Posted on FaceBook Aug 11, 2020

HELLO, KINGDOM!

Truth in Love Part 6

We’ve covered Love and we’ve covered truth. Now it’s time to cover them together. We touched on it in Part 1, way back on June 18, as Jesus addressed the scribes and Pharisees concerning the adulteress. The world around us is in chaos. The pandemic has spawned hatred. Early on people were thinking of themselves and hoarding essentials at an incomprehensible level. Experts, leaders, people in general are pointing fingers at each other, trying to place blame.

Some pastors are defying government directives, claiming the government can’t tell the church what to do. Some church members are defying government directives, while others are at odds with their pastors who are honoring government directives regarding social distancing and wearing of masks or have shut their doors altogether. As if that weren’t enough, racial tensions have gone through the roof. Protests turn into riots. Properties are destroyed, lives are lost, countless people (participants, innocent bystanders, police, firefighters, etc.) are injured. And again, people are pointing fingers at one another, blaming all but themselves. AND, on top of all that, it’s an election year here in the US. Politicians are pointing fingers at one another, using the chaos to further their own agenda, holding people’s livelihood ransom. There’s a lot of finger pointing going on, in every direction, save one. Not many are pointing up.

One thing is glaringly absent in all this. Very few, if any, are offering solutions, compromise, or any form of effort to resolve any of the issues. Everyone appears bent on making their own pain felt and using that to brow beat everyone else. Nobody seems to have an answer. And there is no source of relief in sight. BUT THERE IS. Scriptures show us that Jesus is the Answer, the Solution, and the Source. Unfortunately, many Christians are distracted and caught up in the worldly issues. There are some Pastors, Christ-Centered servants of God, who are preaching Kingdom responses and solutions. Jesus gives us the two greatest commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:27). 1 John 4:20-21 says, “If someone says, ‘ I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” Matthew 5:44 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”.

We are thus commanded to love all people, just as Christ loved the righteous and the sinner; He hated the sin. But the love is not quite the love of the Hippie movement of the 60’s and 70’s. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” In showing love to one another, we must speak reflecting that love, as Paul writes a few verses earlier (29), “let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” James tells us in James 3:1-12 that we must control our tongue, which is impossible for man, but not with God’s help. Earlier in Ephesians 4, Paul tells us to no longer be children but to speak in truth that we may grow up in Christ for the edifying of the community in love (Ephesians 4: 14-16).

Lastly Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:23-26: “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. and a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

God may not have caused the pandemic to occur, but He may have allowed churches to be shuttered and stay-at-home orders to be issued so that we would use the isolation time to draw closer to Him, to develop a more personal relationship with Him. The closer we draw to Him the more Christ-like we become. Had more of us done that, the reactions may not have been as volatile when the Floyd incident occurred. As Christians, we must stop reacting of the world, but act as Kingdom minded Christians, speaking the truth (God’s Word) in love, with tenderness, not confrontational. We must rise up in One Voice to share God’s Word and Love!

Be Blessed!

Posted on FaceBook Aug 6, 2020

GOOD EVENING KINGDOM!

I know, a little late for a Kingdom post but I hope to keep it short.

Several weeks ago, while we were self quarantined in our bedroom, Pat said she felt God calling to post prayers on FaceBook. We’ve had several discussions while together, or maybe it’s been one continuous conversation, talking about surrender to God and obeying Him. She felt like Isaiah, saying “Here I Am, Lord,” in answering His call. We’ve been working on immediate response in the last month to His calls. He’s working on something mighty for us. I feel it, just as the call for REVIVAL is getting stronger. We just want to do His will.

So, when she started singing this song at voice lessons today, tears immediately started flowing, for reasons more than just my comments above. I didn’t know she even knew this song. It was one of my favorites to play at Catholic services over the years. Pat sang it so beautifully. And I was thinking about being 3 days away from the anniversary of our meeting 6 years ago. Now you know, as Paul Harvey would say, “The Rest of the Story.” That’s why I got emotional in our posted nightly prayer earlier this evening. Tonight’s prayer was on HOPE, your individual hope, but this post has a question. Are you ready to answer God’s call to do His will. Will you be His light of hope for someone suffering? Will you answer “Here I am Lord. Send me” when He calls?

Have a Blessed evening!

YOUTUBE.COMHere I Am Lord w/ Lyrics (Chris Bray)Chris Bray’s “Here I Am Lord” Worship Lyric Video Video by Pastor Ma

Posted on Facebook Aug 3, 2020

HELLO, KINGDOM!

Truth in Love Part 5

There are those who say the Bible is riddled with contradictions. They scoff at the idea the Bible is infallible. They claim the Bible was written by mere men, that it is nothing more than a story,

At least they got one thing right. The Bible is a story, but far more than just a story. It is the Greatest Story Ever Told. Yes, it was written by men, but more than mere men, because it was inspired by God. Just as when people speak God’s Word and preach, they don’t all speak with the same physical voice. The voice is their own, but the inspiration comes from God. There may be times when God gives them the exact words to say, but often it’s more the idea and direction He wants them to impart. They frame that idea and direction with their own personal experiences and perceptions. The same can be said for the writers of the Bible.

Four guys are witnesses to a shooting at a street corner. The guy closest to the shooting is just about to round the corner of the building when shots ring out. He drops to the ground and covers his head with his arms. The second closest is in a vehicle with ear buds in, listening to loud music and turns his head as the shots were fired. He sees someone falling to the ground, while a second person, holding a pistol is looking at the person falling, and senses someone running away. The third guy is about ten yards away, walking away from the spot of the shooting, and is knocked over by someone from behind running fast. The fourth guy is on a third floor balcony above the shooting, looking down at the scene. Their testimonies to the responding police will all be different. Only one of the four was an actual eyewitness, another only saw the immediate aftermath, one saw a someone running away from the scene and the fourth saw nothing, but heard the shots. Their testimonies will differ, not just because of what they did or didn’t see, but also because of previous experiences and perceptions. The one rounding the corner served in war and suffered from PTSD. Though he reacted by taking a defensive position, seeing nothing, he was able to testify to the exact number of shots, while the guy in the car barely heard the shots, yet gives a blow by blow description of what happened, embellishing to make himself important, the guy walking away was distracted and suffered a mild concussion when knocked to the ground. The one with the best view and actually saw everything was reluctant to say anything for fear of his life, because he had been assaulted by neighborhood gangs in the past.

The four Gospels in the New Testament were written by four men, each with different backgrounds, but inspired by the same God to write what they had experienced. I want to look at just one apparent contradiction: how Judas Iscariot died. Matthew tells us in Matthew 27:5, “Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.” The author of Acts, most commonly accepted as being Luke, says in Acts 1:18,”(Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” Matthew was a tax collector and Luke a doctor.

Many point to this contradiction, claiming two different types of deaths are being described. Matthew, the tax collector, simply states Judas hanged himself, then immediately after writes a paragraph on what happened to the money Judas threw down. The Chief priests used the money to by a potter’s field, which became known as the Field of Blood. Luke, not concerned with financial details, credits Judas with buying the field (which by abandoning the silver pieces he technically did) then goes into a medical description of what happened to his body, and identifies the location as the Field of Blood. What he described is what happens to a body left out in the open to decompose and gases build up inside. That condition is intensified when someone hangs his or herself and is left for a time. So if Judas hung himself and someone later discovered him and cut him down, or the rope gave way, he would have fallen to the ground and burst open as Luke, the doctor, described.

Thus no contradiction. And that’s why as believers, we must become knowledgeable of Scriptures, Study these supposed contradictions and let the Holy Spirit guide you through the contradictions with clarity, so you can then speak the Truth of His Word in confidence and accuracy.

Be Blessed!

Posted on Facebook Jul 27, 2020

GOOD MORNING KINGDOM!

Truth in Love Part 4

This was originally started in the wee morning hours of July 4th in a cabin on the top of a mountain in Colorado, but never finished. The message is still appropriate, so I finished it this morning.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Today commemorates the birth of our nation, when we declared our independence from the oppression of the British empire. People had fled an oppressive nation into hostile territory to seek a better life, one where they would be free to worship without persecution. For that reason the framers of our constitution incorporated God’s divine hand in it. Once formed, we began expanding the nation from those original 13 colonies westward and southward, exerting our control and culture on others who had come before the people fleeing the British rule. Some were originally foreigners themselves, from other parts of Europe (Spain for example) several hundred years before. Others, commonly accepted as “native Americans” may themselves been descendants from whom some consider the original discoverers of America, travelers from Asia to America over the Bering land bridge connecting Siberia to the area now recognized as the state of Alaska. This was long before Columbus “discovered” America.

This, however, is not meant to be an historical or archeological lesson, per say. It’s about “oppression” in the name of freedom. Our nation was born from oppression. We, in turn, expanded our nation, often oppressing others who stood in our way of that expansion. Our history is smothered in oppression, as one group of people attempt to exert their influence over other groups of people. It happens every two and four years as political parties square off and fight for the right to rule over everyone else, and not to represent the people. Now, the struggles and battles come from within our borders, rather than from without.

Our constitution established a government to serve its citizens. It separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of the federal and state governments. Today it would appear we no longer have that “majority rule.” It’s more like the “haves” are in control: those with the most money, the biggest toys, the loudest voices, the greatest desire for violence.

This is also not a political treatise. Just setting the backdrop.

Thousand of years before the birth of our Nation, another nation was born out of oppression. Abram left his home land, at God’s direction, into hostile territory, Canaan, to eventually and literally birth a new Nation (father of the Israelite nation). In their case, their oppressions came from without, as throughout history, the Israelites have been persecuted by one nation (or several) after another, forced from their land, even taken into captivity.

They too had internal struggles. At one point in their history, they wanted to be ruled by a King, just as much as the rest of the world was ruled by kings at the time. God granted their request, which didn’t work out the way they expected or wanted, for the most part.

The Constitution starts with “We the People…” The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all me are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Scriptures tell us, in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are to love God and love our neighbor. So on this day, as we celebrate our freedom from the tyranny of Britain, let us remember that we must love God and love one another, as we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. From that love will spring unity and peace, as we lay hold of that belief with our entire heart.

Be Blessed!

Posted on FaceBook Jul 24, 2020

HELLO KINGDOM

!Truth In Love Part 3

Just before His arrest, Jesus prays for Himself, then His Disciples and after that, all believers. In praying for His disciples he says: “I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth. As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the Truth.” (John 17:14-19)TRUTH. What is truth? Merriam-Webster defines truth as the body of real things, events and facts; actuality. That’s a world definition. So truth is real things, it is facts, it is actuality. But who determines what is actual fact? Who can say what is real? These can all be colored (pun intended) by our own experiences, which affect our perception of things and/or understanding of science.

Let’s look at some examples. A man loses a leg in an accident. Upon awaking after surgery to remove the leg, his leg begins to itch, so he reaches down to scratch it, only to find that his leg is no longer there. Until he reached down, his reality was he still had his leg. That was his truth, a fact he could count on. But that reality was false. For the man, however it was real because he did not have all the facts. He had lost consciousness at the time of the accident and was unaware of the surgery to remove his leg. Or consider the little girl who watched her mother for years prepare the Easter ham, cutting off the ends of the ham before placing it in the roasting pan to cook it. She asked her mom why she did that and she replied that’s the way her mom had always done it. Her mom told her to ask grandma if she really wanted to know. Grandma told her she did that because the hams she bought were bigger than the only roasting pan they had (and could not afford to buy a bigger one,) so she had to cut the ends off the ham. Or how about the guy, on the west coast talking to someone on the east coast. West coast steps outside while talking and notices how blue the sky is and says so into his phone. East coast looks out his window and says, “Really? The sky is black here,” because it’s night time on the east coast, while there is still daylight on the west coast.

A lot has been said about the lack of social distancing, especially at the beach and photos are offered up as proof. However, perceptions play a role even here, and looks can be deceiving. It’s a matter of depth of field, and angle of view. Look at the attached photos. The first photo is taken from ground level and it appears the “people” are crowded in on one another. The second photo is taken from above and clearly shows the “people” are appropriately separated.

One last example. Take the colors black and white. Are they even colors? If you were to say black was the absence of all color you would be correct. If you were to say white was the presence of all colors you would be correct. But if you were to say black was the presence of all color and white was the absence of all color you would also be correct. How is that possible? It depends on the medium you’re referring to. In the light spectrum, color is determined by the reflection of light. If an object is white, it reflects light containing all colors. Black absorbs light rays, and therefore there is no reflection, and no color is visible. Under physical properties a pigmentation that contains all colors produces the color black, whereas white is comprised of no pigmentation. How’s that for truth and fact?

In the world, everything must be analyzed closely. Anything can be made to seem like something else based on experiences, perceptions, presentations and misrepresentation (intentional or not) and even outright lying.

Then Jesus takes everything and turns worldly things on its head. He challenges the norms of the culture. He heals without medicine, a woman is healed merely by touching the hem of his robe. He even heals long distance, merely speaking a word and a servant is healed from a distance. He hangs out with thieves, lepers, tax collectors. But every bit of it is done in Truth, God’s Truth. The Bible describes truth as that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory and being of God. In short, God is Truth. Again, as John states in John1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Thus Christ is the Word and the Word is truth.

As Christians, we must speak the Truth, now more so than ever before. Not our truth, but The Truth of the Word. The world is looking to us. Ephesians 4:25 states, “ Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.” In order to speak the Truth found in the Bible, one must know that Word. As believers, we should know that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, lives in us. Jesus is the Word. Therefore, the Word is planted within us, ready for the Holy Spirit to give us access as needed.

Chew on that for now. Next we’ll explore more about the Truth found in the Word. Until then, be Blessed.