Do as I say?

September 29, 2007

Often people want to appear to be spiritual. They want to be one way in front of others and another in private. How many times have you heard of a marriage that looked good on the outside to people but in private they were on the edge of divorce. Spiritually they want every one to think that they are the best, and they will speak out against things that they themselves do in private. They are hypocrites.

The problem is not new. Paul experienced it in the early church.

Gal 2:14 GW
(14) But I saw that they were not properly following the truth of the Good News. So I told Cephas in front of everyone, "You're Jewish, but you live like a person who is not Jewish. So how can you insist that people who are not Jewish must live like Jews?"

Be careful as you go through life that you yourself do not fall into this trap. In talking with someone one day, I tried to give him advice that I myself did not do like I should. How can I tell him what to do? I later worked on the problem in my own life and can now speak to fix that problem.

Work on things in your life, work with others. Do not ask others what you cannot do yourself. And especially do not put them down when they do not do what you yourself cannot do.

Mixed Multitude

September 28, 2007

Num 11:4 KJ2000
(4) And the mixed multitude that was among them had a strong craving: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?


When the Israelites left Egypt they did not go alone. There were a bunch of others who left with them. They were some Egyptians, some of other nations, all poor that found that Egypt was a good place for a handout. All they really cared about was where the next meal was coming from. And now they were out in the desert and there was no food around. Notice who started the complaining. The riff-raff that had come along for the handout. The people of Israel became influenced by them and started the complaining as well.

Is that like your life? Do you walk with God? Then does someone come along and talk about how bad something is. You wind up wondering if they are right and let yourself get mixed up in it. Next you know, you are asking God why He is not fixing the problem. In reality, you probably had the solution and did not realize it cause the 'mixed multitude' was influencing you. Do not let them influence you. Do what God has you to do.

Is God A Racist

September 27, 2007

The news today, as I am writing this, is full of racism. I think it ironic that as I found was reading Galatians today, that this verse came up:

Gal 3:28 BBE
(28) There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.

As you read this, unless you know me or have looked at my picture, you are not aware of what color I am. Except for the fact that I have mentioned my sex several times in the writings, and my name is Bob, you probably would not guess my sex I would assume. You can not even tell my age. And that is the way it should be. That is the way that God makes us. It is us that makes the distinction. It is also, often our parents teaching us of one class of citizens is not as good as we are.

If God does not see us as different, why do we put walls between us?

Whose God is it?

September 26, 2007

It is interesting how things can change. You see, In the Book of Isiah, Hezekiah King of Judah, was under attack by the King of Syria. And he knew he did not have a chance. And the servant of the King was just moving his mouth to get them even more downtrodden. So Hezekiah goes to Isiah and says:

Isa 37:4 BBE
(4) It may be that the Lord your God will give ear to the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, has sent to say evil things against the living God, and will make his words come to nothing: so make your prayer for the rest of the people.


Notice that, the 'Lord your God'. It was not the God of Hezekiah, it was the God of Isiah. Isiah tells them that he can Go in peace, God was going to take care of things. So he goes. But the mouth keeps telling them they are lost and Syria will take over.

So what does Hezekiah do? He gathers the reports and goes to the Temple to talk to God.

Isa 37:20 BBE
(20) But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hand, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you, and you only, are the Lord.

What happened? He went from the 'Lord your God' to the 'Lord our God'. There was a change of faith and with that the success that was to follow. The man making the threats was recalled home and killed by his own sons. Notice that the faith was no longer someone else;s faith, it was his own.

Where is your faith? Is it the faith in the God of your parents? Maybe the God of you pastor? How about your own God?

Cold Snow

September 25, 2007

My mom tells the story about when she first married my dad and moved from New Orleans that gets 1/4 inch of snow in a decade to Boston. They went to visit my dad's relatives in the mountains of western Massachusetts. While there in November, she saw her first snow. It kept coming and coming and coming. It was knee deep and she was out on the back porch just in love with the way it looked and seeing the animals come out of the woods in his back yard to find food in the yard.

Now, 50 plus years later she has seen enough of it and could care less about seeing one more flake of it.

Hos 6:4 GW
(4) "What should I do with you, Ephraim? What should I do with you, Judah? Your love is like fog in the morning. It disappears as quickly as the morning dew.


Like Judah and Ephraim my moms love had gone cold. Judah and Ephraim however had lost their love for God.

How much are we like them and my mom. When we first became Christians, everything was fresh and white and we loved they way it looked and felt. Now it is so common that our love has melted away to a muddy slush. That displeases God. We need to rekindle that love.

How is your love for God today?

Instant God

September 24, 2007

As I sat at a stoplight and waited impatiently today, God reminded me of a scripture:

Isa 40:31 KJV
(31) But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

We live in an instant society. We eat fast food cause it takes to long to cook normal food. We have TVs that turn on instantly. Even our cell phones are instant push button to talk on awalkie-talkie. We can even download sermons on the Internet to listen to when ever we want to at the click of a mouse.

But God is not instant. God wants us to wait. God wants us to trust Him. We do not get thinks in an instant from Him. We need to take the time to talk to Him and then we need to shut up and wait on Him to speak to us.

Learn to wait.

Blindfold Faith

September 23, 2007

I helped out in the 5th and 6th grades service at my church this morning. They get the meat of the word, just like the adults do in big service, but they get it in ways that they can understand. The verse we looked at was:

2Co 5:7 AUV-NT
(7) for we live by faith, not by what we see.


The example that the minister used with the children was to blindfold one of the members and have another one give instructions to him so that he could do them. The one giving instructions represented faith and the person walking around was obviously 'walking by faith.'

One interesting thing happened. The minister had to keep reminding the other members in the group to be quiet so the blindfolded child could hear the instructions.

I thought to myself as I saw this happen that what a real example of the world this was. Each day there are thousands of voices that cry out to get our attention. They try to drown out the voice of faith that is trying to guide us. If that child had stopped because he could not hear the voice of faith, or even worse, listened to the instructions someone else gave, he could have been hurt.

We need to listen to that voice of faith in our lives. Focus on it and not what the world is trying to do to us.