Every

As I was driving home from work last night, listening to a message by Mike Fabarez (Focal Point Ministries) on 91.5FM. A thought occurred to me that I needed to write down. I did so on a yellow sticky note so I would not forget it. Turns out I came down sick in the middle of the night with a fever, so I must have picked up the flu that is going around my workplace. So I am out of commission from work today, and with the Ibuprofen kicking in for a few minutes, I wanted to put it down here. 

Every:

• Failure in my plans, my hopes or my conduct
• Disappointment
• Unexpected or unplanned expense
• Storm of life
• Aggravation
• Betrayal by a friend, or when I fail someone else
• Faithless act, intended or not
• Time something "bad" happens...

...is an opportunity for me to trust God. And so often, I don't. Or at least I go through a pity-party or a temper-tantrum and it takes me a while to recognize what a fool I am. 

Howard McNear was a talented actor on radio and television. I can pick out his voice in old radio shows like Gunsmoke, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. He was  hoot on The Andy Griffith Show.

 

When Floyd the Barber looks into the mirror and declares he's a miserable deceitful wretch, its funny. When I fail to trust God when hit with something; God who has proven Himself over and over again as trustworthy & faithful: I end up looking in the mirror of my heart, and say about the same thing. Only its true, and not funny at all. 

Thank God for grace. And that God's mercies to us are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Today I get a new chance to do what I know is God's will for me. He tells me in His word:

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Those were the thoughts that went through my mind last night, and that is what I wanted to share.
Maranatha - Paul.
 

Dead People Live

I heard Ravi Zacharias recently in an interview on The Rubin Report on YouTube. Dave Rubin had asked him in a roundabout way how he had come to faith in Jesus Christ. I've hear Ravi tell his story before: how he'd tried to commit suicide by poison when he was 17, how that failed, and he lay in a hospital bed. A man brought him a Bible, and the words of Jesus brought him to saving faith. In this particular interview I heard Ravi say the following, and it is so good it bears repeating. He said something like this:

"People think that Jesus Christ came to make bad people good. But that's not true. Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good; he came to make dead people live."

 He Came To Make Dead People Live!

What an interesting difference! We do get this wrong, and perhaps that is the difference between mere religion and being born from above. This was the portion of scripture that God used to bring Ravi to that place of repentance & faith: 

 "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." 

John 14:19

Mary had an interesting comment: this must be a reference to both the spiritual life we receive when we are born-again by faith in Jesus, as well as the promise that we have of receiving a new physical, eternal body some day in the future; one that will not get sick, grow old, or wear out. In Jesus prayer to the Father he defines what eternal life is:

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 

 John 17:3

Here is the link to this particular interview:

https://youtu.be/V8bD7ovxIuc

 

Hijacking the Historical Jesus

Friday, December 6, 2019
Well, I've been home most of this week recovering from surgery, and I finally finished a book I bought a couple of years ago. "Hijacking the Historical Jesus. Answering Recent Attacks on the Jesus of the Bible" is a good resource book for public evangelists to have in their library, and I'm glad I added it to mine. It is written by Phil Fernandes, Kyle Larson, and Matt Coombe, and I became familiar with it from watching Phil Fernandes apologetics teaching videos online. Chapters include:

• An Overview of the History and Biases of Modern Jesus Research
• The DaVinci Code
• New Testament Reliability
• Redating the New Testament Books
• Is Jesus Just Another Myth?
• Identifying the Canon: Which Books Belong in the Bible
• And quite an extensive study on Bart Ehrman, his skepticism, his view of the four gospels, and the deity of Jesus 

It took me way to long to read because I can be a lazy reader, but also because there is so much information and research presented that I would read a little and then set it aside. It is an academic book and not a pleasure read, and I need to go back through and make notes & highlight data that I can use to help better engage with the skeptical worldviews we encounter as we take the gospel of Jesus out into the streets of post-truth USA. You should check it out if you want to consider good, scholarly responses to refute the skeptics and point people to the Lord Jesus.

Paul

Washington's & Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamations

Just a note of remembrance regarding two of our nation's presidents, in regards to a national day of giving thanks unto Almighty God for His abundant mercy, blessings, and grace. Sadly, as a nation we no longer fear God, and this is reflected in the decisions and actions that are driving us into darkness. Still, those of us who love and fear God may still cry out to Him for mercy in the midst of judgment, and for the manifold blessings He still bestows upon us...for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever.

Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789

[New York, 3 October 1789]

By the President of the United States of America. 
A Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

Marshalltown Holiday Stroll 2019

Saturday, November 23rd, 2019

My table set up and ready to go with tracts & DVDs

We had a great time handing out Candy Cane gospel tracts, "God of Wonder" DVDs, along with free hot chocolate at this year's Holiday Stroll in Marshalltown, operating out of the Stepping Stones Christian Book Store on Main Street. A big thank-you to Mindy, the owner of the store, for allowing us to be there. I had a table set up outside with tracts and DVDs, and Mary, Karen and Priscilla were inside with tracts and DVDs plus hot chocolate to give away.

The weather was a lot better than what I was planning on. Friday night was so cold, I thought I would be in my insulated Carhart overalls and using "hot hands" hand warmers, and coming into the store to warm up. But is was not too cold at all - maybe just cold enough to want a nice cup of hot chocolate!

Looking inside Stepping Stones Christian Bookstore

There were a ton of people out this year. Main Street was packed with people for the Holiday Stroll parade, and then afterwards we had a steady stream of folks coming into the bookstore.

Thanks to Adam and the church family at Solid Rock Bible Church in Toledo for providing the funds for the tracts, DVDs and all the supplies needed to pull this together; for my wife Mary for helping organize and serve; for Karen M. and Priscilla S. for helping us out in a big way in the store; and for all the prayers that God would use this outreach to plant the seed of the gospel in many hearts and minds both here in Marshalltown, and for a similar outreach the church supported down in Grinnell, Iowa on Friday night. Please keep on praying for people to understand and believe the gospel, that they might trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and be born again into the family of God.

The last of the 100 DVDs and 200 Candy Cane tracts that went out tonight