August 29, 2014
Exodus 21:2-6

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Exodus 21:2 through 6 is God’s instruction for Israelite servants who decide not to go free after six years of service to their master, but to “…serve him forever.”  Here, again, is Exodus 21:2 through 6:

    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he
    shall go out free and pay nothing.  If he comes in by himself, he shall go out
    by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If
    his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters,
    the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by him-
    self.  But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
    children; I will not go out free,” his master shall bring him to the judges.  
    He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall
    pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

We have looked at the reasons why the servant “…plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free…’ ”:

•    He loves his master – because, apparently, the master loves him.
•    The master has given him a good wife.
•    There are many other benefits the master has given the servant – not listed here but implied.

And we have seen the curious procedure that is to take place to signify that the servant “…shall serve him forever.”

•    Such a desire must be stated publicly – “…the servant plainly says…” – and officially – “…his master shall bring him to the judges.”  (This latter point we have not mentioned in our four previous blogs on the subject).
•    “He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”  This was a large awl, and left a telltale mark – the mark of the master – on the ear of the servant.

Something I had never before thought about, but that Pastor Wayne Ayer – our Patterson Grove Campmeeting evangelist – pointed out:  this is the second time in scripture that blood was on the doorway!  

The first time is the night of Passover in Egypt.  God’s specific instructions were given in Exodus 12:1-13.  Here are verses 3, 6, 7, 12 and 13 – the condensed version!

    …take…a lamb…kill it at twilight….And …take some of the blood and put it
    on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses….It is the Lord’s Pass-
    over.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike
    all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all
    the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment:  I am the LORD….And when I
    see the blood, I will pass over  you.

God redeemed all Israel unto Himself – to be their Master, and they, His servants!  Of course, this pointed forward to “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) – the Lord Jesus Christ!  It is only by His blood – shed on the cross – that our sins can be washed away!

Now that act of sacrifice by God Himself opened the way for us to be redeemed and reconciled unto Himself.  He is the Master, we are His servants – and we are to be His servants forever, bearing His mark, the increasing manifestation of the Son of God in us and through us!  Such service forever is because we love Him.  Why?  As it says in I John 4:19, “We love him, because He first loved us.”  And He shows us that love by what it so plainly says in Psalm 68:19:  “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”  Salvation and abundant benefits!  No wonder we are to love Him and serve Him forever!

Blood on the doorway:

•    The first time is when God showed His great love and redeemed His people!
•    The second time is when that love is returned by serving Him forever!

But I found a third time in the Bible that blood is on the doorway!  In Monday’s blog we will examine that.

August 27, 2014
Exodus 21:2-6

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

This is the fourth installment of Why You Should Love Your Master from Exodus 21:2 through 6.  Notice what happens to the servant when he declares his love for his master and his desire to serve him forever:

    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he
    shall go out free and pay nothing.  If he comes in by himself, he shall go out
    by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If
    his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters,
    the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by him-
    self.  But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
    children; I will not go out free,” his master shall bring him to the judges.  
    He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall
    pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

It is a curious commandment that God has given here.  The master is to “… bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and…pierce his ear with an awl….”  Now this was not a piercing like it is done today to wear that pierced-ear style of earrings.  This was a good sized awl that was hit with a hammer to put it through the ear and into the door!  And it left a good sized hole!  Henceforth, you could easily spot a ‘forever servant’ by the big hole in his ear!  He bore the mark of his master!

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:17, “…I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”  What marks?  In II Corinthians 11:23 through 28 he tells of the persecution he suffered for the cause of Christ:

    …in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prison more fre-
    quently, in deaths often.  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes
    minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods; once was I stoned; three
    times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in
    journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own
    countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the
    wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness
    and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
    cold and nakedness — beside the other things, what comes upon me daily:
    my deep concern for all the churches.

Yes, Paul bore the marks – the marks of hardship and persecution – because he loved his Master!

But go back to Galatians 6, and look at verses 14 and 15 – just before he says in verse 17, “…I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus…”:

    …God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
    Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  
    For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails any-
    thing, but a new creation.

Paul is defending the true gospel of Jesus Christ against legalists who insisted that believers had to become Jews first – including circumcision – to be saved.  But notice what he says counts in God’s sight:  “…a new creation.”  As the apostle wrote in II Corinthians 5:17:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”  And that new creation is brought into being by the new birth – being “…born again…of the Spirit…”, according to John 3:3 through 5.

We may or may not bear physical marks from persecution.  But every true believer will carry the marks – or the likeness – of the Lord Jesus Christ!  Don’t forget that the Father’s purpose for every true Christian is spelled out very plainly in Romans 8:29: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”  We are to “…grow up in all things into Him, who is the head — Christ….” (Ephesians 4:15).  And the process is touched upon in II Corinthians 3:18 (Living Bible):  “But we Christians…can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord.  And as the Spirit of the Lord works in us, we become more and more like Him.”

Why You Should Love Your Master:  “We love him, because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19).  And He bears the marks to prove it – the nail marks in His hands and the spear mark in His side (see John 20:27).  Will you show your love for Him, and your commitment to serve Him forever by carrying His mark – the increasing image in your person of the Lord Jesus Christ?

August 25, 2014
Exodus 21:2-6

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

We have been looking at Why You Should Love Your Master from Exodus 21:2 through 6:

    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he
    shall go out free and pay nothing.  If he comes in by himself, he shall go out
    by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If
    his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters,
    the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by him-
    self.  But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
    children; I will not go out free,” his master shall bring him to the judges.  
    He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall
    pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

We discovered that the reason the servant did not want to go out free, but instead was willing to serve his master forever, was because, as the servant plainly says, “I love my master….”  Why?  Because his master loved him!  And that love to his servant was shown by giving so much to him, especially – as it says – his master has given him a wife – apparently a wonderful wife!

In Friday’s blog, we considered Psalm 68:19:  “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”  And I wrote, “…we will explore some of the benefits which God daily loads upon us through Him.”  On July 11, I wrote a blog entitled Loaded With Benefits, based on this one verse of Psalm 68:19 – all that God gives us!  Briefly, we saw that the benefits – especially in the western world – included Peace, Prosperity, Freedom and Opportunity.  Go back and read that July 11th blog!  And these four just mentioned are just a few of the benefits with which “…the Lord…daily loads us…”!  But last Friday we saw, “…the greatest gift is emphasized in the last part of Psalm 68:19:  ‘...the God of our salvation!‘  Jesus Christ is God’s gift of salvation to us  – the greatest gift that could ever be given!”

Now Jesus said in John 13:13 (KJV), “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.”  And why has our Master given us so much?  Because He loves us!  He again stated in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”  That’s exactly what He did!  Our Master – the Lord Jesus Christ – laid down His life on the cross for us!  He didn’t have to.  He told us in John 10:17 and 18:

    …I lay down my life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but I
    lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
    it again.

But Jesus’ perfect life was the price it cost to redeem us from sin, Satan, death and hell!  He loves us that much!  All we have to do is receive Him into our hearts and lives – what He has already provided for us!

There is a wonderful truth in Romans 8:31 and 32 that is actually an argument of logic from the greater to the lesser:  

    What then shall we then say to these things?  If God is for us, who can be
    against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for
    us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?

There is no greater gift God could have given to us than Jesus Christ, His own Son!  And He freely gave us that gift of eternal life and abundant life in Him (see John 10:10).  Now, Jesus is the most costly gift that could ever be!  And if God was willing to give us the best, most costly gift, won’t anything else He would give be a lesser gift?  And if He was so willing to give us the best, won’t He be very willing to give us whatever else we need?  Paul used this logic to write in Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Over a hundred years ago, Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote the gospel song, “Count Your Blessings“.  The chorus goes thus:

                            Count your blessings, name them one by one,
                            Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
                            Count your blessings, name them one by one,
                            And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Someone once suggested the chorus should instead begin, “Count your blessings, name them ton by ton”!  Yes, our Master’s blessings – His benefits He loads upon us day by day – are manifold!  He loves us that much!  And so we should love Him!  And so we should serve Him forever!

August 22, 2014

Exodus 21:2-6

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

I had never read Exodus 21:2 through 6 with much understanding and application to Christians today.  But last Friday at Patterson Grove Campmeeting, Pastor Wayne Ayers opened this passage up to the two hundred people attending and showed us how practical this scripture about servants and masters is to us today!  Here are these five verses from Exodus 21:

    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he
    shall go out free and pay nothing.  If he comes in by himself, he shall go out
    by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If
    his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters,
    the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by him-
    self.  But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
    children; I will not go out free,” his master shall bring him to the judges.  
    He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall
    pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

Too many Christians are six-year servants!  Or maybe they are six-month or six-day servants!  What do I mean?  Well, I have met too many people who have made a commitment to Jesus Christ – coming to Him as Savior, excited to respond to an invitation to have their sins washed away by His blood – but they don’t grow and mature, serving the Lord only for awhile before dropping off from closely following Him.  It seems like they responded in an emotional high!  They are referred to in the New Testament as carnal Christians and babes in Christ (I Corinthians 3:1), living in the flesh (I Peter 4:2), and according to the world (Ephesians 2:2).  We are told in Ephesians 4:13 and 15 (NIV), to strive to…

    …reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become
    mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ…in all things
    grow[ing] up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

In other words, we are to serve Him forever!  Why?

Look at verse 5 of our scripture:  “But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ ” Over the six years of his mandatory service, he has grown to love his master, to the extent that he does not want to go out free, but wants to continue to serve “…forever…” (Exodus 21:6), the one whom he has come to love!

Why has he come to love his master so?  It is because the master has given him so much!  Look at verse 4:  “…his master has given him a wife….”  Yes, I know that some men look askew upon such a gift!  But Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the LORD.”  When your mate is a gift from the Lord, your Master – and you treat that one as such a treasured gift – truly you obtain favor from the Lord !  Besides Jesus Christ, my wife is my greatest gift from God, and I treasure her!  And, look!  This servant has children by the master’s gift of a wife!  It is written in Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”  So this man looks at all his master has given him, and he says, “I love my master…”!  And what is the main reason why he loves his master?  Because his master loves him, and has shown that love by his treatment of the servant!

Consider what it says in Psalm 68:19:  “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! ”  Have you lately considered the benefits – the gifts – which the Lord daily loads upon us, His children?  King David – after receiving the Israelites’ offering for the new temple to be built at Jerusalem – exclaimed in his prayer recorded in I Chronicles 29:13 and 14:

    Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name.  But
    who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly
    as this?  For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.

All things come from You, my Lord and Master!  And the greatest gift is emphasized in the last part of Psalm 68:19:  “…the God of our salvation!”  Jesus Christ is God’s gift of salvation to us  – the greatest gift that could ever be given!  O how our Master loves us!!!

And Monday, we will explore some of the benefits which God daily loads upon us through Him.

August 20, 2014
Exodus 21:2-6

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

I have often wondered why after the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, the very next chapter deals with the subject of servants and their masters.  A Hebrew man could be in debt to another in Israel, and so become his servant.  But at the end of six years, he was to be released – his debt paid.  The seventh year was the year of freedom!

Alright, servitude was an issue in Israel in Bible times.  But the Ten Commandments given by God Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai was the highlight of all that was to govern the life of every Jew!  It seems to me at first thought that there were other, more important subjects with which to be dealt right after Exodus 20!  There was the detailed description of the place of worship – the tabernacle and its furnishings.  There were instructions of how to live, how to war, how to worship, once Israel entered the Promised Land.  What’s so important about a Hebrew servant and his master?  Let’s look at Exodus 21:2 through 6:

    If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he
    shall go out free and pay nothing.  If he comes in by himself, he shall go out
    by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.  If
    his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters,
    the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by him-
    self.  But if the servant plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my
    children; I will not go out free,” his master shall bring him to the judges.  
    He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall
    pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

I must admit that this study of the above passage is not original with me.  Pastor Wayne Ayer was our dynamic evangelist during the last week of camp meeting at Patterson Grove in northeast Pennsylvania.  He shed new light on this subject, and opened it up to me in a wonderful way – applying it all to our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Master!

First of all, we are in debt to God!  It is an enormous debt of sin that we can never pay!  Jesus likened our debt in Matthew 18:23 through 35 – the Parable of the Two Debtors – to owing ten thousand talents (about one million pounds) – the equivalent today (spot prices of gold and silver):

If it was 10,000 talents of gold – almost 21 billion dollars!
If it was 10,000 talents of silver – almost 320 million dollars!

…an impossible sum for the common man to pay!!!!

No wonder the psalmist says in Psalm 49:6 through 8:

    Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches,
    none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ran-
    som for him — for the redemption of their souls is costly….

Only One could afford to pay for our redemption from sin, death and hell – God Himself!  And what did it cost Him?  The life if His own dear Son – the perfect Lamb of God – the Lord Jesus Christ!  He took our sins upon Himself on the cross – all our sins, past, present and future – and paid for them fully with His own precious blood!  He did it because He loves us, and wants us to have eternal life with Him and abundant life in Him here and now!  This truth is beautifully summed up in I Peter 1:18 and 19:

    …knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or
    gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but
    with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
    spot.

Have you realized how much you owe?  Do you at all fathom the enormous debt of sin before God for which you are responsible?  One sin makes you a sinner!  And because you are a sinner by your very nature, you have committed a multitude of sins!  Are you vainly trying to pay off your impossible debt by your good works?  Isaiah 64:6 (The Amplified Bible) says, “…all our righteousness — our best deeds of rightness and justice — are as filthy rags or a polluted garment [before God].”  Whatever good you might try to do is so tainted by sin that it simply adds more sin to your debt!

The only way is by trusting God that Jesus Christ fully paid your sin debt when He died on Calvary.  That He raised from death means the payment is accepted by the Father in full!  Paul says in Romans 10:9, “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Start here!  In Friday’s blog, we will continue to explore Why You Should Love Your Master.

August 18, 2014

James 4:6-10

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Commintment – according to Webster – is “a pledge or a promise.”  Many people have found Jesus Christ as their Savior as a result of an invitation – perhaps by an evangelist at a revival service – to “…come to the altar and make a personal commitment to the Lord.”

The Old Testament sparingly uses the Hebrew word gaw-lal – only once as commit in Psalm 37:5: “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”  It is also translated trusted in Psalm 22:8 where it prophesied of those mocking Jesus as He hung on the cross: “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.”

In the New Testament, only once is pa-rath-ay-kay translated commit.  It means “a deposit [or] trust,” and Paul used it in II Timothy 1:12: “…I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Too often commit is used today to urge someone to come to Jesus!  The problem with it is that commitment is something that originates with us.  We decide that we are going to give something to the Lord!

A pastor in a third world country was asked why they were experiencing revival and dynamic church growth while we, in the western world church – especially in Europe and America – were generally experiencing decline.  His answer:  “You make a commitment to God.  We surrender to Him!”

Webster defines surrender this way:  “to give up possession of or power over; yield to another….”  Do you see the subtle difference between Commitment or Surrender?  Commitment is more an action that proceeds from us.  Surrender is giving over total control to another.  That other One is Jesus Christ, and when you surrender to Him, you are no longer in charge of anything!  Back on April 29, 2013, I wrote a blog entitled, The Most Important Prayer A Christian Can Pray, based on what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before going to the cross – recorded in Luke 22:42: “…nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”  “It does not matter what I want, Father – what I think is good for me, what I desire, what I long for in my own mind.  I want Your mind, Your will, in everything!”  This is Surrender!

The passage that brings this out and applies it to our daily life is James 4:6 through 10:

    …God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble….Therefore submit to
    God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He
    will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your
    hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laugh-
    ter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the
    sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Webster defines submission as “a submitting, yielding or surrendering.”

Notice there are several things that come out of Submission (surrender):

•    It makes us humble.  No one can come to the Father without being humble.  It is humbling to say with Augustus Toplady who wrote that great hymn “Rock of Ages” in 1763 – third verse:

        Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;
            Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
        Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.   

And when we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, He will life us up!  How high will we be lifted up?  All the way to heaven, to “…sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus….”  (Ephesians 2:6).  We can be above all the troubles of the world in Him!

•    God gives us grace, which is His unmerited favor.  We cannot make it in this Christian life without the grace – the favor – of God!

•    We – in the name and power of Jesus Christ – can resist the devil, and he will flee from us!  We can have ongoing victory over the one whose purpose is “…to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:10).

•    We can draw near to God, and He will draw near to us!  There is no greater joy, peace, victory, etc. than in the presence of our Lord!  And to think that He will run to meet us – like the father of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11 through 31 – when we begin to step towards Him!

By the way, James 4:9 says, “Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”  This does not mean Christians are to go around looking like they have been weaned on a dill pickle!!!  The laughter and joy to which James is referring is that of the proud who have lifted themselves up!  They are those who need to lament, mourn and weep!

Commitment or Surrender?  Choose Surrender!  It will revive your Christian life, and the lives of those around you!

August 15, 2014
Ephesians 1:15-21

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Will David Be In Heaven?  No, I am not talking about King David, the great king of Israel who ruled a thousand years before Christ.  That David will surely be in heaven, since God said of him in Acts 13:22, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”  Yes, he was a great sinner, but he greatly repented, and King David was a man of great faith.  I know he will be in heaven!

The David I am referring to is a Palestinian Muslim street vender whom I met in Jerusalem in 1996.  Part of the itinerary of the tour we were on – sponsored by Educational Opportunities – was that we visited different stores and shops and sat through  presentations by the owners.  Of course, the business owners – as well as our guide, Doren – wanted us to buy from these featured merchants.  We were informed, therefore, to stay away from the Palestinian street venders.

I tend to be ‘rebellious’!  I figured the overhead was a lot lower for the street venders, and so their prices would also be lower.  Besides, it is expected to dicker with these venders and get the best price you can.  I did not go into the Jewish-owned jewelry shop that was our current stop, and instead sought out a street vender.  His name was David, and he was selling carved stone boxes.  He spoke some English, and we haggled and arrived at a good price for the box I wanted.  And since I had some time before the group was done with the jewelry presentation, David and I talked.  He was a friendly and interesting fellow, and open to hearing a bit about my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He said he could not understand how we could worship more than one God.  I tried to explain the Trinity – One God in Three – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but that isn’t easily explained even to someone who has a good command of English!

This Palestinian Muslim man made an impression on me.  I have been praying for David for 18 years now – that he would open his heart, mind and life to the Lord Jesus Christ.  I want to see him in heaven.

In Ephesians 1:15 through 21, Paul is expressing his prayerful desire for the Christians of Ephesus – to grow in their faith and become mature followers of the Lord.  So this is really a scripture that concerns believers.  But I feel it expresses my desire for David:

    …I…do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:  
    that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the
    spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your
    understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His
    calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and
    what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according
    to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He
    raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly
    places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and
    every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to
    come.

I thank God He allowed me to meet and interact briefly with David.  I pray that indeed “…the eyes of [his]…understanding…[may be] enlightened…,” that he will “…know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe….”  I pray that David will come to understand “…the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead….”  According to Romans 10:9 belief in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is vital:  “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  I pray that this Muslim man will come to know the supremacy of the Triune God revealed in the incarnation of the Jesus.  I pray that David’s sins will be washed away by the blood of the Lord, and that he will be reconciled to the Father.

Will David Be In Heaven?  I believe he will be there!  You see, I know that God has laid him on my heart so that I pray for his salvation.  And since – as it says in I Timothy 2:3 and 4 that, “God…desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth…” – God’s will is for David to be saved, and I am praying according to that will, then God will hear me and answer my prayer (see I John 5:14 and 15).

And I hope David by his Christian testimony brings to heaven many Muslim family members and friends!

August 13, 2014
Proverbs 14:12

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

There are times when one translation really gets it right.  I believe this is the case with the King James Version which translates Proverbs 14:12 this way:  “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”  Why am I going with this translation of the Hebrew?  Because of three words:  way, end, and ways.  You see, words make a difference!  And God is very specific in the way He uses words.  Let’s see how these three words play out in understanding Proverbs 14:12.  By the way, apparently God thought this truth was so important, that He wrote it twice in Proverbs – and exactly word for word.  You can find it also in Proverbs 16:25.

The first of the three words above is in the phrase, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man….”  The way that a person chooses is singular because that person thinks that the way he or she has chosen is the right way!  Otherwise he or she would not chose to go along that way.  The way that is chosen by the individual in this verse is, first of all, not the correct and true way according to God.  This is evident because it ends in death.

The way chosen may be another religion – other than the true religion revealed by God through Jesus Christ.  In the Old Testament, true religion looked forward to the coming Messiah.  In the New Testament, God is revealed in His fulness by the incarnation of the Son (see Colossians 2:9).  Jesus boldly proclaimed in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me.”  If indeed He is the truth, then by the very nature of truth, any dissenting claim of the way to the Father must be false.  In other words, as touching any specific area of life there can only be one truth!  It might be expressed in different ways, but if does not agree with what is really true then, logically, it must be false!  If Jesus is “…the way, the truth and the life…[the only way] to the Father…,” then there is no other way!  All other religions that claim a different way of access to God are false!

The way chosen may be humanism – which is really just another religion! – man elevated to the position of God!  The individual then makes all decisions concerning life – those affecting that individual or humanity in general.  So many people follow this way, simply by governing their lives by the principle exactly opposite of what Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42:  “…not My will, but Yours, be done.”  Humanism says in one way or another, “My will be done!”

The way chosen may be atheism – the denial that God exists; or agnosticism – that one does not (or cannot) know there is a God.  But this way by necessity elevates that one to the position of God, since decisions have to be made concerning living this life, and it is the atheist or the agnostic who then makes them.

There are many ways that seem right to people, but they are all called “…the ways of death.”  That is the third word mentioned above – the plural ways, but let’s consider it second.  Multiple ways, all leading to death!

And that brings us to the third of the three mentioned, which is the second listed in the opening paragraph – end.  There is only one end for all the ways of man!  And that is death!

I picture it this way: Death may be represented as a vast open pit, ferociously burning, but never consuming, where souls of the damned weep and wail forever in torment.  This is the description of hell in Matthew 13:50; Mark 9:48; Revelation 14:10, 11 and 21:8.  Death is more than physical death.  It is eternal spiritual death, which is separation from God forever!  And – as I picture it – this pit is surrounded by many paths and roads – ways – leading to it.  Some roads are wide and well-traveled, “…for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many that go in by it.” (Matthew 7:13).  Some paths are less traveled and relatively few choose that way to follow.  But they all lead to the one end – into the burning pit!

The alternative to all these ways of unregenerate humankind – the end of which are the ways of death – is the single way of Jesus Christ!  He describes this way in Matthew 7:14 (NIV):  “…small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  How small is the gate?  It is one person wide!  And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ!

If you find this too restrictive, and if you would call Christians who proclaim it “…too narrow minded in their thinking…,” your argument is not with those Christians, it is with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself!  He is the One who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)!

Do not follow your own way that leads in the end to eternal death!  Turn in faith to the One who is “…the way the truth and the life…”!  You may not be in the majority, but you sure will enjoy eternity a lot more!

August 11, 2014
John 1:43-46

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

For years the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association sent advance trainers into areas where crusades were to be held.  Leaders, counselors and those who would reach out to others to invite them to the upcoming crusade were recruited and trained.  One of the programs for those who would reach out was called “Operation Andrew.” The idea was based on John 1:40 through 42:

    One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew,
    Simon Peter’s brother.  He first found his own brother Simon, and said
    to him, “We have found the Messiah…,” And he brought him to Jesus.

Six weeks before the crusade took place, Operation Andrew brochures were passed out to interested Christians.  They would fill in the names of seven people on the back of the accompanying cards – family, friends, neighbors, work place associates – those whom God laid on their hearts to invite to the crusade, and to Christ.  They were instructed to do this in five steps:

•    Look Around – where you live, work, or go to school—this is your mission field.  Make a list of names of individuals you know who need Jesus Christ, and commit to pray for the people on your list regularly.
•    Look Up – because God changes people through prayer.  Pray each day for those on your list, that God will give you opportunities to share His love with them.
•    Look Out –  for ways to cultivate friendships with each person on your list.  Spend time with them.  An invitation to dinner or a sporting event will build friendships, which can open the way to talk about Christ.  Remember:  don’t preach. Listen and be a good friend.
•    Look Forward – and begin to talk with each person on your list about watching a television program or a Billy Graham TV Special, going to the Billy Graham Library, reading a book, going to church, or attending an event such as a Crusade or Festival with you. Choose a specific date, pray, and invite them.
•    Look After – those who respond to Christ or even begin to show interest in the Gospel, for they need your encouragement.  Continue to love and pray for those who do not respond.

Operation Andrew was introduced in March, 1955 during the “All-Scotland” crusade “…named from the incident in the gospels when Andrew brought Simon Peter to Jesus….The idea…was to go out after the uncommitted, the unchurched and bring them in….” (The Billy Graham Story, Rev. Dr. John Charles Pollock).  It has been used effectively in crusades ever since.  A form of it is still being used by Rev. Franklin Graham, Billy’s son, who next month is bringing to the Pittsburgh Consol Energy Center the “Three Rivers Festival of Hope,” August 15 though 17.

Twenty years ago, when I was pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Belle Vernon, PA, the Belle Vernon Ministerium for several years sponsored the fall Harvestfest Crusade.  I was inspired to design a plan similar to Operation Andrew called Operation Philip, from John 1:43 through 46:

    The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip,
    and said to him, “Follow Me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city
    of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have
    found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote —
    Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  And Nathanael said to him, “Can
    anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

The appeal of this Operation Philip plan is its utter simplicity.  Philip was not the brightest lightbulb in the pack!  In John 14:6 through 9, and interaction between Jesus and Philip shows this:

    Jesus said…“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father
    except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father
    also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”  Philip said to Him,
    “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”  Jesus said to him, “Have
    I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  He who has
    seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”

That Jesus was, as Paul said in Colossians 2:9, “…the fulness of the Godhead bodily…” should have been apparent to all the disciples!  But it went right over Philip’s head!

Nathanael, on the other hand, was a deep thinker!  From what Jesus said in John 1:51:  “…you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man…” – Nathanael, as he sat under the fig tree,  was apparently contemplating the mysterious passage concerning Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10 through 17.  Did Philip try to engage Nathanael in a theological debate about the Messiah, “…Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph…”? (John 1:45).  No, he didn’t – not even when Nathanael seemed to be bating him by saying, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).  All Philip said was, “Come and see.” (John 1:46).

“Come and see.”  That doesn’t take a lot of Bible knowledge or theological training, does it?  Just tell a family member, friend, neighbor, or work place associate, “Come and see.”  “Come and see what God is doing in our church” – or Bible study or Franklin Graham crusade – wherever they will hear a clear presentation of the gospel, that Jesus died for their sins and lives again!

This is Operation Philip!  Put it to use!

August 8, 2014
Matthew 6:9-13

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

The Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9 through 13:

    In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your
    name.  Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  
    Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive
    our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the
    evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  
    Amen.

Let’s see if we can finish our study of The Lord’s Prayer today – considering the second half of verse 13:  “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever.  Amen.”  There is general consensus among Bible scholars that this phrase was not part of The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught it.  The version recorded in Luke 11:9 through 13 leaves this off.  The Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it this way:  “The doxology in 6:13b is a liturgical interpolation from I Chronicles 29:11.”  In I Chronicles 11:10 through 19, David’s final prayer of thanksgiving is recorded  He glorifies God at the beginning with these words from verse 11:

    Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the
    majesty;  for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom,
    O LORD, and You are exalted as head above all.

So although the second half of verse 13 of Matthew 6 may not be in the original, it is a fitting and biblical way to close The Lord’s Prayer.  For it acknowledges God’s rule, power and glory over all for all eternity.  

King Belshazzar – the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon –  desecrated the holy vessels of God’s Jerusalem temple at a drunken party.  It says in Daniel 5:4, “They drank wine [from them], and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.”  That is when “…the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote…on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace…” (Daniel 5:5) – “the handwriting on the wall” is a common expression today!  Just hours later judgement fell on Belshazzar and the kingdom of Babylon when it was conquered, “And Darius the Mede received the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:30).

Daniel had reminded King Belshazzar of the humiliation of his grandfather’s pride, recorded in Daniel 4:28 through 33.  This is what he told Belshazzar in Daniel 5:18, 20 and 21:

    O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your [grand]father a king-
    dom and majesty, glory and honor….But when his heart was lifted up, and
    his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and
    they took his glory from him.  Then he was driven from the sons of men, his
    heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys.  
    They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of hea-
    ven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and
    appoints over it whomever He chooses.

As it says in Psalm 103:19, “The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.”  Yes, the devil has dominion (but limited dominion) over all the kingdoms of the world (see Luke 4:5 through 7).  He pulls the strings of godless society.  That is why he is called “…the god of this world…”in II Corinthians 4:4 (KJV).  But it is all under God’s authority, control and permission!  This is the subject dealt with in Psalm 2.  Here are verse1 through 6, 8, and 10 through 12 (NIV):

    Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the
    earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and
    against his Anointed One.  “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw
    off their fetters.”  The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at
    them.  Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath,
    saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill….Ask of me, and I
    will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” …Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.  Serve the
    LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
    and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.  
    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

There is coming a day – perhaps soon – when God will put down all rebellion – both of the devil and men – and it will be as the angel announced in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”

So, when you pray The Lord’s Prayer, and close repeating, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever…,” take hope, courage and comfort that God is in control!  No matter how evil and menacing this world seems, God is over all – and He is in control!

“Amen.”  And that means “So be it! ”