On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there. 2 Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Six water pots made of stone were sitting there, used for ceremonial cleansing by the Jews, containing twenty to thirty gallons[a] each. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 Then He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water that had been turned into wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who drew the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 and he said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and after men have drunk freely, then the poor wine is served. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and He revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. 12 After this He, and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples went down to Capernaum. They remained there a few days.
Sermon Video
The Great I AM
This passage in the Gospel of John is the first of seven miracles that Jesus performed that help us know that we have eternal life.
It’s also organized around 7 statements, called the “I AM” statements. When God told Moses to go get the children of Israel from Egypt, Moses asked God, “Who should I say sent me?” God responded, “Tell them ‘I AM’ has sent you.” So we know God as being the Great “I AM.”
God told Moses He was “I AM”
In the Gospel of John, there are seven times when Jesus says, “I am…” and concludes with seven different things. This is the first of the seven miracles that are mentioned there.
The Event
It was a wedding. Weddings then weren’t like weddings today. They were very long, drawn-out events. It all started with a betrothal. That lasted for a year. During that time, the groom went and prepared the home for his new wife.
Weddings in Jesus’ time were much different than they are today.
Then on the day of the wedding, he would go get the bride. A group went with him. There was a procession as the bride was brought to the wedding.
Then there was a feast. If the family could afford it, they would have a master of the feast.
I know this one was a big wedding based on the number of water jugs that Jesus had the servants fill. It was between 120-180 gallons.
So, the bride and groom had a problem. They were out of wine. Mary said, “If you have a problem, go to Jesus.” Good advice.
At the time of this miracle, Jesus’ ministry had not yet come to its fullness. At first, only the servants knew about the miracle. The celebration continued and none of these events took away from the couple’s time together.
Of course, the servants didn’t keep it quiet for long. Maybe some of the disciples were watching, or maybe Mary was. I don’t know who was looking on, but many people knew that this miracle had taken place, and word got out.
So as Jesus got ready to come into His ministry, there was already a foreshadowing of the miracles to come.
The Substance
There has been much debate over the “wine” mentioned here. Even the Old Testament sometimes mentions wine as an intoxicating beverage. Noah drank some and became drunk. (Genesis 9:21)
But I want to make clear that the wine here is not like we think of wine today. The word wine in the Bible is the word “oinos” which means fruit of the vine. Modern-day wine comes from distilleries. Those did not even exist at the time this wedding took place. When they distill the wine, it becomes more concentrated and the alcohol content is much higher. The wine at this event was not like that.
Fruit of the vine did mean the “wine” they had then, but it can also be grape juice. Many churches, including mine, use grape juice for the Lord’s Supper.
It wasn’t wine like we think of it today.
Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach. (1 Timothy 5:23) This was not so he would become intoxicated, but for medicinal reasons. A little wine for health reasons is OK. I know of a lady who was a strong Christian. Her doctor advised her to drink a small amount of wine daily to help with her blood pressure. She did do that. Again, that was fine for medicinal purposes. Some church covenant agreements among members might rule out even this. Be faithful to your particular covenants.
Some churches I’ve attended have their covenant hanging on the wall. These covenants often include a phrase like, “refrain from the sale and use of alcohol as a beverage.” That’s probably the position of many churches, whether they have that hanging on the wall or not.
In Biblical times, there was another designation for a diluted drink that was still called, “wine.” That was a mixture containing the wine (whether the grape juice or the fermented product that could intoxicate) mixed with five parts of water–on part wine, five parts water. This mixture was still called, “wine.”
We’re told to be filled with the Spirit and not drunk with wine. (Ephesians 5:18) Those who are drunk with wine act differently than they would otherwise. When we are filled with the Spirit we act differently than we would otherwise. We ought to be bolder.
It’s possible that in Biblical days, they had issues with the purity of the water. Mexico is a good modern-day example. When you visit there, you’re told not to even brush your teeth with the tap water, but to use bottled water instead. Many countries have this problem.
In Biblical times, they had a process where they would take an amount of wine, and 5 equal amounts of water and mix it with the wine. You can see how that would help avoid drunkenness by diluting the wine and the alcohol content.
It’s possible that any of these drinks were what they had at the wedding. I just want to be sure you understand that the word “wine” has a much broader meaning than what we think.
Whatever it was, they had wine and then ran out. Then they filled the water jugs to the brim and Jesus caused it to become the wine, and it was the best. The master of the feast said it was the best.
The Reason
Why did this miracle take place? The New Testament is not the only place where miracles appear in the Bible.
Mary knew who Jesus was. She knew that he was the Son of God. She knew that He could take care of this problem.
There are seven miracles recorded in the Gospel of John.
Why?
To show that Jesus was more than just a man who was considered to be a great teacher. He was a man who went about doing good. But He was more than that.
He was the Divine Son of God. The Bible says that He was God in the flesh. He was God and He was with God. That’s beyond our human comprehension, but I believe it as fact.
Jesus was fully God but also fully human. He got tired. He had flesh. When he was whipped by the Romans, His flesh was torn from His body so that He barely looked human. He experienced physical suffering. He even knew what it was like to die. He also rose from the grave.
Many miracles are recorded in the Bible.
These miracles show who He was.
After Jesus ascended into Heaven, there were more miracles. Peter, John, and Paul all witnessed miracles.
Why were they so prevalent then? First, it was to show that Jesus was truly God. Second, it was to show that the disciples, who would write down the words that became the New Testament, were genuine Gospel writers, and that the writing was coming from God. Once God decided everything He wanted to be recorded was written down, there was no need for the abundance of miracles.
That doesn’t mean that there are no miracles anymore. The miracles in the Bible are there to show us that He’s a miracle-working God.
We aren’t Gospel writers and we aren’t God in the flesh, but we are people who can pray. We can pray and God will come and answer prayers.
At the end of His earthly life, He was put in the grave, but the grave could not hold Him. That gives us hope. Some of us have faced death. We’ve been in car wrecks and survived, or had a serious illness. But there was a peace from God that passes all understanding. For those of us who are Christians, that’s so encouraging. If you’re a child of God, Heaven is what awaits you.
There is a story about an old evangelist named John Rice. A man pulled out a pistol, pointed it at the preacher, and said, “I’m going to blow your brains out.” His reply was, “Son, you can’t scare me with Heaven,”
Heaven is for real!
Some people say that we talk about Heaven so much that we’re no earthly good. I say that we talk about Heaven so much that we ARE earthly good. We talk about Heaven so much that we know we have a miracle-working God, we can pray and sometimes see unusual miracles take place. We know that the grace of God is sufficient for us and that even if we don’t get the answer we want when we want it, Heaven is for real. We know that when this life is over, we’ll go into eternity and this will just be like a drop in the bucket.
If you don’t know Jesus, you ought to. You can call upon Him today. I can help you find the way. Contact me here and I’ll be happy to talk to you about your relationship with Christ.
Have you ever wondered how to serve the Lord when you have someone over you who’s not a committed Christian?
Sermon Video
Maybe it’s a college professor trying to challenge your faith. It could be in grade school or high school with difficult teachers. Perhaps you have a difficult boss at your job. Maybe your company is going to be taken over by another company, and it has a bad reputation. You may worry about restructuring and new management.
We don’t know how all these events will turn out. What we do know is that no matter where we are or what circumstances we find ourselves in, we are to serve God to the best of our ability.
In Jeremiah chapter 27, Jeremiah had the difficult task of telling the kings that they were going to come under the rule of another nation.
Jeremiah 27 (MEV)
In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Thus says the Lord to me: Make bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, 3 and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 And command them to go to their masters, saying: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to your masters: 5 I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts which are on the ground by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed good to Me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And also I have given to him the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son until the time of his own land comes; and then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. 8 It shall come to pass that I will punish the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, says the Lord. I will punish that nation with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, or to your diviners, or to your dreamers, or to your enchanters, or to your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” 10 For they prophesy a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land. And I will drive you out, and you shall perish. 11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, says the Lord, and they shall till it and dwell in it. 12 I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon,” because they prophesy a lie to you. 15 For I have not sent them, says the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out and that you might perish, you and the prophets that prophesy to you. 16 I also spoke to the priests and to all this people: Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, “The vessels of the house of the Lord will now soon be brought again from Babylon.” For they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not go to Babylon. 19 For thus says the Lord of Hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 Indeed, thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 22 They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day that I visit them, says the Lord. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.
Jeremiah was a prophet in the Old Testament.
The Prophesy
Jeremiah prophesied judgment on God’s people who had been disobedient. It had already happened to the northern kingdom.
He told the kings that the world was going to come under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He advised them to cooperate and live. He told them not to listen to the lying prophets, and that even the vessels of the temple that hadn’t been carried away before would be taken away. They were going to stay until the Lord delivered them. It turned out to be a period of 70 years, so there were going to be 2 generations who lived most of their lives under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Timing is Important
Now, before I get into the “meat” of this, let me say that there are times to fight and times to stand. Not always do you acquiesce to those that are coming against you. You need to know when God is telling you to act. Fight when it’s time to fight and resist when it’s time to resist.
When the Roman soldiers captured Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He allowed it to happen. But another time they came for Him, He walked into the crowd and just disappeared. (Luke 4:30) All of the apostles were imprisoned for taking a stand for their faith, but there were times when they didn’t allow themselves to be captured. Acts 9 tells of Paul being lowered over the city gates in a basket to escape capture.
I’m talking here about when God tells you to give in.
As we look at Jeremiah’s message to the kings, let’s think about three considerations that may be applied to us today.
God’s Judgment
Time and time again, God’s people had been warned that they needed to repent, They had been turning from the Living God to idols. They were disobeying God.
Life is sacred.
The United States has been warned time and time again. The U.S. has turned away from God many times. For example, over 63 million innocent lives have been lost to abortion since 1973. There are consequences for sin.
I believe that we are under judgment already. Empty store shelves are similar to a famine. The recent outbreaks of disease can be compared to pestilence. There are consequences for sin. Just because we are in the United States of America, it doesn’t mean we’re immune from those things.
But we also need to realize that the bondage is not always of our own making. There were people who were faithful to God in Jeremiah’s time; not everybody had turned away from the Lord. There were those who wanted to serve Him. However, they were still going to be facing the same consequences as everyone else. Not all bondage is of your personal doing, but we all have to suffer the consequences of national sin.
In years past, we had the national sin of slavery and racism, and we’re still making up for it.
In Jeremiah’s day, there was no United States. There was no nation that had the type of freedom that we have. The nation of Israel wanted a king. God gave them what they wanted, but had a warning. He told them that the kings would take their livestock, much of their goods, and a lot of their riches. Sometimes they had a good king, but sometimes the king was wicked.
My point is life under Nebuchadnezzar may not have been any worse than under a local rule that was wicked.
They were there because of the judgment for their past sins. Now God was telling them He was going to add to that.
Serving God in Difficult Times
You can serve God in captivity. You can serve God when you’re under foreign rule.
There’s an example of that in the Bible. Joseph, in the Old Testament, was very loved by his father.(Genesis 37-50) His father gave him a special coat of many colors. That caused jealousy among his brothers. One time when they were out tending the flocks, the brothers conspired to capture Joseph. They took him and put him in a pit. Then they took his coat, tore it, and put animal blood on it, They took the coat to their father and made it appear that Joseph was dead.
When the brothers returned to the pit, rather than kill him, they decided to sell him to a group of Midianites that was passing by. They then sold Joseph to a high-ranking official in Egypt named Potiphar.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers.
Joseph had been betrayed by his brothers, taken from his homeland, and sold into slavery. He did the best he could in those circumstances. Over time, he was given positions of responsibility. The slave became like a chief administrator over Potiphar’s house.
Then, Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce Joseph. When he refused her advances, she became angry and falsely accused him of assault.
Faithful Through the Trials
The roller coaster of Joseph’s life continued. After the accusation, he was thrown into prison. But he was a cooperative prisoner and became a trustee of sorts. He organized the other prisoners and together they cleaned up the prison.
Before long, Joseph became high in authority in the prison.
Then, a couple of Pharoah’s officials were put into prison. While there, they had some dreams and Joseph told them what the dreams meant. He said one would be released and the other executed. It happened just the way Joseph said it would.
The one who had been released forgot all about Joseph…until the Pharaoh had a dream that nobody could explain. When he heard about the dream, he remembered Joseph and said he was in touch with God and could interpret dreams.
Pharaoh sent for Joseph and God revealed to him what the dream was and its meaning. Joseph told the king that famine was coming and that he should build storehouses during the plentiful years so there would be food when the famine came.
The king was so impressed that he put Joseph in charge of storing up the grain for the coming famine. The man who was once a prisoner was now in a place of high authority in Egypt.
Even in captivity, you can serve the Lord.
Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego
Think of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (Daniel 3:16-28) The king had erected a statue of a false god and ordered everyone to bow whenever they heard the music. The king commanded that anyone who would not worship be thrown into the fiery furnace.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not do it. Their refusal was reported to the king. The king had a dilemma because during their captivity, the three had found favor with him. He didn’t want to execute them.
The king confronted them and asked again if they would bow. They all said no. The king asked if their God was able to deliver them. They said they knew He was able, but even if He chose not to, they still wouldn’t worship the false god.
So, the three were thrown into the furnace. When someone looked inside, they did not see three people…but four! The Son of God was in that furnace with them. They were delivered.
Even when faced with execution, they were faithful to God.
During Daniel’s captivity, the king decreed that no one was allowed to pray for a period of time. Daniel defied the order and prayed three times a day, as he always had. He was thrown into a den of hungry lions. The lions’ mouths were shut and Daniel was delivered. (Daniel 6)
Naaman
In 2 Kings 5, we find the story of Naaman. He was a great warrior, but he had leprosy. A slave girl who was serving his wife talked about the prophet Elisha in her homeland. Naaman trekked to Jerusalem for healing. Elisha didn’t even come out to greet him. He sent word that Naaman should go wash in the Jordan River 7 times. He was healed.
You can serve the Lord in captivity. You can serve the Lord when things aren’t going well. You can serve the Lord if your government becomes corrupt.
We still have a responsibility to serve God to the best of our ability. We still have a responsibility to do that which is right and to be honest.
Our treasures are not on earth.
Do things for God, and your treasures will be laid up in heaven. We need to make sure that our friends and family have the promise of heaven, regardless of what the future holds. Remember, we’re just passing through.
The year was 1635. John Elliott had just finished a long day riding his horse in the rain. Just as he had the past few days, he removed his boots and socks. He wrung the water out of his socks only to put them back on again. He was concerned about his health after the trip. But he had a mission.
John Elliott
John Elliott was born in England in 1604. Like many others, he had attended Cambridge University.
He came to America and after a couple of years, was sent to Boston, Massachusetts, which, at the time, was a rural and wooded town. He became the pastor of Roxbury Church.
Why America?
Why did people come to America? It certainly wasn’t for an easy life. Many had to learn how to farm, something they had never done before. Indians taught them how to farm.
Some new settlers came seeking gold. We’re told that’s why the Spaniards came. But the ones that came from England were escaping religious persecution. They wanted to worship God in the way they felt they should according to their hearts.
Many that came over were already pastors. John Elliott was one of them.
A New Mission Field
He had a heart for the Native Americans. He wanted to share the Gospel with them. There was a problem, though: they didn’t speak the same language. So John decided to learn their language. He discovered what a difficult task it was going to be when he learned that a two-syllable phrase in English translated to a 12-syllable phrase in the Wampanoag (the local Indian’s) language. He began learning the language, but also had an interpreter who knew enough English so they could converse back and forth.
The apostle to the Native Americans
There were a few stumbling blocks in the process of sharing the Gospel because the two had to sometimes clarify what the other was trying to say. But they eventually got the message out.
They began telling them that all people had sinned and come short of the glory of God. That Jesus Christ had come to this Earth as the Son of God, He lived a sinless life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. Then He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
John went on to tell them that Jesus was coming again and it will be as a Judge. But the ones who accept Him as Savior will escape the judgment.
That is the message he presented to his neighbors. They were open and many of them wanted to receive Jesus as Savior.
In fact, there were so many that they decided to start their own village. They called them Gospel Towns.
In Europe, he was known as the man who printed the first complete Bible in the United States. It was a Bible written in the language of the American Indians he was ministering to.
He had preached to so many Native Americans (Algonquins) who then began preaching to their tribes themselves that he wound up with 24 villages. They weren’t small, either. The villages had populations of 2,50 – 4,000.
Endure Hardness
John Elliott was traveling to these various towns when the relentless rain hit and he had to wring his socks out each night. He may have gotten some shelter in a tent for a time, but again and again, went back out into the weather. He wondered if he’d develop pneumonia or something worse and wind up dying from it. While having these thoughts, he was reminded of the verse 2 Timothy 2:3 which says, “ Endure hard times as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
It had been raining for days.
What do you do when hard times come? There’s your answer. Endure hardness.
That’s what many of the people who came to America decided to do in those early days.
There’s a book by Robert J. Morgan called “100 Verses That Made America: Defining Moments That Shaped Our Faith.” I’ve gotten several stories from it, including the one here. I would recommend you take a look.
John Elliott said that when things got hard, Jesus stepped in and brought to his mind the verse in 2 Timothy: “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
Why Endure Hardness?
Why should we endure hardness? Because hardness is going to come. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust alike. (Matthew 5:45) Sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, sometimes it rains too much. It’s just a fact of life. Some things are hard. It’s not all easy.
I think of newly married couples. The hard times are bound to come. It’s so important that you endure the hard times and stick it out. It’s not always you causing trouble with one another, sometimes it’s just the difficulties of life.
Disappointment comes. It could be illness, the sudden death of a loved one, financial hardship, or something else. If you make it through the hardness together, when you come out on the other side, somehow, you’re stronger.
Of course, you wouldn’t ask for those difficult times to come to make you stronger, but you can be thankful that you have become stronger.
We’re to endure hardness. It will come.
Preparation for battle
When a soldier goes into the service, they start off in basic training. They have a drill sergeant who is usually pretty tough. One person said, while he didn’t remember his drill sergeant’s name, he did remember that he was always there. At first, he didn’t like that he was always there, but then he grew to appreciate that the officer was always around when he was needed.
The training is preparing you for the hardness of battle.
The soldiers are sometimes given a backpack to carry. It may weigh as much as 50 pounds. Then they’re told to go on a run or hike. They’re being prepared physically, pushed beyond their limits.
I once took a class called “physical fitness” at a local community college. When we started, they brought us all in and had us do different physical tests. We did pushups, situps, and chin-ups. They didn’t tell us why we were doing them, so we all did our very best.
In the next class, they told us that they were going to take our best and cut it in half. We were all happy with that. Then they said we were going to do each exercise three times. We weren’t quite as thrilled then. But we went on, and at the end of the semester, we did the same tests again and found that we had gained in all the areas we had been working on.
We were pushed to our physical limits and grew as a result.
Endure Hardness as a Good Soldier
Endure hardness as a good soldier.
Soldiers are required to make their beds daily. An officer once said that it’s to establish a routine and develop good habits. It’s part of being disciplined.
What is a follower of Christ called? A disciple, which comes from the word discipline. In Luke 14:26, Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”
The part about hating family members is by comparison. Your love and devotion to Jesus should be so much more than that for your family that it isn’t even close!
Discipline
To be a disciple of Jesus.
A Good Soldier
Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
The verse says to be a good soldier, not one that goes in and destroys the countryside. A good soldier doesn’t go in and pillage and plunder.
We’re called to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
A while back, I heard that many people in Afghanistan were coming to Christ. Why? Because of the good soldiers that were sharing the Gospel.
Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
We have Jesus as our great Commander. He’s the greatest leader ever. Our Earthly leaders will do the best they can but they can only do so much. They have to deal with their limitations. But when you have Jesus Christ as a leader, He is the Lord of the universe. He knows everything. He will make the best decisions. So as a good soldier, you follow Him.
Even if you don’t understand what your leader is doing, a good soldier completes the mission and sees in the end how it all works out. That’s how God works with us sometimes.
Joni Eareckson Tada
You may have heard of a lady named Joni Eareckson Tada. In 1967, she misjudged the depth of a river and dove in headfirst. She suffered a fracture between her fourth and fifth vertebrae which left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. She has very limited use of her hands and is able to lift a little bit, but that’s all.
Joni Eareckson Tada
But she’s painted beautiful pictures by holding a paintbrush in her mouth. She’s given speeches all over and has been an inspiration to many. She has endured hardship and come through it.
Sometimes God allows us to endure hardness so we can help someone else.
Unbroken
The prisoner could not be broken!
A group of soldiers had been captured and were prisoners of war. One of the camp guards did everything he could to break their spirit. It was hard to break the spirit of one of the soldiers, though. He had such determination. At one point, this solder was about at his physical breaking point. The leader of the camp ordered him to lift a log. Even on his best day, the soldier couldn’t have lifted it, and now he was ready to drop. But somehow, he managed to hoist the log over his head. The camp leader who was trying to break this man wound up the one who was broken and defeated.
We’re to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
One day, Jesus is coming back. One day, there will be a war. All the forces of good and evil will come to battle. Jesus’ forces, including those of us who are Christians, will fight with Him. It’s called the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:16)
How will it end? God, The One who spoke the world into existence will win the battle!
Whose side will you be on?
Armor of God
The Bible tells us to put on the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11-17) You begin with the helmet of salvation. If you don’t have the helmet of salvation, the rest of the armor is useless. But the verses also talk about the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
Ephesians 6:11-17
I want to encourage you, as John Elliott was encouraged, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
If you have never put on the helmet of salvation, or even if you’re not sure. You need to be sure! Feel free to contact me here and I can help you and answer any questions you may have.
Proverbs 26:27 “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will return upon him.” (MEV)
I picture someone digging a deep pit or moving a huge boulder when I read this verse. Perhaps a stone-like those used to seal graves. It took many men or an amazing feat of engineering to get them moved into place.
Sermon video
That’s why the women who were going to Jesus’ tomb wondered who would move the stone for them. Of course, we know that their concern wasn’t necessary. The angels had already moved the stone.
The verse above shows the negative side of how things happen sometimes. There’s a positive side found in the New Testament.
The Golden Rule
Going back to my youth, a positive side was presented to me by none other than Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. At the end of their program, they would sing, “Happy trails to you, until we meet again.” They were Christians. Dale Evans went around the country talking about the Bible. My wife and I actually heard her speak in Kansas City, Missouri.
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
One of the things they would say before singing their signature song was, “Remember, boys and girls, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” You probably know this as “The Golden Rule.” It’s actually Biblical. The verse can be found in Matthew 7:12.
Jesus said that there were two commandments. The first one was the greatest, which is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second one is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
Pressed Down, Shaken Together, and Running Over
That’s the positive side of the verse in Proverbs. The Bible says that what you sow, you reap. (Galatians 6:7) If you sow good things, you will reap good things. If you give, it will be given to you with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. (Luke 6:38)
Running over
We had a friend who told of how he had moved to a new community and they arranged for a trash pickup. The first week, something went wrong, and the trash wasn’t picked up.
My friend checked and figured they could get by another week until the pickup came. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and he climbed on top of the trash pile and began to jump on it to compact it and make some more room.
However, the following week, the trash service forgot again. He climbed up on the pile and began to jump to compact it even more. It was then that the verse, “pressed down, shaken together, and running over” came into his mind.
Haman
On the negative side, if you try to dig a pit to bring harm to someone else, you will fall into your own pit. If you have a boulder set to ambush someone, be careful because it may roll down on you.
The story of Haman, beginning in Esther 3, tells how Haman was jealous of Esther’s cousin, Mordecai. Haman had a gallows built with the intention of seeing Mordecai hanged on it.
Through a series of events, it was discovered that the wicked one was actually Haman. The king was so enraged that he ordered Haman to be hanged on the gallows he himself had built!
Be careful what you do. It can come back to you. Good can come back good, but evil can come back evil.
Payday, Someday
Dr. R.G. Lee (1886-1978) was the pastor of Bellview Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Lee was a very well-known Southern Baptist preacher and preached all over the country.
Dr. R.G. Lee
He had a sermon that was very well known. It was often requested that he preach it. I read that he had preached this sermon over 1,000 in his lifetime. It was called “Payday, Someday.” (I borrowed the title.)
I’m going to share some ideas from that sermon with you, but I’m going to put my own take on it.
I’m going to tell you about 2 modern characters, 4 Biblical characters, and the day to come.
Nick
There was a man named Nick who lived in the 1960s. As he was growing up, he wasn’t doing well. In fact, his parents had a difficult time raising him. It was so hard, in fact, that they sent him from Puerto Rico, where he was born, to New York City to stay with relatives.
While living in NYC, he began to run with crowds that were similar to the ones he ran with when he lived in Puerto Rico. He discovered the street gangs in New York. Before long, he had become a member of one of them.
It wasn’t long before Nick joined a gang.
The gang was involved in all sorts of illegal activities, including drugs. The gangs would fight one another. They made homemade guns. They killed members of rival gangs. Nick had killed people and narrowly escaped death himself.
At the same time, there was a ministry in New York that wanted to try to help the gang members and drug addicts, and other youth in crisis. They decided to rent out a building and have a church service. They used school buses to go around and pick up the various gang members. They didn’t realize that they were putting together two gangs that fought against each other. At least two rival gangs were at that church service that night.
The kids were making a mockery of the service. During a solo, some of them began to dance in the aisles…not in the Biblical way! But they heard the Gospel.
Nick was one of the people in attendance that night. He had heard the Gospel and had a decision to make.
Tom
Next, we have Tom. Tom wasn’t involved in drugs or gangs. He just lived a regular life. But Tom needed Jesus just as much as Nick did. How do I know? Because everybody needs Jesus that much! Seven years old or seventy years old…everyone needs Jesus.
Tom had been invited to church and he occasionally went. He had heard the Gospel. He even understood the Gospel. He was like the man that Paul spoke to in Acts who told Paul to go away and he’d call for him later. (Acts 24:25)
“Tom” could be anyone.
Tom didn’t want to change his life or his friends at that time. He said he’d do it later.
Those are the two modern-day people. Now I want to talk about the four from the Bible.
Naboth
The first is Naboth. His story is found in 1 Kings 21:1-16. Naboth owned a vineyard. He was a good man. He had been schooled in the law of the Hebrews. The law said that they could not sell land with the idea of it being a permanent sale. The land would come back to them after a period of time.
Naboth was committed to upholding that.
Ahab and Jezebel
At that time, Ahab was the king of Israel. He was the son of Omri, one of the most wicked kings that Israel had ever had. Ahab was actually worse than his father.
Ahab’s summer palace was located right next to Naboth’s vineyard. The king asked to buy the vineyard, but Naboth refused, as a permanent sale of the land went against scripture. Ahab was very upset and returned to the palace.
Ahab’s wife was a woman named Jezebel. She was not of Jewish descent. She was a foreigner and worshiped Baal. She was very dedicated to her religion and would do anything she could to take out the competition.
Upon his return to the palace, Ahab went to his bed and pouted and refused to eat. His wife went to him to find out what was wrong. He told her about his conversation with Naboth and his refusal to sell the vineyard.
Ahab wanted Naboth’s land.
Jezabel said, “Aren’t you the king of Israel? Get up and eat something. I’ll get that vineyard for you. I just need to borrow your ring.”
So Jezabel, pretending to be Ahab, wrote a letter to the elders and nobles in Naboth’s city. She instructed them to proclaim a fast on a certain day. On that day, they were to bring Naboth to the seat of judgment for a trial. The charge was blasphemy, which was punishable by death.
The day arrived and the elders and nobles did as they were instructed. Naboth was put on trial. Jezabel had hired two “sons of Belial” to bear false witness against Naboth. (Belial is another word for the devil.)
Before he even had a chance to defend himself, he was taken out of the city and stoned to death.
Elijah
The fourth BIblical character is Elijah. He was a spokesman for God and had said that it wouldn’t rain until Elijah said it would. (1Kings 17:1) So, Ahab already hated him. Because of that, Elijah had gone into hiding, which further enraged Ahab. When Elijah, alone, went up against 450 prophets of Baal and won, that angered Jezebel. (1 Kings 18:16-40)
Elijah heard what had happened to Naboth and he met with Ahab. He told Ahab that the dogs would lick up his blood in the place where he killed Naboth. He also said that dogs would consume his wife, Jezebel.
Ahab returned to his palace. He and Jezebel would sometimes eat food that came from Naboth’s lands. After a time, when nothing happened to them, Jezebel began to mock what Elijah had said. She believed nothing would happen to them.
Payday Always Comes
With God, there’s always a payday. It’s just not always on Friday.
Ahab and Jezebel lived on happily for 3 years.
Then the king of Judah came to visit Ahab and the two decided to go to war in an effort to claim some land. Ahab planned to go into battle in disguise; wearing the disguise over his royal armor.
The captain of the opposing army instructed his men to only go after Ahab, no one else. Because Ahab was in disguise, no one could find him. Finally, a soldier shot an arrow randomly into the air. It went into an opening in Ahab’s armor and wounded him. They made their way back in the direction of the palace. Ahab’s blood was pouring from the chariot, and, just as prophesied, dogs licked it up in the very place where Naboth died.
It happened exactly as Elijah had prophesied
Jezebel, however, still lived. She lived through many kings. Then, King Jehu came into power. He came to the wall of the palace where she was and asked if any within were on his side. There were some, and he ordered that Jezabel be thrown from the wall. He trampled her with his horse.
When they later went to bury her, all that remained was her skull, feet, and palms of her hands. The dogs had eaten the rest.
There’s always a payday.
Chief of the Kangaroo Court
Dr. Lee said that he would sometimes receive hate mail. One of the letter-writers would sign the letters “The Chief of the Kangaroo Court.”
One day while sitting at home, a nurse from a Memphis hospital called Dr. Lee and said that a man was requesting his presence. He refused to give his name to the hospital, but said to tell Dr. Lee that he was the “Cheif of the Kangaroo Court.”
When he arrived at the hospital, Dr. Lee encountered a young man with the wildest, weirdest eyes he’d ever seen. The man may have been large at one point, but his boy was ravaged by disease.
He said to the man, “Hello.”
“Howdy do?” he answered.
“Is there something I can do for you?” Dr. Lee asked as kindly as he could.
“No. Nothing! Not a thing. Nothin’ ‘tall! — unless you throw my body to the buzzards when I am dead — if the buzzards will have it!” he said.
Then his voice lost some of the snarl — and he spoke again. “I sent for you, sir because I want you to tell these young fellows here something for me. I sent for you because I know you go up and down the land and talk to many young people. And I want you to tell ’em, and tell ’em every chance you get, that the Devil pays only in counterfeit money.”
R.G. Lee would have loved to lead that young man to the Lord, but it wasn’t to be. He sat by the bedside and two hours later, the young man died.
There’s a payday coming someday.
Eternal Consequences
Back to Tom. He had said, “Someday, I will come to to the Lord. I will get saved someday when I’m older.” Before that “someday” came, Tom had a stroke. Pastors came to visit, but Tom was unresponsive, unconscious. Payday had come for Tom.
David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz
Nick, better known as Nicky Cruz, heard David Wilkerson preach and gave his life to the Lord the night of that service, as did another gang leader. Several members of the gang followed in their footsteps and became Christians,
Payday is coming someday!
If we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, at the end of our life when that payday comes, it won’t be a bad one, it will be a wonderful one. All wrongs will be made right. Maybe not in our timeline, but it will happen.
What will your payday be?
What is the way out for us as humans? It’s simply the fact that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to this world to be crucified. Jesus had the weight of all the sins of all the world, past, present, and future, put upon Him. The answer for your payday is what you have done with Jesus. Have you accepted Him as your Lord and Savior? Or, like Tom, are you putting it off until a more convenient time?
Payday is coming. I hope you’re ready. If you’re not, I invite you to come to Jesus.
Jay Austin was, on the surface, a successful used car salesman. Unfortunately, his sales techniques were less than honorable. He made promises he couldn’t keep, cheated people, and said whatever was necessary to make the sale.
Sermon video
Jay’s Problem
Two of his employees had learned well how to use those same dishonest techniques.
Jay needed money!
As I said, it looked like he was doing well on the surface. He was moving a lot of cars and bringing in a lot of money. But he was buried in debt.
One day, the bank called him and requested a meeting. Jay was told that he had 30 days to pay off his loan or the bank was going to foreclose on the business.
Not only were there problems with the business, but there were struggles going on within his family as well. He was too proud to admit it was his fault. He wanted to blame others for his problems,
But his wife and son both knew that they could not trust his word when he said he was going to do something. They knew about his dishonesty. He pridefully tried to cover it up. Occasionally, he would attend church with them, but not often. Other times, he mocked the idea of going to church.
But the bottom was dropping out. It looked like he was going to lose his business. But his wife had been praying for him.
On the Right Path
A televised sermon changed his life.
One day, he saw a church service on TV. He decided that his way of doing things wasn’t working, so he confessed to the Lord. He admitted his dishonesty, and his lack of support for his family, and told God that he wanted to change.
He thought he was done, that God would be merciful and he could move forward from that point.
But something happened inside of Jay because he really had changed. He realized that he couldn’t continue with his dishonest business practices. Would the Lord rescue him?
Psalm 37:1-5
(KJV) Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Scriptures for the blog.
Proverbs 3:5-6
(KJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Lean Not on Your Own Understanding
So Jay started off by following the steps in the passage in Proverbs. He told God that he didn’t know how, but he was going to quit cheating people and instruct his employees to stop as well.
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” The Bible says that the greatest commandment is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”(Matthew 22:37) With everything within you.
You can come to Christ just as you are, but if you really meet Him, you don’t leave the same as when you arrived. Something starts working in your life.
The Bible says that there’s a change and we start to bear fruit. It also says that some do better than others. Some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold.
Sometimes the change is obvious and immediate. People see the change and want to know what’s happened. Other times, depending on past challenges, the fruit takes longer to ripen.
Lean not on your own understanding.
Trust God
Jay was trusting God with all his heart. But he didn’t know how to glorify God in bringing in money. His former practices of lying and scheming weren’t going to work anymore.
His employees were doubtful. They knew that there wouldn’t be as much money coming in as before. They also realized that they’d be losing money on their commissions. That was a big concern for them. They didn’t want to go along with this new plan, but Jay pushed for them to be honest.
If it happened that they were not honest, Jay would go to the customer himself and make it right. He continued his new practice of being honest. In some cases, he realized he had to go back and return money to some former customers.
Even though he had 30 days to come up with the money for the bank, he continued in his new course of honesty. He had made a commitment to God and intended to honor it. He decided to not lean on his own understanding.
That’s something we all need to do. Our understanding is shaped not by the Bible, but by the world. That’s why it’s so important to study the Scriptures. It ought to become a part of our lives. We need to get away from our own understanding and into God’s understanding.
Study the Scriptures to learn the mind of Christ.
When you become a parent, you have this tiny human who has been given to you, and it dawns on you that this is an enormous responsibility. Where’s the instruction manual? What you do is fall back on what you know, what you have seen, or how your parents raised you. That can be good. Your parents may have been instructed in the ways of the Lord and had the mind to follow Him.
But maybe you had parents who didn’t follow God’s leading and just muddled through and didn’t make good decisions.
Then there are parents who the world may say that they have no business being parents. Then your resolve will be not to be like your parents. The problem there is that you keep focusing on them and whatever you focus on affects you. So lean not on your own understanding but lean on the promises of God.
Good News/Bad News
A local news outlet decided to do an undercover investigation of used car dealers. They sent a reporter in to pose as a potential employee. The employees who weren’t happy with Jay’s new system got fed up and left and began working for a competitor.
The news outlet went and interviewed the two and they told stories of how Jay used to run his business and how dishonest he used to be.
So the report came out. It wasn’t good. Jay told God, “Lord, I’m trusting you. I’m changing my life. I don’t understand how this is going to work.”
How to Know That You Are Making Good Decisions
Years ago, in the first decade of our marriage, we were living in Georgia. We had several decisions to make. Our desire was to always be in God’s will.
A flyer came to our house about a conference that was going to be in Atlanta. One of the bullet points was “how to know you’re in the will of God.” While I was looking at the new material, that one point really stood out to me.
That one session was the main reason I went. It was a week-long conference. Day after day, they didn’t cover that one topic. Finally, Thursday night was the day for the “Will of God” session. He spoke for 30 minutes or so on most of the advertised topics, but when he came to this one, he was running short on time, and he only spoke on it for a few minutes, probably only two or three; however, it was long enough and I got the answer I was seeking. It was the verse, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)
Make Christ Known
The speaker said to make Christ known in every area of your life. Acknowledge that He is the Miracle Worker, the One who cares for you and loves you. If in all your ways, you are trusting Him, He will direct your paths.
That may not seem like a very “deep” answer, but it’s served me well for 40 years. When you continue to do this, you begin to develop a sense of when God is speaking to you. You’ll feel a little tug on your heart, mind, or spirit. It may not be thunder and lightning, but there’s that little tug you feel and know that it’s Him speaking to you.
If you acknowledge Him in all areas of your life, you can trust that He will direct your paths.
Does that mean that you’ll always make perfect decisions? Probably not. But the Bible covers that as well. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Results of Change
So, the report had been released. In it, Jay’s former employees talked about how unfair and dishonest he had been in the past. It didn’t look good.
Then, people started speaking out. They talked about how Jay had come to them, admitted his dishonesty, and made things right. They told of how he’d given money back and apologized to them.
Jay’s commitment to God was successful.
Psalm 37:4 says that if we trust in God, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Sometimes, though, we don’t get what we want. One clue may be in James 4:3 where it says, “you have not because you ask not.”
Another reason we don’t always get what we want is that what we want may not be good for us. We ask amiss, and God, in His wisdom, says no, because He knows what’s best for us.
Good Things
I believe that God delights in giving us good things.
When we lived in Georga, I was the principal of a Christian school and we had weekly staff meetings. They were different from any I’ve been in before or since. We’d start off by spending up to 15 minutes strategizing what we could do to make things better. We then went around the table and each prayed. I remember one particular woman who was a prayer warrior. She and another lady decided her son needed a good wife. They began to pray and that son now has a wife and children.
Another time, I recall her praying that God would meet the needs of my family. The school wasn’t able to pay much, so she prayed that our needs would be met. She prayed that God would give us something that would simply bring us joy. Her prayers were answered time and time again.
Prayer warrior
Her husband was a dairy farmer, and they were audited by the IRS. While most people would have been nervous, they were completely at peace. They got their tax professional, went to the audit, and wound up getting money back!
Around that time, Rhonda was expecting our second child (Ralanna). We had decent health insurance, but it didn’t pay everything. We were going to have to pay some of the medical expenses out of our own pocket. Those people got that money back from the IRS and paid those bills for us. We say that Ralanna is their baby as well as ours. 🙂
God will give you miraculous things. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Trust in Him. Delight in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart.
I mentioned that sometimes we ask God for the wrong things. Once you get closer to Him and get to know Him better, the things you ask for begin to change and you start asking for proper things.
Delivered!
I recently heard a man testify that God was blessing him in his business. But, he was a functional addict. Like Jay, it looked like the man was doing well on the surface. But he was an alcoholic and was addicted to cocaine and ultimately to crack cocaine.
He really wanted to serve God. One night he prayed for deliverance from his addiction and that the desire for the drug would be taken away.
When he woke up the next morning, the desire was gone! Many years later, it has not returned.
Delight yourself in the Lord and He’ll give you the desires of your heart. If your desires are wrong, He’ll tell you as long as you acknowledge Him in all ways.
Back to Jay. The negative news report had come out, but then so many people came and spoke about all the good things he had done. Because of the positive reviews, more and more people started going to his business to buy their cars. By the end of the month, enough money had come in that Jay was able to pay the bank the money he owed them.
Jay’s Story
A little disclaimer: The story of Jay is based on a movie written by the Kendrick brothers. You may recognize their names from movies like Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, and several others. The story of Jay Austin can be found in their first movie, Flywheel. (You can Google some interesting trivia about the movie.)
Flywheel Movie
Flywheel is actually my favorite of all the movies they’ve made.
In Closing
How do you know that you’re making good decisions? Are you acknowledging Him in all your ways? If you are, you can trust that you’re making good decisions. You can also trust that if you aren’t, God will let you know.
Saul, a man in the first century, had a problem. He thought he was right, but he wasn’t. He was sincerely deluded. He needed to change his mind, which is another way to describe repentance, and Saul needed to repent!
On his way to Damascus, Saul met a guide. The Lord Jesus Christ came into his heart. It actually knocked him off of his horse! Do you think that got his attention?
Attention Grabber
Sometimes God needs to get our attention
It’s kind of like the farmer who had the mule. He talked to his neighbor, also a farmer, and the neighbor said, “How do you get your mule to do what you want him to do?” The other farmer said, “You have to be gentle with him.” His neighbor said he’d give it a try. A few minutes later, the first farmer climbed up into his wagon and gave the mule the “go” command and snapped the reins. The animal just stood there. The farmer climbed down from his seat, grabbed a 2×4 and whacked the mule between the eyes. The neighbor, having seen all this, said, “I thought you said you had to be gentle with him.” The other farmer answered, “Yes, but you have to get his attention first.”
Saul/Paul
That’s the way it was with Saul as he was going along the road: God had to get his attention so He knocked Saul off of his horse. He was also struck blind and would not remember that day, nor the next two.
A man named Ananias had gotten a word from the Lord that God had been working in Saul’s life so he came and prayed for him. Saul’s blindness was taken away.
The beginning of a new life!
That day, Saul’s name was changed to Paul. He was the apostle Paul and was to be Jesus’ messenger to the Gentiles. The word apostle means a messenger. Think of it as our modern-day missionaries.
Easter is Real!
I know sometimes we’re told the history of the word “Easter” has to do with Ishtar and pagan religions. But that is NOT what we worship. Christians redeemed the day. They took a festival that was not honoring to God and decided to turn it into a celebration of Jesus. That’s why we celebrate the resurrection when we do.
For those of us who are Christians, that overshadows the former pagan celebrations. Even those who are students of history, when they hear the word “Easter,” the first thing that comes to mind is the celebration of the resurrection.
Christmas also had pagan festivals going on during that time. The church came in and decided to remember the birth of Jesus. Although they didn’t know when He was born, they knew that he was born, so they decided to use that day to remember His birth and the reason for it. God became flesh. That is the meaning of the word Emmanuel: God in the flesh.
Easter is real because it reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Luke 24:4-7
While they were greatly perplexed concerning this, suddenly two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 As they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ ”
That’s Easter. That’s why we celebrate. Because of that, we can understand that we have sinned, that we need a Savior, and Jesus offers a gift.
Matthew 28:5-6
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. For I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay
That’s why we worship. That’s why we worship on Sunday: the first day of the week. It’s the day when Jesus was resurrected. Easter is a remembrance of the resurrection for us. It’s a reminder of what Jesus did for us.
Facts!
There is a lot of proof of the resurrection of Jesus. The angel told the women to see where He had been. Peter and John went later and looked. (John 20:4) They all saw the empty grave clothes.
He appeared to the disciples twice, once when Thomas wasn’t with them, and again when he was.
Thomas had said that he needed to see the nail prints in His hands, and touch the wound in His side. But when Thomas saw the risen Savior, he knelt down and said, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:24-28)
Several saw the empty tomb
So you have the empty tomb, seen by many people. Several people who knew Jesus well testified to the fact that He was no longer in the tomb, He indeed is alive!
You’ve Received the Gift
You received the gift.
Saul met the living Christ, and the living Christ called him to action and he was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He received the gift.
The gift is there because Jesus paid the penalty. You and I are all under the penalty of death. The penalty is being separated from God. If you end this life in that state, you will stay that way forever. That’s why it’s so important for everyone in this life to understand that salvation is a free gift. Accept it now!
The greatest gift of all!
If you’ve accepted the gift, even in the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil, for you know that God is with you. His rod and staff will comfort you. (Psalm 23:4)
Any Christians who have faced death, if it had come, we would have just slipped on over into Glory. It’s a wonderful thing to know that!
Jesus offers the gift, and you receive it by faith. You come as a little child and receive it by faith.
But then, what happens? You have joy and hope for the future, but something happens in that moment.
Now What?
What happens now?
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.
Christ came into your life. You have new things happening; some that you may not understand. You have new desires.
The Bible tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. (Psalm 37:4)
There are 2 different ways of looking at that verse. One way is that we have certain things that we would like, or desire. We would ask our Heavenly Father for those things and He would not turn us away, He loves us, He delights in us, and He gives us what we desire.
But sometimes, our desires change. What we wanted before we don’t want anymore because we delight ourselves in the Lord and He gives us the desires of our heart.
I think both of those are true. You can find scriptures that tell you that if you pray and ask God for things, he will give them to you. (Matthew 7:7-8)
God will make you new.
God comes in and works in our hearts. He makes a new creature out of us, and there is a change that comes into our lives. The change may be in our attitudes, our speech, our actions, or where we go. We may have immediate victory over something.
I know a man who was heavily addicted to cocaine. He prayed for God to remove the desire for the drug away, and even after several years, that man’s desire is still gone!
I know others who suffered with addiction, and the Lord came into their lives, but they still struggled with the addiction. They endured and struggled through the addiction. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 24:13)
I don’t know how God chooses how He does what He does, but I do know that sometimes He wants us to learn something. He wants us to grow and not be exalted above measure.
Paul had an affliction; the Bible doesn’t tell us what it was. He called a “thorn in his flesh” he asked 3 times for the Lord to remove it, and God chose not to. Paul may have wondered why. He came to the conclusion that it was so he would not be exalted above measure. God told Paul that His grace was sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
Easter is real. You received the gift.
Come As You Are
You can come just as you are. You don’t have to go out and make amends to people you have wronged and then come. You can come right away, just as you are, but you won’t leave the same. If you really meet Christ, you won’t leave the same as you came. There will be a change.
For some, it’s a dramatic change. For some, it’s less. But no matter what, there is a change, because you have met the living Lord. You’ll begin to experience the change as you travel along in your Christian walk.
Easter is real. You received the gift. Now what?
Realize that there is a change going on and you need to nurture the new creature that you are becoming.
How do you do that?
In order to grow, you must be fed.
Well, if you’re a baby in Christ, you need to be fed. How do babes in Christ get fed? By the Word of God. That’s how Jesus speaks to us. We allow Him to speak to us and we listen to Him. Not only that, though.
We have the wonderful privilege of speaking to God. Some new Christians may be unsure about prayer. They’ve never done it before and aren’t really sure how to do it.
Praying in public is one thing. But you need to find a quiet place where it’s just you and God, where you can talk to Him. If you’re mad, tell Him that! He can handle it, and may just come back and straighten you out. Ask Him for help. Just talk to God.
Some people use Elizabethan English in their prayers. It’s beautiful and from the heart. Even though I’ve been a “man of the cloth” for many years, I just speak to God using my regular words. It doesn’t matter if you use big, flowery words or simple ones. Just speak to Him in a way that is meaningful to you.
Acts 1:1-8
This passage was written after the resurrection. It’s believed it is Luke who wrote this because it’s addressed to a man named Theophilus and the Gospel of Luke mentions a man of the same name. (Luke 1:3)
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandments (one of which was 18 Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. {Matthew 28:18-20}) through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.[a] 5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Easter is real! Jesus rose from the grave. He conquered death. You received the gift by faith. Then you began to grow in Him and He makes a new creature out of you. Be sure to talk to God and listen to Him.
Go and Tell
Then He said “When the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be My witnesses.”
Go and tell someone what the Lord has done for you. That’s the very next step after receiving that gift.
Tell people what God has done for you.
Many times, we will receive the gift of salvation in church, so that’s easy. People will go forward at the end of the service and pray, and will either say themselves that they’ve accepted the Lord, or ask the pastor to do it for them.
Everyone in the congregation rejoices. But it’s not only them. The angels in Heaven rejoice as well. (Luke 15:10)
Go and tell someone! One of our grandchildren once called us, excited to tell us that they had accepted the Lord. I’m so thankful for that.
Baptism
The next step, after telling someone…or everyone…is to be baptized. That’s a symbol of the change that has taken place in you. It’s representative of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You were buried with Him, and rose again to walk in newness of life.
The Holy Spirit
The Bible says that when you receive Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13) The apostles received it on the day of Pentecost. There was a Great Power that came through them. (Acts 2:1-3) Christ will empower you to tell your story to others.
You have friends who don’t know this wonderful Truth that you know. You can tell them, in your own words, that Easter is real. Tell them that there was a time in your life when you didn’t know Christ, and then you came to Him and the story of what that was like for you. Tell them how it’s been different, how God made a new creature out of you.
Go and tell someone what the Lord has done.
The apostle Paul changed his name (to Paul, the Greek version of Saul) since he was going to preach to the Gentiles. He faced many obstacles. The persecutor became the persecuted. At the end of his life, he wrote, “I have fought a good fight. I’m ready to be delivered.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8) The day came, and Paul went to be with Jesus.
Paul changed his future destination.
Paul avoided the terrible destination that he was formerly headed to.
As Saul, he really thought he was doing what God wanted him to do. He thought he really knew the Father. But Jesus said if you really know the Father, you would know Me. If you really knew the Scriptures, you would know who I am. (John 14:7-14)
Saul/Paul was changed and successfully established many churches. Many say that he’s one of the greatest preachers who ever lived. When his life ended, he entered into Heaven and eternity and met the One who knocked him off his horse on the way to Damascus. He met Him and got to talk to Him. Maybe he thanked God for getting his attention.
It’s Your Turn
You can meet Him today!
Have you ever accepted Jesus as you Lord and Savior? If you haven’t, I invite you to do that today. You can reach me at the contact information on this blog and I will be happy to tell you how. The Bible says that if you, by faith, receive Him, you will become a new creation.
Thomas had to prepare another sermon for another midweek service. He had the intimidation that came with having to do something at least once a week, and sometimes more than once weekly.
Sermon video
Every preacher will know what I’m talking about. Sometimes the hardest thing to discern is what God wants us to talk about.
There’s an old joke that says every preacher knows what it’s like to be sitting on the front row on Sunday morning, flipping through a songbook, trying to find a sermon.
First of all, that’s the wrong book to be flipping through. Although, I have gotten a sermon from a song sometimes.
Thomas’ dilemma
But Thomas was working on the sermon and was able to go to the guide. The guide of course is the Scriptures. Like he had done many times in the past, Moses was going to guide Thomas. God called him to apply the scripture for the midweek service, not the (as we think of it) big Sunday service. Thomas probably thought, “I just have to try to get through it.” So, he spoke on Deuteronomy chapter 1.
The Surprising Foundation for America
But what came as a result of this was the surprising foundation for the United States of America. Not only did he find something that would help him have the midweek sermon, but he also found something that would affect the United States of America.
The surprising foundation for America
As you read on, you’ll realize that Thomas was going to be instrumental in the establishment of a town. You’ll also see the significance of the scripture from Deuteronomy that he spoke on in that midweek service; not only in Moses’ time but also in Thomas’ time and our time. The fact is that this sermon that he came up with contained the surprising foundation for America.
So Thomas went into the book of Deuteronomy, the first chapter, and focused on verse 13.
The Significance in Moses’ Time
Before getting into the scripture, let me give you the back story.
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, had asked what Moses did all day. He went on to observe the day-to-day work that Moses did. He would go to a tent, and the people would line up and, from morning to evening, bring him their problems and disputes that they had with their brethren. Moses spent all day judging those matters.
Jethro was able to tell Moses that what he was doing wasn’t good. He said Moses was going to wear himself out. (Exodus 18:13-18) I’ve heard people say, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.” But, either way, you’re out.
God will give you discernment in learning how to balance your life so you can continue to minister for another day.
That’s what Jethro advised Moses to do. He told Moses that he needed to get some help. That’s exactly what Moses did. (Exodus 18:19-26) He wasn’t able to bear all the complaints and problems, so he chose wise people to come and help. If the matter was more difficult, the people would be sent to Moses. He heeded the word of his father-in-law, and God allowed it to be good.
That’s what Moses was talking about beginning in verse 9 of Deuteronomy chapter 1.
In verse 10, Moses makes mention of the number of Israelites. Conservative estimates say that there were between 1.5 and 2 million people making the trek through the wilderness.
Although he doesn’t yet know it, Moses is coming to the end of his life. He may have felt it but didn’t know it. He knew that Joshua was going to be his successor, and wanted the situation to be good when he handed it over to him. In verses 11 and 12, Moses says, “May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times more numerous and bless you, just as He has promised you! How can I myself bear your load and your burden and your strife?”
When Jethro first suggested that Moses get some help, Moses was able to choose the people on his own, because he knew them all. Now, the Nation had grown so large that he wasn’t able to make the decisions on his own. That’s why, in verse 13, he said, “Choose wise, discerning, and knowing men, among your tribes, and I will appoint them as leaders over you.”
Deuteronomy 1:13
This is something that has become the foundation for the United States. It has made us one of the greatest countries in the world. It has made us one of the happier countries in the world because we focus on freedom: The freedom of people being able to choose our own leaders.
So Moses told the Israelites to choose “wise, discerning, knowing men” and he would confirm them as leaders.
In verses 14-17a, Moses goes on to say, “You answered me, and said, ‘The thing which you have said is good for us to do. So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and well-known men, and appointed them as leaders over you, leaders over thousands, and leaders over hundreds, and leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens, and officers among your tribes. I charged your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the issues between your countrymen and judge righteously between every man and his fellow countryman, and the foreigner that is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment, but you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s.’”
This is how it works when you have a proper judge. He (or she) seeks the wisdom of God. We know that there are unjust judges because, in the New Testament, Jesus spoke of one. (Luke 18:1-8)
But here, Moses said how they are to be great. Verses 17-18 say, “’ You shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring it to me, and I will hear it. At that time, I commanded you all the things you should do.’”
Moses was going to wear himself out. His father-in-law told him he needed to divide up the responsibility and have the other leaders find capable men to take care of things. Then, it was getting too large for Moses to go himself and pick out men from the different tribes so he spoke to each of the tribes and said, “You get together, you choose people; honorable and noblemen, and then I will appoint them (so he still had final say) as leaders over you.”
Moses led the children of Israel through the desert for 40 years.
What you see here in this passage of scripture is the basis of a phrase that’s used in the U.S. and not much anywhere else in the world. It’s called the consent of the governed.
In the United States, we have the privilege of being able to choose our leaders. We have the privilege of being able to elect representatives who are supposed to represent us and make good, righteous, Godly laws. That doesn’t always happen, but we can at least make an attempt.
We have the choice to allow people to stay in power or not.
Moses was setting up the system of government with instructions for judges. He did that to help himself and also to help Joshua, who would succeed him.
The Significance in Thomas’ Time
Thomas Hooker
Let’s go back to Thomas. He is an actual person in American history. His name was Thomas Hooker. He was a preacher. In fact, he was deemed to be one of the best preachers of the 17th century.
Thomas’ background was: he was born in 1586 in England. He went to Cambridge University. Many early leaders of the United States went to Cambridge, came over to the US, and were preachers who formed the basis for the United States of America.
Some people want us to forget that. Some people want us to cancel that out of our minds. Some people want to shout about the separation of church and state. Well, the phrase separation of church and state is not in the Constitution.
In fact, the first amendment to the Constitution guarantees us freedom of religion. It gives us the freedom to exercise our religion. If someone were to say you could only meet together during church services, that is a violation of that right. That is not free exercise.
Perhaps I want to go visit a Christian friend at his home and have a Bible study. That’s free exercise. But if someone tells us we can’t do that, it’s not the free exercise of religion.
Thomas Hooker became a pastor. If you recall, the Church of England had pulled out of the Roman Catholic Church. Many preachers and Bible scholars saw that as an opportunity to return the church to the principles of God’s Word. It was called the Reformation during that time. They were trying to reform the Church of England.
Some of them thought it would take too long, so they began to form small congregations in different areas. It was like forming several small independent Baptist churches, or several Churches of God. There was no hierarchy dictating what they could and could not do. Those people were called Separatists, but they were part of the Puritans.
Puritans
There was another group that decided to be patient and change the church from within. The ones who tried that often ran into trouble.
Both groups began to get pressure from the government. They didn’t want them to be out from under their control, so they had to flee.
In the case of Thomas Hooker, he fled to Holland. It’s said that he had to disguise himself in order to leave. But, he and his family, like many others, got on a ship and came to America.
They came to a place where they had the opportunity to worship God according to the dictates of their hearts. It was a blank slate, a new land. It was a time of opportunity to figure out new ways to do things and ways to govern fairly. Aren’t you glad?
Now, I may have fictionalized the part about Thomas having the consternation about the sermon, but it absolutely was a midweek service. It absolutely was based on Deuteronomy 1:13. That verse, again, says, “Choose wise, discerning, and knowing men, among your tribes, and I will appoint them as leaders over you.”
Hartford, Connecticut today
In 1633, Thomas became a pastor near Cambridge, Massachusetts. Three years later, he, his wife, and 100 men from their congregation went south to establish a town. You’ve probably heard of it: It’s called Hartford, Connecticut.
The midweek service was in 1638 and he found the passage of scripture. I don’t know if he had a manuscript of the sermon, but if he did, it did not survive the passage of time. There was a man who took notes and had 13 short paragraphs. It is said that he took notes in shorthand. The note taker was Henry Wolcott, Jr. He wrote out the key points of Thomas’ sermon.
The first one was, “The choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.”
The second one: “The privilege of election which belongs to the people must not be exercised according to their whims but according to the blessed will and law of God.”
Number three: “Those who have power to appoint officers and magistrates have it in their power also to set the bounds and limits of the power and places unto which they call them.”
Four: “Because the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of people.”
So, they decided they were going to establish the government of Hartford, Connecticut, and use the above principles in doing so.
Just a year later, in January 1639, they began setting up the constitution for Connecticut. These principles, “the consent of the governed:”, and the subsequent constitution paved the way for other colonies as they were establishing their constitutions.
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Later, those same principles were the foundation for the establishment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Today, Connecticut is known as “The Constitution State.”
That midweek service changed the course of history.
The Significance in Our Time
This is not only a piece of our history. It’s significant in our time as well.
We have the importance of free and fair elections. No one has to know how you vote. We still have secret ballots.
While some in power may overstep their authority, we do still have the consent of the governed.
We vote for judges, among other offices
During a mandated business shut down, one of the local restaurants where I like to go for coffee shut down for a brief period. The next time I checked, they had a sign on the door stating that they were going to remain open and gave the number of their attorney. I’m thankful that they chose to stand their ground against over-reaching governmental interference.
You may be thinking, “Aren’t Christians supposed to be good citizens? Aren’t we supposed to be obedient to authority?”
YES!
We are supposed to be obedient to legitimate authority over us. We do not have to be under the hands of tyrants or tyranny. I hope that we have the strength of character to stand. The Bible says, “…having done all to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13b) We have the freedom to be able to disagree. We should have the freedom to be able to disagree and debate.
There is the force of medical things. It’s amazing to me that I can turn on the TV and see an advertisement for some drug. The commercial will begin to expound on all the benefits of the medication being advertised and that will go on for about 30 seconds. Then, all at once, a laundry list of possible side effects will begin playing.
It should be a choice.
Now we have a drug that is authorized for emergency use, and we ought to have the right to decide whether or not we want to take it. There are a plethora of problems with this drug that we’ve not been told about.
The CDC website says that people have been permanently disabled, over 150,000 hospitalizations, and over 5,000 miscarriages as a result of this new medication.
It all comes back to the consent of the governed.
We live in a free land, and a free country
I don’t know what the future will hold, but I’m concerned about what we allow to start happening.
A man was camping in the Arabian desert. After he got set up and started to relax, he heard a noise outside the tent. He looked and saw a camel loitering outside. He shooed the camel away, but soon it was back. He did this again and again but finally got tired of getting up. He allowed the animal to just put his head inside. He patted the camel’s nose, and before long, the whole camel was inside the tent.
To keep the camels out of the tent, it’s going to take people who have the courage to stand.
So, let’s stand for freedom. Let’s stand for the Constitution. It’s not a perfect document as it was written by imperfect men, but notice the foundations from scripture that were put into the early constitutions. Let’s be careful when our liberties are in danger.
Corrie Ten Boom had her liberties taken away and spent time in a concentration camp. She was freed as a result of a clerical error. Later on, she came face to face with one of her captors.
Corrie Ten Boom
She had gone to church after church speaking about forgiveness. The man approached her and she recognized him and knew she had said that she had to forgive. He told her that he had been a guard where she was imprisoned. He said that God had forgiven him, and he asked if she could as well. Fighting her personal will, she reached out her hand to shake his, and she felt the forgiveness come.
I hope that we never get to the place where we would be taken captive. We have the consent of the governed. It’s been said that we’ve been given a republic, it’s up to us to keep it.
The fundamental ideas of Connecticut, inspired by the words of Deuteronomy 13:1, preached by Thomas Hooker, said in it’s opening preamble, “For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess…”
The Most Important Consent
You and I may debate some topics, and we may not always agree, but there is one area where it’s important that the consent of the governed takes place: That is, that God loved us so much that He gave His Son so we could be forgiven of our sins. He gave His Son so that we could experience salvation.
When we accept that free gift of salvation, we accept Jesus as One who is the Lord and Ruler of the universe. He has the right to rule and reign in all our lives. When we become His child, we consent to be governed by Him.
The most important consent to being governed is to consent to be governed by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Allow yourself to be governed by Christ
If you’ve never accepted Him as your Savior, I invite you to come to Christ today. As I’ve mentioned before, the gift is free. You can receive it by faith. When you do, you will become a new creature. Your life will be changed. The former things have passed away.
Some of the things you liked before, you won’t like anymore. Some of the things you didn’t like before you will begin to like. Some of your friends may not like the changes taking place in your life and you may lose some of them. It’s OK because the best friend you could have is Jesus.
The best decision you could make is to place yourself under His authority and allow your life to be governed by Him.
If you want to know how to accept that free gift, please use the contact information on this blog page to reach out to me. I would be thrilled to help you.
Many good stories tell of someone going to a high point, then plummeting to a low point. Hopefully, they rise again. A lot of times, they rise even better than before.
Sermon video
You may have heard of Dave Ramsey. He became a millionaire at a young age, but then he lost it all. He managed to claw his way out and once he did, he made a vow that he would never be in debt again. Since then, he’s become a financial advisor and helped many people overcome financial struggles. He has a book called “The Total Money Makeover,” and has a course called “Financial Peace University”
Not all stories have happy endings, however. That’s a tragedy.
Today, I want to discuss three such stories today. The first one is from history, the second one is about our Nation, and the third is about our own personal history.
Matthew 21:1-11
21 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go over into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 All this was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion ‘Look, your King is coming to you, humble, and sitting on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their garments on them, and He sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their garments on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went before Him and that followed Him cried out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 10 When He entered Jerusalem, the entire city was moved, saying, “Who is He?” 11 The crowds said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
In Luke, this account says that some of the Pharisees were angry at what the crowd was saying and told Jesus to rebuke them. Jesus’ reply was, “I tell you, if these should be silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:28-40)
Jesus accepted the praise of the people, as was His right. He was God in the flesh.
Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Triumph
The triumphal entry as it is sometimes called, or Palm Sunday, was a great day. But we know that it wouldn’t continue. The celebrating would end. The week would go downhill after that.
Tragedy
One of Jesus’ disciples betrayed Him, and He was falsely accused and arrested. He was taken before Caiaphas, the High Priest, and accused of blasphemy. Caiaphas didn’t have the power, legally, to put Him to death, so He was taken to the Roman authorities, a man named Pilate. Even though Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, he allowed himself to be swayed by the crowd.
First Pilate thought that the crowd would be satisfied if he had Jesus scourged with an instrument called a cat-o-nine tails. He did so, and the flesh was ripped from Jesus’ body. The Bible says it was unrecognizable as human flesh.
That was not good enough for the Jewish leaders. They continued to incite the crowd. Pilate said he would release Jesus to the crowd, but, at the urging of their religious leaders, they said, “We have no king but Caesar. Give us Barabbas!”
The death of Jesus was seen as a tragedy by his followers.
Barabbas the murderer was set free, and Jesus was taken to Calvary and crucified. The wages of sin is death, and on the cross, Jesus truly died for our sins. He took our penalty upon Himself and He paid it.
All of His disciples, not just Peter, forsook Him and fled. It was a dark time in history.
Glorious Victory!
It was a dark Friday, but Sunday was coming! We saw the triumphal entry, the tragedy of death, and then what? The victory of the resurrection. Death could not hold Him and He rose on the third day.
The tomb is empty!
That is history. The two other stories are still being played out.
The United States of America
God brought our forefathers to this Nation and has protected us. Many good things have happened throughout our history.
In my sermons, I’ve been referring to a book called “100 Bible Verses that Made America” by Robert Morgan. One of the verses I spoke about was John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
In the 1630s, many people were fleeing England and the Church of England. The church had already separated itself from the Catholic church. Many people wanted to reform the church as it had become abusive.
Reforming the Church of England
There were two schools of thought on how to reform the church. One group said it was too far gone, and they needed to, more or less, start over with new people. The group wanted to gather like-minded believers together and practice Christianity as they felt the Scriptures instructed.
The other group was reluctant to leave the main church. For whatever reason, they wanted to stay and reform it from within.
Both groups angered some people and were persecuted. The ones that pulled away from the Church of England were persecuted for doing that, and there were power struggles with the group that chose to stay. But both were persecuted by the government.
Then they heard about a New Land. A place where there weren’t a lot of set traditions. A New World where they could explore new possibilities.
Religious freedom awaited
So, in the 1630s, they began arriving in America by boatloads. Many of those who were coming were the descenders and the ones who had been forced out of the church. Many of these new arrivals were pastors, theologians, and Bible scholars. Once they arrived in America, they decided to establish a school.
As explained in the 1643 booklet, “New England’s First Fruits,” “After God had carried us safely to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the city government; one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.”
One of two tablets flanking The Johnston Gate, an entrance to Harvard Yard
They wanted to establish education. They wanted to establish it for the ministry. They wanted to start a Christian school. But they also felt it was very important to educate the children.
This is good! This is a triumph. However, we also have tragedy within our education system.
John’s Triumphs & Tragedies
John was born in 1607. He was the son of a butcher and a restaurant owner. By the time he was 18 years old, the bubonic plague had destroyed many members of his family. Only John, one brother, and his mother survived.
Somehow, his mother was able to gather enough funds to send him to Emmanuel College, which was part of Cambridge University. After studying, John was ordained as a dissenting minister. So, he’s had some tragedy and now some triumph.
In either 1636 or 1637, John married a woman named Ann Sadler. The next year, they made the decision to go to America. After arriving in the new country John became an assistant pastor in Boston. He had the excitement of being in a new nation but still had some perils. It was discovered that he had tuberculosis, and he died in 1638. He was young; just over 30 years old.
John Harvard
Although young, John did something that would have a lasting impact on America. In fact, it still has an impact today. He left half of his property and his library of 300 books (my kind of man) to a new college that was going to be developed. They were so grateful that they named it for him. John’s last name was Harvard.
About 100 years later, there was a fire that destroyed all but one of those books. One student had checked a book out of the library. The title was, “The Christian Warfare Against the Devil World and Flesh and Means to Obtain Victory.”
Harvard University’s History
The college was named after John Harvard in appreciation for his generosity. The doors were opened, and a student handbook was published.
“Laws and Statutes for Students of Harvard College” read in part, “Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, (John 17:3) “Seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him.” (Proverbs 2:3) “Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of the language and logic and in practical and spiritual truths as his tutors shall require according to his ability. Seeing the entrance of the Word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130)
Harvard Today
That is how Harvard University was established. It began with triumph, but it’s gone to tragedy. Today, Harvard stands for universalism. Back then, it was for Jesus Christ: the only way to Heaven, the only One who gives true Light of the World. Scriptures used to be found all throughout the handbook. Today, they describe themselves as being very inclusive, having diversity of all types, and “, especially religions.”
That means that Christianity is good. But so are Hinduism, Buddhism, and all other religions on the same plane. Sometimes Christianity is criticized for being exclusive by saying there’s only one way to Heaven. However, Judaism is also exclusive; they say (correctly) there’s only one God. Muslims are very exclusive as well.
Lecture Hall
But, Harvard says they’re all alike. They have an inscription that says, “Facing death without religion.”
I have news for you. If you face death without a certain “religion,” Christianity, there’s no Heaven for you.
The term religion has gotten a bad reputation in past years. While Christianity is a religion, what I’m talking about is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He’s the one who died for our sins and rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.
Harvard would do well to return to its roots, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.
Education Today
Even in the lower levels of schools, like grade school, junior high, and high school, references to God are not allowed.
In a city not far from me, Carbondale, Illinois, a substitute teacher once wrote a question on the board. I can’t recall what the question was, but the answer was “God.” Even though he didn’t write it out, even the suggestion of God was enough to get him into all kinds of trouble.
Then there’s relativism. It’s almost a crime to criticize or condemn a group of people who adopt a certain lifestyle or adhere to a certain belief; unless it’s Christianity. At Harvard, you can’t say anything about any particular group, unless it’s Christians.
Secularism is also rampant in schools. Critical race theory. Now, critical race theory is something that, as an idea, is a good thing. Racism in any form is bad and should not exist. But it takes things too far when it says that people of a certain background should be ashamed and need to apologize for something done hundreds of years ago. Everyone should understand that they have worth to God, regardless of their ethnic background.
There is sex education in schools today. While I have not seen any of the materials myself, I have heard that they are nearly pornographic in nature.
Confusion in the Land
Thanks to the great educational institutions of today, we can’t even decide what is a boy and what is a girl. You may doubt this is true but we have a new Supreme Court Justice who says she can’t define what a woman is because she’s “not a biologist.”
There is a school where some students are “identifying” as dogs and cats. People who tell them they are not a dog or cat can get in great trouble. It’s crazy! It’s a tragedy.
Public education is not what it used to be.
To What?
Will the morality and common sense of yesterday be recovered? I don’t know. Will Christian schools, such as Harvard once was, revive? Will there be a return, in the educational system, to Christianity?
These issues have, however, caused some parents to pay more attention. Some families have made the decision to home-school their children. I do realize that’s not an option that everyone has. That’s a bright spot in all this mess.
But our school system began with Christianity. It’s gone downhill since. Which way will it go? Will it continue its decline or go back to the way it was? I don’t know. It’s up to each individual family to decide, and figure out what sacrifices they want to make.
Our Personal Story
Now we come to the third story: our own personal one. We’re all members of the human race. When Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden, the human race was condemned to live in sin. With the first brothers, Cain and Abel, there was a murder, because sin had entered the world. It has been passed down from generation to generation ever since.
But, each one of us since has chosen to sin. At some point, we decided we wanted to go our own way and disobey God. That’s a tragedy. But, a tragedy, and then what?
It’s your choice.
If you ignore the message in the first story, where Jesus went to the cross, died, and conquered death, it will be an eternal tragedy. Revelation 20:14 says that Death and Hell will be cast into the lake of fire.
But, if you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, the tragedy turns to triumph and you will end up in Glory! Jesus made triumph possible for all of us.
Janet’s Story
I asked a member of my congregation to give a testimony during a recent service. You can watch it at the end of the video above. Her name is Janet. “Good morning. Brother Randy asked me to give my testimony about our life before Christ, during Christ, and after. “I’ll tell ya, before Christ, you know, you’re going along and you think everything’s wonderful because you made the plans, you designed your life. It was going pretty good, I thought, and Roger thought. “I was 27 years old, and we had a baby. We had Adam, and he was 3. Neither one of us were really raised in church, and so you can see where that’s going. But, anyway, we decided that we would split our ways because I lived in a house with a lot of alcohol and a lot of fighting and a lot of, not really abuse, but it was abuse. It would, these days, be considered abuse. Anyway, we lived through that and we ended up agreeing that we would get a divorce, and that would be best. “Well during the divorce, I had a good year. I thought, ‘I’m sailing through.’ I’m not thinking about the Lord, I’m not thinking about Jesus, God because it wasn’t in me. I didn’t have the Holy Spirit. I didn’t have any guide but my own self. “About a year went by, and I was in a movie theatre, I was dating someone. Very nice man, he didn’t drink. That was my number one thing – he couldn’t drink. So, we were sitting there and I thought, ‘Everything’s wonderful. It’s great. I’ve got this really nice man.’ and all of a sudden, a voice spoke to me in that movie theatre in Carbondale. It was God. “He said, ‘Get up and go back to your husband.’ I looked around because I thought, ‘Somebody is talking to me. Who is it? Somebody knows me here.’ I looked around but nobody was standing looking at me. “I’m giving you a short version of this, but God – once again, I’m a hard-headed person Roger will probably “amen’ to that – but I have to be told twice sometimes. So if you ask me to do something I might forget or I might not do it so you have to tell me twice. But God, in His great mercy, said it again. Just a little bit more bolder, but not mean or anything, He said, ‘Go back to Roger. I want you to get up and go back to Roger.’ “And I’m telling you, my body lifted out of that seat without my hands pushing my body up, I stood up, I ran outside and I began to cry. The person I was with came out there and said, ‘Are you ok?’ And I said, ‘No, I’m really not. I need you to take me home. I need you to not talk to me. I’m going to look out the window and I don’t ever want to talk to you or see you again after today. And he just was beside himself. “You know, you can’t explain God. God is God and He will do what He wants to do in your life. And it’s best that you surrender if you’re fighting something. It doesn’t have to be what I went through but, you know, don’t fight it, because He knows best. “So, he took me home – it wasn’t the end of him – him and Roger had to have a little talk. He thought he was the man for me, Roger thought he was the man for me, and God knew Roger was the man for me, so you see the point. “But, anyway, during the time after I accepted…I went home, knelt by my bed, and cried my eyes out all night long. And these verses are the ones I had marked in another Bible that I had read when I calmed down from crying. It’s in Jeremiah (29). It says, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not evil. To give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you.’ “Well I had already cried and I had already prayed for hours. I didn’t think my body could do that. ‘And you will seek me and you will find me when you search me with your whole heart.’ “And I’m telling you, I never searched for something so much in my life. I’ve lost a ring before with a diamond in it. I’ve lost a watch before. I’ve lost things that doesn’t even touch the value of Christ. “But that day I cried out to Him, I prayed and He heard me and He listened and He kept His promise to me.
Janet’s prayers were answered.
“Well the next day I woke up and I said, ‘I’ve got to go see Roger.’ And he was living in his own house in town and I was still in the country and I went, knocked on his door and I think he seen me that he didn’t come to the door. “Anyway, don’t blame him. Anyway, I went in and I said.’Roger, I really need to have a talk with you. This is serious.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy. And we went to the kitchen table and we sat down and I said, ‘I want to tell you something. The Lord grabbed ahold of me last night and He told me to come back to you.’ I go, ‘Now in my own self, I didn’t want to, but when He spoke to me, I wanted to. And I’m here and I want you back, and I want a marriage that God wants and I want what He wants. “Well, you know, it don’t happen like it does in the movies. He said, ‘No. I don’t know. I’ll have to wait.’ He kept saying no and I wouldn’t leave until he said maybe. So, the maybe was ok and I left and prayed and prayed and prayed. “I think a couple of weeks went by and it was around Christmastime and he showed up. And we had a pot roast and stuff together and God began to work and to mend things. “In that time I had gotten saved and I went to the church down the road and I gave my heart to the Lord. I didn’t tell Roger nothing about that, but I just began to give my heart to the Lord and just cried out for Roger. “I went to the altar every Sunday and then, I don’t know, you can ask him, maybe it was a year, he showed up. He sat on the back pew with knuckles gripped – he was not going to the altar. I was just thankful he was hearing the Word of God. “I went down and prayed even though he was there and I cried out and I said, ‘Lord, it’s got to change. I want him back and I want him in my house but I don’t want this same life. I don’t want to go back to the old ways. I want You and I want to move forward for You.’ “So I was down there crying, and crying, and crying, and the preacher’s wife put her hand on my back and whispered, kind of like God did, and said, ‘Janet, you don’t have to pray no more.’ I looked at her like she was crazy and I said. ‘What?’ She said, ‘You don’t have to pray no more. He’s here” “I looked over there and he was squalling like a baby.
Praying together.
“I’m telling you, I had an experience with God I’ll never forget. It changed my life. I was in captivity. I mean, I was in a bad place and I thought it was a wonderful place. But the devil deceived me. He made everything look good. So if I’d had my way I’d be in Hell, if not now, sometime down the road I would be. My kids probably wouldn’t have been saved, I wouldn’t even have Shelby. You know, I just give God all the glory today because He does know what path He wants for us. He does know what’s best for us. We’ve got to get ourselves out of the way and let Him do His work in us. And listen to that still, small voice because He does speak. He still speaks to people, I know, “I love you all and I just wanted to share that with you.”
Tragedy? Triumph? What?
Which way will it be for you? There’s tragedy because we’ve all sinned. But will it be continued tragedy for you, or will you choose to live in Glory?
Today I want to talk about a word fitly spoken as found in Proverbs, Chapter 25. Verses 11 through 13.
Sermon video.
First, I want to tell you a little story from my own life when I was looking for a word to be fitly spoken.
A Personal Story of FItly Spoken Words
I was student teaching in Benton, Illinois and my supervising teacher told me that they were going to have a prom and told me I had to go. He also told me I could bring someone if I wished.
I had met Rhonda (my wife) a few months before and decided maybe I’ll see if she would go to the prom with me.
I was afraid, however, that if I called her, it would be too easy for her to say no over the phone. So I had a strategy: I was going to go in person and be standing right there and see what happened. She would have to tell me no right to my face.
So I talked to the supervising teacher he said it would be fine. I could go up to Rend Lake College, and if I ended up being late coming back, that would be all right. He understood what was happening. I was so thankful for that.
I had my plan to go and talk to her face to face. The first problem, once I got to the campus, was how to find her. There is a place there called the “South Oasis.” and I thought they may be hanging out there, so I headed that way. Sure enough, there she was, along with all our friends and many folks that I knew from Ten Mile Baptist Church.
It had occurred to me that somebody would say, “Well, hi, what are you doing here? I did not want to say in front of everybody that I was there to ask Rhonda out. I don’t know what I said. I waited for some time, but I never could get Rhonda by herself. Then I heard the bell ring and I thought, “There goes my dream.” But, fortunately, Rhonda was the last one going inside. I tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” She said yes and we went over a little way where nobody was around.
I was hoping for my own encouraging word.
Finally, I stammered and out that there was going to be a prom and would she go with me. I was waiting for that word to be fitly spoken which would have been, “Yes.” But instead, there was this little pause. I’m sure it was just a second, and then her mouth dropped open and she said “I’m shocked!”
I asked, “Well, does that mean yes or no?” I wanted to make sure. She said “Yes, yes.”
There it was, a word that was fitly spoken!
Encouraging Words and Discouraging Words
Have you ever had someone who believed in you? It could have been a teacher or a family member. Have you ever had someone say something that just discouraged you? Maybe someone even kept you from trying to do something that you should have done?
Apples of gold in settings of silver
Proverbs 25:11-13 (MEV)
11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. 12 As an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.
13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters.
I want to talk to you about a loving example of God’s words, correcting words, refreshing words, and words fitly spoken in general.
God’s Words
First of all, think about God’s words. We open the Bible up and it says, “In the beginning,” (Genesis 1:1) we move over to the New Testament and we go to the fourth Gospel, and it starts with, In the beginning.” (John1:1)
The Gospel of John says “In the beginning was the Word {capitalized}, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
Go down to verse 14 and it says “The Word {again capitalized} was made flesh and dwelt among us, {This is talking about the Living Word, not just letters on a piece of paper.} and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth.”
There’s the clue, “the only begotten Son of the Father,”
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” This is a story about Jesus. The word “words” represents other things.
The Word is the divine expression of the Father. Jesus said, “If you want to know what the Father is like, look at me and you’ll find out.” (John 14:7)
The Words of Creation
At the beginning of the Bible, we read “In the beginning, God created the heavens of the earth.” (Genesis1:1) Then he started the sentences with the words “Let there be.”
So you have let there be light, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let us separate the waters from the waters. Then God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. Then God said Let the earth produce vegetation, plants, and so forth. And God said, Let there be lights in the heavens, to separate the day from the light and it’ll be for seasons. Then He says, Let the waters swarm was swarms of living creatures and then God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures. And God said, “Let us make man in Our image.”(Genesis 1: 2-26)
Let there be…
In all those earlier ones. He just said, “Let there be” and it was. “Let there be light,” and there was light. Let these things happen and they happened.
It didn’t take billions of years to happen, either. I believe He spoke and it immediately happened.
So you have the words of God.
Word of God
We also have the Word of God. We have the Bible. As we read, we read the story of God’s workings with people.
We have the story that goes out to the people in the Old Testament. There is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the 12 sons of Jacob. Much of the Bible is about that.
In the New Testament, it tells us holy men of God spoke as the Holy Spirit moved upon them (2 Peter 1:21), and they wrote it down. Moses wrote, so we have the writing way back there in history. We have the words.
The ultimate fitly spoken word
The Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). In other words, we have the words of God-The Word; the Bible. As apples of gold, you have a Word that is fitly spoken.
Precious Words
We have the illustrations mentioned in verse 11. It says, “A word fitly. spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Other translations may say in pictures or it may say that it is in a basket.
In trying to figure out what the “pictures” are they said it was like an engraved picture, and the picture can be engraved in settings of silver. Then another said it was like an ornamental basket that was made out of silver that had representations of apples fashioned out of gold. Sometimes the metal was sort of like silver lace you could see through as it said on the table.
A beautiful image
The passage talks about precious things like silver and gold. Wherever people get married they have a wedding ring that represents the union between a man and a woman. The ring does not have to actually be gold, of course. It represents a commitment.
When you get ready to buy those wedding rings, you want to get the best. It’s something that’s precious.
“As apples of gold in settings of silver, so is a word that is fitly spoken.”
Correcting Words
There are also correcting words, as it says in the next verse. “As an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear. “
A wise reprover, rebuker, or one who gives correction.
Sometimes, correction is necessary
That works well when you have somebody who has an ear to receive the correction. There are some people that, if you try to correct them, you might have a fight on your hands. You might experience that with children.
But it works best both for them and for you if they have an ear to hear the correction. They have to have an obedient ear to receive that.
Billy Graham’s Words
Billy Graham was a famous evangelist. He preached all over the world and had an audience with at least five presidents, maybe more. He was flying one time and there was a salesman sitting next to him. The salesman was using what some people would call “colorful” or inappropriate language. It seemed like he couldn’t help himself; everything that came out of his mouth was either vile or swearing. Even after he found out that Billy Graham was a minister, he just continued to spew it out.
Reverend Graham asked him, “Do you get paid for all that swearing that you do?” The salesman replied, “No. I do it for nothing. Why?”
The Reverend responded, “Well, you work cheap. You throw away your character, you bring pain to your friendships, you hurt your family, you break the Lord’s commands and you even put yourself in danger. You work really cheap.”
I don’t know if this man heard with an obedient heart or not, but he did receive a correcting word that day.
Words for a Young Basketball Player
There is a gentleman named James Malinchak who is a public speaker. He’s well known for public speaking and he’s written some books. After a while of public speaking, he became a millionaire. He was chosen to be on an episode of ABC’s show “Secret Millionaire.”
When Mr. Malinchak was in high school, he was a basketball player, and actually got a scholarship to go to college. He had to quit due to an injury.
Be receptive to instruction
But, back in his basketball days, he was working really hard. He had a basketball goal in his yard. One day, his neighbor came up to the fence and was standing there watching. James was missing a lot of baskets and his neighbor said, “I can help you with that.” James thought, “Who is he?” and asked, “Did you play basketball when you were in school?” The neighbor said, “No.” “Are you a coach or something?” Again, the man said, “No.” So James shot a couple more times, and then, out of curiosity said, ” Okay. Tell me how you can help me. He said, “You’re putting your elbow way out. Pull your elbow down and you’ll have the better straight shot at the basket.” Well, James tried it and he started making more baskets.
When you get a correcting word you need to have an obedient ear for it to really work.
Words for King David
We know the story of how King David fell into sin. The Bible tells us that he was a liar, an adulterer, and he was responsible for a murder. He’s often called a murderer, but he actually set it up for a man to be killed.
So here’s David, and he’s God’s king, and he’s done all of this. Of course, he thinks at least hidden but he hasn’t. A course of people in the palace knew about it, and I’m sure the word spread through the countryside.
The prophet Nathan received word from God telling him to go talk to David. King David could have had Nathan put to death, but the king had an ear to hear.
David’s correction.
Nathan came and snuck up on David with a little story about a lamb. He told a story about how somebody took this person’s only lamb. David was angry about that! Then Nathan turned it around and said, ” You are the man.” Then David realized he was talking to him. He had violated another man’s wife. But he could be forgiven, and he was forgiven. (2 Samuel 12)
But suppose he hadn’t had an obedient, willing ear. If he had rebelled against Nathan, there’s no telling what the rest of the story of the life of David would be. But he repented of the sin and God forgave him, and his kingdom forgave him.
David is known as being the greatest earthly king of Israel. (We all know that in the spiritual aspect Jesus is the greatest king) He was forgiven because he was willing to hear.
Refreshing Words
Then there are refreshing words, according to the next verse. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters.
The time of harvest could be hot times, especially in the Summer harvest, but even in some of the Fall.
Snow can be refreshing at times
The cold of snow at harvest. They had ways of preserving the snow. Of course, now we have refrigerators and actually even make ice now. But they were able to bring the snow.
When you’re out working hard on a hot summer day, and you wipe the sweat from your brow and you’re a little bit parched. Then somebody brings you a good cold glass of ice water. Snow at harvest was for refreshing.
A faithful messenger refreshes his masters. So we have refreshing words.
You may go throughout your day and you may come across 30 people. Several of them may just talk about the weather and other things that are not of much consequence. There may be 19 people who come along and really compliment you on something. That makes you feel good when they do that and it motivates you. Then you may have one person give you some harsh criticism.
That night when you go home, what do you remember? You should remember the compliments but it’s awful hard to because of that one word of harsh criticism.
Well, we should have words that are refreshing words.
There’s a sign at a local restaurant that reads: We do not repeat gossip. And then it finishes: So listen closely the first time.
A man named James L Sanders said his mother could be really exasperating. Sometimes when people are upset with other people they will vent about something. Sometimes they will do it in a criticizing way and put the person down. He said his mother is really good. When somebody was doing that, she would listen to the conversation, just waiting for her moment.
When there was a lull in the conversation, then she would be empathetic, she would say “I understand that…. ” But then she would say, “But are you aware that (the person being criticized) makes pies and takex them to the other ladies in the neighborhood?
There wsa a critical conversation about some man. and she said, “I understand what you say. But are you aware that he took a day off from work to go help a neighbor?”
Refreshing
She had refreshing words to say.
There was a lady who was known for being positive all the time. She would always manage to work the word “yes” into the conversation. One day her daughter came over to her house and they were getting ready for lunch. Her daughter looked in the freezer and she said, “Mom, do you have any ice cubes? ” The mother replied, “Yes. They’re not frozen yet.”
She was positive. Always be positive as much as you can.
I’m told that in the Civil War, there was a general his name was Jeb Steuart. Toward the end of the war, Jeb Steuart was preparing for a charge by forces that were several times greater than his. The captain looked to general Steuart and saw a smile on his face. General Steuart realized that the captin was wondering what was going on and so he answered the question he saw in the captain’s eyes. He said, “When you fear God, you don’t have to fear anything else.” A refreshing word to that Captain that was in battle.
So we have we have these words that are like apples of gold in settings of silver. We have correcting words that we ought to be willing to hear when they come our way – when it’s true. If it’s not true, ignore it. If it is true, do something about it.
Concluding Words
Do you realize you have sinned? Do you wonder if there’s any hope that God will forgive you?
The Bible tells us that even though we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
Redemption is within reach.
If you’ve never accepted the gift of salvation, you can do that today. You can reach out to me, and I will show you how.
