Head-dibs

Recently, we lost something. Our search was so extensive that we were not merely looking from room to room but got right down to moving the furniture, sweeping every place with a flashlight in order to find it. We searched everywhere; that is, we searched in every place anyone would be. It did not make sense to get into the crawl spaces or get in our car and drive to some to another location to look because we did not lose the item anywhere except in a certain place. When we lose something, we look in the place we lost it.  Sometimes we have an idea to look for something that is not lost so we chase the idea in the realm we expect to make a discovery. For example, when I was young we explored the Rocky Mountains and spent some time looking for gold. We did not look in the sky (though the color could be found in the sunset) and we did not look in the trees (though the Aspens in fall are quite aflame in gold); rather, we looked near abandoned mines and panned the streams below f...

Struggling with what God has called you to do? Sometimes we find ourselves asking, “why did I start this in the first place?” That’s really not a bad question by the way, because our “why” is an excellent resource to help us keep going. If we can’t answer “why,” then perhaps we need a better “why.” Paul tells us why he continued in ministry, even in the face of opposition. “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” [2Co 1:21-22 ESV]. Paul’s “why” is rooted in Jesus, the God-given foundation of ministry, “it is God who establishes us with you in Christ.” This is the second time Paul fell back on his “why.” The first time was recorded in his first letter when he reminded his opponents of their position in Christ as “confirmed, blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into one fellowship with His Son, Jesus...

I like this so . . .  . . . I thought it over and did not buy the mug after all.

Criticism of the gospel ministry is nothing new (ol’ Solomon was right, you know: there is nothing new under the sun), so we can find great encouragement to remain faithful in all we do out of love for the Lord by considering how the apostle Paul rooted the defense of his ministry in truth. He writes: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. But I call God to witness against me--it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” [2Co 1:19-24 ESV] Paul is truthful in mini...

"Recently I read the statement, 'Jesus was a vegetarian.' Supposedly, since Jesus did not eat meat, neither should we. There are several problems with this line of reasoning ."

“Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.” [2Co 1:15-18 ESV] This is the first big sticking point in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. A couple of items to notice here. First, we can see by inference how Paul’s opponents watched him closely, taking the first opportunity to slander him. Paul said he would come and he did not so the enemy was there to plant seeds of doubt and dissension against Him. We have an enemy, who is the devil (Satan). He is the Father of lies. His business is the opposite of the business of Jesus. The business of Jesus is to build a church with king...

“For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end (as also you have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also [are] ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.” [2Co 1:13-14 NKJV]  The day will come when we will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. Any ideas what you will say to Him? What will be your boast about your relationship to others in His Church? Are you able to rejoice in the ministry you have received? Will the things you say then match what you say now about the church? Paul’s attitude toward this church is not the same as the attitude this church has for Paul. They misunderstood Paul so they wrote him off. Paul prayed and gave thanks for them ( 1 Cor 1:4-9 ). Paul had already referred to the Day of the Lord Jesus 3 times in the previous letter, so this does not catch them (or us) by surprise. The day he refers to is not a day when a person’s salvation is decided, whether on...

[July 2004 I went to Kenya, Africa to speak in two Pastor’s Conferences on the subject of Man, Sin and Salvation. At the end of each day I left just over an hour for questions: half the time were questions touching the subject of my lectures and the other half for “open questions” Here is one of the questions asked by a Bible student] Question:  “Men and women who saw God in the Bible: Why did they not all die?” “ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! ’” (Exodus 33:20) Answer: First, consider those who did see God—how did they respond when they saw Him? They were instantly aware of their sinfulness, and God’s holiness and righteousness (to name a few. And notice also that each responded in an attitude of worship, bowing down): Abraham built altars, worshipping on his face; Isaac and Jacob set up heaps of stones as memorials when they saw the LORD in visions; Moses was told to remove his sandals for he was on Holy ground; only one priest could ...

Paul's ministry was misunderstood by fellow believers, but he did not treat them in a way that compromised The Faith. Rather, he showed them great grace. He says “For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you." [2Co 1:12 ESV] In the midst of misunderstanding, Paul says “toward you we conducted ourselves honestly.” He recognized that they were once in the world. There is a gentle reminder here: Remember when we came to you with the gospel as we did in all the world -- honestly, simply? We came in obedience to His Commission; you responded to HIM, not us. There is great grace in the midst of misunderstanding when we remember our sinful past how we first received the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Paul says “toward you we conducted ourselves in godly sincerity.” We did not soften God’s word for you but spoke to you as from God...

When the Apostle Paul was misunderstood, he did not plant his feet, grind his teeth and fight his opposers; rather, he spoke the truth with confident joy. “For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.” [2Co 1:12 ESV] Paul appeals to “conscience” (con = with; science = knowledge) the sense of right and wrong that God  put within each person. While some  may debate particulars of exactly “what” is right and wrong, we cannot miss the fact that the debate itself proves we have a concept of “right” and “wrong.”  Paul’s confidence in the face of misunderstanding is that He knows how God sees His heart. His joy lies in the fact that God’s got his six! He says, “we [act in a rejoicing manner] because of the way we conduct  ourselves in the world ”  We too can have a clear conscience in the way we minister in a wo...

Someone actually came up with 17 reasons as to “Why God Never Received a PhD.” While my initial thought was “who would award it to Him?” here are my responses to each point: 1. “He had only one major publication.” This is like saying a Library only has one book. There are sixty-six books of the Bible, each “published” over the course of time. 2. “It was in Hebrew.” There are doctoral students who do publish dissertations in languages other than English. (I can’t believe I actually had to mention this). Besides, the Bible was written in Aramaic and Greek as well. 3. “It had no references.” What is one to do with Ancient Near Eastern law code (such as “the goring ox” law) and the other extra-biblical books referenced there (such as those mentioned in the books of Kings and Chronicles)? 4. “It wasn't published in a refereed journal.”  The quotations of scripture in the works of early Christian writers alone are so extensive that the New Testament can be reconstru...

Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 that it is the will of God that the church of God, built of the saints of God, be blessed with the Grace and Peace of God through the Christ of God, the God of all Comfort. Since we have this theological agreement, this spiritual relationship and this atmosphere in which we live as believers, what happens when conflict arises? What happens when one person misunderstands another? First, one must know what the conflict is all about. What happened between the Corinthian church and Paul is that Paul said he would do something and was delayed, nearly at the expense of his life. The church did not know what was happening to Paul except that false shepherds had gotten to the flock and stirred up trouble. They were bad farmers, planting seeds of doubt that resulted in confusion and unhealthy attitudes about Paul. The church had become convinced that Paul was self-serving, untrustworthy, inconsistent, unbalanced, untrained, unsophisticated, incompetent--...

A misunderstanding can be a tiny thing, but then so is a termite. A friend from Long Island told me of his experiences with the tiny bug: it’s blind, lives 48 hours and destroys everything. The damage of misunderstanding is not easy to repair. The start of a new year is often the time most people want to get back in shape. Interestingly, as “out of shape” as many may be, we have eight well-worked and very “in shape” muscles--they are found in the tongue. Flex it just right and an entire reputation is destroyed; ones’ good motives are suddenly transformed into evil motives; dignity is stripped. It’s not true that sticks and stones only break bones. Words hurt. The tongue can stab people in the back without shame in broad daylight. Often the victims slowly bleed to death without knowing they were wounded. Then CSI comes (Christ, Spiritual Inspector) and He finds the victim sitting in their car in the church parking lot wondering what just happened in that conversation. The weapon b...

Question: How can it be taught that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33), when God Himself is quoted as saying “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:7)? Answer: There are a couple of approaches to find our answer, the first being to recognize the involvement of three languages: Hebrew, Greek and English. The Hebrew word translated “confuse” in Genesis 11:7 is balal , better be understood as “pour together” or “mix.” The second approach is to look at the narrative again. God commanded Noah and his descendants to spread out, fill the earth; instead, they came together in one place. Rather than obey God’s command to fulfill His purpose and receive the subsequent blessing of ruling the earth as His vice-regent they kept to themselves, even speaking the same language. Genesis 10 contains the table of nations as they were divided according to their languages, but Genesis 11 gives the ...