ECCLESIOLOGY: A Very Peculiar People!

On the MSN Home Page there is a link called “The Word of the Day.” Each day a new word is supplied to the site by Microsoft's Encarta. One word offered was:

sui generis | soo-eye-JEH-nuh-russ or soo-ee-JEH-nuh-russ | adjective: constituting a class alone : unique, peculiar

Example sentence:

"No one before or since has had such a blend of wildness and vulnerability, such pretty-boy looks crossed with such rawness ... James Dean was sui generis." (Robert DiMatteo, Video Review, December 1990)

The selection went on to explain:

English contains many terms that ultimately trace to the Latin forms "gener-" or "genus," (which are variously translated as "birth," "race," "kind," "gender," and "class"). Offspring of those roots include "general," "generate," "generous," "generic," "degenerate," and "gender." But "sui generis" is truly a one-of-a-kind "gener-" descendant that English speakers have used for singular things since the late 1700s.

Its earliest uses were in scientific contexts, where it identified substances, principles, diseases, and even rocks that were unique or that seemed to be the only representative of their class or group. By the early 1900s, however, "sui generis" expanded beyond solely scientific contexts and is now used more generally for anything that stands alone.

Seems to me God used this concept long before the 1700s. In fact, I believe it was first used by a man called Simon, later known as Peter, in the first century AD. I believe he wrote something like:

"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY."

1 Peter 2:9-10

And if my memory serves me correctly, the folks who translated the KJV said we are a "peculiar" people.

God long ago decided that all of His children should be sui generis – in “a class alone,” unique and peculiar.

Christianity, Illustrations, Religion

FOOLISHNESS: Wisdom's antonym!

DON’T FEED WILD BEASTS: [1 Peter 5:8]

Recently, the evening news (4/12/02) reported on another shark attack in Florida … only this one was a little different. Apparently, the victim was an internationally known shark expert who conducted live shark seminars on how to swim with and feed the beasts without fear or protection. Last report he was in a shock induced coma … his injuries were life threatening.

People who play with fire often get burned … they never cease to amaze us though, when they’re surprised that they did!

Like the shark expert, almost all of them have another thing in common … they are self-proclaimed “experts.” That is, they usually don’t know what they’re talking about and they don’t hesitate to let you know it.

Recent church-health related survey results have me worried. Evidently the church is full of self-proclaimed “believers” who don’t know they’re lost. Years ago, Billy Graham was prophetic when he said the greatest mission field in the world is the church on Sunday mornings.

Jesus put it another way:

Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."

Matthew 7:22-23

If you’ve gone and declared yourself a lion expert you go ahead, you do your thing, just don’t bring your furry hang-ups around me and my house. Remember Peter warned you:

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

Source link >>>>

LIGHT - Let the be no darkness at all!

BETTER TO BE BLIND! [John 8:12; Illumination, Jesus, Life] (Added 3 June 2006)

Imagine no red rose, no blue sky, rolling but grey hills, and a several shades of grey Monarch Butterfly. Without light, there is no color. Color is just bands of light reflected off an object; which bands are reflected depends on the nature of the object. Without light, things would be very plain … AND VERY DARK.

So too without Christ … imagine no hope, no love, no future, and no present purpose for living.

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Without the light of Christ, there would be no spiritual blessings, no sustaining grace, and no “daily bread” worth eating. Just as it is impossible to receive mail without a delivery address, it is impossible to receive a true blessing outside the person and authority of Christ but it is the individuals nature that brings His ultimate blessing.

TAGS: Blessings, Color spectrum,
Darkness, Illumination, Nature

COME INTO THE LIGHT! [1 Peter 1:19; Revelation, Sin, Truth]

One of our church janitors was in my office the other day and told me a fascinating but sad story.

A hardworking man finally had time to go to a night baseball game with his family. They were doing the usual things: eating hot-dogs and peanuts, drinking cokes, and complaining about the prices.

His wife, a registered nurse and mother of his three kids, said something and he turned in such a way that the park lights were directly in his eyes. She gasped and took his face in her hands to have a closer look. Her suspicion was correct, his eyes were jaundiced, a sign of several serious diseases. Within a few weeks her childhood sweetheart and the father of her three children was dead.

Man must come into the light of God to see the ravaging affects of his sins. He is little more than the walking dead without the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb. The Light reveals the truth for all to see. Many will come into the light too late. [1 Corinthians 4:5]

TAGS: Blood of the Lamb, Death,
Kingdom of God, Sin

CONSUMED BY HIS POWER! [2 Corinthians 4:4; gospel, power (God's)]

My associate pastor, Dan, used to work for Orkin (the pesty people); he was pulpit supply for me this morning and I was blessed to hear an illustration he used on the whole armor of God [Epesian 6:10-17].

Orkin evidently had special Maglites with custom commercial grade batteries in them ... make that battery. Instead of four D-cells it had a single, long battery. I gather They're like those used by law enforcement. At any rate he said it was a blessing when he was crawling around in attics and under houses; it would light up the area from one end to the other.

He used this tool to illustrate the power of the Light of God, Jesus our Lord. When an ordinary flashlight was shined directly into the beam of light coming from his Maglite the beam from the common flashlight was consumed by the power of the more powerful light.

So too the power of Satan, when it is exposed to the Light of God.

TAGS: God, Power of Satan

LAVA LAMP BELIEVERS! [1 John 1:6,7; apostasy, believers, nominalism, testimony, witness]

Lava Lamps have made a comeback in recent years (2002). Many of today’s versions are more creative than when they were first introduced some forty years ago.

All lava lamps have one thing in common, none of them are adequate as a source of light. They're called a lamp, but they're not a lamp.

The age of their introduction was an age of darkness and half-light. People in that day didn’t want a lot of light. You might say they wanted just enough of the real thing so they could call the facsimile by name of the real thing.

Unfortunately, many Christians aren’t much better than lava lamps; they don’t really want the whole Light of God, just enough so they can go by the name of the Genuine Light yet remain in the shadows.

TAGS: Lava lamps, Testimony, Witness

TURNING TOWARD THE LIGHT! [Ephesians 5:7-10; other topics - Holiness, Righteousness] (Added 3 June 2006)

Our adopted daughter, Naomi, was admiring one of her mom’s houseplants. Her older sister, Jennifer, asked her if she noticed how the plant leaned toward the light coming through the front window. She said, “Yeah!” He sister then told her, “If you turn the plant around halfway, the plant will lean back toward the light inside of a week.” Naomi said, “Wow!”

Likewise genuine Christians; separate them from the Light, or turn them away from the Light, and inside a short period of time they will have leaned back toward Him.

TAGS: Conversion, Nature, Turning

Topic TAGS: Christianity, Homoletics, Illustrations,
Light, Preaching, Religion, Sermons

BLOOD - O' The Precious Blood!

AS CLEAR AS MUD! [1 Samuel 16:7; cleansing, heart, righteousness]

Rudy, one of the men in our church, took on the job of cleaning and waxing the floor of the ladies bathroom. After stripping the floor, we both marveled at how clean it was compared to its earlier condition. I then had to leave to run a few errands.

While I was gone, Rudy decided to try a detergent cleanser on the floor, just to see if it might improve the appearance even further.

I returned in the middle of his efforts. Half of the already once-cleaned floor was bright and like new, the other dark with grime ... this was the same floor we’d just a short while earlier thought was "very" clean.

Man labors in his efforts to live a clean life ... but the Bible says "there are none righteous, no not one" [Romans 3:10-18]. Man examines himself and says, "I’m not so bad! At least not as bad as so-and-so." But God doesn’t look at the outer man, as we do. What we see with our natural eyes appears clean but what God sees is far from clean.

The blood of Jesus cleanses in such a way that is beyond man’s understanding. That which is stained permanently black from sin is cleansed to pure white. Had we known how truly dirty the floor was in the first place perhaps we would not have been fooled into believing it clean. Were man to know how desperately polluted his sins have made him he would never claim to be "Worse than some but better than most; after all I’ve never murdered anyone or robbed a bank or plundered and raped."


BLOOD STAINED TESTIMONY! [1 Peter 1:19; atonement, power]

A Gideon friend recently told of how their well-known, pearl-white New Testaments were distributed to the Pacific Fleet prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.

He also told of how, on a later occasion, the evangelist Harry Rimmer was speaking to a meeting of believers interested in military evangelism. During the speech, Dr. Rimmer displayed his own personal copy of the white Pacific Fleet New Testament.

Following the meeting, a member of the audience tarried to show Dr. Rimmer another white New Testament, one given to his son prior to the bombing of the Hawaiian base ... one stained with blood. The man smiled and said, "Yes … this little book is very precious … it’s … stained with the blood of my son." Dr. Rimmer paused for a moment, then held up his personal Bible and said, "God feels the same way about that Book. He loves [it] too. Its pages are stained with the blood of His Son." [Thanks to Brian Stromsoe, of The Gideons, for recently sharing this vignette with our church.]

Indeed it is; each page of Holy Writ is covered with that precious, precious blood which flowed from pierced and bleeding side of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.


MAJOR FOWL UP! [1 Peter 1:17-19; iniquity, licentiousness, permissiveness, secular humanism, sin]

Except for two weeks out of the year, Geese are federally protected game birds. Yet they're killing cattle. Recently a Virginia Beef Corp. spokesman informed WorldNetDaily (WND) that wildlife protections have resulted in overpopulation of the species; they’re crowding – and fouling – pastures where livestock graze.

WND was told that goose droppings, which carry swine and other viruses, are causing a profusion of stillbirths among heifers. Some 65 calves, valued at about $3,000 each on the market, have been lost this year at Virginia Beef's Louden County, Va., pastures … only one of many such pastures affected.

Similarly, federal protection of sin has resulted in the eternal damnation of tens of thousands of American citizens. In recent years representatives of the Christian community have been trying to warn public and private groups about the ever increasing problems associated with the licentious and permissive behavior of our fellow citizens.

Like most birds, sinners have been fouling their own and our nests with government sanction. The absence of moral clarity and its accompanying devaluation of human life has resulted in a holocaust of murders among unborn children. This moral and ethical dysfunction has brought about the eternal loss of an untold number of Americans … at what cost? Just the precious blood of Jesus!

EASTER - The day to end all days!

BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD! [John 1:29, 36; Other topics - Humility, Jesus, Lamb of God, Salvation]

A few years ago our church decided to change the traditional Easter decorations in the sanctuary.

My wife, Rita, volunteered to find a ceramic lamb for the altar decoration. She searched and searched every craft and church supply store in the area; she spent days looking; she found standing lambs, knelling lambs, and grazing lambs but not one like we wanted. Ours would be a lying down lamb, a cute and “innocent” little, reposing lamb.

Being a Shepherd, I decided I might add just the right spiritual element as she headed to the last store. We examined every self in the place; hoping perhaps one might be hidden behind something. Frustrated, we both headed for the exit, dejected, heads down … then we saw it, on the floor, in a corner, under a shelf, unattended, dirty, ignored, alone. It was perfect! And it was on sale!

The world has also been searching for a lamb to save them from their sins. They’ve been looking for 6,000 years.

They too are looking in all the wrong places, heads up, proud, money no object. They’ve found all kinds of saviors: standing ones, knelling ones, grazing ones and many others as well. But not one turned out to be the “perfect” one!

We have to give them credit, they have looked everywhere imaginable. But, it is only when they seem to have lost all hope, when their heads are down, humbled, and through with doing it themselves that they find Him … Jesus, the Lamb of God!

Jesus was likewise rejected and ignored, the world trying to shove Him out of the way, into a corner or under a shelf.

How much does the Lamb of God cost? The tag says, “Priceless.” He has paid it Himself. This Lamb gave His life for those who rejected Him.


BLESSINGS TOO NUMEROUS! [Psalm 107:31; other topics - Blessings, Conviction, Self-examination]

Pastor Jack Hinton from New Bern, NC was leading worship music at a leper colony in Tobago; time allowed for one more congregational selection. A woman in the congregation, who’d been turned away, turned to face Hinton, revealing a most “hideous” face. The lady’s nose and ears were gone; most of her lips had worn away as well. She lifted a hand, more stub than hand, and asked, “Can we sing ‘Count Your Blessings’”?

Overcome by the situation Hinton fled the room, followed by another team member. The man tried to comfort the distraught song leader, “I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again”? “Oh, yes I will,” he responded, “but never the same way.”

Warren Wiersbie is credited for saying, “Life is a school in which God trains us for eternity. Trials are ... God’s textbooks in this school of Christian experience.” It often takes the deficiency of another to reveal our own; but in the revelation, we can find fruit for nourishment.

Pastor’s Update; FMB of the Southern Baptist Convention; Richmond, VA, May 1996, p.4; Sermon-Illustrations-Each-Week, 991004-6]


MORE THAN AN IMAGE IS NEEDED! [1 Peter 1:14-19; Atonement, Lamb of God, Blood (the)]

Evidently Peruvian authorities have begun dressing up walls along their nation’s filthiest streets with pictures of Jesus Christ; the purpose seems to be to shame those illegally dumping trash along the streets.

Apparently, just the image of our Lord is believed to have such importance among the general Peruvian population.

Oh that the mere image of the Lord would clean up the streets of our minds and hearts. But it takes the precious blood of the Lamb to cleanse the heart and mind of a sinner.

Oh that it had not been necessary for the Son of God to give His life an atonement for man’s sins … but it was.

The Father tried everything; but we rejected His miracles, rejected His word, killed His prophets, and turned our backs on Him … it was oh so necessary to send His Son.

You see, an image could never pay the ransom … the Jews tried that in the temple for centuries … only the priceless and spotless Lamb of God in person was worthy [Revelation 5:12].

GRACE (GOD'S): Divine Surrogate for What We Deserve!

AT THE TIME APPOINTED [1 Peter 3:15; other topics - Timing]

During the June 4th 1944, WWII Normandy invasion 25-year-old Pvt. Ray Aebischer’s parachute opened with such a jolt his heavy jump-pack was torn from his shoulders, plummeting to earth. Everything he needed to survive (machine gun, carbine, ammo, canteen, rations, personal items, etc.) was lost. Ray was so sure he’d never see his gear again he dismissed it from his mind. Pvt. Aebischer didn’t count on Emmanuel Allain.

One dar in October 1997, a letter arrived from Mr. Allain, a WWII aficionado and collector. He wrote, “I found in a farm in Normandy all the stuff (belt pistol, carbine ... suspenders belt, canteen, pocket first aid, etc.) of a soldier.” The name on several of these items was Ray R. Aebischer. Now 81, Aebischer said he was “dumbfounded.”

Last month he and his wife flew to England, where Allain met them with the wayward jump-pack in hand. “I could think of so many instances where I could have been killed,” he said. “I thought to myself, except for the grace of God, I could be there. The real heroes are still over there.”

[“Soldier’s D-Day invasion gear found 53 years later,” The Washington Times, June 14, 1999, National Weekly Edition, p.18; from a Newport News, Va. (AP) report]

LOVE CHANGES THINGS [Galatians 3:1-3; other topics - Law, Love]

Consider the widow woman who remarried: her first husband was a totalitarian man, very controlling, dictatorial, and unforgiving; her second husband was loving, gentle, patient, and forgiving.

While cleaning a trunk, she came across her first husband’s list of rules: first, arise at five AM, every morning; second, breakfast at six AM, sharp, three basted eggs, toast lightly buttered; third, all washing to be ironed, including sheets, cases, and sox, with starch in collars; and fourth, fresh coffee, three times each day. Other rules concerned exact amounts of salt to use in his meals, how she was to appear in public, and what things she was could say in the company of others.

The list confronted her with a horrible truth: she was still keeping her first husband’s rules. But she smiled when she realized she had been forced to keep the rules under her first husband, yet now she was glad to keep them because of her second husband’s love for her.

Love changes things. What seems to be burdensome under the authority of a loveless tyrant becomes a labor of love under the authority of gracious master.

There is no longer a need to keep the Law for we are "saved by grace through faith" [Ephesians 2:8]. Yet Jesus said, “Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 7:12] And Jesus’ half-brother said, “One who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. … So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” [James 1:25; 2:12]

Anytime we need to be reminded of the difference between Law and Grace, all we must do is revisit the first five books of the Old Testament; there we’ll see the old taskmaster at work. We may then smile and know that we are keeping His law gladly due to His great love for us, and that while we are yet sinners [Romans 5:8].

BIBLE/SCRIPTURE/WORD - He said it; He meant it!

DID SOMEONE SAY, “DINNER”? [Romans 10:8, 17]

Newborn babies come with hands and mouths; they also come with voracious appetites. Turn a crawler loose and those little hands will put whatever they find into that little mouth in a New York minute. It seems they instinctively know their hands are for grasping and their mouth is where they put what they hope will satisfy the gnawing in their stomach.

Reborns … true ones … have eyes, ears, and minds; they also have ravenous spiritual appetites. It seems they too know instinctively that their eyes are to see, their ears are to hear, and the mind is to absorb God’s word. They seem to know, without being told, that His word is the only thing that will gratify the yearning of their soul.

So, why do we have this hunger for His word? Because, as the Bible tells us, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word (Greek: rhematos) of Christ.”

Man is born with an innate hunger for God [Romans 1]. That’s why the Bible tells us it is “impossible to please God” without faith [Hebrews 11:6], because we’re saved for all eternity “by grace through faith” [Ephesians 2:8]. So faith and the rhema of God are inseparably woven together.

Paul says, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD (Greek: rhema) IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART’ – that is, the word (Greek: rhema) of faith which we are proclaiming.”

DUSTY: THEREFORE RUSTY [2 Kings 22:1-23:3; other topics - Devotion; Discipleship; Sanctification]

There’s an old gospel song, made famous by Kitty Wells, which has a stanza that says, “Dust on the Bible, Dust on the Holy Word, The words of all the prophets, And the sayings of our Lord.” [1]

How is it possible we allow dust to collect on God’s Word? Its amazing how little Bible reading goes on among God’s people; it’s equally amazing at how often pastors are asked questions which are fundamental in nature. And yet in 2 Kings 22, 23, is an example of when the same thing had taken place in a prior time.

Bibles per capita in the world are estimated at less than half of a Bible per person. Yet in the USA, where an average household is about 2.2 people, we average more than five bibles per household; that’s over two Bibles per person in this great nation. Still and all, more Bibles are used as coffee table decorations or bookshelf fillers than are used in Bible study.

God didn’t just ordain the written word so we could have a record of what He has said … and it is certainly not just a book of do’s and don’ts, nor is it just a reference work. The Bible is God’s way of revealing who He is, who we are, and that His word is sure and true!

The old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind!” applies to the Word of God. Not having the Word didn’t cause Israel’s rebellion, nor the cause their unrighteousness [Romans 1:17-19]; their hardened hearts and stiff necks were the cause of their apostasy.

When the word of God was rediscovered by His people, they were reminded of Him; when they were reminded of Him, they were reminded of their great apostasy; when they were reminded of their condition, they were brought under conviction. Now just because someone is brought under conviction doesn’t mean they’ll change, change comes about after a person has broken and pleaded for forgiveness [Psalm 51:1-7].

A dusty Bible reveals it has not been read. A dusty Bible says, “I don’t care what God says.” A dusty Bible says, “I know everything it says, it can offer me nothing new.” A dusty Bible says, “This book is old fashioned, it doesn’t apply to today, it’s not relevant.”

We need to heed: “When all else fails, follow instructions.” When we survey the panorama of contemporary American life we must conclude we’ve failed; we need to read God’s instructions and determine where we’ve gone wrong.

[1] “Dust On The Bible,” Kitty Wells, © MCA 1992

PURE MILK! [1 Peter 2:2; Other topics - Mission, Purpose, Renewal, Traditionalism]

During the ‘60s and ‘70s, the term “featherbedding” was commonly heard. Featherbedding, I am told, is the practice of unions requiring that an employer hire more workers than needed or of limiting production to meet the letter of union rules, regardless of the ability to produce more.

Featherbedding is an excellent example of what happens when an organization loses sight of its mission. A twisted sense of fair play, mixed with extreme selfishness, messes up the works.

The railroad unions of that day were an insightful example of the practice. Originally, firemen were used on wood or coal burning trains to stoke their engine’s boiler. With the advent of diesel locomotion, a fireman was no longer needed; yet, by contract, one was assigned to each train. Similarly, conductors were required to escort non-passenger trains at all times.

Churches and churchgoers are susceptible to this trap. Following years of WHADIT (We Have Always Done It That way!), justifications become blurred, alternatives are forgotten, habits harden, voices are silenced, and creative thinking is shunned. Fear sets in (the wrong kind of fear) while mission and purpose fade from view.

How can a church or churchgoer avoid this pitfall? One certain method is provided by God … the “pure milk” [1 Peter 2:2] of the faith! Constant reading of and meditation upon the Living Word of God renews and inspires the mind, reminding the believer of God’s purpose and our mission.

STILL LIFE [Acts 10:43; other topics - Prophecy]

In my 1962 college speech class, I recall a hippie art student giving his final speech. Nice guy, but as a surfer/beach bum, I didn’t get to close. His speech was centered on a series of roughs, sketches, and watercolors, each one built up the idea he had in his head. He showed us one part at a time until, at the end, he revealed his final oil.

I didn’t care much for his art but I got the idea. His final painting was only completed after all the concept had been worked out, piece by piece; then the real art work began.

The Old Testament writers (historians, narrators, poets, psalmists, and prophets), like an artist’s masterpiece, put together a picture of the Messiah, our Savior, piece by piece, over time, each contributing his part ... extending in ever-increasing fullness and clearness all the way to the close of the canon.

Moses paints his piece ... the first great promise (Gen 3:15). Isaiah paints his pieces ... the Lord is to be born of a virgin (7:14); a child is to be born out of David and the whole world is to rest on His shoulders (9:6-7); a rod provided (11:1, 2); and God’s Suffering Servant (53:1ff).

Even the psalmist, in Psalm 68:18, roughs out that He will ascend on high, leading the captives captive. Micah paints his pieces ... the Lord’s birthplace is to be Bethlehem (5:2) and He will come and raise up His fallen ones (7:8).

And others sketch out that a forerunner will come, a voice crying in the wilderness, to announce the Lamb of God.


STUCK IN OUR GULLET! [Various]

The “Red Headed Stranger” was one of my favorite goldfish. He had a fabulous fantail, big bug eyes, and cool calico coloring. Red was about five years old, he and his tank-mates were a lot of pleasure for me on my long, lonely bachelor nights.

Goldfish will habitually pick up a rock from the floor of the tank, and then spit it out. I never learned why. One night I notice a big rock was stuck in Red’s craw, unless it was removed, he’d starve to death. I phoned a friend for advice and learned such an obstruction is extracted by inserting a toothpick through the gills. It wasn’t until I hung-up that I realized this implied more than one might think: to both Red and me.

Man’s sin nature is like that rock in Red’s throat and the Bible is like that toothpick. The patient may not like it when God gets a firm grip on him, lifts him from his environment, and begins prodding with the Living Word; yet a man will surely die a horrible death if this obstruction to eternal life is not removed.


THE SON OF SONS [John 1:1-3; 14; other topics - Creation; Inspiration; Sanctification; Son (of God)]

John F. Kennedy Jr., the highly respected son of the late American President John F. Kennedy, was posthumously praised by the editorial staff of George Magazine, a monthly political magazine the young Kennedy co-founded four years ago.

The magazine’s editors wrote, “John had a hand in every aspect of creating and producing George - the big picture and the daily details.”

Reading the eulogies and accolades given to this American icon a Christian would have to reflect on another Son who had a direct “hand in every aspect of creating and producing ... the big picture and the daily details.”

Upon close examination, the believer will notice God’s Son not only aided in the creation of a book but was involved the creation of the whole world. [John 1:3] Now that is a very big picture.

In fact, the book is called the Word, and the Son is the Word. And this Word is sharper than a two-edged sword ... and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart [Hebrews 4:12]. We are also told it is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. [2 Timothy 3:15-16]. Now those are special daily details.


YOU KNOW AUTHOR; NOT HIS BOOK [Psalm 119; other topics - Disciple]

Two really worthwhile organizations exist to help adults learn to read: Literacy Volunteers of America and National Center for Family Literacy. The power of reading is something only a reader can relate to; reading can make you laugh, cry, feel pain, anger, compassion and joy. Reading opens vistas you never thought of; takes you to places you’ll not otherwise see; and expands your view of the world, your imagination, and your vocabulary.

Reading is often taken for granted by those of us who can, but there are millions who cannot but would, in a New York minute, if they could.

The Bible is the Book of all books; many people in the world don’t own one; they couldn’t read it if they did. If reading is so critical to human development, then reading the Bible is doubly critical to the discipling of a new Christian. What good is it to make them a disciple of the author of the Book if they cannot read about Him in his biography?

CLEANSING: Flesh eating turtles vs. the Lamb of God!

"If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."

1 Peter 1:17-19

A few rears ago, Time magazine reported that India had plans to release "carnivorous soft-shell turtles" into the Ganges, to clean up pollution created by the dumping of human carcasses into their sacred river. [10/27/87 p.46]

Sin leaves the refuge of death everywhere on the road of life; it pollutes everything it touches.

We don't have any carnivorous turtles to release into the sacred rivers of life because we don't need any ... not that they would do any good anyway. God has an environmental protection policy that works just fine: He is able to cleanse all that is in the world with the precious blood of the Lamb.

Christianity, Cleansing,
Illustrations, Religion