And a lilac blossom from our huge lilac bush. I walked past and did a double take. Lilacs bloom in May not September. Another one of those small, almost unnoticed blessings from our Lord.
And since winter is edging toward us, I thought it would be a good time to fix our side door and primary entrance to our house. When we bought this place, the door had seen better days. The house was a rental for the last several years and lived in by, I can only assume, feral people. They had several cats and not much interest in changing the litter box. My dog wrinkled his nose when entering the house for the first time.
I bought the same style door at our local big box outlet, but it was already November and too cold to replace the door frame with the new door. I slapped the new door into the old frame, with some difficulty but no blood and it has been that way until today. The Brother in Law came over and started on the project yesterday afternoon. We came to the conclusion at sundown that we needed to sleep on it and try again in the morning. Door frames can be that way most times, I have found.
Before heading off to Bible Study yesterday morning, I ran across a video that takes a hard look at data from Europe and a little bit from the US in regards to viruses and how they work in populations. When you mention this, people quite often grit their teeth and rush to fall back on their tribe’s position on the subject. And of course the subject is COVID-19. It is an automatic assumption by now. But COVID-19 is a virus, since we live in a world created by our God, and a sensible world at that, things in this world work in accordance with their kind.
Scientists, before they turned to a Man centered world, vs God created, used to believe that this was a sensible world and the answers they were searching for would come from a world made by God, who was Loving, Merciful and Unchanging. Darwin and others changed that and now most people see Man as having the answers.
This video answered several questions of mine and opened my eyes again to how God works in the world. I urge you to watch the video and decide for yourself what to make of it. And then thank God for creating a sensible world for His creatures to live in.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
And while you’re at it, I encourage you keep going through the rest of His book. It will open your eyes.
All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ
From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 23 to 26 Q23: What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer? A23: Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.
Q24: How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet? A24: Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
Q25: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest? A25: Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.
Q26: How doth Christ execute the office of a king? A26: Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
This last Sunday, I was asked by Aaron, the pastor of First Baptist Church, to give my testimony and the subject was to be Fear of Death. The video above is that testimony.
My Sister in Law and Mother in Law were in attendance and asked me to use that for our bible study at South Grove. As to why we will now have bible study in person at South Grove versus waiting for our Governor to release his COVID-19 Peacetime Emergency, it has become clear to me that this COVID-19 is being used by the government and they, those that rule us, have no intention to remove this Peacetime Emergency anytime soon. In fact I have read recently of a “Doubling Down” of conditions imposed on us when the flu season starts amping up. I don’t deny that COVID-19 can be lethal to certain age groups and health conditions. It is much more selective than the flu but at a death rate of .02% – as such it cannot be considered pandemic. A nasty flu year is more than this and they never cared before. All the same, if you are health compromised or nervous about this virus, take precautions. Biblically, the only people asked to take precautions were those in the house of those affected by whatever calamity or village of an outbreak. Never the whole population.
Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.
So once again we see, nothing new under the sun.
Fear of Death. I would consider that to be a prevalent idea among people. It was for me, I tried to eat right, keep my weight down and paid attention to various health sciences. I still took risks, according to my wife. I was a man after all. With the exception of risk taking, this was an effort on my part to prolong my life.
That all changed when God gave notice to me that it was time to stop fooling around. I of course resisted at first, but I have found that God is patient and has an ironic sense of humor when it comes to justice. My strength and skills were of great pride to me. And here I can use the bible to illustrate the key to this story, I will draw from Judges 7 verse 2. Gideon was told by God to raise any army to fight the Midians.
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’
It was “Too Much” and that is exactly what would have happened with me. If God had selected me as I was, my pride would have taken control and then we would move into the parable of the soils:
Luke 8:5-8 “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I am betting with my strength and skill intact, I would not have ears to hear, metaphorically speaking. But God knows this and when you are elected to His saving Grace, you are transformed and your previous objects fall away.
I gave in, and repented when I could not fight this or fix it, I could only submit. And I started reading the scripture. An interesting thing when your heart is transformed from a dry branch to the Living Water you do things you said you would never do.
So here we are. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. We’ve all heard that. We have also heard that heaven is a boring place. You get a robe, a harp and a cloud and that’s pretty much how your days go. Where did those little jewels of wisdom come from? (said in my ironic voice) Not the bible, that’s for sure. The only other logical way you would have an irrational fear of death or boredom with going to heaven would be satan. He is the lion the prowls around, roaring. Have you been listening?
There is a solution to all that you fear. Read the scripture. Now I know not all of us here have read the bible. Some of you have trouble reading due to dyslexia or never learned to read properly or eyesight is bad. Some of you are just not interested. Those of you that have trouble reading, know that there are audio versions of the complete bible and you can let me know if you’re interested in that. Those of you that can read well and read for enjoyment, but just aren’t interested, what’s the deal? Know that anyone interested in God, God is interested in you.
This from John MacArthur’s devotionals “If you’re not committed to righteousness, you not only make yourself spiritually vulnerable, but also forfeit some of God’s wonderful blessings. David prayed, “Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation” (Ps. 51:13). His sin had robbed him of his joy and assurance. That’s true of us as well because joy is directly proportional to obedience. If you’re pursuing greater righteousness, you’ll know greater joy.”
Isaiah 65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. There is no good reason you could not read a chapter or 2 of the bible every day. Consider it mandatory maintenance for your soul. Just going to church or bible study is not going to cut it.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
So read your bible or come talk to me later about why you think you can’t. I truly understand, as I was the same way once.
Back to the subject at hand, my fear of death vanished after reading the scriptures.
James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Obey God and the devil will flee from you. Sure you might hear him prowling around, roaring, but that will recede as you grow in faith. Sanctification is a process, not an event. You may be of small faith but trying to obey God and satan’s roars are loud. As you walk in faith, you learn from the scriptures that you can put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6:13 which is needed because when you get stronger in faith, satan will become more insistent in turning you away.
But if you obey God, satan cannot tear you away.
But still there is fear of death. Is it the unknown that bothers you? We know what happens when we die. Sure it’s uncomfortable, but none of us will be nailed to a cross and have God’s wrath poured out upon us for our sins. Jesus did that, for us, for those that would believe. And there’s more.
John 14:1-3 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
We have a place in heaven, with our Savior. Dying, while uncomfortable is worth standing before our Lord and Savior, basking in His glory. All tears are wiped away, along with all your worries and troubles. How can you fear death when this awaits you? Obey God, put on his full armor and stop paying attention to your fears, which means stop listening to satan.
Our primary duty to God is to give honor and glory to Him. This is the purpose of Man, why we were created. When you are obeying God, and satan is fleeing, concerns of death recede. They may not disappear but concerns should be given to Christ, who is holding you in his firm grasp.
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
You were selected by the Father, as a gift of love, to the Son. It was a transfer from one firm hand to another. There is no safer place to be. This is why it is so important to read the scripture, study it. You will be drawn to it if you are obeying God. And when you have read the scripture, your understanding will increase and soon you will have the tools you need to serve your Lord, Savior and King so that you may be raised up on that last day. Death has been conquered by Christ and there is no need to fear. Go forth, having faith in God and acting on that faith. Know that even though the world has changed, God is as He has always been. Unchanging and with His Law still valid to this day. That should give you confidence enough to act as a believer. Go forth and do so.
All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ
From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 19 to 22:
Q19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A19: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
Q20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A20. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
Q21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A21: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
Q22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A22: Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.
I am still thinking about verse 14 and the import that it has in our understanding of Christ. God came to this world, to interact with His creation. He who is without end, walked among us. Our Creator’s love is shown to us in Christ.
From MacArthur’s Devotionals: John 1:14 is the most concise biblical statement of the Incarnation. The first four words, “the Word became flesh,” express the reality that in the incarnation God took on humanity; the infinite became finite; eternity entered time; the invisible became visible (cf. Col. 1:15); the Creator entered His creation. God revealed Himself to man in the creation (Rom. 1:18–21), in the Old Testament Scriptures (1 Cor. 2:7–14), and, supremely and most clearly, in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2).
Jesus Christ, God’s final “Word” to mankind (Heb. 1:1–2), “became flesh.”
That He actually “became” flesh affirms Jesus’ full humanity.
When John says He became flesh, this does not mean Christ ceased being the eternal Word when He became a man. In the Incarnation the unchangeable (Heb. 13:8) God did become fully man, yet remained fully God. Think of it—He entered the realm of creatures who are limited by time and space, and experienced life as it is for those He created.
No wonder Paul wrote of the Incarnation, “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Tim. 3:16).
And yet, their eyes could not see nor their ears hear, as foretold to us by Isaiah 600 years before: Isaiah 6:9-13 9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”
In general, people seem rather uninterested with talk of scripture. Like the world has worn them down. You did know that our sole purpose in this world is to glorify God, this being from God’s point of view. What is your point of view? Are your eyes veiled, your ears dulled? And if so, why is that? We have His word, His promise to us, is it not enough, we who are His clay? (Jeremiah 18) We have what no other people have had, the whole bible, the complete story.
The next verse in this chapter is this: 15 John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”
God does not send us prophets anymore, at least it does not seem that way and that’s probably a good thing considering how they had been treated. (Luke 13:34) But we have His Word, and that Word is Holy and True. And we have it in book form, audio form and on the internet in video format. Lots of prophets in any content style you prefer. So you don’t need a hairy man who is rumored to eat bugs to tell you the Good News.
What the book tells us next is: 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
I would call receiving our daily bread from a God who loves us “grace upon grace.” And I have read of the Law given to Moses and accepted the Truth of Jesus Christ in this book that God has breathed out. All this is in this Book. And it is a fascinating story, one that I love.
A strange thing though, I have talked to people, church people, that have told me they don’t like to read. There is an emphasis on READ, and the inference is “read the bible.” Ok, how about listening,” I say. “Well”, they pause, “I’m kinda busy most of the time and…” Oh, I get it. You want your religion on your terms. Light and non-intruding into your busy life. I did too. Quite often looked at my imaginary watch when the preacher strayed from his allotted time. We called ourselves Christians too. Funny that. If you read in the “Book” you find out that in reality we would be called dry branches, to be cut off and thrown in the fire.
John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
My point is this, while we were dry branches, pagans, idol worshipers, we had no desire to read the Word, listen to the Word, or have time to hang around people of the Word. We were in darkness. We liked the darkness. Would tolerate sitting in a pew once a week and spending an hour listening to things that did not make sense or were uninteresting. That’s what “Good” people did. And then we went home and lived our lives like the pagans that we were.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Clue alert, righteous is good in this case. Jesus is saying there is no one good, only God. How, in this sin drenched world do you call yourself good? Have you stopped sinning? Are you even able to acknowledge that you sin or have your sins been forgiven and you are good to go from now on? Sanctification is a process, not an event.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Because our sins have been forgiven and not remembered (Hebrews 8:12), this does not keep us from sinning daily. What about those sins? A free pass or do we atone? Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
When you are drawn to the Word, by the Father, all of those excuses you once had vanish. I speak as one who said I would not go to bible study, I would not read the bible. Once convicted by the Holy Spirit, and you will know when it happens as it is a realization of every one of your sins played out in your mind in living color, now you know that you are held accountable for every one of them.
Eph 5:11,13 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose [YLT: convict] them… Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
That is called being converted from darkness to the Light. Your branch has been plucked from the fire and infused with the Living Water.
John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’
So now tell again of your hesitancy to read the Bible, or listen to it. With the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, those excuses don’t hold.
John 16:13 “Yet when that one I have spoken to you about comes–the Spirit of truth–he will guide you into everything that is true.”
I know, because where I once said I would not go to bible study, now I teach it. Not because I have to, because I want to. And those nights when I cannot sleep, I tune into the Grace Stream and listen to 50 years of John MacArthur expounding the scripture in a most forthright manner, and drift off into sleep with a smile on my face. Not for everyone I admit, but, choose your shepherds wisely.
These are troubling times. Look at Romans 1 verse 18 and beyond. Tell me, after reading this, that God has not removed his Blessing upon the land. Have we had a sexual revolution? A homesexual revolution? A depravity of the mind? Do you suppose God will overlook any of these things? Did you know Sodom and Gomorrah where destroyed for homosexual activity? Read Genesis 19. It is very instructive.
What then did God do when these things accrued? He gave them over to it. Minneapolis, New York, Portland, Austin, Seattle… Seeing a trend?
There is Good News in all this and no I am not joking. Jesus Christ, God, died on the cross for our sins, for the sins of those who would believe. John 8:14 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
God the Father has drawn us and handed us over to Christ, our Lord, King and Savior.
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
I call that Good News. Go spread it around and serve your King!
