Bible Ballistics: BBs #100 A Tribute to My Mother!!!

Times and memories are a funny thing. My dad has been so heavy on my mind the last few months, I am missing him at almost every turn and he’s been gone for 23 years. This week being in my dad’s hometown and being with those who knew my parents brought Mom to my mind in a special way. She’s been gone for 13 years. This verse came to my mind as I decided upon todays BBs.

Proverbs 31:28 says, “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”

My dad was a man of few words; my mother on the other hand is where I seem to have gotten my verbose tendencies from. (Look up verbose and you’ll smile..) My mother was outspoken to say the least, and we often butted heads as we had completely different ways of looking at the world. But by the same token the virtues that she possessed and passed on to me are priceless.

From my mother, I learned about sharing and caring for those in need: both those we love and those with whom we have no natural affinity. I learned that friends are your friends no matter what—some need more help than others. I learned to cook and clean because it was what a wife does to care for her home. My mother gave testimony often, that she wasn’t raised to do those things from the poor times she grew up in, but when she married my dad she learned from his family how to have a tidy and presentable home and how to cook and meet the needs of those in her care. In fact we came to find a meeting place in our differences: I, who loved to clean (yes, I have to admit I still do), did the housework and she worked outside, and enjoyed her passion for the outdoors.

I also saw in her the courage to do what she thought needed to be done regardless of the opinion of others. She also spoke the truth when it was not always popular or well received (Although she could have learned a little more about tact and timing—I also struggle there at times!!).

She lived faithfully for her Lord as best she could, and lived out her faith in word and deed. She and my dad were faithful givers, honorable to a fault, and truthful even when lies would have been more profitable monetarily.

So??? Here’s our shot for today. Today I–

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”  Exodus 20:12

Mother, thank you for doing the hard things.

Thank you for teaching me to work hard,

 to care for others,

 to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay

 and all those little lessons that make our character what it is.

As a southern gospel song says—‘I Had a Drug Problem’—

I was drug out the door to church,

I was drug out the door to catch the bus to school (or walk depending on where we were living),

I was drug to the woodshed (so to speak) and spanked when I needed it

(And a few times I didn’t think I needed it—and never as much as my little brother, but way more than my ‘baby’ sister!! 🙂 ).

We were drug out of church if we misbehaved,

 We were drug to gatherings where we learned to interact in proper and respectful ways.

Thanks MOM for all those lessons that I didn’t realize I was learning until the time came that God lead me into ministry at home and abroad. I love you MOM!!! I’ll be seeing you again—maybe sooner than we think.

 

Bible Ballistics: Do You Know Who Your God Is? Vol. 4 #22

How can we serve God, unless we know who He is? Well, obviously the answer is: ‘We can’t’!! I’d like to take a simplistic approach to this question today and hopefully help some to perhaps identify for themselves, who God is and where they stand with Him. I have wonderful people in my life, as you do I’m sure, who are great, moral, kind people, who think they have a right to heaven and God’s approval because they are kind, nice, fair, honest, they don’t kick the dog or practice prejudice…. as they see it. But is that what God expects? Is that enough to gain entrance into heaven?

God makes Himself known throughout scripture. He revealed Himself in the past in a progression of revelation, and even now we can only come to know Him as we seek Him through His Word and His Son. But let’s take a look at a relatively familiar vehicle to search out who God is: the Ten Commandments that God delivered to Moses (Ex. 20). I don’t intend to do an exhaustive study of these but rather to peruse them and see what we can glean in our search to see who God is, and how we can come to know Him.

Basically the 10 commandments are divided into 3 parts: Our relationship to God, the relationship within the family, and our relationships with one another.

In the first segment consisting of commands 1-4, God tells us (summarily) to “not have any gods before Him” (gods with a small ‘g’, as God is the only true God, worthy of worship). We are not to make graven idols and bow down before them (or before any idol we may erect in our hearts). We are not to take His name in vain (meaning using His name in ways other than to address Him, honor Him, acknowledge Him or share the truth about HIM to others). He also tells us to honor the Sabbath (in regard to rest and worship, but we won’t enter the modern debate about that here today).

Without question, God declares that HE alone is God, and He alone is to be worshipped, obeyed and followed. That’s pretty simple—one God and one way to come to HIM. HIS WAY!! John 14:6 declares:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He’s not only God in reality but the way as well!!

This parallels what God says in the ‘commandments’, and it is essential that we understand the import of what Jesus is saying here. While Jesus declares in several places in the New Testament that HE IS GOD, here He tells us that not only is He God, but that He is the only way to the Father (remembering that there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—tri-unity). This is a watershed statement made by Jesus Christ: ONLY ONE WAY to ONLY ONE GOD!! While Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a ‘good prophet’, they deny His deity. This is impossible!! That Jesus is a ‘good prophet’, a ‘good man’, or a ‘good teacher’ and not God is impossible.   A good man must speak truth! Jesus claimed that He Himself is God, and that as the ‘God-man’, His atoning death is the only way to God the Father, to eternal life!! He cannot be ‘good’ if He is not who He said He was. Either He is God, He is the only way OR he is a liar, a madman and/or a lunatic. HE can’t be both.

And while we’re on the subject. Many claim that God and Allah are the same!! NO, they are NOT!! God is the I AM, the God of Abraham who says, He is the only One, and Jesus also claimed to be “I AM” throughout the Gospel of John.  Also Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” If ‘Allah’ denies that Jesus is God—He is NOT the same as Jehovah God Almighty acknowledged by Jews and Christians!! (See 1 Jn. 2:12+) For our God said “..this is my beloved Son…” on at least two different occasions, referring to JESUS!! (See Mt. 3:17, & 17:5)

Either Jesus always was God and still is, or He never was God and can’t be now? You must decide, there is no middle ground. Either God is God, and He is, so either obey HIM or go do something else with your time. That is, the time you have before you will stand before His exact presence and try to explain why you rejected Him, His truth and His Son. Hard truths, but truth nonetheless. The ‘commandments’ declare that God is God and it’s His way or, not the ‘highway’, but the ‘hell-way’. I didn’t say it, God did in His Word. (See Rev. 20:11-15)

The second segment of the commands deals with the family. ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’ God created the family in Genesis, and He has never changed the design, regardless of the alterations that man has tried to make through the years. From polygamy, to adultery, to sexual deviance, to any form of ‘marriage’ other than that which God created.

Genesis 2:24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” And Jesus confirms that ‘God’ said this in the New Testament.

Matthew 19:4-6, “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” (See Mark 10:7 and Ephesians 5:31 for more confirmation)

And man is still trying to ‘put asunder’.

So, we see that God calls us to acknowledge that HE is God, and we are to esteem the family also. The God- established form of the family unit–one man and one woman till death do them part. We could get far afield and discuss the many invasions of modern culture into the ‘family unit’, but suffice to say, our homes are to be God-honoring, God-like and respectful of the sanctity that God originally established for the unit that would produce and shape the future generations that would build-up or destroy society. Our record speaks for itself, and the results are grievous—to God Himself, and we who follow HIM and His Word.

The last, concluding segment is the 6th-10^th commands, and they deal with our interactions with one another. When we violate these principles, culture will eventually collapse. Let’s look at the last 5 commands:

Don’t kill –take a life–murder

Don’t commit adultery—to be sexually impure in any way

(Sexually pure being sex only inside of marriage)

Don’t steal—to take what isn’t yours, no matter the reason

Don’t lie—depart from the truth, directly or by implication

Don’t covet—want what others have for your own—greed

(Or more simply put to be discontented–

See 1 Timothy 6:6 & Colossians 3:5)

Pretty simple commands, aren’t they? God says if we have broken even one of these commands we have sinned and that means we must pay the penalty for sin.

Scripture clearly reveals that we all have missed the mark and what the penalty is:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Ro. 6:23

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

So, what have we seen? God is God. Man is man, NOT God, and lost in his sin at that. Only when we recognize that God is God and we are not, will we have any hope of finding HIM.

Proverbs 8:17, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”

Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

The key? We must stop being satisfied with our “own deity”! The root of all sin is ‘self’, wanting my way not God’s!! May we see truth, and the dear ones that I love, that you love, that we pray for and care about daily, come to realize that just ‘being good’ isn’t what it’s all about. You must know the God of the universe personally!! And be known by HIM. And you can only do that through HIS Word, His Son, and His salvation. It’s not in yourself, nor in idols of stone, metal, or of your own making. It’s not in ‘Allah’!! Jesus declared that HE IS GOD!! Not simply a good man, a good prophet or a good teacher—HE IS GOD. Only in accepting that and believing that HE died for you, will or can change come to any life. I’ll leave you with 2 passages to ponder.

John 8:24, (Jesus speaking)

“I said therefore unto you, that

ye shall die in your sins:

for if ye believe not that I am he,

ye shall die in your sins.”

John 1:12-13,

“But as many as received him,

to them gave he power to become the sons of God,

even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born,

not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.”

He is God!! Have you bowed before Him?

Bible Ballistics: BBs #99 Working For Jesus or IN Him???

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 says, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Paul tells us here that because of what Christ has done for us, we can have confidence in Jesus to do His work in and through us. My job and yours is to ‘keep our eyes on Jesus’—if you would, to ‘keep your eyes on the prize’. Paul talks about that prize in Philippians 3:13-15:

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Our goal is to pursue our Lord’s will and way in all that we do. But there’s a right way and a wrong way. What’s the difference? Many don’t realize that there is a difference. I can work in the flesh or in the Spirit? Which one do you think is the right one?

Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

Colossians 1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:” Not our glory but HIS Glory— seen in our pursuits –which are under His control.

So??? Here’s our shot for today. The days and times are drawing near for our Lord’s return, are you trying to work ‘for’ Him, or are you allowing Him to work “in” you that others may see Him in what you do?

Matt 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

James 2:18, “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Works won’t save, but they do reflect on the outside, what’s really on the inside.

 

 

Bible Ballistics: BBs #98 Open Door or Closed???

Jesus wrote 7 letters to 7 individual churches in the Book of the Revelation. In the last 2 we see about as much of a contrast in situations as could be possible for a “church”.

Revelation 3:8, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.”

To the church of Philadelphia (not Pennsylvania) Jesus wrote that He had provided them with an open door. While there strength was ‘little’, they were faithful, and Jesus was placing before them an open door that ‘no man’ could close. I believe for some 200 years, America has had the privilege of an ‘open door’ of missionary opportunity to the whole world; an opportunity that a relatively new and ‘little’ nation (at that time) was able to step up to and pursue. God blessed those pursuits for many years, and is still blessing those that go to do HIS work and preach HIS gospel throughout our world. But for much of America, it is now the mission field!!

To the last church to which Jesus wrote, the church of Laodicea, the message was different. Jesus said to this church:

Revelation 3:17, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”

Here we have a church that ‘thought’ they were rich, and prosperous and needed nothing. Apparently that included the Lord Jesus they claimed to serve! His message to them was much different than the Philadelphian message; Jesus revealed to them that while they thought they were so ‘strong’, they had a deceived view of themselves. Jesus description of them is very different from how they saw themselves. He said they were, “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”. What a contradiction of perceptions! His call to Laodicea was not an open door—but a closed one. And the Lord they claimed to ‘serve’ was on the outside. His plea is still the same today to those who have excluded HIM, ignored HIM, or just never given HIM any place in their lives or churches.

Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.”

Without getting into the end-times debate over the church identity that applies to us today, let me simply ask a couple of questions.

Are we being faithful and pursuing the open doors that the Savior places before us? Or are you claiming something that you’ve never possessed? Are you part of a group that sees themselves as ‘A-OK’, while Jesus is standing and knocking at your hearts door to let Him in, and believe in HIM alone for Salvation? Let Him give you HIS abundant life—so that you can possess His gold, be clothed with His Righteousness, and have eyes that He has opened to see.

So??? Here’s our shot for today. Are you standing before an open door that Jesus Christ has called you to pursue and go through? Go; step out in obedient faith!! Or are you behind the closed door with the Savior knocking to get in? Only you can answer the question. If you’re unsure, ask God. He will answer if you truly ask Him to reveal where you stand with HIM!! He may have been there knocking for a long time!! (See Isaiah 55:1-6)