Acronyms  are a large part of our lives today. Seems that more and more people find a sentence in the Kings English requires more time than they are willing to invest. I note that because not since WW2 have we as Americans been assaulted by such a deluge of such proportion of these alphabetical gymnastics. But be that as it may I hope you enjoy your visit to the porch. If you are not 80 yet read this anyhow. Most of us will by this time of life could and will need this advice. I am pretty sure of this because I had a vision…I know it was a vision because I was awake at the time. It was a simple vision but one of great importance to us who have reached this pinnacle of our life. It is easy to remember…Just three letters will get you there. PDC… These three letters will serve you well. P…Prayer… D…Doctor… C…Cops… I pondered on this for a while and it still seemed like a reasonable thought. Now this prayer thing is a definite must. No matter what you think now my friend, we all need God in our lives. Been said, preached and taught about for ever. Why even Jesus prayed every day…The Father our God, creator of all things is understood to be rather fond of prayer. Now that doctor thing. NO way any of us can get by that. It ain’t like the ole days most of the doctors now are specialists. They are now Cardiologist’s, Pulmonary, that’s lungs and such, Neurologists, that is just a few of the specialists, why there are even Doctors that take care of your toes…well now to be fair they can can do the whole foot. The day of the “Doc” at the door with his little black bag… those days are gone. These folks are large part of our life and one other thing about this doctor thing. For many of us 80 or older, a large part of our social life takes place in their waiting rooms. This next one really is for everyone but us old folks love seeing the “the boys in blue.” Remember that phrase of a while back…Who You Gonna Call? They do so much for us and like that guy said on the TV… “It’s Free.” No matter what, where or when they are there for us. If we fall in the park and can’t get up they will come. They can help you across the street, and they can help you get that wheel chair out of spot most rational people would not try to go. I am not making light of any of this… these guys every one of them know CPR not to forget some of them have even delivered a baby! This of course is not a concern of ours. But they do one other thing of great wonderment. They risk their lives to keep us safe…all of us. Well thats it, ponder on that awhile!

Kurt

This week we welcome aboard Silas. It is believed that Paul wrote this Book with the help of Timothy and they were joined by Silas. Silas was a leader in the early church, a fellow missionary with Paul, and a “faithful brother”. He was a Hellenistic Jew who, it seems, was also a Roman citizen . He is also referred to as “Silvanus” in Paul’s Epistles (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 1:1). (Wikipedia)

The book was written in approximately A.D. 50. Paul writes this letter to clear up some misconceptions about the return of Christ and to pass along some instructions about holy living. 

1 Thessalonians 4:14. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. (NLT) We have to deviate from the summary mode here for just a moment. In those days an early Christian Churches continued to grow there were always moments of uncertainty that could cause misunderstanding and division. These verses point to the wisdom of Paul’s leadership and staying on the right path. Consider this: 

“First Thessalonians 4:13–18 represents an important shift in the subject matter of Paul’s letter. Realizing the Thessalonians believers needed further teaching about Jesus’ return (the rapture) and specifically about what happens to Christians who die before Jesus returns, Paul turns to address these vital matters.” (Got Questions) 

It is very clear in biblical writings that Jesus warned that true prophets of God would always be opposed by the unrighteous. Consider these points or key takeaways from this book First Thessalonians. We can have faith and blessed assurance that Christ will come back for us…both the quick and the dead. We also have the assurance that we those in Christ, will not suffer God’s wrath. Paul also instructs us how to walk the Christian life daily.

We continue now with the second book of Thessalonians which was written in A.D. 51-52. Timothy and Silas once again join with Paul to write this book. The Church still had misconceptions about the Day of the Lord. They had drifted from their task and in their moment of lessening faith they had weaken in their resolve to the point they were being persecuted badly. Paul again writes to try and clear up these misconceptions and comfort them in this time of uncertainty. Paul reminds them that they serve a God of justice…so remain strong in the faith, keep up the good work and that God will avenge those who have been giving them grief by giving the persecuted ones relief. 2 Thessalonians 1:6 In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.(NLT)  Paul goes on to thank them for what they are doing, he prays and explains what will happen on that “Day of The Lord.” Paul then encourages them to stand firm and stay away from those who do not live by the gospel…those not of The Way. Paul refers to Old Testament passages, which confirm and recognize the OT prophets. You may research these yourself. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9 it is in reference to Daniel’s prophecy regarding the “man of sin” (Daniel 7–8).

Like many of these books of the Pauline Epistles 2Thessalonians offers some practical advice we can use in our day and time. There are some explanations of the end times and Paul encourages the people to work hard for what they have and have gained.  2 Thessalonians contains prayers we can pray and are an example for us on how to pray for other believers today. In layman language… “for a sequel it does as well as the 1st book..”

As always, thank you for coming by the “Pew” this week.

Life is Good

jk

Back on the porch again and the weather is like an early summer day. This is where I like to do my pondering and my condition at the moment does not always let me get out here. As we age we do spend some time, some of us learning to accept what we know is one of the rewards of age… death. The book of  Ecclesiastes has a lot to say about the futility of life and the seemingly useless tasks we undertake but the joy of this life overwhelms us in the present…so enjoy, drink and be merry. I will remind you that at the bottom of that glass or bottle is that thing called reality. As some of you know I messed my knee up, the surgery failed and now I am confined to a wheelchair. Before I got to the chair I spent some time in a nursing/rehab facility and it was there that I met William. We had time to talk and get to know something about each other, I couldn’t walk and William was confined to the bed. He was totally unable to do any thing but feed himself and even then they had to raise his bed where he could sit up to eat. He had no family close enough to look after him…he was alone. I won’t say we became friends but for the next two months we each became a little bit of light in an otherwise dark room. Here in this room I learned a lesson that would serve us all well. Now from early conversations I became aware that William was an ole “my daddy and my grandfather were Democrats” and I was a Goldwater-Reagan Republican…nice pairing considering the election was just a few months away. We talked a lot but that’s when I discovered, earnest discussion is far more productive than earnest debate. William was a well educated man, simple folk though but he had a passion for movies. I soon learned his collection included some silent movies and a vast collection of movies in the prime of the movie making era. William soon learned that not only was I interested in what he had to say but enjoyed just letting him educate me in a thing he loved. So here is the “Ponder of the week.” I learned that we all can find common ground even in a small dark room we became a light to each other. But the big takeaway was that we all need to learn the art of Discussion and put aside the need to Debate. Debates demand someone has to win… Discussions only require that we listen. Here is the simple key to it… When we discuss something…we are exchanging ideas, when we debate we are presenting opposing arguments. So ponder this…talk or argue ?

We have a dandy this week, no disrespect to the Gospel intended. Paul with the help of Timothy writes this epistle about A. D. 58-62. This from the NLV…1:1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. The letter is in part intended to warn Colossians of doctrinal errors and to reset them onto a path of that will encourage their continued growth in Christ. If we break it down into two parts we start with a theological essay in simple words amounts to the study of the person and work of Jesus Christ…or up-town talk…Chirstology. Now Paul sets out to make a point…Jesus was much more than a prophet, a teacher or a godly man. This was God…come down to earth to walk among us. Now Jesus never said “I am God” but there were many other things that he said or did that could only be interpreted as saying and showing that indeed He was. Sometimes we get carried away with phrases  like “The hypostatic union”… using scripture to stand behind it… John 8:58- Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM! ‘…John 10:30  The Father and I are one.’ Then there is the capper I call it…John 1:14  so the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. Paul takes to task those of the Colossians’ church about their individual life also their home and family as well as their work. Paul continues to stress the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His sufficiency in meeting our needs in every area of our life.

The second half is a mini-ethics course, addressing every area of Christian life. Paul gets on a roll here…He speaks to Christ as being…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Paul warns of  becoming a captive of a hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on mortal habits and basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. He wraps this dissertation up with…Colossians 3:12-13, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Paul was a man of compassion, his love for God, Christ and word were the strengths along with his unshakeable faith that powered his mission. He understood what it took to follow the “good way.”

Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”  One mystery we encounter here is that we do not know what was told to Paul, which was the reason for this letter. We do know but  other writings tell us that there was reason to believe that heresy had arisen in Colosse, which endangered the existence of the church and Paul wrote this response to defeat it. Some other things were in play of course. I may repeat myself…so please excuse me, there is so much here. People were denying Jesus’ real and true humanity and not accepting His full deity. I guess you could say that Paul threw some salt in the wound by disputing the “Jewish” emphasis on circumcision and traditions. The heresy could have been from either a mix between Jewish religious reasons and Greek Stoic philosophy. Paul makes it plain that the sufficiency of Christ is all that is needed. Paul was relentless in his view of Jewish legalism in Colossae. So radical was the concept of salvation by grace and those steeped in Old Testament law it provided a constant ground of division. The legalists still insisted on circumcision and was still practiced among some of the Jewish converts. 

There are some books of the Bible that leave no doubt to what displeases God and that might be future fodder for a blog. But for now I will share this with you…From gotquestions.org 

“Good deeds, astrology, occultism and horoscopes do not show us God’s ways. Only Christ does. His will is revealed in His word, His love letter to us; we must get to know it!”

Paul did a great job in this book of showing us “The Christ Way”

Life is Good 

jk

Cold…chilly…fall-ish, I am not sure if that is a word or not but Bill Gates didn’t auto-correct or redline me so I leave it as written. As I have shared with you in past ponders on the back porch, one of my main goals is to take some time to clear my mind a bit. To be frank about just what I mean… to release or dump the things that agitate me. Today’s ponder is not so much about those things and is best described as a WHY?  I have encountered this in other places but never in the church…well that I knew of. When I was working it was considered almost a religious experience and folks were very serious about it. Now some of you might not go back this far. To the best of my memory and don’t hold me to it, it started with the ladies mostly those who had factory jobs, then became a part of Union Agreements and spread from there. When and where and why? I don’t really know. For the ladies at least twice a day, time varied. Wasn’t long before the men followed and expected as much also. If you haven’t guessed yet I writing about that sacred thing known as the break. Picture in your mind, Ross from the Friends TV Show, who thought he was on a break, but wasn’t. Now I see the value of such a thing…a moment to rest and gather your senses, a good thing. Now you had to earn your break and that’s the difference between it and a ponder. All you have to do to take a ponder is do it! So…the ponder of the day. 

First thing is a disclaimer. I am not criticizing but I am asking why? Most of my life has always included Sunday Church and Sunday School. That would be followed by Wednesday evening at church for a worship time of some sort. Now understand this…I did not always make the mid-week service but I did do my best to be there. The trend over the last few years has been the demise of the mid-week service across many denominations and more a time of fellowship, meals and special events within the church. No problem here. But now there is something new, at least in my view and it has been around for a while now. Spring and Fall Break. Give me a beak…good transition there on my part. Now I am just pondering here and that gives me a bit of leeway. You see I feel we need as individuals and society as much of the God Stuff we can get. Let me be clear here…heard that somewhere a while back…These fall and Spring Breaks usually occur during the school year. In some areas the church suspends temporarily, Wednesday evenings activities. Not all churches do this, where I attend we do it. So I do ponder does this help my Blog of a while back that it seems faith has become a convenience thing a little more palatable? I base this on the biblical verse Matthew 22:37-38  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment… Consider this…please note that this is a personal position or thought. Remember the Ponder…WHY? I have always just thought that the character of Ross justifying what he did because “they were on a break!”kinda said to me that Rachael made him a better person when he was with her. Do you think we might be little better person when we are closer to God? Nuff said…Ponder on that for awhile.

Kurt

It is recognized as having been written by the Apostle Paul with some help from Timothy. This book is another of Pauls writings that were written while he was in prison around A.D. 61. In Rome. Paul had earlier converted a jailer and his wife to Christ while being held in a prison in Philippi after he had been freed from that jail. Here now we read that perhaps the the church has grown some as Paul address “bishops (elders) and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Paul acknowledges the gift of money from the church at Philippi. There is through the words of the Paul a letter written to a group of Christians who were especially close to the heart of Paul. Consider this…Many of you have heard the slogan “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” We will take a little liberty here…this letter might suggest that help can be found by Keeping God in our hearts, God in the forefront of our Minds and opening that Door to let in the joy of the Lord. Again…This letter was written during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, about thirty years after Christ’s ascension and some ten years after Paul first preached at Philippi. Paul has covered some vast ground and seen much trouble and personal suffering but in his heart there is still a fire burning for the church at Philippi and God’s people there. This letter is possibly one of the more personal letters of Paul.  One commentary breaks Philippians down this way:

Philippians may be divided as follows:

Introduction, 1:1-7

Verses…Rejoicing in Spite of Suffering, 1:8-30

Verses…Rejoicing in Lowly Service, 2:1-30

Verses…Christian’s Faith, Desire, and Expectation, 3:1-21

Verses…A Christian’s Strength: Rejoicing Through Anxiety, 4:1-9

Conclusion, 4:10-23

It has become a Cliché with me… “let’s go beyond the word” by taking a closer look at some of the verses we read here. We will start with Philippians 2:2-4

2.then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

3.Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

4.not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

These timely reminders could easily apply to our churches today and reduce the conflicts in our churches and the christian community overall. Paul rejoices that Christ is being proclaimed. 

Throughout this letter in spite of persecution and imprisonment, the joy of Paul’s love for the word and of God and his fellow christians overcomes all obstacles. 

Philippians 4:8…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I hope you are enjoying this series and it is my prayer that it will inspire you to come back for the rest of this series…also to make a point of Paul’s writings…the word of God will carry you through the rough times…Remember to do do what you have read in Philippians 4:8… “think about these things.” Stay above the fray, think in a Godly way. 

Life is Good

jk

I am on the porch and what a beautiful day this is! Being confined to this chair is a pain in the …yeah, you know what I am saying and I wish to add that pain is in a literal sense. I try hard to live by Philippians 4:8…in plain speak…Just think about the good things.But it does seem that reality raises its hand and can distract me, more often than not. Then as I write this it crosses my mind that a good dose of reality is what I need… what we all need. Let’s ponder on that for a while. The folks in Georgia, upper east Tennessee, the Carolinas have just been through a tough spate of weather and now Florida which I failed to mention is about to get a rehash of that but in a bigger helping. While folks in the SEC ponder about last weekend…things could be worse… Although I would bet that there is a lot of sack cloth and ashes to be seen after this weekend. Some folks up in Nashville say they have seen a number of flowers and wreaths floating in the Cumberland River…has something to do with of all things some Goal Posts. Now that reality thing…  The middle east is about to burst out in a full blown war, whatever that means…how many people have to die before a tragedy becomes a war. Here at home we have a war but of a different stature. We have a situation where our country has turned a blind eye to the demise of a great country and a great people for the spoils of self indulgence. We are now victims of Politics, Agendas, and self gratification. We have become so confused that we believe our judgement is better than Gods, that our creator was not being open and honest with us. Seems there are more than two genders and we have got that personal pronoun thing wrong…causing a great deal of distress to a lot of people. They have banded together and formed a group, have an agenda. I won’t list them because I won’t get the title right…so I just list them as the alphabet people. I could go on and on and get into a lot more trouble but… How messed up are things? Well I will say this. Pro Football is a good example of the times. Now before you tackle a ball carrier or god forbid a Quarterback…be sure you are aware of the protocol and the courtesy necessary before you attempt such a move. Ponder That!

Life is Good

jk     

This is the fourth in our series of the Pauline Epistles, I hope you have enjoyed the preceding books of these epistles to this point. This one presents a balanced approach to fortifying and establishing the believers in a way that each one can fulfill the purpose and calling God has given. The goal being to confirm and to equip a new and maturing church. The answer to who is the author is the opening verse. 

Ephesians 1:1

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. (NLT)

The Book of Ephesians was very likely written between A.D. 60-63. Paul was writing this book from a Roman prison and it was his hope that many of the faithful of this ministry would receive this writing. The words within this book provide the discipline needed to bring forward the many maturing faithful to be indeed the true children of God. We have here a balanced view of the state of the church at this time and and its importance to the moving forward of the church. There is much of the foundational instruction needed for the church here. To often readers go to the last part of the book instead of carefully reading the instructions needed to get us there. We must understand and fully appreciate what God has declared us to be and to be grounded in the knowledge of where God is going with this plan…that which he has for all humanity. We must be strong in our present walk, our goal should be to get stronger and strengthen our commitment to prepare for what is coming. There are three main segments in this book and they breakdown as such. 

-Chapters 1 -3…the principals that are part of God’s accomplishments.

-Chapters 4 and 5… puts forth principles regarding our present existence.

-Chapter 6…principles concerning our daily struggle.

Some Surprises… For the Jews…Well for everyone at that time.

-concept of the church as the body of Christ…  

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

 -A new mystery..

Ephesians 3:6 

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

-Consider this, the jews had always been God’s people, they are his chosen people.  

Deuteronomy 7:6  For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

The Jews were understandably surprised by this. The Gentiles had equal status? This would cause many disputes among Jewish believers and Gentile converts in the days ahead. 

The book continues to share some things that an ordinary lay person would not think about. Now most of us do respect and value sound doctrine and right practice in our Christian life but  “theology” is not our normal path. We kinda like to only discuss things that are “practical” to our way of thinking. The following says it best and it is taken from an article on Got Questions, a great web sight I go to often.

“In Ephesians, Paul argues that theology is practical. In order to live out God’s will for us in our lives practically, we must first understand who we are in Christ doctrinally.” (gotquestions.org)  

It would be a long road ahead for the Ephesians and for the Church at Ephesus but how did this letter help out in its time? Fast forward to the Book of Revelations… We find that answer in Revelation 2:2-3

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

These are God’s words not John. You might find it interesting to read this chapter in Revelations to increase your understanding of Paul’s letter to these people and the effect it had .Read Revelations 2:1-7.

I can’t put the keyboard aside just yet. I must share with you a section of the Book of Ephesians that I am sure many of you remember from of all places…Sunday School. There was always that part of the school’s program, on that special day or evening when we kids got to tell a bible story or share verses with the congregation that one class would chose to do “Putting on The Amour of God.” 

Ephesians 6: 10-17

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

What a practical way to set forth some very valuable resources to stand strong in the faith. I could add at least another thousand words to this blog…could but I won’t do that. Here are your weapons of Faith… belt of truth buckled around your waist… the breastplate of righteousness in place… feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace… take up the shield of faith… helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Thanks for stopping by “The Pew”.

 Life is Good

jk

As I have shared with you recently I don’t get out like I used to…Knee surgery that didn’t work out and I am pretty much confined to a wheelchair here at home. Now for some reason my interest in things that never held that much of my interest are now getting my attention. My wife came back from the store and I immediately rolled in high gear to the kitchen…for a price check. She is a remarkable lady of the house and has been able to continue to put things in the cupboard that I like or finding them in different brands in order to stay on budget. Oh that reminds me that just the other day one of the last two Kmart Stores closed for good. My daughter worked for Kmart while she was in college…used to tip me off on Blue Light Specials, remember those? Well anyway, back to the price check. The wife had already been to Walmart and Aldi and my daughter on her way home from a meeting with clients had stoped at Costco and picked up some items for her there. I had already had lunch and there was a fresh tube of Tums in the drawer so I asked…How much did you spend today? Do you save plastic bags, you know like the ones from the store. Well we have these tube things you can save them in, I am not sure why but lately there doesn’t seem to that many bags to save. Without a pause of any kind her answer was “little over a hundred”! For two of us? Then as I was comparing the number of bags to the money spent, my daughter came in with the stuff for my wife from Costco. One bag…two items Fifty and some change. Some special kind of sugar…it was a big bag… and some of that soap for washing clothes, the kind that comes in a capsule that looks like candy. Now stay with me on this. When I was about seven or eight years old I would go to the grocery store with my grandmother. We walked about ten blocks over to Mc Callie Avenue to a store named Roaches and no I didn’t make the name up. My grandfather had gone to the Western Auto Store and bought a Red Flyer wagon…nothing cheep about Pop. Now I don’t know how much grandmother spent for groceries but let’s just say Pop had to buy a bigger wagon to hold all those paper bags to haul them home. 

Here then is the Ponder for this week. It has caught my attention that most any situation out of the ordinary can cause a rise in cost for goods and services…people talk…Prices…inflation. We have been told that the current Dock Strike will cause a shortage in goods and services…that means higher prices. The list is long but I did notice that gasoline was not mentioned….wait… add that, they must of noticed it also. My Ponder is a simple one. Has there ever been a situation that caused goods and services to go down? Not a sale, those are merchandising gimmicks. But prices really went down…things cost less. Ponder That!

Kurt