No Pages Missing

Posted on January 17, 2012 by jesustrek

Last year I found a Bible in our church library that seemed to be just the right size to use for preaching. The print was large enough for my 50-something eyes, and yet this Bible was light enough to carry around easily.

The only major blemish on this slightly used copy of the Scriptures was a page that had been partially torn. I took some clear tape and, ever so carefully, repaired the page as best as I could.

I wonder if there was some reason that Satan would like to have ripped that certain page out of God’s Word? And I wonder what truths Satan would like for me to disbelieve?

What about you? Is there a specific part of the Bible that you are questioning? If Satan is trying to take some truth away from you, what might that be? Let the Holy Spirit speak to you and help you discern if there is some part of Scripture that you might need to give some serious consideration.

“And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”—Revelation 22:19.

Make sure that your Bible remains intact—every single page!

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Shipwrecked Faith

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jesustrek

This past weekend the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized and partially sank off the coast of Italy. Of the 4,200 people on board, 5 have been confirmed dead so far, and 15 others are listed as missing.

Authorities are holding the captain of the ship, as an investigation begins to determine whether or not he was responsible to some degree for this horrible event.

Paul warned Timothy that some people had shipwrecked their faith because they had rejected faith and a good conscience. Scripture urges us to hold onto these qualities (1 Timothy 1:18-20).

Many times when people shipwreck their own faith, they harm many innocent people in the process. This is tragic.

We can learn a lesson in leadership from this. It is critical that we make sure that the local congregation is being steered by competent leaders who have been called by God to lead the church. I have seen churches turned on their side because unspiritual people have been allowed to take the wheel.

Perhaps the best lesson to take away from this is a personal one. Hold on to your faith with a good conscience. If you do so, the boat may rock occasionally, but you will never find yourself shipwrecked along life’s journey.

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Pain That Serves a Purpose

Posted on January 13, 2012 by jesustrek

A few years ago I needed to have major surgery on my hand. Part of the rehabilitation process was to make a tight fist, but I could not even bring my fingers down to the palm. Therefore, my physical therapist decided to use electro-shock therapy. Electrodes were hooked to my forearm, and a battery-powered machine was supposed to give me a mild shock to help me make a fist.

The therapist, a young lady who was probably in her twenties, was having trouble getting the machine to work. She had me all hooked up, but the shock wasn’t being delivered. She kept turning the knob to increase the voltage, but nothing happened. She jiggled some wires, thinking there might be a loose connection.

Suddenly, the machine started to work. It gave me a shock that brought me out of my seat. I screamed into the face of this young lady who was trying to help me, “It’s too much! It’s too much!”

My outburst caused quite a stir in the facility. The receptionist peeked around the corner to see what was going on. Patients in the waiting room no doubt wondered what torture might be in their immediate future.

Thankfully, my therapist quickly adjusted the machine to the proper setting. Being the professional that she was, she did not hold any hard feelings against me for crying out in pain. I understood that she was just doing her job, and that she had no intentions to harm me. We all had a good laugh over the incident.

Sometimes life hurts. God allows us to experience various types of pain and suffering. We might react by screaming, “It’s too much”! However, there is always a purpose for our trials, and God, in his own timing, will dial it down so that it doesn’t hurt so much.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”—James 1:2-4.

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Taste the Difference

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jesustrek

My Dad and I once stopped in for a quick visit with Mamaw Cox. As usual, she offered to fix us a snack. And, as usual, we said “Yes”.

She soon handed each of us a bowl of yummy looking strawberries. My first strawberry didn’t taste just right. I wasn’t alarmed, because sometimes you get a bad strawberry mixed in with the good ones. My second strawberry wasn’t any better. Nor the third. Glancing over at Dad, I saw that he was having the same experience. Neither of us wanted to say anything. Mamaw soon noticed that we weren’t eating our strawberries, and she asked if something was wrong. We suggested that there might be.

Retracing her steps, Mamaw soon determined that, in her effort to sweeten our strawberries, she inadvertently loaded them up with salt instead of sugar! She threw out the ruined batch and gave us some good strawberries.

Salt is fine if it is used for its intended purpose. Otherwise, it is pretty useless.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”—(Matthew 5:13).

If you want to be useful, make a difference in somebody else’s life. In a good way.

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The Power of the Tongue

Posted on January 10, 2012 by jesustrek

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”—Proverbs 18:21.

We have often been taught that we need to be careful of what we say, because our words have the potential to do great harm to other people. This is indeed true.

However, we also need to be aware of the harm that others can cause us with their words. We often seek affirmation from other people, and when someone cuts us down, belittles us and tells us that we have failed, it can cause us a lot of grief.

Sometimes we beat ourselves up over someone else’s comment, without stopping to consider if their criticism is valid. We should consider the source, and not allow negative people to dampen our spirits or deter us from our purpose. While some criticism is helpful, we should be careful not to give harmful people unwarranted power over our lives.

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Voices Raised in Prayer

Posted on January 9, 2012 by jesustrek

When the believers heard about the ordeal that Peter and John had just gone through with the religious leaders, “…they raised their voices together in prayer to God…” (Acts 4:24).

I used to know a lady who would occasionally say, “All we can do is whisper a prayer.” I suppose that some prayers are best whispered. But some prayers are more properly prayed with your voice raised.

Think of some of the prayers offered up by Job and David. They had some difficult questions for God, and it seems that they asked him these questions under great stress, dealing with deep emotions. I can’t imagine that they always whispered in their conversations with God. Surely they prayed with their voices raised.

When I think about some of my most memorable talks with God, I remember praying to him with my voice raised. When I heard about a friend who had suffered a serious heart attack, I prayed for him…but I didn’t whisper. When I was rushing to the hospital to check on a friend who had been struck by a car, I prayed for him…but I didn’t whisper. When a man was working diligently to divide the leadership of the church where I served, I prayed for the church…but I didn’t whisper.

When is the last time you actually raised your voice in prayer to God? When might be the next time?

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There’s an App for That

Posted on January 6, 2012 by jesustrek

I keep hearing about these things called “apps” that you can get for your cell phone. I don’t think they would work for me because my cell phone is so old. It’s one of the early models that runs on kerosene and has a rotary dial.

There is an app you can apply to your life no matter what kind of phone you have. It’s found in Psalm 1. Here’s what it looks like.

            A—Avoid evil (v.1)

            P—Plant yourself in God’s Word (vv.2-3a)

            P—Produce and prosper (v.3)

Now there’s an app that can really make a difference in your life!

 

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Getting in the First Word

Posted on January 5, 2012 by jesustrek

I don’t want to sound like the weird guy on the street corner holding up a sign that says the world is about to end, but I do want to say something about repentance. This is a very important biblical concept.

When John came to prepare the way for Jesus, the very first word he speaks in Matthew’s gospel is the word “Repent”. (3:1-2). Later in that same gospel, after Jesus began his preaching ministry, the very first word out of his mouth is “Repent”. (4:17). When the apostle Peter preached his famous sermon on the day the church was born, he didn’t start out his remarks by talking about repentance. But when people asked what they should do in response to his sermon, his very first word was—you guessed it—“Repent”. (Acts 2:38).

Although repentance is important in the pages of the Bible, it seems to have fallen out of favor with God’s people today. It isn’t preached from the pulpit, nor practiced from the pew, as much as it should be. Perhaps the reason we don’t see revival more than we do is that people refuse to believe that they have any need to change.

I have seen people do incredible harm to their church family and never express any remorse whatsoever. I have seen lukewarm church members try to live on the fringes of the kingdom and never see the need to get serious about the Lord and his church.

Jesus says, “…But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:3).

Let’s put that word “repent” back into the vocabulary of the church.

.

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Obey the Law

Posted on January 4, 2012 by jesustrek

Yesterday I pulled away from an intersection that I thought was a 4-way stop. The person driving the pickup truck approaching from my right knew that it was actually a 2-way stop, and that he had the right of way, not me. He did not have to stop. Thanks to me, however, he did have to put on his brakes!

Fortunately, he saw me in plenty of time to avoid me, and no one was hurt. People often do get hurt, however, when rules are ignored. Sometimes when we break the law, we hurt ourselves; sometimes we hurt other people.

The same truth applies when we break spiritual laws. God sets rules in place for us to obey. He does this for the benefit of all people. When those laws are broken, people get hurt. So let’s be careful as we drive on life’s highway. Let’s obey the signs that tell us what to do.

“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.”—Titus 3:1.

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She’s a Must to Avoid

Posted on January 2, 2012 by jesustrek

“She’s a must to avoid

A complete impossibility

She’s a must to avoid

Better take it from me”—Herman’s Hermits

Have you ever tried to get along with someone, but it just didn’t seem possible to work things out? I suppose that happens to everyone. Even Paul and Barnabas decided they needed to go their separate ways because they couldn’t solve a dispute that arose between them (Acts 15:36-41).

I try to live my life in such a way that I don’t have to avoid anyone. I like to be able to walk up to anyone at any time and shake their hand and offer a sincere greeting. I’ll admit that there have been times when such encounters have been awkward because of a rift in a relationship.

Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” The Bible teaches that we should do our best to get along with people. But it also acknowledges the fact that some people will refuse to get along with you.

Let’s try to be patient with people. After all, God was pretty patient with us, right?

Oh, and if you see me cross to the other side of the street as I’m headed in your direction, I’m probably not trying to avoid you.

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