TRUTH: Go ahead; pucker up!

"and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

John 8:32

Girls at an Oregon middle school were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. After they put it on they would press their lips to the mirrors leaving dozens of teenage lip prints behind creating a real mess.

The principal called the suspected culprits to the bathroom; she explained the lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian.

She then had the custodian demonstrate how he cleaned the mirrors. He took a long-handled brush, dipped it into the toilet, then scrubbed the mirror just as he had being doing everyday for some time.

The principal has reported there have been no new lip prints on the mirrors since the demonstration.

If people knew what was really behind the evil they participated in, they would give them up in a “New York-minute.”

Ezekiel gives us a window into this truth when he tells of how the Lord took him to the Temple and revealed the wicked abominations behind the rituals of apostate and idol worshipping Israel [Ezekiel 8].

What was revealed there were “the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 6:12.

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Truth

LIGHT: How great is that darkness!

U.S. researchers [announced recently] they have made the darkest material on Earth, a substance so black it absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light. [Reuters]

I'm afraid the material they seek already exists; Jesus spoke of it 2 millennia ago:

"If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

Matthew 6:23b

The Lord's implication is that there is a state of absolute darkness that is attainable (even the scientists, by virtue of their research, believe a condition absolutely free of all light is potentially achievable). But is not attainable in this age.

The article explains the researchers' discovery in this way ...

Made from tiny tubes of carbon standing on end, [the] material is almost 30 times darker than a carbon substance used by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as the current benchmark of blackness.

And the material is close to the long-sought ideal black, which could absorb all colors of light and reflect none.

From Genesis 1:3 to Revelation 22:5 the word "light" is mentioned in 200 verses (in 31 by the Lord), from Genesis 1:2 to Jude 1:13 the word "darkness" is mentioned in 145 verses (in 13 by the Lord); notice the absence of the latter in John's Apocalypse.

We must acknowledge that up until the "taking away" of the saints of God, darkness has no chance of an absolute existence because ...

"[We] are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."

Matthew 5:14, 15

Consider the sense of all of this? Absolute darkness will be the standard for all in Perdition; absolute light the standard for all in Heaven, for ...

"And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."

Revelation 22:5

'Nough said!

Christianity, Illustrations, Religion

WELFARE: No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!

BIRD FEEDER: [2 Peter 1:5-8]

My dear sister in Christ Susie L. bought a bird feeder; she and her husband live in the mountains of Arizona. She writes ...

I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food. After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down them any nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quite, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: you child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties. Maybe it's time for the government to take down the ... feeder.

I agree with my friend but we must also remember "the least of these" [Matthew 25:34-46]: they are somewhere in all the mess.

Truth hurts, doesn't it! Forgive me if I just let most of the poop stay where it is.

WISDOM: Two kinds are available; Understand both!

DRINKING UPSTREAM: [James 3: 13-18]

In America's Old West there was hard rule among range riders ... "Always Drink Upstream from the Herd."

Good advice for those of us who are in the world but not of it!

Yes, there are two kinds of wisdom; yes, we should know the difference between the two ... "un uh em is piesun'd; tha uther is pure sweet heaven'."

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

TRUTH: Don't Leave Home Without It!

ALL TRUTH OR NO TRUTH! [Acts 4:12]

When you need a 24' ladder to rescue your family from a burning building and all you have is an 18' ladder ... well, you're short, deadly short! You might as well have no ladder!

Any truth which isn’t ALL truth is NOT truth at all!

The Lord Jesus made it clear He was “the way, the TRUTH and the life” [John 14:6a]. He said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [John 8:32] and greatly encouraged His followers with these words, “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” [36]

Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Luke quoted Peter as saying, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12]

The “ladder of success” the world is climbing is infinitely short of that needed to find what they are really after and really need.

IRRELEVANT EXPLORATION! [Various]

Someone searching for gasoline by digging holes in the ground will be horrible disappointed when he finds only crude oil … if he’s lucky.

If its gasoline you want, the ground is the wrong place to be looking … that’s why we have gas stations every few blocks.

The world needs to know their search for happiness and satisfaction is much like searching for gasoline in the ground.

Man in his search for meaning is looking in all the wrong places; searching the world for what comes from God alone is futile.

THE SOURCE OF ALL! [John 8:32; 14:6]

During the era of gold rushes in this country (USA), the cry was: GOLD! GOLD! Men from all over the world came to search, search, and search. But for the most part, their hard work paid off in traces, traces, and traces … signs, signs, and signs! They found trace (flakes and nuggets), they found sign (small veins), yet mostly they heard rumors.

Then there was "fool's gold" and "salted" mines (fakes). They re-mined old mines, some had been mined many times before; and they followed every rumor ever spoken by the lips of man. But search as they might, they never found the Mother Lode, the source of all the gold.

Likewise, men in every age, from all over the world, have rushed to and fro, here and there ... searching for truth; seeking the source of all truth. Two thousand years ago, Jesus resolved that issue forever, He said, “I am the truth.”

Once you’ve feasted on the sweetness of this Truth, you can’t avoid it. It’s as the memory of your mother or your first real love … a constant memory … it becomes part of your life … part of your living … part of the real you.

Once you’ve been set free by the real truth, you are free indeed, a freedom, like it’s twin sister Peace, that passes comprehension.