Author: nrfaught

I have spent 5 years in mission work in the West Indies and South America. I have preached mainly part time for 40 years, much of that time while working with a full time job in Christian education. I am currently at Madison Academy in Huntsville, Alabama and serving as a shepherd at the Monrovia Church of Christ. God has blessed me with a wife and 3 grown children (and their families) who are much more loving than I am!

“DEM BONES” SONG AND EZEKIEL 37

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

(I Forgot to put a title on what I sent today).Your song to start your day (why do I assume that you are reading this in the morning with a cup of coffee?) is “Dry Bones” by Delta Rhythm Boys, a group active from 1934-1987. For any old tiimers reading, they performed on the Amos and Andy show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVoPG9HtYF8 They sang their version of the song in 1950 and on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1951.

Actually, the song was first sung by the Myers Jubilee Singers and was called “Dem Bones” that you can listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40FrFWxfEQ Very different wording.

“Ezekiel cried dem dry bones…Now hear the word of the Lord…Ezekiel connected dem dry bones…Well the toe bone connected to your foot bone” ….all the way up the body parts to the head and back down disconnecting them to the toe bone!

Of course this song is taken from Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. I can’t imagine actually seeing this amazing vision in person. Ezekiel is sitting down right in the middle of the bones! This sounds like a scene out of a “Criminal Miinds” TV show. You’ve walked around in a cemetery of dry bones but never something like this!

A great slide from Sara McCoy:

God gave Ezekiel the interpretation of this vision.

We can assume that, at the time of the vision, Babylon has already destroyed the temple and Jerusalem (586 BC) and that the majority of the Jews in Judah have been taken to Babylon as captives. There were actually 3 deportations of captives (606 BC, 596 BC, and 586 BC). Ezekiel himself was carried in the 596 BC deportation. He spent the first 5 years of his minstry prophesying in Judah before being taken captive. He then prophesied for 15 years in Babylon.

BTW the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive to Assyria in 722 BC, and this vision includes them also, “these bones are the whole house of Israel” (not just Judah). That can also be seen from 37:15-22 where Ezekiel is told to unite two sticks, one with the name “Israel” (the northern kingdom of 10 tribes) and the other with “Judah” (the southern kingdom of 2 tribes. The two sticks are then united into one stick. At some time in the future the two kingdoms would be reunited into one kingdom with one king.

BTW the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive to Assyria in 722 BC, and this vision includes them also, “these bones are the whole house of Israel” (not just Judah). That can also be seen from 37:15-22 where Ezekiel is told to unite two sticks, one with the name “Israel” (the northern kingdom of 10 tribes) and the other with “Judah” (the southern kingdom of 2 tribes. The two sticks are then united into one stick. At some time in the future the two kingdoms would be reunited into one kingdom with one king.

But when would all this be fulfilled? There are two keys to interpreting the fulfillment of this prediction.

  1. 37:14 “I will put my Spirit within you”. This can only be predicting the pouring out of the Spirit in the last days of the Jewish nation (from 30 AD to 70 AD) as predicted by Joel 2:28-32 and fulfilled beginning in Acts 2 when Peter said that Joel’s prophecy was beginning to be fulfilled. God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. God told Isaiah in Isaiah 44:3, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” So it is safe to assume that when the prophets predict a pouring out of the Spirit that they are predicting the miraculous outpouring the Spirit on the Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah and who became the first church. Only a remnant of the Jews believed in Jesus. The rest were doomed to judgment when God sent the Romans to destroy the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD, killing one million evil, rebellious Jews. The Jewish Christians heeded Jesus’ warning (Matthew 24) and escaped to Pella.

    That means that there is a lot of figurative language in this prediction. The nation of Israel is pictured as dry bones. They are dead spiritually, in their spiritual graves (37:13). The Holy Spirit raises them from their spiritual graves and gives them life, or “breath”. The Jewish remnant who believed in Jesus were raised from the dead spiritually and given eternal spiritual life in the book of Acts and the Spirit was poured out on them. God even puts them back in their land (37:14) which must be figurative also b/c God did not put the believing Jewish remnant church back in control of the holy land in the book of Acts and yet Paul said the remnant had received all of the promises God made to them by the prophets (Romans 9). Unfortunately, many teach that this return to the land was fulfilled when Israel received statehood and control of the holy land in 1948 AD, but there was no pouring out of the Spirit and raising Jews from spiritual death in 1948! That false interpretation of Ezekiel 37 (and several similar passages) had caused so much confusion and misguided political and religious expectations! God never intended to give the believing remnant the holy land itself. That is figurative of the place where the remnant dwell securely, which is in the hands of God.
  2. The second key is 37:24 “David My servant shall be king over them.”

This also has figurative language. The prophets often said that “David” would be king, shepherd, and prince in the Messianic Age and kingdom. Hosea 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days. Jeremiah 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.” Ezekiel 34:23-24 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.” Surely it should be obvious that this is figurative language and that Jesus, not David himself, will be king, shepherd, and prince in the Messianic kingdom which is the church. Of course there are the “literalists” who say that all these predictions must be fulfilled literally, so I was not surprised to read one article that predicted that in our future that Jesus will set up his physical kingdom and raise David from the dead to be the prince in the kingdom. At least the author of the article was being consistent. Many literalists will admit that the “David” being king in the Messianic age is figurative and refers to Jesus and yet they insist that the land promise must be literal (and therefore 1948). 37:25 also has the same figurative return to the land as 37:14. Also 37:26-28 predicts that in the futue God would place his sanctuary or tabernacle among them and dwell in them. That has to be the church Jesus established, and we Christians are the temple of God. The book of Revelation is things to take place soon or shortly (1:1-3; 22:5-9). It is written in about 63 AD and predicts the destruction of the old Jerusalem that is about to happen in 70 AD. After describing that event in much figurative language, 21:1-3 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” The new Jerusalem, i.e. the church, would replace the old Jerusalem which would be destroyed in 70 AD. The new temple or sanctuary would be the church where God dwells. All this should make it obvious that all of Ezekiel 37 would be fulfilled when Jesus established his spiritual kingdom, the church, in the book of Acts and has been reigning over that kingdom for 2,000 years now. The believing Jewish remnant received all the promises of the prophets and were raised from their spiritual graves. Jesus was no doubt referring to this spiritual resurrection in John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Even as Jesus was teaching on earth some of the spiritually dead who heard the voice of Jesus and believed would be raised spiritually, not physically. That is the “hour is coming and is now here” part in 5:25. The 2nd part that “is coming” would be when all the dead of the Old Testament would be raised just as Daniel 12:1-2 predicted. All of Daniel 12 was fulfilled in 70 AD so that resurrection was to be fulfilled in 70 AD also. That is the resurrection that Paul spoke of in Acts 24:15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that is about to be(mello, which always means “about to be” in the New Testament) a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. That is the same resurrection that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 15 and he added in 15:We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” Thus he is predicting that the resurrection would occur while some of those he is writing to would still be alive. He explained that the resurrected bodies would be spiritual, not physical. Believers, dead or alive, would be given immortality, eternal spiritual bodies. Where did anyone ever get the idea that the resurrection would be physical bodies coming out of the graves?

On a final note, notice that these promises in Ezekiel 37 are not for the whole nation. They are only for those Jews who would “walk in his ordinances and keep them” (37:24), for those Jews who would follow David (Jesus) (37:25), for those Jews who entered into the new covenant that only Jewish Christians would enter (37:26), for those Jews whom God would dwell in (37:27) and we know that God only dwells in believers. The Jews who supposedly fulfilled Ezekiel 37 in 1948 are not followers of Jesus. There are some Messianic Jews today who do believe in Jesus, but most interpreters say that Ezekiel 37 was or would be fulfilled by the nation of Israel even the nation does not believe in Jesus. There is just so much wrong interpretation of Ezekiel 37 and other Messianic predictions in the Old Testament.

If I lost you on this 2nd key, then relax and just remember the gist of the prediction in Ezekiel 37. Just like the Jewish remnant who believed in Jesus, we Gentile believers have been raised from spiritual death and given eternal life in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-5). We have eternal life that the Spirit of God breathes in us. We will live forever after we die physically (John 11:24-25). Even if you don’t get into all the discussion about Israel and 1948, that really doesn’t matter.

Go back and sing along with the Delta Rythym boys the “dem bones” song and you will feel good.

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

Your song to start your day (why do I assume that you are reading this in the morning with a cup of coffee?) is “Dry Bones” by Delta Rhythm Boys, a group active from 1934-1987. For any old tiimers reading, they performed on the Amos and Andy show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVoPG9HtYF8 They sang their version of the song in 1950 and on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1951.

Actually, the song was first sung by the Myers Jubilee Singers and was called “Dem Bones” that you can listen to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40FrFWxfEQ Very different wording.

“Ezekiel cried dem dry bones…Now hear the word of the Lord…Ezekiel connected dem dry bones…Well the toe bone connected to your foot bone” ….all the way up the body parts to the head and back down disconnecting them to the toe bone!

Of course this song is taken from Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. I can’t imagine actually seeing this amazing vision in person. Ezekiel is sitting down right in the middle of the bones! This sounds like a scene out of a “Criminal Miinds” TV show. You’ve walked around in a cemetery of dry bones but never something like this!

A great slide from Sara McCoy:

God gave Ezekiel the interpretation of this vision.

We can assume that, at the time of the vision, Babylon has already destroyed the temple and Jerusalem (586 BC) and that the majority of the Jews in Judah have been taken to Babylon as captives. There were actually 3 deportations of captives (606 BC, 596 BC, and 586 BC). Ezekiel himself was carried in the 596 BC deportation. He spent the first 5 years of his minstry prophesying in Judah before being taken captive. He then prophesied for 15 years in Babylon.

BTW the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captive to Assyria in 722 BC, and this vision includes them also, “these bones are the whole house of Israel” (not just Judah). That can also be seen from 37:15-22 where Ezekiel is told to unite two sticks, one with the name “Israel” (the northern kingdom of 10 tribes) and the other with “Judah” (the southern kingdom of 2 tribes. The two sticks are then united into one stick. At some time in the future the two kingdoms would be reunited into one kingdom with one king.

But when would all this be fulfilled? There are two keys to interpreting the fulfillment of this prediction.

  1. 37:14 “I will put my Spirit within you”. This can only be predicting the pouring out of the Spirit in the last days of the Jewish nation (from 30 AD to 70 AD) as predicted by Joel 2:28-32 and fulfilled beginning in Acts 2 when Peter said that Joel’s prophecy was beginning to be fulfilled. God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. God told Isaiah in Isaiah 44:3, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” So it is safe to assume that when the prophets predict a pouring out of the Spirit that they are predicting the miraculous outpouring the Spirit on the Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah and who became the first church. Only a remnant of the Jews believed in Jesus. The rest were doomed to judgment when God sent the Romans to destroy the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD, killing one million evil, rebellious Jews. The Jewish Christians heeded Jesus’ warning (Matthew 24) and escaped to Pella.

    That means that there is a lot of figurative language in this prediction. The nation of Israel is pictured as dry bones. They are dead spiritually, in their spiritual graves (37:13). The Holy Spirit raises them from their spiritual graves and gives them life, or “breath”. The Jewish remnant who believed in Jesus were raised from the dead spiritually and given eternal spiritual life in the book of Acts and the Spirit was poured out on them. God even puts them back in their land (37:14) which must be figurative also b/c God did not put the believing Jewish remnant church back in control of the holy land in the book of Acts and yet Paul said the remnant had received all of the promises God made to them by the prophets (Romans 9). Unfortunately, many teach that this return to the land was fulfilled when Israel received statehood and control of the holy land in 1948 AD, but there was no pouring out of the Spirit and raising Jews from spiritual death in 1948! That false interpretation of Ezekiel 37 (and several similar passages) had caused so much confusion and misguided political and religious expectations! God never intended to give the believing remnant the holy land itself. That is figurative of the place where the remnant dwell securely, which is in the hands of God.
  2. The second key is 37:24 “David My servant shall be king over them.”

This also has figurative language. The prophets often said that “David” would be king, shepherd, and prince in the Messianic Age and kingdom. Hosea 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days. Jeremiah 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.” Ezekiel 34:23-24 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.” Surely it should be obvious that this is figurative language and that Jesus, not David himself, will be king, shepherd, and prince in the Messianic kingdom which is the church. Of course there are the “literalists” who say that all these predictions must be fulfilled literally, so I was not surprised to read one article that predicted that in our future that Jesus will set up his physical kingdom and raise David from the dead to be the prince in the kingdom. At least the author of the article was being consistent. Many literalists will admit that the “David” being king in the Messianic age is figurative and refers to Jesus and yet they insist that the land promise must be literal (and therefore 1948). 37:25 also has the same figurative return to the land as 37:14. Also 37:26-28 predicts that in the futue God would place his sanctuary or tabernacle among them and dwell in them. That has to be the church Jesus established, and we Christians are the temple of God. The book of Revelation is things to take place soon or shortly (1:1-3; 22:5-9). It is written in about 63 AD and predicts the destruction of the old Jerusalem that is about to happen in 70 AD. After describing that event in much figurative language, 21:1-3 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” The new Jerusalem, i.e. the church, would replace the old Jerusalem which would be destroyed in 70 AD. The new temple or sanctuary would be the church where God dwells. All this should make it obvious that all of Ezekiel 37 would be fulfilled when Jesus established his spiritual kingdom, the church, in the book of Acts and has been reigning over that kingdom for 2,000 years now. The believing Jewish remnant received all the promises of the prophets and were raised from their spiritual graves. Jesus was no doubt referring to this spiritual resurrection in John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Even as Jesus was teaching on earth some of the spiritually dead who heard the voice of Jesus and believed would be raised spiritually, not physically. That is the “hour is coming and is now here” part in 5:25. The 2nd part that “is coming” would be when all the dead of the Old Testament would be raised just as Daniel 12:1-2 predicted. All of Daniel 12 was fulfilled in 70 AD so that resurrection was to be fulfilled in 70 AD also. That is the resurrection that Paul spoke of in Acts 24:15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that is about to be(mello, which always means “about to be” in the New Testament) a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. That is the same resurrection that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 15 and he added in 15:We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” Thus he is predicting that the resurrection would occur while some of those he is writing to would still be alive. He explained that the resurrected bodies would be spiritual, not physical. Believers, dead or alive, would be given immortality, eternal spiritual bodies. Where did anyone ever get the idea that the resurrection would be physical bodies coming out of the graves?

On a final note, notice that these promises in Ezekiel 37 are not for the whole nation. They are only for those Jews who would “walk in his ordinances and keep them” (37:24), for those Jews who would follow David (Jesus) (37:25), for those Jews who entered into the new covenant that only Jewish Christians would enter (37:26), for those Jews whom God would dwell in (37:27) and we know that God only dwells in believers. The Jews who supposedly fulfilled Ezekiel 37 in 1948 are not followers of Jesus. There are some Messianic Jews today who do believe in Jesus, but most interpreters say that Ezekiel 37 was or would be fulfilled by the nation of Israel even the nation does not believe in Jesus. There is just so much wrong interpretation of Ezekiel 37 and other Messianic predictions in the Old Testament.

If I lost you on this 2nd key, then relax and just remember the gist of the prediction in Ezekiel 37. Just like the Jewish remnant who believed in Jesus, we Gentile believers have been raised from spiritual death and given eternal life in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-5). We have eternal life that the Spirit of God breathes in us. We will live forever after we die physically (John 11:24-25). Even if you don’t get into all the discussion about Israel and 1948, that really doesn’t matter.

Go back and sing along with the Delta Rythym boys the “dem bones” song and you will feel good.

“GOD HAS BEEN MY SHEPHERD”

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

I wish there was a way to open up a blog like this for follow up conversation among the readers. Here I am sharing some of my personal experiences and I am sure that many of the readers have something similar to share. I found an old diary of mine from 2006 when my wife and I met my daughter in Costa Rica to spend a week at Arenol Volcano, Manuel Antonio Park (rain forest), and Monteverde (cloud forest). It really was a great week looking back but my daily diary comments were full of my stress and worry. over thiings on the trip. In my comments, I kept asking the Lord to help me relax and enjoy the trip but I kept stressing out over every little thing. I even mentioned that they should leave me at home on the next trip. Well, looking back I am so glad we made that. trip. We followed it up with our entire family of 16 going to Costa Rica for 11 days this past summer, and that was a great trip. Yes, I stressed out a lot on that one also, but I made it and enjoyed it.

My devotional thought after reading my diary took me to some of Jacob’s last words before he died in Egypt. As he was blessing Joseph’s two sons who were born in Egypt, he said, ““The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked ,the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil.” Jacob was like me. He wrestled with God all his life, always trusting his own cunning ability to deceive and outsmart others to get material blessings. He wrestled with the man (God taking the form of a man for a night) all night and the man (God) changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which means “one who wrestles with God”. Jacob continues to wrestle with fully trusting God instead of relying on himself for the rest of his life until, after 17 years in Egypt, he finally seemed to make his peace with God as he died at 147 years old. His comment in his blessing the two boys is revealing to me. I think he finally looked back at his whole life and remembered how he had wrestled with God, trying to control things instead of trusting God to control things. I think he had a death bed epiphany: “in spite of my wrestling with God, He has been my shepherd all my life, protecting me (from Esau, from Laban, from the Shechemites who raped Dinah, from the Canaanites, from the famine, from the Egyptians) from every danger and difficult situation”. I think he finally relaxed and died in peace, fully trusting God finally. Maybe he thought about how much more he could have enjoyed the journey of life if he had fully trusted God instead of wrestling with God for control. I would love to talk to him in heaven and find out what he was thinking.

Where do we read those words, “my shepherd“? David said, “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). There are many verses about shepherds. A sheperd would lead the flock to pastures and water, protect the sheep from danger, heal up their wounds, and search for any lost sheep. God laid the blame on the shepherds of Israel (the elders) for not taking care of the flock (Israel) in Ezekiel 34. God predicted in that chapter that one day He Himself would take over shepherding HIs people by making David as their shepherd. Of course, that was fulfilled in Jesus, the good shepherd (John 10). Perhaps David was chosen to be the type because “David shepherded them (Israel)with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them (Psalm 78:72). Jesus had compassion on the common people b/c they were like “sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34), constantly rebuking their leaders, the Pharisees, scribes, and elders. Jesus would be the good shepherd who would care for the sheep, not allowing anyone to take them “out of His Father’s hands” (John 10). Micah ahd predicted this when he announced where Jesus would be born: “For the Lord says about his eternal ruler from Bethlehem, ‘He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.’ And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace ” (Micah 5:4-5). Jeremiah predicted that David (Jesus) would be king again one day and “4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord ” (Jeremiah 23:4). I think the shepherds he sets over the flock (the church) would be the apostles and elders who shepherded the Jewish remnant church who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, their shepherd. Notice the peace the sheep would have in the Messianic kingdom, the church: no more fear, dismay, or lost sheep. Of course, God the Father is our ultimate shepherd: “May the God of peace, …that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will” (Hebrews 13:20-21). The elders in the early church were also called “pastors” (poimen, shepherd). They were told: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:1-4). I don’t know what heaven will be like, but Revelation 7:17 gives us one picture of heaven. “”For [Jesus] the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

I think my life would be a lot stress free if I would trust more fully in God and Jesus as my shepherds. Psalm 100:3 “Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Happy, peaceful sheep just relax and follow their shepherd. They don’t worry about getting food or water, or any danger that might come. As Jeremiah said, they will “fear no more or be dismayed (overwhelmed by a situation)” b/c their shepherd is there to guide and protect them. You could say that sheep were not too bright, now aware of danger or the threat of lack of food or water. Or you could just wish that you were more like them. We can be like them if we will trust in the good shepherd Jesus and the great shepherd God the Father.

Like Jacob, I look back at our first Costa Rica trip and think, “I could have enjoyed it a lot more” if I just trusted God the whole time. I can look back at so many such situations in my life where I could have “enjoyed the journey” with God if I had turned complete control over to HIm and trusted Him more fully.

Anyone reading this article who feels the same way? You can comment on articles and I’m not sure if everyone can read your comments, but I would love to hear your experiences on you journey with God and how He shepherded, guided, and protected you. Whatever is stressing you out today, just relax, take a deep breath, turn it over to God and Jesus, and then deal with your stressors in complete confidence that God is guiding and protecting you. You don’t have to try to do it all on your own!

MY JOY AND CROWN

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

Usually I get my creative (what little creativity I get) early in the morning, I mean real early, like 3 AM. This morning I got nothing. So I fell back asleep and than at 7 AM I got a phone call I missed. It was from a man from Trinidad. He had tried to reach me a week ago and I didn’t recognize his name so I didn’t follow up to contact him. This morning something told me to call him, so I did. It was one of the teenagers that we baptized 50 years ago. Of course he is now 64, not the 14 when we baptized him in a crusade (what we called a “gospel meeting” but in a rented hall and not a church b/c there was no church in the town he lived in and where we held the crusade. We baptized several teens in that crusade and started the church in that town. I don’t think that I have seen him in 50 years. He has one grown son living in Queens, New York.I had a long talk with my long, lost brother in Christ. We talked about several of the brothers and sisters in Trinidad, some of whom I have talked to via WhatsApp recently. Many of those we worked with are now older than me and I am 75. Those guys were in their 30’s when we spent 3 years in Trinidad when I was in my mid 20’s. They are men whom we did intense Bible studies with to train them in the book so they could carry on the work in Trinidad after we left in 1976 and they have been carrying on the work in several congregations without any U.S. paid preachers and I am very proud of that. My long lost brother is still very active in the church there. I sadly learned that one of my most trusted friends and leaders in Trinidad now has advanced dementia; he doesn’t know anyone, he just sits and smiles. That church we started with that crusade is having their 50th year anniversary on April 15 of this year.

Ok, breaking news.My wife just came in and I mentioned our brother with dementia, that we should call them. The only phone we had for him and his wife was a landline, so we called it. She answered and we were able to talk to both of them. My dementia brother even perked up and I think remembered us! We chatted for a while and it was a joy. She said we made her day and it certainly made our day. From what she said, I’m not sure my bother has much longer to live.

All this is kinda personal, I know, and thank you for reading if you are reading it. I know everyone has their stories from the past but these are mine today! My mind is filled with a lot of thoughts right now. But I am so thankful that God providentially guided us to do 3 years of mission work in Trinidad back in the 70’s. It was a special, special time. But I think that I can relate more to what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:1 “Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.” 1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 For you are our glory and joy.” That’s exactly how I feel right now.

Paul also said in 2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” So there is a crown of life waiting for us. In the Roman Empire, crowns were often given to victorious military leaders, so the imagery of a crown carried connotations of triumph and overcoming challenges. It  signifies the reward for enduring hardship and remaining faithful to the end. In other words, eternal life somewhere with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, angels and other believers. But Paul’s other crown he was looking for was to be rerunited in eternity with all those he had converted to Chist and mentored and taught in his 30 years of preaching the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. My Trinidadian brothers and sisters will be our crown some day, our joy. Even our boasting. We won’t boast about our good works. We will simply tell Jesus, “Look who I helped to become your brother”. We are all brothers to Jesus and sons of the same Father. Hebrews 2:11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” That means that Jesus, having finished the word of dying for our sins and setting us apart (sanctification) from sin, would tell of the name (and character behind that name) of the Father to His brothers (those who believed in Jesus). When Jesus was raised, he told the women: Matthew 28:10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” He said the same thing in John 17:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” I don’t think he ever called his apostles “brothers” until after the resurrection. I had never thought of that until writing this article, so the word always has something new for us.

I hope you have someone to be your crown and joy, to greet you when you get to heaven (or whom you can greet if get there before they do!). This has been an amazing day! I could hear my dementia brother’s wife after we had said good bye, and I could still hear her saing “Praise the Lord!”. Yes, praise the Lord.”



JEREMIAH WAS A BULLFROG

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

Yeah, that title was just to get your attention. It was the opening line of the song, “Joy to the World”, by Three Dog Night in 1970. It is a nonsensical song with no apparent meaning, just drink the wine and have a good time, joy to the world. “Jeremiah was a bullfrog, he was a good friend of mine, I never understood a single word he said, but I helped him drink his wine.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2wutEzjy_E If you want to watch a cute animated video of the song. or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb02JNAOBZY watching Three Dog NIght with their 70’s long hair.

Now that I maybe have your attention, or maybe lost your attention, I want to talk about the prophet Jeremiah. He prophesied during the reigns of the last 5 kings of the southern kingdom of Judah before the Babylonians destroyed the tempe and Jerusalem in 586 BC. Manasseh, the 14th king of Judah, was the most evil of the 20 kings of Judah, worshipping Asherah and Baal, worshipping the stars, practicing sorcery and witchcraft, even offering his sons to the god Molech, even putting pagan idols in the very temple of God. He reigned for 55 years and was carried captive to Babylon for 12 years, during which he humbled himself before God and repented and was returned to Jerusalem to be finish out his reign. One of the 12 (or so) books of the Apocrypha is the Prayer or Manasseh, the prayer of penitence that he supposedly prayed in Babylon. He truly repented b/c he destroyed the idols when he returned as king. His son Amon, the 15th king of Judah, was evil and only reigned 2 years before being assassinated. Manasseh’ grandson, Josiah became the 16th king of Judah and did many reforms. He became king at 8 years old. He began to seek the Lord at 16. That is a critical age for teens to decide whether to follow Christ or not. They are faced with so many temptations with the internet, the phones, the peer pressure, the drinking, the emphasis on sex. It is amazing that any of them survive all that to become sincere mature Christians, but I know several who have. At 20 he began tearing down the idols to Baal and Asherah that were still worshipped in the land. At 28 he began the massive job of repairing the temple. You can imagine the shape it was in after 55 years of idolatry. While repairing the temple, the pries Hilkiah found the “book of the Law” (i.e. the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Old Testament). It is hard to believe that there were not plentiful copies of the Law around, but apparently there were none. Josiah was shaken as he read the curses in Deuteronomy that would come on God’s people if they disobeyed God. He had the Law read throughout the land and made the people pledge to obey it. Unfortunately Josiah died in a battle with Pharoah Neco even though Neco told him that he wasn’t coming through Judah to fight Josiah but instead was going to fight the Assyrians.

Jeremiah, the prophet not the bullfrog, was chosen by God while in his mother’s womb and called to gbe a prophet at an early age (he calls himself a “child”). He did not want to be a prophet. Unlike the bullfrog, his words were not hard to understand. He began prophesying in the 13th year of Josiah’s reign which means that he helped Josiah to do his reforms. He would prophesy during the last 18 years of Josiah’s reign and then after Josiah died about 22 more years of the reigns of the last 4 evil kings of Judah. His message was simple: Judah has committed so much idolatry and evil that, if they don’t repent, God will send the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple and take thousands into exile in Babylon for 70 years. He stood in the temple gate and preached his message of doom. He was mocked, put in stocks by he priest Passhur, put in prison, even put in a cistern (a dried up well where Jeremiah “sank in the mud”) to die. He would have died there if He ahd not been rescued. He wept and complained to God about his ministry and wished that he had never ben born. He is forever called the “weeping prophet”. He especially tried to get the last 4 kings after Josiah to repent, but they did not. His words were read to King Jehoiakiim who promptly cut the scroll in pieces and burned them. Can you imagine a president of the U.S. cutting up a Bible and burning the pages? He was surrounded by false prophets like Hananiah who kept telling the people that God would not allow the Babylonians to destroy the temple, the God would save the city from the Babyonian siege just as He had saved the city in the days of King Hezekiah when the Assyrians sieged the city and God killed 185,00 in one night. Jeremiah wore an oxen yoke, telling the last king, Zedekiah, that if he would submit to the Babylonians and repent of evil that God would spare the city. Hananiah broke the yoke and prophesied that the Babylonians would be defeated within 2 years. Jeremiah predicted that Hananiah would die that very year and he did. Zedekiah knew Jeremiah was a true prophet of God but he was influenced by the princes and generals and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, relying on an alliance with Egypt for protection. Egypt was defeated by the Babylonians in 605 BC.

THE 3 DEPORTATIONS OF THE JEWS BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR
1. 605 BC. 2 Kings 24:11-16. He carried off the princes, including Daniel, & mighty men in the 4th year of Jehoiakim. That means Daniel spent the entire 70 years of exile in Babylon.
2. 597 BC. 2 Kings 25:1-7. He carried off King Jehoiachin, Ezekiel, and 10,000 captivesin the brief 3 month reign of Jehoiachin. Ezekiel would prophesy for 22 years, most of which were in Babylon.
3. 586 BC. 2 Kings 25:8-21. He destroyed Jerusalem and the temple after a 2 1/2 year siege, and carried the rest of the people except the poorest in the 11th year of Zedekiah. He. carried Zedekiah to Babylon, killed his sons as Zedekiah watched, and then put his eyes out.

Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations after the city was destroyed, lamenting (expressing sorrow and grief) about the fall of Jerusalem. He did end Lamentations with hope: 3:21-24 “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” He said that b/c God had told him that the Jews would be allowed to return to their land after 70 years, which was fulfilled when the Medes and Persians defeated Babylon in 539 BC and King Cyrus of Persia allowed them to return to rebuild the temple. One good thing that came about due to the 70 year exile is that it cured Judah of their idolatry with no mention of any idolatry after that.

Jeremiah also had a few messages of hope for the distant future when the Messiah would come. 1) 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ This was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus and the saving of the remnant of Jews who would believe in Jesus as the Messiah in the book of Acts.

2) 33:14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ 17 “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.” This also was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus and the remnant saved in the new Jerusalem, the church. Jesus did ascend to sit on the “spiritual”, not physical, throne of David in heaven where he has reigned for the past 2,000 years and will reign forever. There is obviously figurative language in this prediction since God ended the animal sacrifices of the old covenant. Those animal sacrifices would be a figurative “type” of the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus in the new covenant. I am amazed at those who say that Jesus would establish a literal physical kingdom on earth based on prophecies like these in Jeremiah (and other prophets like Ezekiel). They say that the prophecies must be fulfilled literally, not figuratively, but surely they would not say that we will return to offering animal sacrifices in some future kingdom on earth. The kingdom Jesus came to establish was a spiritual kingdom, not physical. John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world.”

3) 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” This was fulfilled with the coming of the new covenant which originally was established with the remnant of Jewish believers, the early church, in Acts. The book of Hebrews tells us that the new covenant would have Jesus, not Levites, as the high priest and the blood of Jesus, not animals, as the sacrifice for sins. The author of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34 as being fulfilled and predicting that the old covenant was “ready to vanish away or disappear”, which it did when the Romans detroyed the temple in 70 AD, basically ending the Levitical priesthood and the offering of animal sacrifices. The temple has never been rebuilt since then.

Why study the prophet Jeremiah and the history of Judah? The author of 2 Chronicles tells why God allow the evil Babylonians to destroy his holy city Jerusalem and his holy temple. 36:15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.”

We need to pray for our country. I don’t believe we have had any prophets like Jeremiah to predict our future even though many have tried and have been proven to be false prophets. Many have unsuccessfully predicted the 2nd coming on various dates. Many have that events like 9/11 were sent by God as a warning to us, but we don’t know that was the case. But we have had men preaching from our pulpits all over the country, trying to get us to obey God, to stick to our Christian roots, to repent of our sins, to believe that the Bible is the word of God. Apparently, just as with Jeremiah and Judah, we perhaps as a nation in general have not listened and obeyed the word of God. We are consumed with greed and sexual sins. According to surveys, the majority no longer believe the Bible is the literal word of God and authority for us today. That is apparent by the majority accepting the LGBQT movement, even in many of the mainstream churches. Do you see a pattern repeated here? This country was great b/c it was built on faith in God and the word of God.

Here is a famous quote by Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831: “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there. . . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests—and it was not there. . . . .in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there. . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there.  Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” There are questions about the authenticity of this quote and the phrase “America is great b/c America is good”, did he really say that? Another quote by him seems to be authentic: “I went at your bidding, and passed along their thoroughfares of trade. I ascended their mountains and went down their valleys. I visited their manufactories, their commercial markets, and emporiums of trade. I entered their judicial courts and legislative halls. But I sought everywhere in vain for the secret of their success, until I entered the church. It was there, as I listened to the soul-equalizing and soul-elevating principles of the Gospel of Christ, as they fell from Sabbath to Sabbath upon the masses of the people, that I learned why America was great and free, and why France was a slave.”

So we keep hearing “Make America Great Again” recently, with emphasis on restoring our financial security by cutting federal waste and spending (which I highly approve of) and our military strength in dealing with all the crisis in the world. But I don’t hear an emphasis on getting back to faith in the Bible as the word of God. It will take a grass roots revival like the First and Second Great Awakenings or the prayer revival of Jeremiah Lanphier in 1857 to make America great again. But I feel, like Jeremiah, that such a revival is not happening. We do see signs of revival on college campuses, which is encouraging, and we see mega churches drawing great numbers. But the statistics still say that the majority do not believe that the Bible is the word of God. So, even among those who say they do believe it to be the word of God, we have the LGBQT movement in many churches. Pray for our country.

One of the most misused passages in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” It has been often used to say that God has nothing but good for believers in their future welfare. But read the entire context: 29:10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Notice that this promise of. future welfare is to be fulfilled after the 70 years in exile when the Jews will be allowed to return to their land and rebuild the temple. Notice it would only be fulfilled if the people began to seek God with all their heart. But even then, only after 70 years of slavery in Babylon. 29:18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’  So don’t use this passage in 29:11 to promise people a wonderful future that God has planned for them. Eventually, they will have a guaranteed eternal life future, and God may even bless them with a wonderful life on earth, but that is not always the case. That has not been the case for the past 2,000 years of Christianity as believers have been persecuted repeatedly for their faith.

So the 70 years of exile cured the Jews of their idolatry. They did return in 536 BC to rebuild the temple and did so in spite of great opposition from the Samaritans to their north. There was a great revival led by Ezra the scribe in the 2nd return from Babylon with emphasis on keeping the Law. Nehemiah 8:1And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.” That might be the first preacher pulpit even built! They re-discovered the Feast of Booths from the Law that was read to them, and they had a wonderful, joyful celebration of the feast for 7 days. 8:17And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.” We will only have a grass roots revival if we can get our people to believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, that sin is what God defines as sin in his word. We will only have a grass roots revival if we turn to God to seek God with all our hearts, to put away the greed and sexual sins so prevalent in our society.

It took 70 years and a lof of punishment to get Judah to repent of their idolatry and turn to God. What might it take to get our country to return to God? We trust in our financial security so much. Maybe a major depression would cure us? We trust in our military strength so much. Maybe some horrible world crisis will show us that we, like Rome, are not invincible. Maybe God will not cause something bad to happen to get us to repent. Maybe he will just let us reap what we sow. Maybe God doesn’t even intervene in world affairs anymore. Maybe he does.

I don’t know the answers to all those questions. All I know is that we need to pray for our country more than ever before. But this is not about America. It is about the people in our country turning to God to be saved. People were being saved continually during the evil Roman Empire in the first 3 centuries AD. Millions of Chinese Christians are being saved in an atheistic country China. This is about souls being saved. But when America did follow God more fully, it enabled America to use their plentiful material blessings to spread the gospel and help the poor and oppressed all over the world. Many Christian oranizations have done so much good. Our wealth has enabled generous giving to such causes. Many impoverished Christians in Africa, striving just for survival in Muslim or dictator based countries, do not have the wealth we have to share with the world. From that vantage, we do want America to continus as a strong nation even if we can’t get the majority to return to our Christian roots.

Paul’s prayer in 1 Timothy 2 sums it up. 2:1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. I leave you with that prayer. Pray for our country. Pray for believers in every country. Pray that many will be saved in every country. Pray.

HONORING CAREGIVERS

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

With advances in medical care, parents are living longer. My mom told me that her mom died in her 40’s or 50′ due to a goiter. A goiter is a swelling in the neck caused by an enlarged thyroid gland. My mom never told me any details, but I assume that her mom would not have died from a goiter with today’s medical care. Perhaps her mom would have lived to the age of 92 like my mom did before she died.

With that in mind, there are a lot of people over the age of 50 who are caring for their parents who are in their 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s. The term “sandwich generation” doesnt fit b/c the sandwich generation refers to someone taking care of aging parents and dependent children at the same time., so that term doesn’t fit. “Caregiver” is the most widely used term for anyone providing care to another person who needs assistance, including elderly parents. So I guess the best term to use is “family caregiver. With more parents living longer, there are a lot more caregivers. I know of several, and so do you.

What is the difference in a caregiver and a caretaker? “A “caregiver” primarily focuses on providing personal care and emotional support to an individual who needs assistance, often due to age, illness, or disability, while a “caretaker” generally manages the upkeep and maintenance of a property or location, with less emphasis on direct personal care and emotional connection; essentially, a caregiver is more focused on the person, while a caretaker is more focused on the place.” (AI) I am talking about caregivers especially in this article.

We should say a prayer for all caregivers, but today I am focussing on people over 50 who take care of aged parents. These caregivers have their own health concerns and interests, and yet they unselfishly and lovingly take care of their aged parents. They might also have stressors with their own adult children or grandchildren, so they could still be “sandwiched” between those stressors even though their children are no longer dependents and are grown. They might like to be free to travel as they retire before they themselves get too old or unable to travel due to health. They see people on facebook enjoying travel often to many beautiful places and would love to do that, but they unselfishly pretty much give up that freedom to take care of their aged parents. Hopefully they have a sibling who helps, although many times siblings don’t unite to take care of their aged parents. As you read this, you probably think of many scenarios that you personally know of those who take care of aged parents, some good and some not so good scenarios.

The Bible speaks of the responsibility of children and grandchildren to take care of older parents (or grandparents as the case may be). 1 Timothy 5:4“If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God”. You probably know of an aged person who lost his/her spouse and how difficult that is. I am so thankful for my children who were so faithful to help look after my mom (their grandmother) in her last years after my dad died (he died at 74), just as they did with my wife’s mother after my wife’s dad died. Becoming a widow or widower in later years changes the whole situation. My wife’s mom and dad were married and together for 75 years or so before her dad died. So now her mom can only look at pictures of her deceased husband that hang all over the house.

Ephesians 6:2“Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise”. The “promise” associated with the “first commandment with promise” is that if you honor your father and mother, “it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land,” essentially signifying a long and prosperous life as a result of respecting your parents. The command to “honor your father and mother” was the 5th of the 10 commandments given to Moses on Mt Sinai. It was the only one, and the first, of the 10 that had a “promise” attached to it so that shows how important honoring parents was/is to God. Many other commands with promises of health and prosperity followed that in the Law of Moses, but honoring parents was perhaps the most important of all those other commands with promises.

Then in Proverbs 23:22 “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old”. The Hebrew word for “despise” is buz: Contempt, scorn, disdain. Fathers have their role as the spiritual leaders, teaching and training their children in the Lord. Mothers have their role giving birth and caring for those little babies. It is sad to see some older adult children who treat their moms with scorn. Sometimes maybe they are angry at their aged moms over money and inheritance issues. Maybe they are angry over how their parents raised them: maybe their parents were “bad” parents. Maybe you could make a case that their moms don’t deserve respect. Maybe their moms are even bitter, selfish people. Maybe their moms showed favoritism toward a sibling brother or sister. It doesn’t matter. Aged moms are to be honored and cared for. Especially “when she is old”. Sometimes moms get difficult to deal with as they get very old. It doesn’t matter. You probably can think of some adult children who “despised” their aged moms. They even leave the burden of caring for aged moms to their siblings. There is nothing more despicable than an adult child who doesn’t take care of his/her aged moms. Those moms changed all their diapers when they were little, and now it’s time to change their aged parents’ diapers if that need be, and often does.

So again, just say a prayer for all caregivers (and caretakers) Look around. You probably know of some caregivers. Maybe there is some little thing that you can do to help them. Maybe volunteer to be a sitter so the caregiver can get a break. Maybe provide a meal. Maybe take the caregiver out to eat and talk. Maybe just tell a caregiver how much you admire and appreciate their unselfish sacrifice.

Then there are those caregivers who take care of special needs children or relatives. There are the “sandwich generation” who take care of aging parents and their own dependent children. They “sandwiched” with the stress and responsibility of caring for both just like two pieces of bread sandwich in a piece of meat. They feel the pressure above and below them. You probably know someone like that also and maybe you can pray for and help them.

Some scolded the woman who anointed Jesus’ head with an expensive ointment, saying the money could have been spent better helping the poor. Mark 14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

“She has done what she could”. God gives each of us unique abilities and opportunities. He doesn’t expect you to do more than use those for His glory. Maybe you can’t be a preacher or important leader off a big church. You just do what you can do. That’s all God expects. Who is the most important member of a church? It is probably those members who are out there taking care of the widows and orphans. James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction”. Who is the greatest member?

Matthew20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but kto serve, and lto give his life as a ransom for many.” The greatest member of a church might just be that caregiver in the flock.

Just do what you can!

NEW WINE IN OLD WINESKINS

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Luke 5:33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The new wine would ferment more and release gasses that would cause the old wineskin to burst since the old wineskin had already shrunk all that it could schrink. The new cloth would shrinnk when washed, thus pulling away from the old cloth it was sewn to b/c the old cloth. That’s pretty easy to understand. So new wine needs to be put in new wineskins so that the new wineskin can expand as the new wine ferments.

So what is the lesson in this parable? Jesus is introducing new thinking to the legalism of the Pharisees. They were content with the old, “keep the Law” strictly, way of thinking. Jesus would introduce things like “you have heard don’t commit adultery, but I say unto you don’t lust”. They were more concerned about keeping the rituals of the Law rather than the purity of the heart. Jesus’ teaching would be the new wine and the new cloth. The Pharisees’ hypocrisy and legalism would be the old wineskins and the old cloth.

So how does that apply to me? Many of us have been brought up in churches where keeping the commands was the emphasis. Nothing wrong with that unless your strict law keeping ends up making you legalistic, judgmental, and self righteous. You might be exposed to some new spiritual thoughts that should expand your belief in the Bible or in Jesus and you are just closed minded and don’t give the new thoughts a fair chance. Don’t get me wrong. There is a lot of new thinking in churches that LGBQT is an acceptable way of loving. I am closed minded on that b/c the Bible clearly says that is a sin. But then I attend one of those mega churches that has a contemporary worship service with the band and the 7/11 music (repeating the same 7 words 11 times). My old church upbringing makes me a little skeptical. Is this entertainment or worship? Our legalistic preachers in the past told us it was entertainment. But while I was there, the lights were down low and I sat by a co-worker and her family and felt a peace that i was needing. I watched my co-worker’s little 9 year old girl singing every word with emotion, swaying to the music, and I thought, “I never did that as a kid. Maybe I need what she has.” I am anti-paid preachers and big churches, but I watched probably a thousand people worship in 3 different services that morning.

I heard a sermon from probably a $100,000+ preacher that challenged me. He was preaching on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 where Paul said that he focused on just preaching the gosel without using persuasive words of wisdom. How Paul preached out of weakness (his thorn in the flesh?) and was not an elegant speaker like Apollos. He said Paul would be turned down for preaching at most big churches today. He mentioned men like David Brainerd, the apostle to the North American Indians, who was kicked out of Yale b/c of his “spiritual enthusiasm” that had been stirred up by George Whitefield (the 2nd Great Awakening movement). He lived with tuberculosis most of his life and suffered greatly from it, dying at the age of 29 from his disease. In later life, he suffered from depression, loneliness, and lack of food. He died staying in the house of Jonathon Edwards. He probably only converted a few Indians, but he influence men like William Carey, the father of Protestant missions., and Adoniram Judson, the missionary to inland China. John Wesley said ‘Let every preacher read carefully over the Life of David Brainerd‘.

Back to the worship service I attended and the sermon. The preacher challenged the audience, “have you been called to preach, which I thought was strange since he was preaching to an audience with probably no one there who was called to preach. Then I wondered if he was talking to me! He said it was the Spirit speaking through the word in sermons so maybe it was the Spirit.

My point is that the Spirit is trying to put new, fresh, spiritual thoughts in our hearts and minds all the time if we will just tune in. You have to tune in to your favorite radio program, to tune in to the frequency of that program, in order to listen to your favorite music. You have to change your old way of listening to other radio program frequencies to get the new one that will edify you. So I leave it with you to do that in your own experiences. I shared mine and I imagine you have things like that to share also. I need to look at the wordress site and see if there is something I can click that would allow readers to share comments with one another. Hey, that might be new wine.

Jesus concluded the parable with  “and no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” I think that means that people tend to prefer what they are familiar with and are reluctant to try something new, even if it might be better. We are kinda stuck in our old ways and way of thinking.

CHANGE MY HEART OH GOD

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Mark 7:14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Pharisees had just criticized Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands before eating. In parenthesis, Mark explains that this was their tradition of washing hands when they came from the market place, which means washing away touching anything that a Gentile had touched, thus making them unclean. This was not a command under the Law for all Jewsalthough the priests were commanded to wash their hands before serving in the tabernacle or temple, so this was just a tradition of the Pharisees. Jesus then went on to show how hypocritical the Pharisees were. They held to their hand washing tradition legalistically, condemning those who disobeyed, and yet they would avoid supporting their parents in need, using a hypocritical oath saying they had given their money to God and didn’t have any for their parents. Mark 7:6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

That led to a teaching by Jesus of what defiles a man. He was not saying that he Jews should no longer follow the laws of not eating unclean meats. That would contradict what Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” The Law would not be abolished until 70 AD according to Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” That verse was written around 60 AD predicting the vanishing of the Law in 70 AD. Even the Jewish Christians continued to keep the Law during the transition period from 30 AD to 70 AD.

What Jesus is saying is that it’s not really what you eat that defiles you. What you eat is digested and the wastes come out. It’s what is in your heart that defiles you and what’s in your heart will always end up coming out of your mouth, your mind, your actions. Here’s a great image.

As the capital one commercial says, “What’s in your wallet?” What’s in your heart?

These verses comfort me and scare me. The other day in inservice at school, teachers in groups were asked to give a positive comment to all the teachers in their group. All the compliments given me were “Nicky has a lot of knowledge that he shares.” That’s good but other treachers got comments like “John really cares about the kids and loves them.” Why am I known more for my knowledge than my love.

Bottom line, it’s comforting to know that God looks at the heart. David was a man “after God’s own heart”. He committed adultery and murder, but God forgave him b/c David had a pure heart even though he really messed up. He later begged God, “Create in me a clean heart” again. I have so many bad things in my heart but it is comforting that the grace of God will forgive me just as He forgave David.

But then it’s scary to know that God looks past all my knowledge, good deeds, Bible teaching and preaching, and mission work to see what’s really in my heart. He knows when I am being hypocritical, unloving, judgmental, bitter, proud. He saves me by His grace but He expects me to change my heart, to try to get rid of all the bad things in my heart.

He gives me the Spirit to help me do that b/c my flesh is so evil that I can’t do it by myself. Ezekiel 36: 26 And I will give you ia new heart, and ia new spirit I will put within you. iAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.” (Romans 8:6-8) When you have those evil thoughts in your heart, if you ask the Spirit to help you get rid of them and replace them with pure thoughts, then He will help you. It’s called the “renewing of your mind” b/c the heart is just an organ and it’s really all about the mind. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

So we will never have a perfectly pure heart. That’s the scary part. We can fall from grace and lose our salvation. I need to try harder to allow the Spirit to change my heart. In Acts 8, Simon had been baptized but then he wanted to buy the apostles’ gift of laying hands on believers to give them miraculous gifts. Acts 8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” That means that a baptized believer could be in serious trouble with God if his/her heart is not right before God.

So this article is to enoucrage me to try harder to let the Spirit help me change my heart.

Here’s a great song to close with. Please listen to it for your devotional thought for the day and then pray, “change my heart oh God, make it ever new…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSmG-_eJTU



THE BEST WAY TO STUDY THE GOSPELS!

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Here is the absolute best way to study the gosels. First, let me explain. The best way to. study the gospels is a harmony of the gospels, and there are many such harmonies. But usually they have 4 columns and the verses for each gospel for each event. But I have found something better. It is peyton’s synthetic harmony of the gospels. Once you pull it up, you will see why I like it. It has the events but then it synthesizes the 4 gospels. It will use the gospel with the most content for each event and then it will blend in any verses from the other gospels that go with that event. So you are not trying to read from 4 gospels with a lot of repitition. Here’s the link to. get it free online pdf.

https://bible.org › Peyton_GospelHarmonyV.2.pdf

Try it, you’ll like it!

Also, as you are reading each event, pull up the gospel of John movie and watch the matching chapters.

You can also pull up the gospel of Matthew movie and watch the chapters that match the events.

One final suggestion. As you read each event, try to find the matching event from “the chosen” series. There is just something special about those videos. For example, when you get to John 9 and the healing of the blind man, you can find a 7 minute clip from the chosen for that event. Here it is:

Also if you will notice on the. right you will see a lot of the clips from the chose to choose. Or you can search youtube.com for an event like Jesus healed the paralytic and you will see the chosen clip. There are a lot of other short videos on each event in youtube, like those from Message of Christ”.

So I hope this will help. I use this to teach my Bible classes.

SO WHAT DOES REALLY MATTER?

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In the last article, I discussed “does eschatology matter”? Conclusion: it could if someone believes that Jesus’ predictions of an imminent 2nd coming failed to come true, and if that caused someone to lose faith in Jesus and the Bible. But for most Christians, they rationalize those predictions and still believe in Jesus and are faithful Christians. For them, eschatology does not matter. Even the failed 2nd coming dates set by many false prophets and teachers doesn’t bother them. I do think it is an important subject since so many false teachers are leading believers astray on eschatology.

So what does really matter? I came to my acid test for what really matters as I studied Paul’s teaching on the circumcision of Gentile Christians. The Judaizers (legalistic Jewish Christians) were making Gentile Christian circumcision a test of fellowship and salvation. Paul said circumcision is a matter of choice for Gentiles, but you have fallen from grace if you make circumcision a test of fellowship (Galatians 5:4). He said the same thing about eating meats and observing days (Romans 14). He clearly taught that a Christian can eat meats, so he gave the correct doctrine on that. But he said that believers should not make that issue a test of fellowship with those who disagreed. Agree to disagree and don’t judge the one who disagrees with you.

That led me to the belief that I am not going to make any doctrine, teaching, or issue a test of fellowship unless the New Testament clearly makes it a test of fellowship. So issues like instrumental music in worship, frequency of taking the Lord’s Supper, organization of the local churches, women praying or even preaching, tongue speaking, churches supporting orphan homes out of the treasury, eating in the church building, how the Holy Spirit dwells in believers, worship on Saturday or Sunday, and many, many more should not be made tests of fellowship. Follow your conscience and be a part of a church that doesnt make such issues tests of fellowship. Other issues like Calvinism, infant baptism or believer baptism, sprinkling or pouring in baptism, the pope as the head of the church, etc. are, like eschatology, important and could matter but don’t really matter for most Christians. I’ve always said, “if Mother Teresa (who was probably baptized as a baby and never baptized as an adult) doesn’t make it to heaven, there’s no way I will make it”. God’s grace will surely be sufficient for those who believe in Jesus and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Most Calvinists are faithful Christians even though they might believe that one can’t fall from grace (which could cause someone to think that he/she is saved even if he/she lives in sin).

So what does really matter? The only NT book that really spells that out is 1 John. In that letter, the apostle John gives 3 tests of “walking in the light” and being in fellowship with the apostles and with Jesus and the Father. 1 John 1:3 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ”. 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” So here are the 3 tests of fellowship. These 3 are repeated in 3 cycles, but I will just give the core tests.

  1. Belief in Jesus as God’s Son, the only Savior of our sins. 1 John 5:9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” No one has perfect faith in Jesus. We all have our moments of doubt, but faith in Jesus must be a daily continual trust in HIm.
  2. Love. 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” That love would include love for one’s brothers and sisters in Christ and love for all men. No one will have perfect love, but love must be an obvious fruit of the Spirit in the believer.
  3. Obedience to God’s moral commands. 1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” Of course, that means that we must allow the Bible to tell us what God considers to be morally right or wrong, what is sin in His eyes. There are obvious black and white moral commands, such as those given in Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Or 1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Or Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Many claim to be obeying God’s moral laws and yet practice adultery and homosexuality, claiming that those things are not sinful. As Isaiah said, some “call evil good and good evil”. No one can obey God’s moral commands perfectly. God’s grace will cover our sins if we are sincerely trying to obey His moral commands. But we must sincerely try b/c one can fall from grace if he, in God’s eyes, has gone too far. 2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Perhaps this passage sums up the 3 tests of fellowship: 1 John 5:1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1) Love God and the children of God; 2) belief in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God; 3) obey His commandments (which would include His moral commands).

So I don’t want to make these 3 things to be a legalistic test b/c no one can practice and believe these 3 things perfectly. God’s grace will more than cover our sins and doctrinal error. But at the same time we should examine ourselves to see if we are “passing the test” in these 3 areas. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

So now I need to get off the eschatology discussion and examine my heart, mind, and life in these 3 areas. That’s a never ending task of trying to believe and practice these 3 essentials that really matter. Again, I am thankful for the grace of God that covers us but at the same time I am fully aware that I could fall from grace if I don’t believe and practice these 3 things. As Paul said, “I hope that you pass the test”. At least get a 65 grade which is a passing grade in our school. Some of us are weak and will barely pass the tests with C’s and D’s. Some of us are doing good, not great with B’s. Some of us are “super-Christians” making all A’s. God’s grace covers all equally as long as we pass the test.