Here on The Porch we have two fans, ice tea and a box or crate to sit on, the heat we could do without. The Ponder today is difficult one and not the normal type of ponder we usually engage in, but it is my porch. Drop back to the late 50’s and yes I was there…so were a few of these guys on the porch this evening. It was Fonzie, Richie, Potsie and Ralph and the gang at Arnold’s… Those were “Happy Days”. Those were the days before America woke up but those “good times” gave birth to a monster. Somewhere amongst the milk shakes, cokes and French fries,  someone ordered a basket of Hate along with a new culture on the side…Thus was born The Culture of Hate. We flew into the sixties heading for the moon, got there in 1969. Before that in 1964 along came LBJ, the Civil Rights Act and Viet Nam. Somewhere in all of this and before, there was a small voice screaming to be heard…Martian Luther King. Now here is my Ponder for the day. My generation has been named the Silent Generation… The Silent Generation (1928-1945): Came of age during the post-war era, known for their conformist attitudes and silent approach to political and social issues. We didn’t speak up when they turned the dogs lose on people, used the high pressure firehoses or in some cases physical force. We saw the coming of age of such people who used the misery of their own people to gain influence and wealth. I know we have jumped around on these dates but all of us are just sharing our thoughts as they come about. All this time festering in the background our schools and churches were under pressure to join this culture change that was now gaining traction. By now this new way of dealing with others of different agendas reached its ugly height…in In November 1963, JFK was murdered, RFK June of ’68. But it didn’t stop there, in April of ’68 MLK was murdered. It happened before our very eyes. We saw the birth of this Culture of Hate and reacted without compassion or reason, giving them a platform in the minds of others and becoming just like them. I will answer a question asked many years ago… Why can’t we just get along? The answer…Because we have chosen not to!

Ponder That! 

Kurt

After that lead in I found it hard to follow that up. So here is gotquestions.org in their lead opening in a fine article from their website. 

“Matthew in the Bible was one of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew’s Gospel, along with the Gospels of Luke, John, and Mark, is an inspired—and thus accurate and true—history of the life of Christ. His Gospel is the longest of the four, and some scholars believe it was the first to be written.”

Matthew’s footprint is a big one in our study of the Gospel being the first written and the longest of the four gospels. Matthew deals with a lot of firsts. It seems like all the other books in the New Testament were always disputed as to the authorship. The tradition holds that this book was written by Matthew. As we’ve already written, it was the first one and it was the longest but there’s one other distinction that makes it stand out. Matthew was a tax collector and most tax collectors had a skill that very few other people had. Tax collectors were expected to be able to write in a form of shorthand, which essentially meant that Matthew could record a person’s words as they spoke, word for word and that enhances the possibility that because of that in chapters five through seven, the Sermon On The Mount is most likely almost certainly a perfect recording of that great message. Matthew wrote this book in the early period of the church probably  AD 55–65. This was a particularly interesting time in the early church because most of your Christians were Jewish converts so this focus of Matthew on Jewish perspective in this gospel is understandable. One other point and we’ve probably missed a few more but other point was that Jesus chose Matthew knowing that he was a tax collector. This particular fact helps us to understand that Jesus came for all people. We must remember that Matthew being a tax collector was one of the most despised people in that society at that time. Yeah, Jesus, sees in Matthew the possibility of good. Jesus accepts Matthew as he is, That should be a lesson for all of us to learn from. Consider these things as we move forward:

Matthews gospel puts an emphasis on Jesus as the Messiah, Matthew is very positive in his presentation of the Messiah. It is Jesus… he is the one who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and establishes God’s kingdom.

Going back and looking at some things again we see that this gospel of Matthew, which is considered the most Jewish of the four gospels demonstrates Jesus’s Jewish lineage and highlighting his fulfillment of Jewish law and prophecy. 

We’ve already mentioned the sermon on the mount and how it is most likely that what we are reading in Matthews account is the real thing Word for Word. The Sermon on the Mount where Jesus delivers teachings on ethics, righteousness, and the nature of God’s kingdom. 

The gospel begins with the genealogy, tracing Jesus’s lineage back to Abraham and David emphasizing his messianic credentials according to most biblical scholars. 

More important is that Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us,” pointing to Matthews, unwavering belief and faith of the divine nature of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel of Matthew includes accounts of Jesus, performing miracles, and healing the sick and demonstrating his power and compassion. We find here in this gospel of Matthew, there is a frequent use of the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” instead of “Kingdom of God”, a distinction that would have resonated with a Jewish audience according to some biblical scholars. 

Matthew closes his gospel appropriately with the “Great Commission.” this, of course is where Jesus instructs his followers to go and make disciples of all nations.

Life is Good

jk

Little if any thing going on here on the Porch. I have been at this keyboard several times in the last two days and the truth is I find nothing worth the time to Ponder. There is no civility in conversation and the media in general has lost all objectiveness. People are being paid to be disruptive in both action and simple discourse. Leaders and people of influence have forgotten how to speak the kings English and because they have no real knowledge of what they are confronting or a solution, they curse to express themselves. The church in general in under constant attack and the family unit as we used to know it is being minimized daily and our education system no longer teaches…it has become a tool of indoctrination. Our values are are now agenda driven and lack reason or kindness. Also to be considered is the ever changing culture driven new norms that are more frequent in today’s society. So…where does all that take me and you…? My sister Pam is going to two engagement parties for our younger sisters grandchildren. Sometimes right under our noses we can find a reason to be happy and thankful for. If we look hard enough there will always be something to celebrate. 

Now that is as they used say…a recitation of the doom, gloom and despair, in the world out there. It overtook the mood on the porch but  consider this. Stay at home in heart and mind … PONDER the power and joy of Family, keep it close to your mind and heart.

Kurt 

It’s kind of funny how things get turned around in this day and time I am referring to that phrase that past generations are very much familiar with a “Doubting Thomas”. Where did that come from? From the Christian mind, in the Gospel of John, Thomas is absent when Jesus first appears to the disciples after his resurrection. When told of the event, Thomas famously declares he will not believe unless he can see and touch the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and the wound in his side. The writings that we have tell us at eight days later, Jesus appeared again and this time Thomas was present. Thomas is invited by Jesus to touch his wounds, prompting Thomas to declare his faith with the words, “My Lord and my God.”  it was in the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke to put it in the way of writing lingo, Thomas doesn’t get a whole lot of ink so to speak and he was mentioned only in the listings of the apostles. However, in the gospel of John, Thomas plays a leading role with  two significant accounts. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ earthly ministry is nearing its end, and there are some people in Judea, who are plotting the Lord’s demise. It was during these times that the disciples receive the news that their friend Lazarus was at the point of death. The disciples were fearful for Jesus’s life as well as their own, and they tried to talk Jesus out of returning to Lazarus’s hometown of Bethany, which was near Jerusalem, where death threats certainly awaited them but Jesus could not be persuaded not to go. Thomas spoke to his fellow disciples. “Let’s go also that we may die with him”. Thomas’s readiness to stay with Jesus, despite the consequences is noteable. I am sure that there was a lot of uneasiness among many of the disciples and though Thomas’  outlook on things may have been a bit pessimistic and sometimes his words rather gloomy, Thomas demonstrated extreme loyalty to Jesus. I think it’s fair to say that many of us kind of fit in Thomases shoes we are deeply committed to our God, to our faith, to our church but we have doubts and questions just like anyone else. The story goes after the disciples were gathered together in a closed room and Thomas wasn’t there for some reason or other, but they passed on to Thomas the information that they had seen Jesus, that he had been there with them. It was at this point that Thomas uttered his famous words, “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where his where the nails were and put my hand into his side. I will not believe.”

I guess it’s worth repeating with these famous words. Thomas learned a nickname that would be remembered throughout history, Doubting Thomas. Thomas’s deal was real and understandable, but it turned in to a truth, a loving quest, the truth being that Thomas’ doubt was not one of worldly opposition. It is important that we note at this particular point of our blog that Thomas had an honest skepticism and inquisitive nature which prompted him to continue to seek the truth when Jesus told him that he was going to his fathers house to prepare a place for them and the disciples were rightly confused. It was this honest skepticism and inquisitive nature that prompted him to be the first to ask, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way”? Several commentators have made a very very important point here. Jesus wasn’t talking about knowing a route or a location, but about knowing a person. Being sincere in our faith and asking questions doesn’t make us a bad person. Thomas was speaking honestly and with a sincere faith and that does not prohibit investigation. Today right now in our time we live on our faith after Jesus had confirmed Thomas’s faith he addressed all of us with these words from John’s gospel “because you have seen me you have believed, bless are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. These words of encouragement and validation from our savior have come down through the ages, and hopefully, as we read those words, we will be inspired to believe, defend our faith and live a fruitful life for him.

While it is true that Thomas demanded evidence of the miracle of Christ Resurrection before he accepted the truth, this doubt does not define the quality of his life. Thomas would go on to be better known for his loyalty, his obedience to the gospel, and his faith. Tradition tells us that Thomas traveled to India to preach the gospel and it is believed that he established Christian communities along the Malabar coast. I suppose that’s all that we’ll write at this point about St. Thomas. It’s interesting to note that faith overcame his doubts and he searched until he found the truth in that room confronting Jesus there and Jesus responding. I believe it can be honestly sad that his doubt became a lifetime of faith, service, and love to our savior.

Life is Good

jk

Well, the weather here has really been the topic for most of the weeks  we’ve had here in July and today it’s 79° what we’ve been used to was about 91 to 95 and of course feeling like it was 103 or four. So with the temperature being at 79 we thought well let’s try the back porch and see how it works. And I will say it was a smart decision. We’re enjoying it and we invite you to join us, pull up a chair or a box or wherever you can find and have a seat as we ponder some of the things that are going on. Sometimes, if you have a difficulty finding something to ponder on, all you got to do is read the news it doesn’t really matter a whole lot what you think or don’t think, agree or don’t agree with the news what it is. But we picked up on something and we want to share it and maybe turn it into a pounder this afternoon. We found a very interesting story about a lady in Fairfax County Virginia. She came to Fairfax County Virginia from a small sleepy Seattle suburb to run that district Fairfax County Virginia school system. Now the system is just right outside of Washington DC and it’s interesting what’s going on there. The ladies name is Michelle Reid and she now earns more money than a US president and she gets a car allowance and now she wants a taxpayer funded personal bodyguard. I certainly don’t want to mislead anybody so I want you to know right upfront the Fairfax County Virginia school District is rated one of the highest in the United States. They’re in the top 10 on overall SAT scores and in math and reading and writing and all of those other things at school used to be about they place very highly nationwide. Now she’s only been there three years butI still think that is good enough to give her credit for keeping the system where it’s at. Well, last November the Democratic school board voted to renew her   contract and they increased her annual salary to $424,146 that was an increase from $380,000. On top of that she gets $12,000 annual car allowance so I’d say she’s pretty well compensated for what she does. Let me repeat that this is a highly rated school district a very strong K-12 education system and their salary scale is based on position experience and education level the first year teacher coming in makes about $56,000 but as with all other school systems, they can earn more money by having advanced degrees potentially in this particular district of reaching out to 119,000 a year. So less ponder this, what are they doing different there that puts them in that position statistic wise against other schools in the country. I’m going to say that it’s the student base that they service, most of these youngsters come from military and government families close in and around Washington DC. Maybe it’s discipline  within their home, community, schools, whatever it is is something we need to ponder.

The next thing on our pondering list will be the situation in Cincinnati. I guess we could say that we’re really not too surprised about what has happened there in Cincinnati because in actuality they are a sanctuary city. We’re not gonna dwell on that and we’re also not going to dwell on race. It has really nothing to do with the race, it has everything to do with a deep driven common disrespect for law order and pure human kindness. I really don’t know how to view a situation like that other than to say there is no justification what was done to and by those people there in Cincinnati, regardless of what they may have or may not have said. Now don’t get me wrong every one of us here on the porch remember when we were growing up a lot of times your mouth got you in trouble because you said something you shouldn’t have said are you belittled another person. But I don’t ever remember any mob actions such as took place there in Cincinnati. I think one good point that was made was there was only one phone call to the police and that was it. If we continue on with looking at the news, we all I’m sure in wonder of the fact that now it is suddenly important what happened with the Russian collusion thing. We have all these hearings and all these political legal moves being made, and they will come to nothing they always do. I didn’t get any feedback from anybody by the way here on the porch about those folks in Texas that fled  the state in order to keep the assembly from having a vote on redistricting. I think the best thing they can do for the state of Texas it just don’t come back. As you know here on the porch, we always have opinions. We don’t require any evidence or anything like that. Everybody’s free to say what they’d like to say and we’re not in the business of contradicting someone or trying to make a scene. But here’s the ponder for tonight. 

If you ever during the 1980s or in that period of time ever watched the TV series M*A*S*H, there’s a line in there that I have never forgotten and he just sticks with me because it’s so outrageously funny and it doesn’t solve any problem and it doesn’t require a whole lot of effort. Now that works just well really well for us folks here on the porch. If you remember Sydney was in the OR, he was a psychiatrist they had sent there because the unit was having some trouble and I believe he received a head injury and came in on an ambulance. There was a shortage of doctors at that time so they drafted Sydney to help in the OR during that period of time. Sydney’s parting comment to them is what I want you to ponder…. The exact quote goes like this…. “Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.” Ponder that if you will.

Kurt

As we continue this series of searching for the good way, please excuse me, and I apologize if it times some things Ωseem redundant. After the day of Pentecost, the apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit, dispersed to preach the gospel throughout the world. There are many opinions about this and many traditions that suggest they initially remain in Jerusalem, then they eventually spread out to various regions and some apostles like Peter and John were prominent in the early church in Jerusalem, while others embarked on missionary journeys. This week we focus on John. John was with Peter in Jerusalem for a while and then he ministered from Ephesus from which, at a later date, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s very interesting story.

Before we get started, I want to share with you the origins of the information that I’m  sharing with you. This first set of information comes from AI, which is a new feature that most of us can make use of if we care to.We are warned to be careful and verify the things that are there because AI can make a mistake. For this particular set of information that I pulled up there were 11 separate references. I did check them and I found most of them to be correct.  It is said about John’s early ministry that he probably returned to his hometown of Bethsaida  in Galilee after the Pentecost. It is believed he stayed in contact with other apostles as they traveled through Samaria and Jerusalem, then tradition suggested John eventually moved to where he spent the later part of his life and ministry in Ephesus. This is where it is believed that he wrote the three epistles and the book of Revelation. One of the big things that John put his attention to was there was this thing going around of people that denied the true humanity and divinity of Jesus, John worked hard to counter that and he spoke against all of these various heresies that related to that. John provided strong leadership and guidance to the early church, he addressed the issues of faith and doctrine. John spent a great deal of his time proclaiming the gospel and a testifying to the truth of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection. His ministry left a lasting impact on the early church and his writings became the foundational texts for Christian belief and practice. Tradition says that John was taken to Rome, where he was subjected to torture and banished to the island of Patmos for his faith. After the death of the persecuting emperor Domitian, John returned to Ephsus and continued his ministry until his death in the early 90s.

The next segment that I read and studied and I’ve chose to share some of the information with you is from one of my favorite websites gotquestions.org . Here are some of the highlights.

-the apostle John was the author of five New Testament books. There was the gospel of John, the three short epistles that bare his name and the book of Revelations. 

-after the crucifixion, his importance in the 12 grew as he matured, he became a pillar in the Jerusalem church ministered with Peter, and finally was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Romans, where he received from God the majestic visions that compromise the book of Revelation.

-John is the brother of James. The two together became known as the sons of thunder. Their characteristics was the great zeal and passion and ambition in their early days with Jesus and at times John acted rashly, recklessly, impetuously, and aggressively.

-as he aged, he began to understand the need for humility in those who desired to be great. His example being that of  Jesus made a great impact on him. Jesus’ attitude towards servanthood impacted greatly John’s future ministry. One special point that was made in these writings was the fact that he grew so well and matured so much in the faith that when the time came Jesus trusted the care of his mother to John.

-one point that I read was Jesus’s passion for truth transferred to John’s passion for truth. John found joy in proclaiming the truth to others and then watching them walk in it. One of the things that John dislike the most was those who would pervert the truth and lead others astray, especially if they claim to be believers. John did not hesitate ever about identifying the false prophets and antichrist, those who tried to pervert the truth, even proclaiming them to be  evil  in nature.

-he was strong in his beliefs, and sometimes his words could be harsh. But John believed so strongly in truth and truth in love to the point that those we touch with in all things grow up into him who is the head, that being of course Christ.

-John’s confidence, boldness, compassion and grace was of such that coupled with a demeanor reflecting his passion for the truth and his compassion for people and his steadfast desire to serve and represent our Lord became one of the strong building blocks of the early church.

I encourage you to go to the website posted below and read the entire article from Got Questions.

https://www.gotquestions.org/life-John-Apostle.html

Life is Good

jk

Welcome back to the Back Porch, it’s still hot here and it’s not going to get any better. Weather wise this story is rather very simple. It can be summed up in just a few words “this ain’t exactly your grandmother’s summer.”   a few of us have gathered here on the porch even in heat, we have got the fans going and everybody’s got something cool to drink. A lot of times the conversations here on the porch will resolve around the news and what’s going on around us, sometimes we might remember some things from the past and get to reflecting on them and it’s always pleasant to remember things the way they used to be which in the minds of us older folks were the good old days. There was really no competition this week of excessive thoughts going around, we like to call them here  “the porch ponders”, it seems like the news of what happened in Cincinnati of the couple being beat up by a mob after a concert, kind of took the stage and we kind of dwelled on that. The news media attempts to try to inject race in everything that happens and we must say that those of us that meet here on the porch to ponder have a different outlook on things like that. We do not judge if it race were involved. We don’t know what happened, we weren’t there. But there is one common factor we can all agree on. This particular area is a “Sanctuary City.” Naturally with our group, we tend to look back and think about the biblical aspects of a sanctuary city so let’s do that before we ponder on the rest of this. In the Bible, the sanctuary primarily refers to a sacred place, often a designated area for worship or a place of divine presence. It was applied for the tabernacle and later for the temple in Jerusalem, as well as a place of protection and refuge. The concept of these cities of refuge as outlined in the Old Testament provides a biblical example of a sanctuary offering protection to those who had accidentally caused a death. Now the Old Testament describes the establishment of six cities of refuge which were served as sanctuaries for those who had actually killed someone. Basically, the cities purpose being a sanctuary place was that it would provide a place of safety for the accidental killer until their case could be reviewed by a judge protecting them from the avenger usually a relative of the deceased. These were not places of absolute immunity while offering protection. These cities did not grant absolute immunity to the individual, they had to present their case to the city elders and abide by the laws of the land, including remaining in the city until a judgment had been passed on their case. Somehow we’ve moved into today looking at it as modern-day sanctuary movement, that advocates for protection of vulnerable populations.

Keeping that definition in mind, we look at sanctuary cities, as jurisdictions of cities or counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The interesting thing about this is there is no real universally agreed upon definition, but what they usually do is limit or restrict generally local law-enforcements ability to inquire about our act on immigration status. Let’s cut to the chase on this. The the story out of the Cincinnati that we’ve all been reading about and the beating of those people has taken many different turns but we here on the porch are pondering why is it that in our society today people are so mad and so mean? There is no doubt in most of our minds that it has a lot to do with politics, culture, and social agendas. The sanctuary cities have created a place of violence, lawlessness and total disregard for the safety and rights of the population in general. Folks, let’s just throw out the term illegal alien and simply say that if you’re not in this country legally, then there is a problem. Now we may be stretching this just a little bit too far, but the fact is sanctuary cities have encouraged lawlessness, and it gives a false impression that law-enforcement will not enforce the laws as written, and in many places for some reason or other, it expands past illegals or people not in this country legally and it goes past that and simply hobbles work of law-enforcement to where they cannot be effective. So I ask you today to Ponder This. How long can we as a nation continue to tolerate such lawlessness? How long will it be before we will support and encourage those within our justice system to do their job?

Kurt

As we continue our journey to find a good way, I ran across a blog by James Jansen that has given me a whole new perspective in some ways of how we do this business of finding a good way and  sharing it with other people. At the end of this blog will be the URL to Mr. Jensen’s blog site. I highly recommend that you read his blog. It is excellently written and full of some very interesting facts. I learned a lot from it and part of the job of the Pew in my opinion is to share with you all the wonderful things that are available to us here on the Internet, who want to study the word and who want to learn more about the Bible and about Jesus Christ. 

Jesus’ ministry primarily took place in Galilee and Judea, with some activity in Samaria and beyond. He started in Galilee, preaching in synagogues and healing the sick. Later, he journeyed to Judea, including Jerusalem, where he was crucified. Historical writings and many of the biblical scholars point to the fact that Jesus’ main ministry was in Galilee, Judea and Samaria. There were some areas beyond Israel in which he traveled. Galilee is an area that Jesus spent a significant amount of his time in including towns like Capernaum where he performed many miracles. It was here also in Capernaum that Jesus gathered his first disciples. Jesus traveled to Judea, including Jerusalem for various Jewish festivals, including the Passover. We know his final week, including the last supper and crucifixion took place in Jerusalem. Jesus was always pushing the envelope as we would put it today, he traveled to Samaria interacting with the Samaritans, who were disliked by the Jewish population. In his travels outside of Israel. He want to places like Tyree, Sidon and the Decapolis, where he healed the Gentiles. The Decapolis was located east and southeast of the sea of Galilee. This was a group of cities that were geographically close, but they were culturally distinct from the surrounding Jewish settlements. The term itself is derived from the Greek meaning 10 cities. One of the things that I’ve come to realize was,  while Jesus was not what I would call an activist, he certainly was not a pacifist of no action at all. This area which was north west of Jordan, southern Syria and northern Israel, the cities were known for their great culture, language and urban organization. They were a part of the Roman empire, but they enjoyed a degree of anatomy and self governance. In the new Testament this area is mentioned in the gospels and it’s associated with Jesus’s ministry and as would be expected, there was a degree of cultural tension between the Greek Decapolis cities and the Jewish populations of the region. Having shared all this with you, let’s get on our way to the “Good Way.”

We’ll start by going back to the title of this blog at the very first when we are looking at the fact it only takes just a few good people to reach the many. I guess I will amend that a bit and simply say that it takes a few good people who love the Lord to reach many. That’s a bit of what we’re going to be looking at for the next few weeks. We’ll start with the ministry of Peter. We all know that Peter was a prominent apostle of Jesus, he was known for his leadership within the early church. Of course, we read of Peter all throughout the gospel of Jesus’s early ministry, but we find him prominently mentioned in the book of acts, particularly for his preaching at Pentecost and then his ministry in Jerusalem. Peter’s ministry included, preaching and healing and leading the early church. He wrote two books in the New Testament first and second Peter, his ministry was marked by a bonus in faith and the focus on the gospel. I apologize if we become too redundant here, but Peter deserves more than just a paragraph or two. The early church had just a few good people to take the message too many. Peter’s role was a prominent one after Pentecost and his leadership in the early church, his bold preaching and working to expand the church to include the Gentiles is something that we need to recognize. He had both successes and setbacks, including periods of persecution and personal failures, but ultimately remain a steadfast follower of Jesus. Here is a little more detail to what we’ve been reading for you. Up to now we had Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost that led to the conversion of approximately 3000 people, as he and those who came down from that room on that day filled the street and proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus and called for repentance. We should know that at this period of time in the history of the church as it first began, was very perilous time and Peter took a huge, huge gamble standing out in the crowd, preaching in the manner that he did. It is from this speech that he became a key leader in this growing Christian community and particularly there in Jerusalem. Some of the things that marked Peter’s ministry were a series of miraculous healings and demonstrations of God’s power. An example of which would be the healing of the man at the temples beautiful gate. One of the more important things that Peter did was he played a role in including the Gentiles in the Christian faith notably through his encounter with Cornelius and his family at a later date. It’s worth repeating that he faced opposition and persecution all along the way, including imprisonment, but he remained as we’ve said before steadfast in his faith. His two letters First and Second Peter offer guidance and encouragement to believers, especially those facing trials. Sadly, he was crucified upside down in Rome, a testament to his unwavering faith. As I wrote earlier, we’ll spend the next few weeks writing about the few who took the word, the message and the gospel to many. Next Week: John

Life is Good

jk

I am so grateful for those who give their time and abilities… “The Few” that give to so many. Read this Blog, you will be blessed…

https://www.jamesjanzen.com/blog/geography-101-the-triangle-of-jesus-ministry

Well, welcome to the porch, it does seem as if there’s no relief insight for these temperatures. I don’t know about where you live but here where I’m at on the plateau close to Nashville. We’re still looking at 90s or better during the next couple of weeks. The evening time is really about the only time that we can enjoy the porch as hot as it is out there, the humidity is also very very rough. But we can put aside the weather and find plenty of other things to be concerned about. Israel is still fighting for her existence. The Gaza Strip is a mess. The Palestinian people still suffer from lack of food and medical care and are constantly caught in the crossfire between Israel and Iran, and many honest innocent people are dying. We were reminded just the other day about the four college students that were brutally killed not too long ago, about two years ago to be exact. The perpetrator worked a plea deal and admitted to the killings in exchange for life in prison and not the death penalty. If you took time to read a little bit about it, particularly when the families had an opportunity to address what it happened to their loved ones and could face the perpetrator of such horror, it was an emotional time for all involved in that court. But when all things are said and done, four, people are still dead, and the grief is still there. It’s always been my opinion that regardless of all the well meaning things people will say to you like “I know it’s difficult but in time you’ll get over it”,  well, I don’t believe that and I don’t believe the hurt or the pain ever go away. I simply think that we just learned to tolerate it. Our country today is a little better off than it was six months ago, but anyway you wanna look at it, our government is still a mess. We are going through what I call a find, show, and tell period within our government. The goal seems to be to destroy, discredit, and even in some cases just do away with certain people and their opinions. Within politics today, it’s turned into a process of slash and burn, what the more educated call a scorched earth policy.Now we don’t normally here on the porch get ourselves involved in politics, it’s usually a losing situation. We like to ponder how things are going and what we think might work or might not work or sometimes just plain don’t pay any attention to any of it. But it does seem like that the Democrats are taking the path of a little spoiled kid that can’t get their way so they scream they holler, they roll the floor, they wave their arms, and then the disturbing pattern  now within politics on both side sides of the aisle by the way, if they can’t say anything intelligent, they just simply turn to the pinnacle of insults,  the F...word so that’s part of their playbook, the best they have for of their lack of a solution to the problem.

Here is the Ponder for this evening… . When a reason is no longer present at the table, our discourse becomes one of chaos. For us, ordinary folks, there’s only one way to go, in the opinion of those of us on the porch tonight. You will find it in the Bible in God’s word.

Philippians 4:8… and now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy appraise.

Ponder That!

Kurt

For the last two weeks we have searched for “The Good Way”…this week we continue that journey where it began for many, Pentecost, The Holy Spirt and Peter. No better place to start than The Book of Acts. Peter realized how important it was to seize the moment and to move forward immediately. I chose to use the word immediacy because I felt it best described the opportunity at hand. The Oxford dictionary has this definition of the word immediacy…the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement:

Consider this, as the early church came into being, they always believed, while they did not know for sure, they always believed that his coming would be soon. Right from the very start, they felt the urgency to share what they had seen heard and been a part of. And as I have already written, there is no better place to start to feel that urgency and to understand it then the Book of Acts. The Book of Acts, also known as the Acts of the Apostles, chronicles the early spread of Christianity after Jesus’ ascension. It highlights the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering believers, particularly Peter and Paul, as they preach the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, focusing on the transition from Jewish to Gentile Christianity and the growth of the church despite persecution. We will take time to examine some early footprints on the path to the Good Way…

• Pentecost and the Early Church
• Ministry of Peter
• Ministry of Paul
• Expansion to the Gentiles
• Persecution and Growth

Pentecost, as described in Acts chapter 2, is considered the birth of the Christian church. Following Jesus’s ascension, his disciples and followers gathered in Jerusalem and experienced the Holy Spirit’s descent, described as “tongues of fire”. This event empowered them to speak in various languages, leading to the conversion of thousands and marking a pivotal moment in the spread of Christianity. 

Now that’s the textbook explanation or description of what took place and that I believe. But to kind of bring that around to a Layman’s look at scripture and theological, explanations and studies… We see an event take place with signifies the arrival of the Holy Spirit, which enabled people to preach the gospel and perform miracles. Pentecost is seen as the birth of the early church with thousands of people joining the faith after Peter’s sermon. There is really no intense formula of what goes on there other than the outpouring of the Holy Spirt showed that the gospel was for all and not just the Jewish people. This early church devoted itself to the apostles teachings, fellowship, and the breaking of bread and prayer. It is proper note that the early church experienced rapid growth from just a small group to a significant movement and they did that in a relatively short period of time. The impact of that early church empowered by the Holy Spirit, transformed that small group of believers into a global movement that continues to this day to shape our world.

In the Book of Acts, Peter’s ministry is characterized by his bold preaching, miraculous works, and leadership in the early church.  I’ll take a closer look at Peter’s part in the early church. We know that the first sermon he preached leads to the conversions of thousands and established him as a key leader in the early church in the face of opposition from religious leaders and and others he continues to lead and teach the believers and perform miracles. He travels to Judea and Samaria in encountering new believers and continuing to spread that gospel. He heals people and raises Tabitha in Joppa. (Acts 9:36-43) There also is a very pivotal movement that takes place during Peter’s ministry. He has a vision and it led him to Cornelius a Roman centurion and his household, and through this encounter with Gentiles and they’re being baptized later it marked a moment that demonstrated the inclusion of gentiles in God’s plan of salvation. We know that Peter faced criticism from Jewish believers, particularly with his actions with Cornelius and his family, but he defend that decision and he continues to go forth with the word in Jerusalem, but is eventually imprisoned by Herod. One of the benchmarks of Peter’s ministry is that it was a servant leadership type of ministry. He encourages the elders to Shepherd the flock and then he calls believers to stand firm in the face of persecution. Overall, his actions and teachings provide the church today a model for leadership and ministry in all that we do

Ministry of Paul, as detailed in the New Testament involves spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly to the Gentiles. He did this through missionary journeys and letters. His ministry was characterized by both successes and persecution, which demonstrated his deep commitment to Christ. Paul had an overwhelming desire to see people transformed by the message of salvation. As we look a little closer it began with a dramatic conversion and an experience on the road to Damascus, here he encountered the risen Jesus.He spent time in Arabia and Damascus, and then returned to his hometown of Taurus. There were three missionary journeys, major missionary journeys accompanied by various companions and they traveled throughout the Roman empire, their journeys mainly involved, preaching teaching and establishing new churches. One interesting thing about Paul and probably not well known, is he wrote 13 of the books of the New Testament, also he wrote numerous letters to the churches that he had established addressing various theological and practical issues, and these letters became a foundational text for Christian theology and practice in the future. In biblical times, anyone who was not a Jew was considered a gentile. This ministry was particularly significant for its focus on bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. It is understandable that Paul faced quite a bit of opposition and persecution throughout his ministry, including imprisonment and hardships. Teachings always emphasized the grace of God in the importance of faith in Jesus Christ and the freedom from the law. Paul was known for preaching in very diverse settings, healing and establishing leadership within the churches that he visited,   and started. Paul worked with a network of individuals who supported his ministry in various ways. Priscilla, Aquila, Timothy, Titus, and many others. Overall, Paul’s ministry had a profound impact on the development of Christianity and even to this day continues to shape Christian thought and practice.

Expansion to the Gentiles, leads us to some very interesting reading. It begins in act 10 sometimes referred to as a gentile Pentecost in Acts 10:9–16. We read of Peter’s vision of a sheet filled with unclean animals. From this Peter gained the knowledge that the gospel was not limited to just Jewish people. Peter then went to the home of Cornelius a Roman centurion where the Holy Spirit came upon this household as they listen to Peter preach. That event demonstrated that the gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit and become believers. You didn’t have to be Jewish first. This was a huge turning point in the churches understanding and practice regarding the inclusion of Gentiles. We will not get into Paul’s letters at this point and how they affected the Christian faith and growth of the church at this time. What is important right now is the theological significance of what is happening. The inclusion of these gentles fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his descendants. It brought to the front the fact that there was a universality which signaled the fact that salvation is not limited to one ethnic or cultural group. It was at this point that this wall of hostility dividing the people was put to rest. We must consider the fact that the expansion to the Gentiles was not without challenges and conflicts. There was always a conflict regarding the role of Jewish law and customs for gentile believers. In Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council addressed those issues affirming the Gentiles were not required to adhere to the full masonic law. The one thing that we need to glean from this is that the expansion to the Gentiles really did shape their church and lead its growth into a global faith. But most important, we must not forget the fact it established the foundation for the churches mission to all nations as instructed in the great commission.

Persecution and Growth, now most of the research that I’ve done does not lead me to the conclusion that persecution was a catalyst for growth within the community of the early church. I do agree with the fact that persecution can lead to an increased commitment, increase the number of witnesses within the organization, it has a purifying effect upon community weeding out those who are nominal believers, leaving behind a more committed group. I really don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on this part of it, but persecution does lead to loss of people within the movement it also at times can weaken the influence of Christianity. We can look at the history of North Africa and our history in the Middle East to show that growth is not always guaranteed. But I believe the biggest problem that we have then and we have now is complacency and spiritual stagnation within the religious community. I am a firm believer that the growth of religion if you want to put it that way, of our church is directly related to faith. Faith and the promises of Jesus Christ and the salvation of the believers in the days to come. Thanks for joining me on this part of our journey. I hope you’ll come back next week.

Life is Good

jk