REBIRTH: The Spectrum of the Son!

"you must be born again"

John 3:7

"if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature"

2 Corinthians 5:17

Our kids were watching some old Outer Limits reruns on TV; the episode concerned a shift in the radiation spectrum of the Sun, as a result of elevated gamma rays mankind was in danger of annihilation. Man, however, was unaware of the shift or their doom.

Observing this from another galaxy, some friendly aliens developed an antidote. The aliens sent an ambassador to warn earth and offer the antidote. But the human race faced a dilemma: the antidote caused a metamorphosis of all who submitted. In order to be saved, one had to be changed into a new creature.

Christianity, Illustrations, Religion

FAITH - Living or simple!

BEWARE TWO OF A KIND! [Matthew 7:14-27; Believers, Nonbelievers]

Driving down the street one night I saw a peculiar optical illusion: two identical cats were sitting on the sill in a lighted front window. At first, I thought they were statues; they were both coal black (the absence of light compromises color at night) and indistinguishable in size and shape … except they were facing each other.

Then the cat on the left turned to look at my truck as it drove past. That slight motion quickly told me the cat on the left was sitting on the outside sill while the other cat was sitting on the inside sill. Until there was movement by one or the other, I was incapable of distinguishing between the two; the glass separated the one from the other; preventing them from doing whatever cats desire to do together at night.

The crux of this tale is that in it we see the importance of a Christian’s public witness. Until there is movement by one or the other, believers are virtually indistinguishable from nonbelievers. The Bible clearly teaches that believers are known by their actions and not their words [James 1 & 2].

Some might say both must move in order to know one from the other. However, by default, we know both could be nonbelievers … for we are all sinners and have fallen far from the grace of God [Romans 3:23]. Only when one of God’s fallen accepts Jesus as Lord, does he become a new creation; then and only then, do we see his actions as those of a believer. The second party must be supposed a nonbeliever until some action on his part provides evidence of his faith in the God of our fathers.

At one of his crusades Billy Graham said, “I assume everyone is lost until they confirm to me otherwise.” (my paraphrase) We should never believe anyone is a believer solely on the basis or his or her personal assurance.

“Whatever [a believer does] in word or deed, [he should do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus” [Colossians 3:17]; thus, his words and deeds are recognizable as a believer’s words and deeds.

Jesus clarified the importance of words over deeds in Matthew 7:14-27 when He specifically said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” He added, "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?”

Care must certainly be taken not to prejudge everything sitting in a window as a statue, but greater care must be taken before we judge everything sitting in a pew a believer. Like the glass in the window, Jesus Christ separates believers from nonbelievers … a believer’s actions will distinguish him from his counterpart.

GOD WILL DO JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! [Sovereignty]

One night when a diplomat and his valet were required to sleep in the same railcar, the valet noticed his boss having trouble sleeping. “Whazzzzup?” He asked (things have changed). “Oh, I have so many things on my mind; the responsibilities I have to bear.”

“Look, I want to get some sleep, so let me ask you: do you think God was governing the world okay before you were born and don’t you think He'll manage after you're dead and gone?” “Absolutely!” “Okay then, let’s get some sleep, cause He’s gonna do just fine while your alive … right?"

[Adapted from e-Sword Ministries - 2000+ Illustrations, "Faith"]

I SEE YOU! [Matthew 8:5-13]; other topics - omniscience, sight, trust]

A dad stood in the cellar looking up at his son standing at the edge of a trap door. He called up, “I’m right here son, go ahead jump down to me."

The boy hesitated, in uncertain fear. "I can't, dad; I can't see you." Up came the answer, "I know you can't, but I see you!”

We may not see our Father but He sees us!

SINKING IN A SEA OF SIN! [1 Timothy 2:5; Deliverance, Grace, Salvation]

The movie Titanic was a big hit in the last decade. One can almost see and hear the people struggle in the deadly waters of the frigid Atlantic.

Faith links man, who is sinking in a sea of sin, to God, who is our Anchor and our Hope. God uses this link to provide man a way of salvation (Grace); once the link is established, a relationship exists.

The drowning man doesn’t reject a rescue ship’s lifeline in order to grab a pallet which happens to float by ... why? Because the pallet offers only temporary deliverance, whereas the line connects the man to the ship offering deliverance from the jaws of certain death!

God offers the lifeline of faith (in His Son); promising to credit His Son’s righteous to us if we will but trust Him. Abraham did and was reckoned righteous in just this way.

Though faith seems a thin thread to many, in reality it’s an unbreakable cable held by the hands of Almighty God, whose infinite power slowly and surely draws all men to His heavenly shore. [a loose paraphrase of Spurgeon]

There must, of necessity, be a relationship between the drowning man and the rescue ship … the lifeline … or there is no hope of deliverance. Notice, however, it can’t just be a drowning man, a ship, and a lifeline; someone must be on board to pull the man from the water.

THE WINNER’S CIRCLE [1 Kings 3:15; Involvement, Love (of the Father), Parenting]

Gilbert was eight years old and a Cub Scouts for only a short time. Handed a sheet of paper, a block of wood, and four black plastic tires, he return home and gave it to “dad”.

Not an easy task, dad wasn’t real receptive to doing things with his son. But Gilbert tried. Dad read the paper and chuckled at the idea of making a pine wood car with his son. Gilbert’s “stuff” remained untouched for weeks.

Then mom stepped in and the project got underway. Mom had no carpentry skills so she simply read the directions and let Gilbert do the work. He did! Within days the block of wood was becoming a pinewood car; a little lopsided, but looking fine.

Gilbert was feeling quite proud of his “Blue Lightning”; a pride that came from doing something himself. Then came the big night. With his hand full of blue pinewood car hand and his heart filled with pride, he and mom headed to the big race.

Once there, mom saw her son’s was most likely the only car made entirely by a child. All the other cars had cool paint jobs and sleek body styles, perfect for speed. Some children giggled when they saw Gilbert’s wobbly, homely vehicle.

Adding insult to injury, Gilbert was the only boy without a man at his side. A couple of boys from single parent homes at least had an uncle or grandfather by their side.

The race was by elimination. You kept racing as long as you didn’t lose. As you might guess, in the end it was between Gilbert and the sleekest, fastest looking car. As the final race was about to start, mom’s proud but shy eight year-old asked if they could hold the race for him to pray. They smiled at the request but held up the race. Gilbert kneeled in front of all, clutching his funny looking block of wood, and prayed. He prayed for a minute and then stood, smile and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready.”

The crowd cheered. The sleek car roared down the ramp while Gilbert’s wobbled but with surprising speed, reaching the finish line a fraction of a second ahead of the other car. Gilbert leaped in the air and shouted, “Thank you.”

In the “Winner’s Circle,” the Scout Master said, “So you prayed to win, huh, Gilbert?” The small lad answered loudly, “Oh, no sir! That wouldn’t be fair! I just asked God to make it so I don’t cry when I lose.”

Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all”? [Luke 18:16-17] And wasn’t it Solomon who asked God for wisdom to rule His people when he could have asked for riches or power? [1 Kings 3:5-15] And wasn’t it James who said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures”? [James 4:3]

Perhaps we have something to learn from our children; maybe even how to be better fathers and role models ... at a minimum, better prayer warriors?

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN [James 2:17; Other topics - Good News, Gospel]

An old preacher was fond of saying, “There are two parts to the Good News; the first is believing and the second is behaving.” The one who hears but does not do is the one James describes as having dead faith.

WITHOUT EXCUSE! [Romans 1:19-25; Common sense; Experience]

During WWII an American bomber, night flying over North Africa, was chased by an unusually strong tailwind. They weren’t buffeted or threatened, they were simply blown along much faster than they realized.

Unfortunately, the crew calculated distance traveled using fuel consumption and time in the air, ignoring their experience and common sense. This resulted in irrevocably overshooting a course change, which caused them to miss their landing site.

Eventually, they exhausted their fuel and crashed; years later the wreckage was discovered in the Sahara Desert. The crew died because they refused to trust what they had all been trained to trust … their professional discipline founded on experience and common sense.

We too are blown along by a blast, the tailwind of scientific and secular reasoning. Man calculates his position in this world by the things of this world [1 John 2:15,16], ignoring history and his own God-given common sense. This decision can result in an irrevocable journey. However, unlike the crew of the bomber we are terribly buffeted and threatened!

The Bible says, all men must make a course change in their lives [John 3:3] it also says “that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them” [Romans 1:19] and continues:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

We must trust what God has given us, living by faith [Habakkuk 2:4] and not by sight!

SALVATION - This is really Good News!

LIFE-LINE! [Psalm 132:7-9; Ark, faith, lifeline, redemption]

The storm had been chasing the destroyer all over the South Pacific and finally caught it. Now it was knocking the huge vessel around like a “ducky” in a child’s bathtub. Frank McDonald, one of our faithful deacons, was serving his country onboard this ship during the Korean War.

Frank, in one section of the ship, needed to return to his quarters following his duty shift; only one thing prevented this from being easy … the storm. In order to get to where he was going, he was forced to go out on deck for a short distance to get to an aft hatch. Knowing he was about to get soaked, he rushed out with his head down … suddenly the ship lurched, his feet flew out from under him … wham, his back hit the hard slopping surface and he shot feet first out over the side of the ship, nothing but air to support him. For some reason, which Frank can’t explain, he held his hands in the air, fingers cupped, thumbs down … as if planned by the ship’s designer, both hands caught and grasped the ship’s lower lifeline, saving him from the sea’s unappeasable gullet.

God’s Son, Jesus, is designed to be His vessel (an ark) of salvation for those who believe. He is included in God’s plan of salvation as our lifeline; unseen as we slide down the slippery slope of life, at an ever increasing rate. Rescue from eternal damnation awaits those who, by faith, would but reach up and grasp the line that is offered.

LOST AND FOUND [Jeremiah 5:25; Carnality, heaven, sin]

Norman Johnston committed a series of appalling crimes, and then murdered his own teen-aged relatives to cover the trail. His young relatives were members of his burglary gang ... they simply knew too much. Johnston, 48, has spent the last 20 years of his life in Huntington state prison in Pennsylvania. He thought he couldn’t cope with imprisonment any longer, so he constructed a dummy for his bunk, cut out his cell window, and escaped. But he quickly discovered he couldn’t cope with freedom either.

He stole car after car because he couldn’t operate electronic gas pumps. He stole mobile phones but couldn’t use those either. Most of his liberty was spent roaming around the Pennsylvania countryside, scared and bewildered. He was captured in a housing development which had been built on land he knew as open farmland during his youth.

Johnston was returned to prison; he was lost, he was found, he was returned but not to his father’s house.

However, with the Lord, who came "to seek and to save the lost," when you are found, you are returned to a right relationship with your Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself goes to prepare a place for you.


PACKED FOR PRESERVATION! [2 Peter 2:4-10a; Apostasy, Redemption]

According to a story in The Guardian (London), Calin Florea of Scarisoara Romania dismantled his German-made Lanz tractor and packed it in cardboard coated with tar; he did this to escape the confiscating claws of communist collectivization in 1955. By 1990, however, land reforms had made it possible for Florea to farm the land he once owned, so he dug it up, reassembled it, and started all over. Had Florea not protected his possession carefully the elements would have destroyed it when he once came to redeem it.

God commanded Jeremiah the prophet to obtain and bury a waistband near the river Euphrates; taking no precautions to protect it. Later, God commanded him to retrieve the waistband from its burial place. When Jeremiah did so, he discovered that the waistband had rotted and was worthless. [Jeremiah 13:1-8]

God then said to Jeremiah,

"Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband, which is totally worthless. For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah to cling to Me … that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen."

Jeremiah 13:9-11

Observation suggests the “western” church could easily serve as a substitute for Israel in this passage … without disturbing the water. The same observation reveals that many contemporary believers have hidden their lamps under peck-measures. [Cf. Matthew 5:15-16]

One day, these autumn trees without fruit, much like the five hapless virgins of Matthew 25 [1-13], will return to search out their lamp only to find it without oil or wick … and so worthless.

God is unchanging [immutable] and His judgments are for all ages and all peoples. Therefore, no man shall escape His wrath. God will reach down near the River of Life and retrieve that which He hid in our hearts long ago. Should He find it rotted and worthless the end shall be according to the means [2 Corinthians 11:15-16].

God has given us a prized possession and it is up to us to protect it for they day when it is to be revealed … it must be packed in the precious blood of Jesus. (Added 18 May 2006)


PULL PIN NOW! [John 3:3, 5; deliverance]

The fire extinguisher outside my office says, “Pull pin.” This simple admonition is to remind potential users that the pin must be pulled before the extinguisher can be used to put out a fire.

Likewise, a parachute will have an admonition on its pack, “Pull pin to open.” If the parachutist wants to save his life (after a period of free fall), he must pull the pin before it is too late.

In John 3:3 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, you must be born again.” This is Jesus saying, “If you want to be saved, pull pin first.”

If one wants to avoid the fires of hell, he must pull the pin on this life in order for the next to begin; if he wants to avoid the second death, he must open the Savior’s chute this side of the first death before it is too late.


RELIGIOUS MUSCLE RELAXANT! [2 Corinthians 5:17; life, regeneration, sanctification, walk]

My friend Marsha Wagner’s husband, Andy, snored something awful, until he had a heart attack. To help him sleep, his doctor prescribed a muscle relaxant; a side effect of the drug was his snoring stopped.

Prior to this, her husband’s nightly sonata let Marsha know he was at least okay; but know, since he’s sleeping better, she has to poke him to see if he is still alive.

I’ve seen far too many people whose lives exhibited some irritating carnal behavior, walk the aisle, pray the sinner’s pray, get baptized and claim the name of Jesus who now must be poked to see if they are still alive. Though the irritating behavior is gone, the life is not present.

Christianity is being used by too many people as a religious muscle relaxant for the flesh but manifests no Spirit-filled, animated, Pentecostal life. God doesn’t relax our muscles to make us stop sinning, He makes a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

THE SIGNATURE IS WHAT MATTERS! [Ephesians 1:7-8; Redemption]

At an annual town reunion, one of the town’s original organizers saw a disheveled man sitting alone on a park bench, a brown paper bag in his hand. The founder thought he knew him, so he approached. “Ben?” He asked gently. “Is that you?” The man looked up through swollen and bloodshot eyes. “Huh?” He responded.

Shocked at the man’s condition he considered leaving but something made him stop. “Ben? Ben Johnson? That is you, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he-llll-llooow.” The man breathed, between a yawn and a belch. “Yea, Sam. It’s me. Your old buddy Benjamin.”

After discovering his friend’s sad history … two tours in Nam, in and out of Veteran’s Hospitals, several divorces, and alcoholism … Sam felt compassion for his old friend and asked if there was anything he could do to help. His friend said there was but he didn’t deserve it; he could help him raise the money to get into a veterans rehab program out of state so he could get his life back together. Instead, Sam wrote him a check for the entire sum. But since it was Sunday, the bank was closed and he’d have to wait until Monday to cash the check.

On Wednesday, Sam was driving out of town to return home, when he saw his friend, Ben, sitting on the same park bench, looking just as pathetic. Angry, he pulled into the park and stopped next to the bench. Accusingly, he said, “What happened, Ben? Did you cash it and spend it on booze?”

Quickly and soberly, Ben pulled the check from his army jacket and held it high. “No! No!” He exclaimed. “I got it I just ain’t cashed it.” Frustrated Sam asked why. Ben’s head dropped and his eyes began to tear up. “Sam, I went to that bank Monday and sat outside all day until they closed. I never went in because I knew they’d take one look at me and know I got no right to have a check this big.”

Now Sam’s eyes began to tear up. “Oh, Ben.” He said. “It’s not what you look like or what you smell like that makes that check good. It’s the signature on the check and whether or not its writer has enough in his account to cover the draft.”

In the same way, on judgment day, everyone will come before the Judge of judges and He will look to see whose name is written on our hearts and whether or not He has the resources to cover the draft. [Author unknown]


TODAY IS THE DAY! [2 Corinthians 6:2; Choices, evangelism, light-dark, redemption]

California is known for its earthquakes and in 1994 one hit the Northridge area of Southern California.

One of the Los Angeles Police Department’s most highly regarded motorcycle officers was in bed, miles away, when he felt the shake. He instinctively knew it was a big one and as a professional knew he’d be needed. Without waiting for a call, he dress and rushed to get his LAPD cycle and head for his station.

What the officer did not know was that Highway 14 leading into Los Angeles had suffered major damage, several overpasses were down. At about 5:15 AM, in the dark, with only his single headlight to guide him, this dedicated police officer and father of three sailed of the truncated end of a freeway overpass to his death forty feet below.

Mankind is driving in the dark, seeking a way to make sense of his life, looking for meaning, with only a puny little light to guide him. He doesn’t know it but the bridge is out ahead. An abyss lies at the bottom. He may not reach it today, or tomorrow, but he will reach it and then it will be too late … unless he is clinging to the Light of the World.


TWO SETS OF PLANS! [2 Peter 2:4-10a; Apostasy, Redemption]

Not far from the Kremlin wall stands the Moskva Hotel, as gargantuan in scale as Stalin’s state power used to be. After 50 years Muscovites have grown accustomed to it, but a visitor can’t help but notice the bizarre asymmetry of its façade.

An invisible vertical line seems to divide the structure in two, with one architectural style on the left, another on the right.

As one story goes, the architect worked up two designs, and Stalin, not realizing they were different, signed off on both. Nobody had the temerity to explain this mistake to the “Father of Peoples” – so the hotel was built using both designs. [Anatoly Sobchak, For a New Russia, (Free Press)]

God has prepared us to be redeemed by two designs ... one by the Law, through works, and the other by Grace, through His Son, but God knows the difference and is not confused about which is which. (Added 18 May 2006)


UNCOVERED AND USED ANEW! [Romans 3:21-26; Grace, regeneration]

Supposedly, it was laid down in the deep rich soil of rural Clay County, Georgia, around 1828; sometime between then and about 1930 it was forgotten and has reclined unused till discovered in May of 2002.

No one knows for certain when the open-air baptistry of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church (Fort Gaines, Ga.) was last used; in fact, it took weeks to locate anyone who even remembered the concrete pool. Only a few people could recall the church ever having a place to baptize. But one member (who said he was "practically born and raised in this church"), remembers playing in the baptistry with his friends in 1932.

The baptistry was discovered when volunteers gathered to clear land for parking in the woods across from the church. A deacon operating a backhoe hit something that attracted his attention; the heavy equipment strained but couldn’t move whatever it was. Two additional deacons were called to bring hand tools to help clear the decades old accumulation of pine mulch covering the 9’ by 5’, 600-gallon structure. The accidental archaeologists didn’t know they had uncovered a century-old baptistry, they initially thought it might be a grave or a septic tank.

No one was as surprised about the find as were members of Mt. Gilead. The bottom-line, however, is that it was found and is now in use once again. Once the baptismal was found to be functional, the congregation restored the tradition of holding baptisms in it. [Adapted from an October 16, 2002, Baptist Press story by Joe Westbury]

Once we were lost, but now we are found; once we were hidden by decay, but now we are clean; once we were not useful, but now we are on mission and in service.

Praise God I’m found and useful again! To God be the glory, the honor, and the power forever, without end.

DELIVERANCE: Hello, God?

"Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, 'I called out of my distress to the LORD, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. ... Salvation is from the LORD.' Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land."

Jonah 2:1-2, 9b, 10

The great quake of August 18, 1999, in Turkey brought us an interesting story ... a relationship between tragedy and technology.

A CBS report related how a man in an apartment building found himself suddenly cast into the deep. At the moment of the quake he was visiting friends in the basement of the multi-storied structure … building came down on top of them. The edifice encompassed them to the point of death. Trapped, the five used the man’s cell phone to call out to rescuers.

From the stomach of the fish Jonah called out to his Rescuer. He “cried out” from the deep, even though the water encompassed him to the point of death.

We must remember: no matter what encompasses us, we’ve a Rescuer; and we can call out to Him from the deepest of depths.

Christianity, Illustration,
Jonah, Religion, Salvation

Shepherding

Whichever Way the Wind Blows! [Matthew 28:19, 20; other topics - Evangelism]

Blowing the church parking lot on work day is not one of my pastoral duties, I consider myself a member just like everyone else. I do it as a part of my service to the church body. Besides, it’s good exercise and keeps me in shape … well sort of!

When I begin in the early morning there is seldom a breeze, but by mid-morning the breezes ripple in and out, com-ing and going from all four corners of the property. Years of weekly practice have taught me to make the wind work for me.

If I fight the wind it’s a mess but as long as I use it to help me everything works out fine and at the end of the day the leaves are in the dumpster and I’m victorious. Let me give a couple of examples of how my philosophy of parking lot blowing helps in other areas as well.

The first example is jujitsu … students of this martial art learn early that they can’t win if they try to fight their opponent … mano y mano. They learn to use their opponent’s movements and weight to their advantage; with hard work and application they’ll win quite often.

The second is sailing … if a sailor tries to fight the winds he will get nowhere and end up a loser, the wind always wins those battles. But if the sailor learns to harness the wind’s power and use it, he’ll master it.

Now pasturing is a lot like blowing leaves, jujitsu, and sailing … if you fight the sheep they’re just contrary enough to defeat you. But if you learn to work with them and harness their energy and use it to accomplish your objectives every one comes out a winner.

However, just like a few leaves on the parking lot, there are always a few who won’t cooperate, no matter how skilled you are at facilitating their movements.

Just like stubborn leaves which are more trouble than they’re worth, errant sheep need to be ignored, don’t waste God’s precious time trying to get them to graze like you want them to. Given enough time, errant sheep will end up in some storm drain; given enough rope, they’ll hang themselves. Either way they’re not worth the effort.

After you’ve led your sheep to where they can do themselves and no one else any harm, “Go,” my child, and find the lost sheep of the Kingdom ... the ones who want answers and deliverance.