We receive the Gospel.
But not like NFL receivers. They receive passes from quarterbacks.
Sometimes the ball is thrown well and right on spot, sometimes you have to use your athleticism to catch up to it.
The point is that the Good News of Jesus is that you don't have to be a good receiver, not even a first round pick or run a 4.1 40.
It's like those passes where the Tight End is running and turns around and the ball is just there. The stats will award him a "catch," but the quarterback and the ball did all the work. I suppose that would make the Devil a defensive back attempting to break up the play a la the Parable of the Sower. All this imperfect analogy to say, "God is not recruiting an All-Star Team."
Quite the opposite.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
You are not a great receiver. If you have received anything, it is only because God made it possible for you to catch it.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Brethern, We Have Met To Worship
Listen HERE.
Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, Oh pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.
Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, Oh pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The weak and the strong
Romans 15:1
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Do you think you are strong? Insightful? Inspired? Then show it by putting up with the failings of those weaker than you.
It is not easy to put up with the weak. They are a perpetual pain. They are consistently needy and weak and failing.
If you are strong, you ought to bear heavier weights than weak people. They are too weak to deal with their own troubles, let alone yours.
The cross you are chosen to bear may be heavier if you are stronger. And before you start to complain and whine about it:
Stop and Think
If you do whine and complain, you are not strong. Or perhaps as strong as you would like to spend your days thinking. You are weak and others who are stronger than you are being called to bear your failings.
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Do you think you are strong? Insightful? Inspired? Then show it by putting up with the failings of those weaker than you.
It is not easy to put up with the weak. They are a perpetual pain. They are consistently needy and weak and failing.
If you are strong, you ought to bear heavier weights than weak people. They are too weak to deal with their own troubles, let alone yours.
The cross you are chosen to bear may be heavier if you are stronger. And before you start to complain and whine about it:
Stop and Think
If you do whine and complain, you are not strong. Or perhaps as strong as you would like to spend your days thinking. You are weak and others who are stronger than you are being called to bear your failings.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Only God can judge me
Yeah, what up Tupac.
That is true. Only God can judge you.
And He will.
That is the part we take for granted. We say, "only God can judge me," to dismiss the snide remarks of fellow men. It is used as a defuser of missles being launched at you. It is a defensive maneuver. It is true. Only God can judge you. But how many make that statement on the assumption that He won't? Hoping He won't. Not believing He will? Or at the very least assuming if He does judge He will find you better than most.
He won't. Because you aren't. Especially because you think that.
Take heed.
That is true. Only God can judge you.
And He will.
That is the part we take for granted. We say, "only God can judge me," to dismiss the snide remarks of fellow men. It is used as a defuser of missles being launched at you. It is a defensive maneuver. It is true. Only God can judge you. But how many make that statement on the assumption that He won't? Hoping He won't. Not believing He will? Or at the very least assuming if He does judge He will find you better than most.
He won't. Because you aren't. Especially because you think that.
Take heed.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
American Idol is worthless
I know this next section of Scripture is long, but it is straightforward and the point is very clear. Please take the time to read it.
Isaiah 44:9-20
9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12 The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Psalm 96:5-6
5For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Psalm 97:7-9
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O LORD.
9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
-
Idols of all kinds are worthless and those who make them become like them. We create them and erect them and ask them to be things they could never become or believe them to be the boasts they could never fulfill. And we suffer for it. We never stop to think that the thing we worship is that of our own invention and not the Inventor of all things: the Inventor of the things we seek to worship, the Inventor of us.
Isaiah 44:9-20
9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
12 The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Psalm 96:5-6
5For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
6Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Psalm 97:7-9
7 All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O LORD.
9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
-
Idols of all kinds are worthless and those who make them become like them. We create them and erect them and ask them to be things they could never become or believe them to be the boasts they could never fulfill. And we suffer for it. We never stop to think that the thing we worship is that of our own invention and not the Inventor of all things: the Inventor of the things we seek to worship, the Inventor of us.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Conscience means "with knowledge"
Romans 14:22-23
22The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Do you have reason to pass judgment on yourself for the things you do and approve of others doing?
Blessed is the one who has no reason to do so.
Have faith in the things you do. If you have reasons and convictions for doing or not doing something which falls into the realm of Christian freedom, abide by them. You will be blessed if you do so.
If you do not have faith or do the thing against which you have faith because you doubt like a wave tossed to and fro, the thing you do condemns you and your conscience.
Con - with, Science - knowledge.
If you go against the things you know or believe you know, the thing you do does not proceed from faith, but from doubt. Paul states here this is sin.
Have faith in God. Not in your decisions or positions. Faith in God. That is goal.
22The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Do you have reason to pass judgment on yourself for the things you do and approve of others doing?
Blessed is the one who has no reason to do so.
Have faith in the things you do. If you have reasons and convictions for doing or not doing something which falls into the realm of Christian freedom, abide by them. You will be blessed if you do so.
If you do not have faith or do the thing against which you have faith because you doubt like a wave tossed to and fro, the thing you do condemns you and your conscience.
Con - with, Science - knowledge.
If you go against the things you know or believe you know, the thing you do does not proceed from faith, but from doubt. Paul states here this is sin.
Have faith in God. Not in your decisions or positions. Faith in God. That is goal.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Amazing Grace
Listen HERE.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
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