Not From Man, But From God - Galatians 1:11-24

Why could Paul be so certain that the gospel he preached was the only way to God? How could he say those who turned away from the gospel he preached we deserting God? He started to answer that question in the section of scripture this sermon looks at.

Not From Man, But From God - Galatians 1:11-24

Baby Bunnies

This morning I was woken up from a deep sleep by Annette. She was telling me that one of our rabbits was pulling her fur out which is a sign that she will be having babies in the next day or two. The reasoning behind this was that I needed to make a nesting box for the female to make her nest.

I did not know where I was going to find the time to do so, but as I woke up I decided it would be better to do it first thing in the morning as that way it would not be hanging over my head. That was a good choice in retrospect.

I pulled the table saw (I purchased it for $25 at an auction a while back) out of the garage and got a piece of plywood out. Set things up and in a fairly short time had the sides and top finished. I used my new cordless Jigsaw to do some final work on the sides, and I hammered it together. Then I cut the bottom, and nailed it on. All told, I don't think it was too much time, maybe not even and hour and it was all done.

Annette put the new nesting box in the rabbit cage, and put the fur that had already been removed by the female rabbit into it, and we left it at that.

This afternoon I went out back to work in the trailer since it is quieter there than in the house, and I took a peek to see if the rabbit had added any more fur to her nest. What should I see but a little blood on the fur in the nest box, so I had a closer look. Sure enough she had had her babies. Sadly, two were dead, but two are alive.

The mother is a cute white with black spots dwarf rabbit, the father is probably our brown lop-earred buck, so they should be interesting looking babies.

I will see about getting pictures when they are bigger.

We Had To Put Riley Down Today

We knew this day was coming as Riley was 14 years old, and had been having increasing problems with his health. Already in the spring when we had a cold day following a warm day he would have a really hard time getting up, and over the past several months he seemed to be confused very often. We would feed him and he would forget as soon as he finished eating the food, or something would happen and he would just have this look like, "I don't get it."

We figured with the colder weather coming on, that we would have a day come when he could not get up, but we didn't get to that point. In fact, he had been dealing with the cold days and nights we had already very well. Well enough that I was wondering if we would get another year with him although he was having occasional problems where he would fall down for no apparent reason while walking. But, last Thursday he started to get sick. By Friday he was very ill and had lost a lot of weight. We had a dog agility trial to go to, and my mom was going to take care of our son, so she took care of Riley as well. The way he looked I honestly did not expect him to be alive when we got back Saturday. He was not in any apparent pain, but was obviously sick and had lost a lot of weight.

Saturday when we got home he was still alive, and was looking a little better, but he was still ill and his bodily functions were not functioning as they should. Sunday he looked a little better yet, and could keep his food down. We already had an appointment at the vet for Monday to have him put to sleep, but I was really wondering if I could do it as he seemed to be rallying.
We decided to take him to one of his favorite places to walk, the Pinery provincial park, and we had a wonderful walk with him, but after about 20 minutes, he all of a sudden had his chin almost hit the ground, and he was exhausted. We took a half hour of rest with him breathing very heavily, so he could rest. Then we headed back to the van. He enjoyed the walk, but not like he normally would.

Today he started to get sicker again, and although he looks pretty good in the pictures, you cannot feel how he had shrunk to skin and bones. We went to my mom's place, where he lived from the time we got him at the humane society as an eight week old puppy, who was terrified of dogs and cars, and while riding on my lap on the way home, decided to pee on me. That place was always 'home' for him, and he was very content to be there. We even took him to see his dog companion on the way there, which he also enjoyed, not wanting to leave.

At 6 my mom and I headed to the vet with him, and Annette stayed at my mom's with Justin. We got there early, so Mom took Riley for one last walk, and then at 6:30 we went in. By 7PM is was all over and he headed back to bury him.

Riley was a wonderful companion. One of the most even tempered, calm, obedient (at least until he got on) dogs I have ever known. I know I will miss him, I do already. It is amazing how an animal can become such a part of ones life. I know it was time, but I still wish we could have had a few more months.

Only ONE Gospel - Galatians 1:6-10

In a world where the majority of people think that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. In a world where most people believe it is wrong to confront someones else's beliefs even if they are wrong. In a world where many people believe all roads lead to heaven, the written word of God confronts us with the fearsome and wonderful truth that there is only one way to come to God in His forgiveness and acceptance. The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ.

Click to listen.

Now Jesus Loved Martha and Her Sister and Lazarus

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
John 11:5-6 (ESV)

Have you ever read this and wondered about it? It is a rather strange statement if you think about it. First we are told that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. That is not a surprise, nor is it strange. However, then the account continues and we read that when he heard that Lazarus was sick, sick enough that Martha and Mary sent for Jesus, Jesus, who loved them stays two days longer where he is. That, in many of our minds does not seem very loving. Many of us would expect that Jesus, hearing of Lazarus' illness, would have immediately left to help him. That is what we consider the loving thing to be. However, scripture is clear, Jesus loved them, but he waited two days before he went to them. Doesn't that strike you as strange? Why would Jesus do that?

I am sure there are people out there would would say it is because Jesus did not really love them. I have never read that, but I have no doubt that some would say this. However, the scripture is clear, He did love them yet he stayed. In fact the scripture goes further it tells us that Jesus loved them so he stayed for two days where he was. In other words, Jesus staying where he was for two more days was an expression of his love for them. It is precisely because of his love that he waited before coming.

Before we go on to consider what it was that Jesus was doing in his love for them by this, it is important to have that truth sink into our minds, because when you and I are facing distress and trouble and sickness and affliction, we want Jesus to act right away by taking it away. We don't want him to wait two hours much less two days or two years. Sometimes, as we wait in our affliction, we may even be tempted to think that Jesus does not love us. Perhaps our faith is in vain, and he never loved us at all. I don't know if you have ever gone through that, but I know from my own experience that it is so very easy to start to think that way. I have seen myself and others starting and going down that route many times.

Take heart from this though, for just because Jesus does not act on your timetable, does not mean he does not love you. If you have faith in him, if you believe that he died for you, realize that he has shown his love on the cross. Don't go by your feelings that can so easily lead you astray. Instead remember that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, and because of that love he waited to act. Just because he does not act right away to remove your trouble is not a sign of his lack of love, but instead is an expression of love that goes far beyond the pale love characterized by this world. For his love is looking for something far better for you than you may even realize.

That leads us to why Jesus waited two days. Based on what we find later, that by the time he arrived Lazarus had already been dead four days, even if Jesus had left right away he would not have arrived soon enough to keep Lazarus from dying. But, those for days are significant because in the understanding of the time, after four days a person could not be resurrected. Corruption and decay would have set in, and the spirit would have left for good. Thus, no one, not Martha or Mary, expected Lazarus to be raised. So in waiting Jesus set up something that would reveal to them something that they, and we need to understand, that he is the resurrection. That authority over death and life is in his hands. If Jesus had come right away, the raising of Lazarus would have been a miracle. The sisters would have rejoiced, but their understanding of Jesus and their faith in him would not have increased. By waiting, Jesus did something that they believed completely impossible and their faith and knowledge of His was built up. That would not have happened if he came right away. For Jesus the increase and building of their faith was of vital importance.

I believe the same thing is true for believers today. We often chafe under the troubles we face in life. We suffer the sufferings common to people in a world under sin such as illness, age and infirmity. We also face the sufferings that are particularly Christian or being mocked, abused, and considered as nothing by the world. Then we wonder why Jesus takes so long to deal with these, or sometimes, never deals with them and they end in death. But, here we find that He does this for a very important reason, it is because he loves you, he loves me, in such a way that he will not let us remain in our small and weak and childish understandings of who He is. Instead, He uses these afflictions to build our understanding, our faith, and our love for Him. He does that not so often by ending our suffering, illness or affliction, but instead by taking us through them to a greater experience of his grace and power.

Think of Paul with his torn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12) which was used by God to make apparent to Paul that the Lord's grace is sufficient for all his needs, and that the power of the Lord is made perfect in his weakness. Or earlier in 2 Corinthians we find that while Paul was in Asia he was brought to the brink of death, but that affliction was used by God to "make us rely not on ourselves bu on God who raises the dead." (2 Cor. 1:9) Or think about Job who came to know and understand God far better than he ever would if he had never suffered or if God has stepped in right away to bring that suffering to an end.

Jesus loves you in a far greater way that you may imagine. He loves you in such a way that he will always do what is best for you, even when that may mean you have to go through a time of suffering, sorrow, affliction or pain, because on the other side you will find that you can now not just see but know more of who Jesus is and so love him and live for him more.

Day Off -- Gone Fishing

Today was my day off. As usual, we headed out of the house, and went to London. There we visited with my mother for a while and dropped off Justin so we could have some time with just the two of us.

We did a little shopping, and then decided to go fishing. We headed out to Deleware where there is a fairly convenient location on the Thames river to fish. It took a while, but eventually I caught 2 fish. Annette didn't catch anything, but we both enjoyed our time fishing. Hopefully we can get out more often on my day off as it is an inexpensive and relaxing way to spend several hours, and it frees the mind to think on other things.

Sunday Sermons

The following links will let you listen to the sermons from this past Sunday at Bethel Reformed Church.

The Foundation of Christian Teaching - Colossians 3:16

In the Righteousness of Our God and Saviour Jesus - 2 Peter 1:1-2

Eschatology

I saw this over at Carla's blog, and thought it looked interesting. I'm not surprised by the results at all.

You scored as Amillenialist, Amillenialism believes that the 1000 year reign is not literal but figurative, and that Christ began to reign at his ascension. People take some prophetic scripture far too literally in your view. Amillenialist 100% Moltmannian Eschatology 65% Preterist 50% Premillenialist 45% Postmillenialist 45% Dispensationalist 10% Left Behind 10% What's your eschatology? created with QuizFarm.com

This Statement Bothered Me

A fellow Christian leader said something very like this, "I don't know anyone who got into heaven because of what they did, or anyone who didn't get into heaven because of what they did."

That is a paraphrase, but it is pretty close. Before I comment on it, I am wondering if those few people who read my blog might weigh in with their thoughts. There is something about this statement that seems wrong to me, but I would very much like other people's thoughts.

Update on Knee

It took a while, but my knee unlocked. It took most of the night, but thankfully I could more or less sleep as long as I did not move. If I moved in my sleep I would wake up because the knee would hurt for a moment, but then I could generally get back to sleep. I woke up about 5AM of so, and shortly after that it completely unlocked.

Now it feels sort of weak and wobbly, but not really sore. That is about what I expected, and with a little care it should be back to normal in a day or so.

I am a little tired, but generally feel pretty good. I may need a nap this afternoon when our boy naps, as when he is awake he makes altogether too much noise.

Thank-you for your prayers.

Knee Problems

Today my knee decided that it should cause me some problems. I 1997 I had a torn meniscus repaired. Until recently it had caused me no problems. Then about a year back it started to cause me the same problems again. The torn piece of meniscus, because I have most certainly torn it again, will flip up and lock my knee. This is fairly painful, and means my knee cannot be extended all the way without pain or bare weight. I can force it to flip back, but that hurts and causes more damage. The best course is wait it out which takes several hours, but as long as I don't move a lot, is pretty painless. Pray that my knee will unlock please as once it does the pain will be gone.

This Made Me Laugh, And Laugh, And Laugh . . .

Template Fixed

After a fair amount of time working through my template xml file, comparing it to the one I used in the first place, and making changes that did not fix the problem, I gave up and just put in the template again. That meant losing a bunch of my widgets and having to re-install them, but I think I have most everything back where I want it. I will probably have to do some more fine tuning, but over all it is looking basically the way I want it.

My Template Is No Longer Working

I just noticed that my template is no longer working. Since I put the three column template in so long ago, I can't really remember how to do it any longer. I will have to do some research and see what I can find out.

UPDATE:
Apparently it is working again. No idea what is up with that, but I will have to look into it when I have the time.

Kidney Stone Has Passed!!

Today, just a few minutes ago, this kidney stone passed. While the pain it causes when between the kidney and the bladder is the worst pain I have ever felt, it is no picnic when it goes from the bladder out of the body either. It had been moving down that passage since yesterday late in the afternoon. The caused me to feel and urgency to go and thus I kept waking up every few hours last night. Thankfully, that is now over, and things can heal. Next time I go in to my doctor, I will bring the stone so they can send it out to be tested for composition. Hopefully, this will be the last time for this. Thank-you to everyone who prayed for me during this time. I am thankful that God did not have me go through the discomfort of having to have the stone blasted again. The last time I had that done, and it was almost as bad as the kidney stone for the next week and a half.

Looking To A Better Country

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:13-16 (ESV)

One of the things that I know I struggle with, and which it seems many followers of Christ struggle with, is that our affection are much too set on this world. With that in mind these verses caught my attention. They are found in a section of Hebrews that speaks of the faith that exemplified the saints of the past--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to name a few. The aspect of faith that is examined there is that it looks forward to something that has not yet been received.

Here we read that these people "died in faith." They knew the promise given them. They trusted that it would be fulfilled eventually. They trusted that God would be true to his word. Yet, they did not receive the things promised before they died.

What grabbed my attention was the other phrase used to describe them, "and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." Part of their dying in faith was not only that they saw the promises from afar even though they did not receive them, but that they realized something far greater, that is, that they and the promises they received and looked toward are not part of the current pattern of this earth. Instead, in faith, they realized that while here they were strangers and exiles. They did not fit with all that was around them because they were looking for something more. They realized that they were strangers and exiles while on this earth.

I think that caught my attention because what I see so often in myself and others around me is the exact opposite. We are obsessed with this earth and the things that are part of it to the point that it is difficult to imagine that we are strangers and exiles. Our hopes so easily become petty things of this earth. What we want to see happen are focused on the hear and now. There is little sense of looking for something more.

But, when one starts to really see themselves as a stranger and exile on the earth because of Jesus Christ, then what the middle part of these verses teach becomes true, "For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one." When we start to realize that the promises we have is far beyond anything this world could ever offer, and we realize that we no longer fit with this world, then it becomes clear that we are looking not for what the world can give, but for what only God can give. We are looking for something better that can only come by God's working. We are looking for a time and place when God will manifest himself in such a way that everything will be transformed completely because of his presence there. Is that not the hope found in places like Revelation 21 were we read,

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the
former things have passed away.”

Sadly, our hopes are often all too small because we are much to connected and at home in this earth. There is often little or no sense that we are looking for a homeland that is buile by God, because we are to at home in this world that is in rebellion against God.

The final verse calls for you and I to reconsider this comfort on the earth. We read that those who acknowledge they are strangers and exile on the earth, those who make it clear they are looking for a better place from God that is heavenly not earthly, are the sort of people that God is not ashamed to be called their God. If God is not ashamed to be called the God of those who are looking for the city that God has prepared for them, what of you and I who so often are not looking for that city, that country prepared for us by God?

This is a call to realize that true faith makes you a person who is no longer part of this earth. Yes, you live here. Yes, striving for good, peace and the like here is not a bad thing, except when it makes you or I forget that we are strangers and exiles on the earth. May God give us faith that realizes that, faith that lives in such a way that looks to the better country, the city God has prepared for us, where he will dwell with his people forever.

Kidney Stone, Still Not Passed

I wanted to give another quick update on how things are going with my kidney stone. It still has not passed. Today I am fairly pain free, at least so far. Yesterday, Sunday, was the exact opposite. I could not get to sleep Saturday night because of the pain, and by 1:30AM Sunday I was in the ER at the local hospital because the pain was overwhelming. They gave pain medication and that worked, and I remained in the hospital until 7AM.

Due to that, I was unable to preach the AM service, but told the Elder from our congregation that I might be able to do the PM service if I remained pain free, but as the medications from the hospital wore off, the pain returned. The Tylenol 3 tablets kept it bearable, but I was pretty much out of it all day. Thankfully, a retired minister who is part of our congregation offered to do the evening service so that was a great weight off my mind.

The ironic part of all of this was that both the morning and evening sermons I planned to preach dealt with suffering. The AM sermon was to be on 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 and the evening sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-19.

As I mentioned, today has been pretty pain free up to this point, but I still feel twinges, and my past experience tells me that another attack can come with no warning.

The biggest negative of all of this is that the meds and the fatigue make it difficult for me to process things mentally.

A Friend With The Lord

I just found out today that a person I count as a friend who has been battling leukemia and seemed to be getting over it, died on August 4th. Rev. F. Scott Petersen, pastor of Fairfield Reformed Church, blogger at Ars Theologica went to be with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I only met Scott once in person at the Banner of Truth conference, but we communicated via e-mail and comments in one another's blogs. He was a strong voice against the slide in the RCA into a liberal wasteland, and a committed follower of Christ. The RCA is less without him.

Keep his family and Fairfield Reformed Church in your prayers as they go through this trying time. May the truth of these words of Christ sink in and strengthen them in this time,

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Service will be held at Fairfield Reformed Church, 360 Fairfield Rd., Fairfield, NJ 07004 on Tuesday the 7th at 11AM. In lieu of flowers, financial donations may be sent to the church for the family to help pay for Scott's medical bills.

Update on Kidney stones

For those who may be interested here is an update on my kidney stone. So far it still has not passed. It causes me discomfort from time to time, but with the pain killers that the doctor prescribed I can keep ahead of the pain. On the negative side the Tylenol 3's are making me rather unfocused mentally which they normally don't do, but that may be a result of my not getting a good nights rest for three nights in a row. I slept well last night, and DV I will sleep well again tonight.

I would appreciate prayers that God will give me a clear enough mind to get my sermons done for Sunday.

Caring For Pastor's Wife

JT over at Between two Worlds pointed his reader to a post dealing with how a congregation should care for their pastor's wife.

The original post is over here.

As a pastor whose wife has received the brunt of various criticisms I am very aware of the burden she has. I am also aware that people seem to think that complaints, gossip, and outright attacks on her or me in her presence are acceptable, when they would never say those things to my face.

I recommend reading the post. It has some great suggestions on how to care for a pastor's wife.