodus, this particular journey would help us to understand the present situation. From the book of Genesis after Joseph’s death, the Israelites remained in Egypt for a period leading up to the Exodus, which biblical tests suggest either a 210 year journey in Egypt as part of a larger 430 year period with some scholars suggesting around 150 to 200 years between Joseph’s passing and Moses’s birth though precise numbers vary. It is important that we understand where those who proceeded us have traveled, this is one of those warning from past ways things. That’s why today we’re going to take  a little time to look at the book of Leviticus. After this exodus took place Leviticus served as a Jewish people’s rulebook for holiness it detailed how sinful humanity can live in the presence of a holy God. Remember, there had been instances, God never abandoned his people they turned away from him during their wanderings. The book of Leviticus simply focuses on priesthood sacrifices, purity laws, and ethical contact to maintain their covenant relationship, establishing them as a kingdom of priests through rituals and commands for holy living. It is basically a foundational guide for worship, atonement, and sanctification, education, bringing the gap between God’s dwelling in the tabernacle and Israel’s imperfect state. It is interesting to note that it is traditionally the first book that Jewish children studied.

It is important that we recognize those things that are important to the core relationship that we have with God. If we were to break it down simply with some learning points, they would be as follows. The book of Leviticus provides us with a guide to holiness, covenant maintenance. Let us include just a quick note that covenants that God made with individuals as well as nations, some came with restraints and some with no restraints. So covenant maintenance in this sense provides laws and rituals to repair a broken covenant and maintain a pure relationship with God. Addressing this scene of impurity is a purity code, there are details of sacrifices and responsibilities of the priesthood. There is a reminder about holiness…be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, I am holy. Then we have atonement which explains how sin is dealt with taking us to the day of atonement. So in its simplest terms, it is the essential manual for ancient Egypt’s worship practices and their understanding of God’s presence in their lives. There is an important fact here that we do not want to overlook. There is provided through this book of Leviticus spiritual foundation. Historically, it was the first book of the Torah and it was studied by Jewish children introducing them to God’s will, and the path to spiritual growth. There was a lot in that book about rituals and laws to promote ethical behavior and for love for one another challenging people to live distinctively or in simple language to be different.

As in all things that we study to try and gain knowledge and to structure our our lives on a path that serves our Lord there has to be a practical application. We must learn and come to understand that God takes his holiness very seriously and so should we. The trend in many of our churches today is to create God in our own image, giving him the attributes we would like him to have instead of the ones his word describes when we read about God’s utter holiness, his transcendent splendor and his approachable light and that’s in 1Timothy 6:16. We sometimes are confused by these concepts. We are called to walk in the light and to put away the darkness in our lives so that we may be pleasing to God. We must understand that a holy God cannot tolerate blatant, unashamed sin in his people and his holiness requires him to punish it. We seemed to be confused in our society today there are two words that have stepped in and changed a lot of things, the first one being inclusiveness, and the second tolerance. It creates a flippant attitude on our part towards sin, our God’s loathing of it, we should not allow sin to simply become part of a trend, social acceptance, our personal or group agenda. We must come to the point to where we praise the Lord that because of Jesus’s death on our behalf, we no longer have to offer animal sacrifices and that our salvation comes through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. Leviticus is all about the substitution. The death of animals was a substitute penalty for those who have sinned. In the same way, but much much better was the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as a substitute for our sins. Now we can stand before God without fear because he sees in us the righteousness of Christ.

Life is Good

jk

Welcome to the back porch, seems like each week something kind of gets to us and we can’t really have a good conversation. Of course our conversation means pondering, we like to ponder on things as they are, we have no solution. We just talk about them and ponder. It’s just a few of us this time on the porch and how we ever got into this I’ll never know but of all the things in the world to come up of course was the condition or shape of our nation today, what’s going on across our land. We all agree that we most likely are seeing a society that’s in collapse. It was brought up about the Opium Wars. I guess if you ponder along enough, you can kind of make the connection between that and the drug wars that we’re involved in today in this country so I want to read you a little piece of history. The very first opium war was fought from 1839 to 1842 between China and the British empire it was triggered by the Qing governments campaign to enforce its prohibition of opium, which included destroying opium stocks owned by British merchants, and the British East India company. Now I think you could pretty well imagine this was a little bit over the head of most of us old duffers here on the porch, but we listened while the gentleman explained to us why he felt it was important to us to understand. They were actually two wars 1839 to 1842 and then again in 1856 to 1860 and they were conflicts between Great Britain and France in the second war and China’s Qing Dynasty, it was brought about because of China’s attempts to stop the British from illegally smuggling opium into China, which caused massive addiction and severe trade-in balance. The influx of drugs was destroying the Chinese society. They were weakened by this influx of drugs, which was destroying the people’s ability to function. They had in time moved from a strong dynasty to one that was weakened by this influx of drugs that was destroying the very fabric of their society. That brings us to our very first Ponder …sound familiar. We have an administration at the moment that is honestly trying to put an end to this influx of drugs into our country. The biggest amount of opposition to this is coming from of all things within. We have an element of folks in this nation of ours who have grown to disrespect the law and are agenda driven for whatever reason it may be but it just seems the destruction of the United States as we’ve known it all these years is pretty much their goal. This is a pretty heavy subject I think it would be fair to say that it takes pondering to another level. All of us here on the porch this evening agreed that we’re seeing the slow collapse of our society. It’s not so important to enforce the law as it is nowadays to debate the law. Make no mistake, our nation has been weakened by people who are not disturbed by rape, murder, robbery, and general disobedience of the law. 

So far, I figure this particular meeting on the back porch has descended into ramblings and rants and we all agree that’s not a good thing. If you have time look up the different generations that’s a big thing nowadays, we have baby boomers generation , millennials generation, Y generation, Z generation A, and now we’ve got a new one, Beta. There is a trend or as I happen to feel like a habit to blame the generation now and their cohorts as being responsible for the shape we’re in. All of us here on the porch agreed that we all spend too much time blaming somebody else for something. We should’ve been paying attention a long time ago. Most of us, here on the porch, were born in 1943 or earlier. Today we are kind of shuttled aside. We don’t see as well as we used to nor do we hear as well but for the most part, we’re not senile individuals. So I’ll close with this. If you were born in 1943 you belong to the Silent Generation. This is a group typically defined as those born between 1928 and 1945, following the greatest generation and proceeding the baby boomers, we are characterized by traditional values, hard work, and reliance after growing up during the Great Depression and World War II.  The birth years that are being considered are 1928 through 1945. We have some key characteristics. I’m not bashful. about it. I’m going to go ahead and list them right here. We were hard-working, loyal, modest, respectful of authority, patriotic, self-reliant, and disciplined. Those of our generation experienced the hardships of the depression and World War II and it fostered within us a sense of duty and perseverance. A book was wrote about us the “Greatest Generation”. I know that’s up for debate, but I’ll leave you with this Ponder for the day. We’re beat up, in many cases ignored and put to the side, but one thing is certain. Ponder this…

We are proud of our Faith, Family, and Country. To the best of my knowledge and those here on the porch with me 45% of the people in our country today don’t feel that way. How did this happen?… Ponder That!

Kurt

This week we’re out of the pew and back on the road looking for the Good Way. This week we add to our roadmap, Proverbs 3…when we read this proverb, we see the author Solomon encouraging us to put wisdom first over self reliance, and living a life of integrity, which brings peace health and divide guidance. The key to much of this is our acknowledgment of God in all things which leads us to a straight path, honoring him, and the blessings to come by living in such a manner. There are, of course, some key themes here, they include the value of wisdom, acknowledging God’s discipline as love and finding favor by fearing the Lord and helping the needy, and understanding God exults the humble. Now there are many things that point to the good way but trust in the Lord is one of the most important and not leaning on our own understanding. Wisdom is presented as more valuable than silver, gold or jewels bringing long life with riches, honor, peace, and security. This issue of divine guidance is extremely important when we acknowledge God in all that we do and look to him for guidance, such behavior  keeps our paths straight. The word fear is used quite often in the Bible, but it really refers more to being in awe of the powers and blessings of God when we follow him. This fear of God leads to us turning away from evil and bringing health to our bodies and refreshment to our lives. We must realize that discipline is God’s way of showing His love for us, it’s a sign of his love and it’s not something to be despised. We should be generous in our lives, giving unto God that which is his, and to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It’s almost inseparable, but kindness and humility they go together, and they uphold truth and kindness. God will always favor the humble and oppose the proud. Solomon in this proverb is teaching his son that true success and good life comes from seeking divine wisdom, trusting God completely and living righteously, promising blessings and security for those who follow this path. Life will always present us with challenges, and there will always be God’s discipline to keep us on the Good Way.

Please read Proverbs 3, God’s word is better understood when we sit quietly and read His word allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us to His Divine Guidance. 

Life is Good

jk

Well, it’s time for a year end back porch and I think I can pretty well share with you the overall opinion of most of the guys that get together on the back porch when weather permits. I think what we would like to do is to just simply list very quickly some collective thoughts. We find ourselves in this country at this time where the legal debate exceeds, even probably the most ardent debates in Greece back in the day, the Greeks were known for their love of debate, which sometimes would kind of rattled the apostle Paul. First off, there are only two genders. We can debate and add many different angles to that, but it all comes down to one thing… you can add to, take away from, do whatever you want to do but your gender symbol never changes. You are the way God made you and the human mind, body and resources can’t change that. Then the other one that catches our attention every time, and we were absolutely amazed by it is the fact that the law in this country simply states that you must come in through one of the centers or areas that we have designated legally to obtain a visa are a work permit. If you come in any other way, that is illegal. I will give you some ground here, coming in by unauthorized areas or ways does not make you illegal, after all God created you and you are equal in God’s eyes, but the human side of this, the secular side of this, however you want to put it says that we have these laws that regulate the way you enter our country and if you don’t follow those laws then you’re here illegally. Let us  try to be a little clearer with that. You are not illegal, but you are in this country illegally. Now here is something that you can as they say “take to the bank” there are nations that will shoot you if you cross their border improperly. If you’re still not convinced, google it. The other thing that gets our attention is the passion that has suddenly developed within our country to debate the law. Now there is no sense in putting a lot of statistics before you we are trying to explain something that I don’t completely understand and neither do the rest of us, but the only people it seems to benefit are the lawyers. I do not wish to overwhelm you with a bunch of old men’s pondering, but we do ponder about the fact that there seems to be a large group of people in our country from all walks of life who don’t seem to be bothered about rape, murder, public disorder, disrespect for public order, and those that enforce it. I’ll close out in a manner that for many of you may seem controversial. There are those in our country today that disrespect our God burn our churches disfigure our synagogues and in general have no respect for others in any way. So I ask you to ponder this.

We don’t like you…but this is your Ponder for today.

God says we must love you…Why?