Last week I wrote that the end is really the beginning of the “Promise” which is a neat play on words, or a layman’s admission that my knowledge of theological reason and lingo are not all that developed. As most of us are prone to do we underestimate the scope of things in order to keep them manageable. Well I was speaking of God’s promise of eternal life, again “God’s Promise” and once again the usual practice of underestimating something. According to one person’s count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible. The word promise itself occurs over 50 times in the King James Version of the Bible. (bibleinfo.com) Now I have seen other counts and as the sentence that says “one person’s count” is just that, one person’s count. I can write with complete confidence that I could say that the number is more than one and at least more than a hundred and more than just about eternal life. In secular terms I have opened a can of worms. First thing to be learned here is to never underestimate God and never think of God as one issue Savior.

None of God’s promises in the Bible ever fail, from the very beginning to now, this very day. The first promise in the Bible… Genesis 3:15, I will put contempt between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. They will strike your head, but you will strike at their heels.”

The last promise found in the Bible:Revelation 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Here is a list of some verses where the word promise is found:
Hebrews 7:6
Hebrews 8:6
Hebrews 11:13
Hebrews 11:17
Hebrews 11:33
2 Peter 1:4.
Romans 9:4
Romans 15:8
2 Corinthians 1:20
2 Corinthians 7:1
Galatians 3:16
Galatians 3:21
Hebrews 6:12

Why the list in the middle of a post, is it to prove a statement, written or said? Truth is I hope you will take time to look these up and read each one. I have found that to be close to God, one doesn’t have to be on their knees. When you immerse yourself in the word there is a peace that transcends all the chaos that is in the world around us. There is knowledge and the wisdom that is of God, for direction of our life: Psalms 32:8, KJV. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”

The object here is not to play a numbers game but to present a case that can be proven by Biblical writings and lived out by those to whom God promised. Once more we are compelled say “None of God’s promises in the Bible ever fail.”It’s in the Bible, Joshua 23:14, “Look. I’m now walking on the road to death that all the earth must take. You know with all your heart and being that not a single one of all the good things that the Lord your God promised about you has failed. They were all fulfilled for you. Not a single one of them has failed.

In the same manner of promises we need to be aware that those promises of God containing retribution for sins and other transgressions are also kept in full. The God we serve is real and present yesterday, today and tomorrow. The very nature of the world today invites the devil to place in our lives those things that destroy our faith and lead us into the misery of sin and overwhelm us with a despair that challenges our faith.

Follow me on a short journey in words of God’s “Promise” in New and Old Testament form. God’s promise to Abraham ( Gen 12:2-3 ), in which the latter, although childless, was to become ancestor of a great nation. Later this promise was repeated ( Gen 15:5 ), and to his credit Abraham believed God’s utterances. On yet another occasion ( Gen 17:1-27 ) God brought his promise even closer to fulfillment by stating that Sarah would have a son ( Gen 18:10 ), because nothing was too hard for God to accomplish. Paul would write later and call these the “covenants of the promise” ( Eph 2:12 ; cf. Gal 3:6-17 ).

There is the promise to Abraham, a more general declaration made by God at the time of the fall ( Gen 3:15 ), and continued in a promise to David ( 2 Sam 7:12-13 ) that his seed would continue forever. From here on it continues and we see that with Christ’s kingship which was not of this world, it did fulfill the divine promise. Here is the “Promise” I referred to last week. There is now the dispensation of grace. We to this day still share in all the benefits of Abraham’s covenant ( Eph 3:6 ), while looking forward to a time when the kingdom of God, which was ushered in with the age of grace, will be realized when Christ returns to complete the kingdom of believers and establish it for all eternity before God in heaven.

There are so many things to write about here but for what I hope to leave you with this week, there is not enough paper or space to due it justice. We don’t just die, we begin a new and exciting journey just as God has promised. That which our God has promised, as written in His word in yesterday’s past and all the days to come will be fulfilled as “Promised”.

John 5:28-29, NKJV. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

As I always try to do here are two web addresses to use for further study. They have been the source of the information I have shared with you.

www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/bible-promiseswww.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/promise/

God Bless, jk

It’s Thursday about three in the afternoon and a typical hot, humid summer day in the south. Some things never really change while other things, particularly those totally unexpected leave us exhausted and re-examining our life and wondering why. I am very grateful for many things in my life, one is the Community of Faith. Today’s post concerns a member of that community. He is a brother in the faith and a member of the church I attend. Today’s post will be difficult for me because it involves a person I don’t know all that well but have a tremendous respect for. There are those people you meet in life that while you are not friends in the usual way, they are someone you would like to get to know better. Such is the case where this gentleman is concerned. In a series that shares the grief of the sudden death of a loved one, the writer puts on paper an agonizing and truly remarkable picture of grief that questions our faith but at the same time in a moment of shared frustration, gives us the reason for and the power of faith. There is also the opportunity to share the “Rest Of The Story”  I Consider these posts to be a remarkable journey through one man’s grief because the questions he asks are not from despair, but rather a believers quest for peace. I would not presume to or be able to adequately address this mans grief. I will in a feeble attempt turn to this scripture. Latter in this post I will return to it.

Philippians 3: 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

When time allows go to this link. (paranormalchrist.com) There will be five posts listed in the box to your right. Read each one, starting from the bottom. While this is an unusual request and requires time, I believe you will be blessed. I was struck by the raw emotion within his written words and yet that overwhelming grief that is expressed captures the finality of death and the burden on those it has taken from. There is no good side to death, you can’t dress it up with all the common clichés we are prone to use as we sincerely try to comfort those whom it has taken from. It has been said that you only die once but it is possible for the living to die many times.

There are always those chapters in the bible that for some reason or another stay with us. In Ecclesiastes for me it is Chapter 3. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” This is then followed by verses that list fourteen specific things, a schedule for life events you might say. One commentary points out that the question of eternality and spirituality cannot be addressed, because they cannot be seen “under the sun”, without the help of God’s Holy Spirit and the Scriptures; the commentary says all we can do is to simply rejoice in his works before giving way to the next generation.*( *The Bible Panorama)

The writer of the blogs I have referred you to picked Ecclesiastes 9 as a reference point. From a purely human view the word as written here in chapter 9 says there is a common destiny for all of us. We will all die. Death nullifies everything, no good, no bad, simply nothing. The Jewish Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, you die, end of story. Now I should note that not all Jews believed that, even when their understanding of resurrection differs greatly from the Christian belief. So the view here in chapter three is more or less, eat, drink and be merry. We will all have the same fate regardless of what we do. In both chapters there is agreement in the word that God will judge all things as equal. Bluntly put, just do your thing, stay busy and leave without a fuss. It is not my intent to challenge or question the grief of another. I am thankful for this gentleman barring his soul as he has done in this series of blogs. I cannot stress enough how your reading these writings will be time well spent.

You may be asking yourself after reading this far….. “What’s The Point?”*(Paranormal Christ)

Nathan, I am thankful for the opportunity through your writings to somehow in a small way, devoid of a world of well known clichés, share your grief. Maybe, just maybe, if your father could of had a last word with you……..Maybe… Paul writes to the church in Philippi to encourage them to rejoice in their trials and to be considerate of one another. I believe in verse nine what Paul writes ..Maybe..your father would have shared with you.

Philippians 3: 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

I feel that the ” Beginning of The Promise” comes with the death of this life. Next week we will explore the promise that we of the community of faith have inherited because of Christ and the Cross.

Peace my friend and God bless.

jk

 

Before reading today’s post please read the following scripture – Ephesians 5: 1-20. Pray and then join me in the pew.

In the church today the scripture as written is being challenged and in some situations completely ignored. Recently a Pastor said that there are times when a particular bit of scripture will make him feel uncomfortable, prompting him to spend more time with it, reading it in its full context, then studying and praying and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I read a great deal and listen to those in the pew in normal everyday conversations and usually I will find something to write about. Today’s blog actually was inspired by one of my daily devotionals. The scripture reading was from Ephesians 5: 1-20 and it stayed on my mind the whole day. I went back and read the entire chapter and you know what…….it made me uncomfortable. What was Paul thinking when he wrote that first verse in Chapter 5?

“you must become imitators of God, as well-loved children imitate their father.”

I believe Paul’s point was that we must live a Holy Life as we have been commanded to from the very beginning of God’s speaking to his people through the Patriarchs of the Old Testament and to this very chapter of Ephesians and throughout all the scriptures. Deuteronomy is often referred to as the book of laws and contains a verse that has become the definitive statement of Jewish identity. Deuteronomy 6:4 -“Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” There would come a point where the Jews would be consumed by attempting to live in strict obedience to the Law, of which an additional 613 laws had been added over time. How do we walk the “Way”
and what is required of us? There are many answers throughout scriptures, here is one of my favorites.
Deuteronomy 10:12
[ A Call to Love and Obedience ] “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul.

I think that this scripture is easily understood and leaves little room for re-interpretation. Today we are overwhelmed with various interpretations and well meaning writings that seek to put the scripture in a form that is livable with today’s accepted social standards. What God asks of us is so simple when written but evidence supports that the living of such is extremely difficult; many fail every day even though God in his wisdom continues through all scripture to provide us with the way and even gave His only son’s life to absolve us of our sins and afterwards sending the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us as we strive to live a Holy Life. We still somehow fall short. Let’s take a closer look at Ephesians 5: 1-20.

Paul sets before these Christian people a high standard to aspire to. He instructs them to be imitators of God. Paul reasserts it is their responsibility to reject certain types of behavior. There is no need to put down an exhausting list of don’ts and do’s, so keeping to that thought, see how Paul states the obvious.

“Let no one even mention fornication and unclean living and insatiable desire among you – it does not befit God’s consecrated people to talk about things like that. Let no one even mention shameful conduct. Let there be no foolish talking and graceless jesting among you – for these things are not fitting for people like you. But rather let your talk be a gracious thanksgiving to God. You know this and you are well aware of it, that no fornicator, no unclean liver, no one who is characterized by that greed – which is idolatry – has any share in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. It is because of these vices that the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Don’t become partners with them”.
(NLT)
Even today Paul’s instructions and abolishment could be said to us with no adjustment of wording at all. “You know this and you are well aware of it” That being so, why do we continue such behaviors? I think part of the reason is our practice of rating some sins as horrendous, while others although bad, don’t quite reach the bar worthy of total righteous Christian indignation. We seem to allow a little wiggle room claiming Christian tolerance and forgiveness. Now I am alright with the tolerance and forgiveness thing on the back end, which leaves open a whole new blog subject but what we do on the front end needs a lot more effort on our part. The front part being learning how to convey our faith as the reason we seek to live a Holy Life. We must become better communicators. Besides walking the walk we must learn to talk the talk.

It has been said that to be a great orator, three things had to be present.
– Theory, a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action. We believe these basic precepts are necessary to living our Christian faith.

-Imitation, the assumption of behavior observed in other individuals. We must imitate Christ’s love for all people, be compassionate and be in total obedience to God.

-Practice, carry out, apply and practice what you preach.

Light and dark are words which are often used in biblical teachings to clearly communicate a state of being that produces an immediate picture most people can understand. Paul finds no need for fervent preaching but simply says that the non-Christian lives life in the dark, while Christians enjoy living in the light of the knowledge of Christ. It is a light that makes them useful citizens of this world who work toward not failing in their duty, human or divine, which in turn serves those things that are pleasing in God’s eyes. “It is the Christian’s duty to expose every action, every decision and every motive to the light of Christ.”(William Barclay)

We know that evil does not like the light but we should always remember the light of Christ as not only condemning but with it also comes healing. This is only one of many great chapters that can be found in God’s word. “Walking the Walk” is never an easy thing…..15 SO… be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. 16 Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. 17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. 18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5: 15-20)
God Bless

jk

 

I have been advised that I should not cast doubt on my own person so to speak but fact should never be absent from public discourse. I am a layman, I sit in the pew each week just as many of you do. I hear the discussions and the opinions of my counterparts and what’s important is….I listen. Having shared this please know that I am not offended by correction or disagreement and never intend to knowingly offend anyone.

I think it is reasonable to say that the church faces many challenges in the world of today. The onslaught of negativity and in some places the outright hostility toward religious freedom has passed the point of reasonable concern. There will be those who disagree with my view that when we speak of religious freedom and to whom it applies, Christian beliefs are subjected to an uneven field of play in today’s society. We must recognize that there are countries and governments that openly deny and prevent the practice of Christian faith values or its precepts and it is most often imposed by the government or societal wishes of its people. The state we find the world in today, here at home especially, calls for a closer look at what freedom really means. What about this word Freedom? Merriam Webster has this :

a :  the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action

I believe that to be a reasonable definition, or we could use a familiar phase we all have heard before…. “do your own thing”. Consider this………

In a healthy society, there is a balance between freedom and authority, and a need for just the right doses of each.
—
Marc Fisher, Washington Post, Baseball will never have another Vin Scully, 29 September 2016

We have arrived at what I see as a huge problem for us of the Faith. Societies view of sin and God’s view of sin differ greatly. Think about this for a moment. Do you really believe there can be a balance between societies view of what is sinful and God’s view? I do not think this is possible. Should the acceptance of questionable practices, those that are not found pleasing in God’s eyes or contrary to His commandments be accepted by the church as an act of tolerance? Back to our friend Merriam Webster for this about tolerance. There were several definitions, the second one fitting the message I am trying to convey.

2
a :  sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own
 beliefs

:  the act of allowing something :  toleration

How do we as Christians explain our acceptance of those things that God has found to be un-holy. Now we find ourselves confronted with truth; we as Christians cannot accept such things. Our society has evolved to the point good or bad, your choice, that things of question are matters of freedom and must be given equal standing. I might also add to that statement “that things of question” are debatable as to their worth as assessed by social attitudes of the day. Some more information that as Christians we need to hear. Here in the USA we do not live in a “Theocracy”

[thee-ok-ruh-see]
1.
a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God’s or deity’s laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.
2.
a system of government by priests claiming a divine commission.
3.
a commonwealth or state under such a form or system of government.

Thus leaving us subject to DEMOCRACY.
Definition of democracy
plural democracies
1
a :  government by the people; especially :  rule of the majority


b :  a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

:  the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges


The Apostle Paul writes “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist
have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities
resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgment” (Rom12:1-2).

We have arrived at our faith “Conundrum”……..

Definition of conundrum
1
:  a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun (as in “Why didn’t the lost hikers starve in the desert? Because of the sand which is there.”)

2
a :  a question or problem having only a conjectural answer … 

We are faced with the conundrum of freedom and democracy, both which
allows us to practice our faith beliefs and so far has defended that, but
limits our ability to share the Good News with others.

So, as Christians where are we at today? We must stop blaming our
inability to grow and bring people into the church on the state of today’s
society, instead we must focus on those things we can control.

-be faithful in our attendance and support of our church and church family

-we must invest in the ministry by giving of our monetary and physical
abilities.

-we must accept and extend to all an invitation to share the Good News but
not compromising our beliefs and those commandments given to us from
God through the Patriarchs of the faith

-we must do a better job of sharing the precepts of the faith and the need to
live a Holy life, passing these on to our children and those new to the faith

These are just a few of the things on my mind. To my way of thinking we
can save no one on our own. It is the saving grace of God and Christ on the
cross that brings salvation to all those who call out to Him. As one man has
written, “it’s not about us”. Our place in this world today and our Christian
calling is simple. We are to go out to all the world and tell the “Good News”
of Jesus Christ. I see nothing divisive in that calling.

God Bless,

jk