Head-dibs

Have you been treated unfairly by someone who really did not know or understand your circumstance? The Corinthian church gave up on Paul. Not only did they write him off, but they discredited his ministry. He said he would come and he  didn't , so they called him a false teacher. Who does Paul think he is, anyway? What they did not know is that Paul was delayed in coming, and not merely delayed but nearly died.  Look at what he writes: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver [us], you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift [granted] to us through many.” [2Co 1:9-11 NKJV] Paul shows a great amount of grace in the face of misunderstanding, even calling his critics alongside to pray for him! How could he do this? ...

It’s  OK  to be disappointed and depression should have its run but both are not meant to be dwelling places. God does not intend for us to stay “down.” The Corinthian church was disappointed with the apostle Paul because he said he would come visit and he did not show up. Sadly, they held his absence against him.  What they did not know is the reason Paul did not come when he said he would. Paul wrote them: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayer...

Out of the midnight sky a great dawn broke, And a voice singing flooded us with song. In David's city was he born, it sang, A Saviour, Christ the Lord. Then while I sat Shivering with the thrill of that great cry, A mighty choir a thousand-fold more sweet Suddenly sang, Glory to God, and Peace— Peace on the earth; my heart, almost unnerved By that swift loveliness, would hardly beat. Speechless we waited till the accustomed night Gave us no promise more of sweet surprise; Then scrambling to our feet, without a word We started through the fields to find the Child.

"What means this glory round our feet," The Magi mused, "more bright than morn?" And voices chanted clear and sweet, "To-day the Prince of Peace is born!" "What means that star," the Shepherds said, "That brightens through the rocky glen?" And angels, answering overhead, Sang, "Peace on earth, good-will to men!" 'Tis eighteen hundred years and more Since those sweet oracles were dumb; We wait for Him, like them of yore; Alas, He seems so slow to come! But it was said, in words of gold, No time or sorrow e'er shall dim, That little children might be bold In perfect trust to come to Him. All round about our feet shall shine A light like that the wise men saw, If we our loving wills incline To that sweet Life which is the Law. So shall we learn to understand The simple faith of shepherds then, And, clasping kindly hand in hand, Sing, "Peace on earth, good-will to men!" But they who do their souls no wrong, But ...

“Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad, The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow’d and so gracious is the time.” -- Marcellus to Horatio and Bernardo, after seeing the Ghost , Hamlet, Act I, Scene I (William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616)

It was frosty the other morning and the rising sun reflected off our neighbor's house into the yard. As the sun rose higher, the reflection melted a tracing line through the frost . . . much like God's light and love cutting through our cold, hard hearts.

Before the winter morn, Before the earliest cock crow, Jesus Christ was born: Born in a stable, Cradled in a manger, In the world his hands had made Born a stranger. Priest and king lay fast asleep In Jerusalem; Young and old lay fast asleep In crowded Bethlehem; Saint and angel, ox and ass, Kept a watch together Before the Christmas daybreak In the winter weather. Jesus on his mother's breast In the stable cold, Spotless lamb of God was he, Shepherd of the fold: Let us kneel with Mary maid, With Joseph bent and hoary, With saint and angel, ox and ass, To hail the King of Glory. -- by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Objection:  Christmas is a pagan holiday. There is nothing in the Bible that says we must observe Jesus birthday. Answer:  Our culture is pagan saturated so unless we change everything, why select this one day above all? Should we revert to the Puritan system and identify the days of the week by their number (First day, Second day, etc) instead of using pagan names? For example, today is named "Torsdag" or "Thor's day" (Norse) while the Romans called it "deis Jovis" or Jove's day. Why do we use solar months to measure time when the Hebrew calendar is lunar? Why do we name the 12th month on our calendar December when "decem" is Latin for 10 and what should we do when January rolls around (named after Janus, god of endings and beginnings)? The Bible is silent about a number of things. You know, there is nothing in the Bible that says Jesus took a bath, nor does He instruct his disciples to take one. Yes, he does wash their feet--on...

"If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort." [2 Co 1:6-7 ESV] The Corinthian church was in a bit of an uproar, experiencing extreme levels of discomfort so Paul offers words of consolation that have grown out of his own experience. Though he is an example of suffering and comfort, don’t take for granted that Paul’s example came easy for his personal comfort came at a great price. Think of what it takes to remodel, that messy transformation process that changes a house or office, upgrading the original design. Remodeling is not clean, easy, or cheap. There will always be noise and dust--but in order to bring in the new, the old must be removed. This means we must be ready to give up our best-laid plans whe...

This is just too good. HT: Dr. Ben Noonan

Have you ever thought of suffering and comfort as two elements that work together in your life to produce something good, something fruitful? Notice what Paul writes concerning comfort to the Corinthians church: the comfort your receive is not for you to keep. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor 1:3-4) The more God comforts us, the more we can comfort others. Adrian Rogers said “we are more like God when we encourage and more like the devil when we don’t.” There are seven kinds of fruit to share from the harvest of suffering: 1. Suffering makes us seek either God’s face or turn away. Notice the contrast: Ahaz became unfaithful to God in his distress (1 Chron. 28:22) while Manasseh humbled himself before God while in affliction (2 Chron. 33...

According to  this article , the Slow Loris "kills by either biting with its mouth full of poison, or slicking its fur up with the toxin and waiting to be attacked. To be fair to the critter, its venom was probably developed for self-defense. Although it occasionally uses the venom to kill its prey, it is happiest just being left alone." I have some questions.  If the tenant of evolution is "survival of the fittest," then how long did it take for the Loris overcome its weaknesses and survive in order to figure out how to "probably" develop to be a venomous (or is it a poisonous ) primate?  What took place in evolution for the Loris not to be allergic to it's own spit?  Why can't scientists precisely identify the biological function of the secretion?  Science (Latin for "know) will confirm what is known, without speculating to probabilities, which are unknown. 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." [2 Co 1:3-5 ESV] Have you noticed that when we suffer and receive comfort from God that our problems do not vanish? If God made difficulty disappear, we would only go to Him for pain relief. Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?) said, “Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow--for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage. Indeed, I tell you the truth, any object you have in ...

( 2 Corinthians 1:4-5 ) Adrian Rogers said that “Discouragement is a darkroom where the negatives of fear and failure develop.” How do we deal with suffering, hardships and not allow the feelings of fear and failure to develop? Bring in the light! This illustration draws it’s meaning from the old method of developing camera film in a blackened room. Any amount of  light destroyed the film negatives and the pictures would not develop--and this is exactly what we want to happen in this case! Destroy the negative! One way I do this is to be mindful that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.   Paul writes, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Cor 1:5) See, there are different kinds of suffering and there are different kinds of comfort. “First world” problems is not suffering. Most people of the world don’t get to say things like, “I’m tired of all the restaurants near my office” or “My...

Genesis 12:16 reads ”And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.” Many opponents of the Bible use this passage and say that the presence of camels is an anachronism, that domesticated camels did not appear in Israel until after the time of King David; therefore, the mention of camels in the time of Abram is incorrect. When I visited the passage at “ The Skeptics Annotated Bible ” I found this statement in the margin: In case you can't read it, the margin is “Camels were first domesticated in the tenth century BCE more than a thousand years before Abram supposedly lived.” Camels were domesticated BEFORE Abram? The biblical text has no problem with that. The link provided by the site (above) directs us to Science Daily and a short article from the American Friends of Tel Aviv University. Here we find an analysis of archaeological digs that the writer says can pin-point the mom...

Last time we explored “Three Reasons To Find Comfort In The Trinity.” Paul writes that God is to be praised because our God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3) The truth we investigate here is that God receives praise because of Who He is: The God of all comfort!   The comfort Jesus received while ministering here on earth is the same comfort Paul received during his ministry and is the same we receive today because the Father loves His Son. Listen Zechariah prophesy over his son, John: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." ( Luke 1:76-79). John’s life was explained by the Father o...

"Sunlight dances through the leaves Soft winds stir the sighing trees Lying in the warm grass Feel the sun upon your face . . ." ("Rivendell" by Rush)

Do you know the scariest words of scripture? This may seem an odd question in light of the topic of comfort, but there is a connection. Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” (2 Cor. 1:3) Last post we learned that God is to be praised (and we receive comfort from) the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and we found ourselves with a hard question: “If Jesus has a God, how can Jesus be God?” This questions leads us to the second truth concerning the God of all comfort: He is praised because He is “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” The doctrine of the Trinity underscores God’s uniqueness above all other gods. Now “trinity” is not a word we find in the Bible, but the teaching is unmistakable. We worship a triune God, distinguished persons of Godhead but not divided in substance. Trinity does not mean there are three gods (tritheism) nor are there three “modes” of being. Trinity means three persons, one essence. A...

“I’m confused. Three times in Genesis (10:5, 20, 31) we are told that people were divided according to the languages they spoke; however, the next chapter (Genesis 11:1) says that the whole earth spoke one language. Please explain this contradiction.” We all enjoy a good movie or story, but what is the one element that keeps us engaged? It is the creative story telling. We are never given all the information up front! Sherlock Holmes would never have existed if Doyle gave us the details of the crime in telling the story! It is true that the people were divided into their nations according to their languages--but how did those different languages come to be? While Chapter 10 gives us a “table of nations,” Chapter 11 explains the language detail of Chapter 10. The whole earth spoke one language before the Tower of Babel! It makes sense in our culture to have all the information presented in a chronological order; however, we are not the original audience, so good students will be c...

I'm staying indoors. Like I do every year.

Pretty much speaks for itself. A Tale of Momentum & Inertia from HouseSpecial on Vimeo .

Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”.  (2 Corinthians 1:3) Here we find reasons why God is praised as well as some truths about the God of all comfort. God is praised because He is God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus has a God. After the resurrection, “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”’” [Jn 20:17] When Jesus died, the disciples needed comfort. Jesus comforts Mary with the truth that God has not forgotten anyone. He sends her back to the disciples with a message concerning His ascension: The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is our God by reconciliation which is rooted by faith in His death, burial and resurrection. Who is the God of Jesus? Notice that I did not ask, “who is God to you?” Who God is and our idea of God may not be...

I was on the campus of the University of South Carolina a few years ago sharing the gospel with students in "The Horseshoe." One student got extremely agitated in our conversation and raising his voice in objection, “You can’t quote what Jesus said because his words are contained in a humanly written book that is filled with errors!” While I wanted to ask him who wrote the textbooks in his hand, I held out my Bible and asked him to show me some of those errors. He stepped back and declined my offer. He shot back, "prove walking on water archaeologically!” I confessed I could not, but that’s why such events are called “miracles.” He wanted to go eat, and thus ended our conversation. I’ve not been able to shake his comments about errors in the Bible. The more I think about it, the more I realize he is right. There ARE errors in the Bible. The Bible is full of mistakes and I will highlight a few: Genesis: God told Adam to eat of any tree of the garden, but of the tr...

It’s difficult to tell from the outset, but as Paul is suffering quietly he opens his second letter to the Corinthian church with an doxology (an outburst of praise): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3) 1618-1648 the “Thirty Years War” raged in Europe over who was going to control Germany. Entire regions were devastated, stripped by by foraging armies. Military and civilian survivors were eventually hit with famine and disease that followed the waste of wartime. Countries in the conflict went bankrupt. Lawlessness added to the hardships. Martin Rinkart was one of four pastors in a small German town that was overrun three times by battling armies. The city and his home eventually became a place for refugees and their diseases. One pastor left for reasons of health and safety. Martin buried the other two pastors along with his wife, performing as many as 50 funerals each day. Martin wrote these ...

Mothra, In Fall Plaid Choo-choo