Your First Job

Do you remember your first job?  How much did you get paid?  How old were you?  The first job that I remember was when I was 8 or 9 years old.  I did not get paid anything.  My dad had broken his leg the year before and it was not healing.  They were going to try one last option, a “bone graft”; if that failed, they were considering amputation.  He had to go to Grand Rapids for the surgery, about forty miles away.  My mom did not drive, so friends and family drove her to the hospital.  My sister, Sharon, and myself stayed home and took care of the chickens.  We had a couple thousand.  That was a lot, back then.  There were no automatic feeders back then.  Sharon would fill the pails with feed and I would carry them to the chicken feeders.  The pails were about the size of a 5 gallon pail, but made of metal.  I could carry two at a time and because the sooner we got done, the sooner we could play,  we would run the pails back and forth.  I never thought it was a job; but, by today’s standard it would qualify for an episode on “Dirty Jobs”.  My first paying job was loading hay bails when I was about 14.  I got paid 50 cents an hour. 

Why do I mention this?  Do you know what the disciples first job, as disciples was? We are told to be disciples of Christ, so I think we should find out what it involved?   It was to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.  They were sent first to the Jewish people.  They were told to avoid the Gentiles, that’s most of you reading this blog.  It was not until after Jesus’ resurrection that the gospel was preached to the Gentiles

What was their task?

“go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. ⁸Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. ⁹Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, ¹⁰Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. ¹¹And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. ¹²And when ye come into an house, salute it. ¹³And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. ¹⁵Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

What was their work environment like?

“I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. ¹⁷But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; ¹⁸And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. ²⁰For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. ²¹And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. ²²And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake:”

Sound like something from “Dirty Jobs”?

What was the pay?

“he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Job description for disciple:

No experience needed.  Lots of travel required.  Must be able to walk long distances.  No travel allowance!   Will be exposed to non-curable infectious diseases and work with demonic individuals. Will be required to heal sick, perform exorcisms and raise the dead. Guaranteed to be unappreciated, harassed, falsely accused, and arrested.  No pay if you quit before the job is done.  Pay will be distributed posthumously.

Where can I sign up?

Are You Insane?

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result. 

Keep this thought in mind while I give you some statistics regarding the state of churches in America.  (These statistics are from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life.)

-       39 % of Americans attend at least one religious service a week, 27 % seldom or never attend.

-        26.3 % identify themselves as belonging to an evangelical protestant, 18.1 % as mainline protestant and 23.9 % as catholic.

-        90 % of evangelicals are absolutely certain in their belief in God, 8 % are fairly certain.

-        79 % of evangelicals say religion is very important in their life, 17 % as somewhat important.

-        30 % of evangelicals attend more than one religious service a week, 14 % 1-2 times a week, and 14 %, a few times a year.

-        78 % of evangelicals pray daily, 14 % weekly, 3 % monthly and 4 % seldom.

-        29 % of evangelicals say they receive answers to prayer at least once a week, 17 % 1-2 times a month, 22 % several times a year and 16 % seldom.

-        59 % of evangelicals believe that the Word of God is literally true, 29 % not literally true and 7 % do not believe that it is the Word of God.

-        36 % of evangelicals believe that their religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life, 57 % believe that many religions can lead to eternal life.

-        33 % of evangelicals believe that abortion is religiously legal in most cases, 36 % that it is religiously illegal.

-        26 % of evangelicals believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society, 64 % that is should be discouraged.

These are just the statistics of persons who identify themselves as evangelical.   Now what is an evangelical?  Evangelical, as defined by the National Association of Evangelicals,

- Take the Bible seriously.

- Believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

- Focus on “the good news” or “the gospel”.

The Pastors to Pastors Ministry tell us that:

- 88 % of children from evangelical churches will leave the church after high school.

- 26 % of evangelicals believe that salvation can be earned.

- 25% of married, church going women will worship with their husbands this Sunday.

- less than 15 % of the churches in the United States are growing and less than 5 % of those by conversion growth.

NOW ask yourself, Are we preaching the SAME gospel that Jesus and the apostle Paul preached?  Are we seeing the same results that Jesus and Paul saw?

Is the church in America sane or insane?

Am I sane or insane?

Are you sane or insane?

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Paul the Apostle

IS THE CHURCH IN AMERICA BLESSED OR ACCURSED?

AM I BLESSED OR ACCURSED?

ARE YOU BLESSED OR ACCURSED?

So Much To Do!

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day?   I realize that we are retired; but it still seems like the days go by so fast.  For those of you reading this who are not retired, I am sure that I am getting a lot of empathy right about now.  Remember that I have been there!  Done that!  

BUT

Think about it, Jesus had three short years to do His ministry here on this earth.  Then He was gone!  He had three short years, 1,095 days, just 26,280 hours to do His Father work, to show us what His Father looked like.  Then He was gone!  

BUT

He said it was "better that He go".  How can that be?  While Jesus was here on earth, He was limited by His humanness.  When He was in Jerusalem, He was not in Samaria.  When He was on one side of the Sea of Galilee, He was not on the other side.  Once He left, He sent His Holy Spirit and empowered His disciples and all His followers, to carry on His Father’s work.  They went into the whole known world.

If you take this in consideration, you begin to realize why He wanted to make everything so clear to His followers.  In Matthew 9, we have seen him heal the “man bourne by four” and heal the women “with the issue of blood”, while on His way to raise the ruler’s daughter from the dead.  That should be enough for one day!  Right?  No!  As He was leaving the little girls house, He healed “two blind men” who believed that Jesus was ABLE to heal them based on their faith, “according to your faith, be it unto you”.   Jesus told them to tell no one.  Need a little break?  Immediately a mute man possessed by the devil was brought to Him.  Maybe Jesus was too tired to heal this man!   No!  Jesus immediately cast out the demon and the man spoke!  

Now a little rest! No!

 

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

 

Every sickness, every disease!

Then Jesus moved by compassion turned to His disciples, US; and said:

The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."

He was telling them and US, to preach the “gospel of the kingdom”. 

Did He give US, and them, a different gospel or the same gospel?  

Paul told the Galatianns:

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed”.

Paul was preaching the same “the gospel of the kingdom”. 

AND

“God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them”

What is that gospel?  

SAME GOSPEL - SAME RESULTS 

What was He doing while here on earth? 

How much time did Jesus spend doing the things that we typically do in church?

SAME GOSPEL?  SAME RESULTS?

Pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into His harvest, preaching the SAME gospel of the kingdom, getting the SAME results, healing every sickness and every disease among the people”.

Not Your Ordinary Movie!

We went to see a movie today that is unlike any you have probably seen.  It is a MUST see, especially if you’re a parent or ever will be.  Be prepared to cry!  Be prepared to be challenged!  You cannot leave the theater apathetic.  You will either love it or hate it!

The movie is “Courageous”.  It is rated PG-13; but I would take my 8-year old grandson to see it.  There is nothing in it that is not seen on network TV everyday.  Now I realize that there is lot that is on network TV that I don’t think is appropriate for 8-year olds.  There is a police chase with gunfire; but is the kind you would see on TV in the 1950’s.  The good guys win!  No blood. 

Do You Know Anybody Who Is Not Getting Older!

Is it just me; but, it seems that a lot of people around me are getting older!  I mean getting old faster, faster than they did few years ago.  Let me give you a trick to keep people guessing.  It works better if people don’t see you for a few weeks.  Last year about his time Linda and I decided to lose some weight.  Linda lost 67 pounds and I lost 87.  This spring I decided to shave my beard and the Dutchmen in me kicked into high gear.  I decided that if I cut my hair shorter, I could go longer between haircuts. At the same time I changed from parting my hair in the middle to the side.  When I got back to Michigan, people were so confused, they did not realize that I had gotten older; or maybe they were just being kind when they said I looked younger.  Any way, Linda has got an almost redone husband without the cost of a messy divorce.

Why do I mention all this and what does it have to do with my line of thought in my blogs.  I have been talking about getting to know your God for quite a while; and in so doing we have looked at the redemptive names of Jehovah in the Old Testament.  Then we started following Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew as He ministered to the people and showed us His Father.  In all of this, we have stressed that Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”.

We all change.  We all get older!  Things that once were important, don’t seem to be so important anymore.  We start going to bed earlier and waking earlier.  Our memory is not as sharp. We seem to be doing the same things our parents did, things that we laughed at, vowing that we would never do those same dumb things.

But GOD never changes!  He never gets old!  In fact, time was made for man.  Genesis 1 says, “In the beginning”.  This was not the beginning for God.  It was “the beginning” as far as man is concerned.  Before the sun, moon and stars, there was no night and day; therefore, no 24-hour day, no weekend, no week for that matter.  He was always Jehovah-Jireh.  He was always Jehovah-Rapha.  He was always Jehovah-tsidkenu.

Yesterday, I mentioned the woman who touched Jesus and she was healed.  Mark and Luke mention something that Matthew does not.  They mention that she was healed the second that she touched Jesus.  Jesus did not do or say anything.  They tell us that Jesus perceived that power had gone out of Him and asked, “Who touched me?” After she stepped forward and admitted that it was her that touched Him. He said, “thy faith hath made thee whole”.   She was already healed, He just explained the “how” and the “why”.

How many people touched Jesus that day and never received anything?  How many got close; but never reached out that final inch?  How many of us go to church for years and never reach out in a “lay it all on the line” faith?  How many of us have not grown in our faith for years?  We have grown old; but have not grown spiritually!  We are still at the infant stage, the “doubting Thomas stage”, the “I’ll believe it when I see it” stage.

Jesus has not changed!  His Father has not changed!  The power that was present that day, the power to heal, was not a “one day special”, a “K-Mart blue light special”!  It was still there in Acts when Peter’s shadow fell on the sick and they were healed!  It did not leave when Jesus ascended.  Regardless of what you may believe or what your church may say, the Word says that Jesus is the “same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”. 

The last time I checked we are still some where between yesterday and forever!

By the way, I do know someone who is not getting older, my Father!

If We’d Only Known!

This past week, with all of the filth coming out of Penn State, many people are saying, “If we’d only known”.  But people did know.  We, as a nation, have overlooked evil for years.  The church in America has overlooked sin for years.  There is a big elephant in the room that nobody wants to admit.  The molestation of young boys has been going for years in America.  Nobody wants to even speak about the fact that men are molesting young boys.  Everybody sees the pedophilia, but nobody mentions that it is homosexual pedophilia.  That would be politically incorrect.  Homosexuality has become the norm.  It is taught in our public schools as an alternative life style.  Many of the churches in America have accepted this as normal. 

 BUT,

As bad as this is, this is only a symptom of the real problem.  The church is no longer the salt of the earth.  It has lost its saltiness.  We have been playing church.  The world looks at the church as a joke!  The church has become irrelevant. Young people are leaving the church. The New Testament church was not seen as a joke.  It was not irrelevant.  Jesus was not seen as irrelevant.  He was a threat.  He was a threat to the religious people.  He was a threat to Satan!  The church was a threat to Satan!

Jesus never watered down the message of the gospel to make it “seeker friendly”.  Jesus did not use gimmicks.  He did not use coercion.  People thronged to Him.  If they could just touch Him, they knew they would be healed.

For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. ²²But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

The followers of Peter knew that if they came within the area of his shadow, they would be healed.

¹²And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. ¹³And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. ¹⁴And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.) ¹⁵Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. ¹⁶There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

Jim Elliot the 27-year-old missionary that was killed by the Auca Indians in 1956 said:

"It makes me boil when I think of the power we profess and the utter impotency of our action. Believers who know one-tenth as much as we do are doing one-hundred times more for God, with His blessing and our criticism. Oh if I could write it, preach it, say it, paint it, anything at all, if only God's power would become known among us."

The tragedy at Penn State pales in comparison to what is going on in the church in America.  People are going to HELL because the church is playing church.  We have programs coming out of our ears.  People are running themselves ragged, trying to be “good Christians”, to do everything that the church has concocted to keep the latest programs running. 

2 Timothy 3:5 “in the last days perilous times shall come. ²For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, ⁴Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ⁵Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ⁶For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ⁷Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

The tragedy at Penn State occurred because people in charge looked the other way and kept playing football. The fans enabled the entire situation, not wanting to miss the games. The tragedy in our churches is occurring because the leadership in our churches ignores the power of God and keeps playing church. Are the people in the pews enabling the leadership because they want to be comfortable?

Never let it be said in your church:

IF WE”D ONLY KNOWN THE POWER OF GOD!

Things You Can Do, But God Can’t

A lot of people think that God can do anything He wants to do; BUT, He can’t.

He cannot lie!

He cannot deny His character!

He cannot be fickle!

He cannot overlook sin!

He cannot change!

PRAISE GOD THAT HE CANNOT DO THESE THINGS.  

You and I can; and do all of these things!  The last week we have seen that grown, long respected men overlooked sin.  They showed a side that denied every part of their perceived character.  They ignored sin and pretended that it did not happen.

God could never do this.  He cannot and could not overlook sin!  Once Adam sinned, somebody had to pay the price!  God could not pretend it did not happen!  God could not forgive Adam.  He would have denied His righteous and just character.  He could not do that.  He told Adam that he would die if he ate of the tree.  If God did not keep His Word, He would have lied. 

When Jesus was about to be crucified, He asked his Father that if there was any other way, to “let this cup pass from Me”.  There was no other way.  A righteous God could not ignore sin. This, at first glance, is frightening, in light of our unrighteousness.  How can an unrighteous man stand in the presence of an Almighty Righteous God.  The answer is simple.  We can’t.  We can’t stand  in His presence in our own righteousness; because we have none.  BUT the author of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us that we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

Why? How can this be?  Because a Righteous God has become our righteousness.  It is part of His character.  Jeremiah prophesied, hundreds of years before Jesus’ sacrificial death that God would raise to David a Branch of righteous, a King that would reign and prosper and execute judgement and righteousness in the earth.  AND His name is “The Lord our Righteousness”, Jehovah-tsidkenu.  The Spirit of the Lord anointed Isaiah to:

  To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

And the day of vengeance of our God;

      To comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion,

      To give them beauty for ashes,

      The oil of joy for mourning,

In proclaiming, Isaiah rejoices the God “has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

We have on this same Robe of Righteousness, IF, we accept it by faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  When the Almighty Righteous God looks at us, He does not see our filthiness.  He sees Christ’s righteousness. 

Satan wants us to live in self-condemnation and remind us of our sins when we come to the Father in prayer.  Satan is “the accuser of brethren”.  But Jesus intercedes for us and we are clothed in His righteousness.

Now,

WE CAN STAND BEFORE A RIGHTEOUS GOD!