I’ll never know why Bryan was quite so furious as he CLAIMS he doesn’t remember the incident. Maybe he knew that sooner or later he’d have to provide his own lunches and feared that I had decided to have him provide them “sooner”, a LOT sooner. Whatever the cause of his tiny temper tantrum, he got a good many free lunches. And, as I recall, he also got several pairs of tennies, a shirt or two, and an education. Actually... the kid cost us a bundle!

Do YOU have any children? Have they cost you anything in time, money, frustration or worry? Are you planning to bill them for the expenses involved and your services rendered? Admit it! You gave your kids physical life on the “free-lunch” basis out of love, didn’t you!

It should come as no surprise to us that God--who is PERFECT love--uses the terminology of “being born” to explain how He gives spiritual life to anyone who chooses to accept it:

If we MUST be “born” of the Holy Spirit to get spiritual life, are we talking big maternity ward in the sky here? Hardly!

SOWING TO THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:22-6:10

INTRODUCTION: Reap what you sow! Normally we when we hear this phrase, we think of doing bad things and getting bad things in return. Now this certainly is a part of the passage we are looking at but what I want to emphasize today is how to sow to the Spirit and reap the fruit of the Spirit. This is a wonderful possibility that we don’t spend enough time pursuing but it is possible and we should pursue it. After that I want to point out that in the same way physical fruit is to be enjoyed, this spiritual fruit is also to be enjoyed.

PREPARATION

You must Prepare in order to Sow to the Spirit (5:24-25 & 6:3-8a). Growing up in Alabama we used to plant peanuts. One thing that peanuts require is prepared ground. If you don’t prepare the ground properly they cannot grow. They need soft, tilled soil. Dropping peanuts on hard ground or even digging a little hole in which to drop the seed peanuts, will not even produce a plant, much less peanuts. It is true that there are wonderful fruits that grow wild and we enjoy them but for more than just a subsistence living you must disk and plow and furrow before you can start to plant.

REMOVING EVIL

(Compare 2:20 with 5:24) You prepare to sow to the Spirit by removing evil from your life. Every spring in February or March, before we ever put the tractor in the garden we would burn off the grass that grew up in the fall. The brown grass would make it difficult to break up the soil and it was helpful to remove it. Spiritually, the same thing must happen. Evil must be removed from your life. How do you remove evil from your life?

Perhaps, you think that you don’t have any evil in your life. Let me turn your attention to Galatians 5:19-21. These are the things that characterize those with evil hearts. Perhaps you are not guilty of all of these but even if you are guilty of only one, you have an evil heart. You might say, well I don’t do this often or I’m not as bad as the next guy. But that is not the point. The point is two-fold. First, if you do any of these things once, you are guilty. Secondly, you can’t help yourself. You must do these things in some form or the other because you are flesh. This is what the verses here teach.

FAITH IN THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST REMOVES EVIL.

You must become Christ’s by grace through faith in his crucifixion for your sin (Galatians 2:20-21 & 3:13-14). These verses make clear that He gave Himself for you, that He became accursed for you. The saying goes, “Nobody is perfect” and that is true but the truth is, without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are doomed to doing evil. God says you are a sinner. You might say, I do more good things than bad. Look again at 2:21. If you are capable of doing enough good things to outweigh your bad, then the death of Jesus Christ was a waste of time and if the death of Jesus Christ was a waste of time, then the likelihood that there is a God is zero. What kind of a God would wastefully kill His Son? That is not a God but either a weakling or a devil. My friend, if you have not trusted Christ as Savior, you need to do that today. There is no hope for you in doing good. The only way to remove the old grass of evil in your heart is through faith in Jesus Christ alone - without any help from you, your pastor, or your church.

CONTINUAL CRUCIFIXION

The removal of evil from your life continues in that you crucify your fleshly desires. “…(T)his verse (5:24) is quite different from Galatians 2:20. In the latter verse, Paul says that we have been crucified with Christ. But in Galatians 5:24, we do the crucifying. (Stott)” By coming to Christ, you symbolically nailed your own flesh to the cross of Christ. You made a decisive break with your own sinful tendencies and said to your flesh, “You will rule me no more! From now on, Christ will be my master!” Perhaps you said then, “Whew, I’m glad that’s over!” However, crucifixion doesn’t work that way. It was a means of death that was deliberately designed to be slow and agonizing. It sometimes took days for one to die. The same is true with our flesh. Even though we crucified it when we came to Christ, it isn’t dead yet. It calls to us every day, “Take me off the cross! Take me off the cross!”

We turn on the TV. “Take me off the cross!” We look at a magazine. “Take me off the cross!” We talk to our neighbor or the people with whom we work. “Take me off the cross!” We kneel to pray. “Take me off the cross!” We come to church. “Take me off the cross!” We try to remove ourselves from every temptation possible and we hear over and over again. “Take me off the cross!” All to often, we do just that. We take the flesh off the cross.

That is why we must do what Jesus commanded and take up our cross “daily” and follow him. Our sinful flesh is like the weeds and grass that love to grow in the garden. What happens when you weed the garden on Monday? New weeds begin to grow back on Tuesday. If you weed again on Tuesday, they begin to grow back on Wednesday. If you stop weeding, soon you have weeds and grass everywhere in your garden, choking out the fruit and vegetables and herbs in your garden. Crucifying the flesh is like weeding your garden.

THERE IS POSITIVE PREPARATION ALSO

(5:25) You prepare to sow to the Spirit by walking in the Spirit. The next few verses (5:26-6:5) describe how that walk appears outwardly but there are a couple of principles mentioned in later verses (6:6-8) that tell us what we can add to enable us to walk in the Spirit. It is good to get rid of the weeds but there are things like fertilizer and water that you need to add, if you are going to reap the fruit of the Spirit.

(6:6) Learn All You Can - It is important to learn God’s Word. I realize this verse is talking directly about the care of teachers by the church but it underscores a very important fact. We are here to teach and to learn God’s Word. All ministries are important but the strength of every ministry is dependent on the strength of the teaching in the church. You need to be in the Word of God privately and you need to be in a situation where you can learn the Word of God effectively. I enjoy bringing the Word of God to you every Sunday morning but if that is the extent of the teaching you receive, you will not learn as effectively as you need to. Learning God’s Word involves learning what is in God’s Word and how that should shape our view of the world and of ourselves and of God. Learning God’s Word involves our putting into practice what we learn mentally and developing those skills that help us to know God. Learning God’s Word involves becoming like Christ and if you are dependent on Sunday morning alone to accomplish any of those things, you will not be able to effectively learn how to walk in the Spirit.

(6:7-8) Live Intentionally - We lead spiritually purposeless lives. Perhaps, we know where we want to go with our education, with our careers, with our family, with our finances, with our retirement, even with our hobbies but we don’t know where we want to go spiritually. So we sow to the flesh and we reap corruption, destruction, nothing of eternal value. I remember my parents sowing turnips. They took some little seeds and after preparing the ground would sow the seed. Every time they sowed turnip seeds they got turnips. It was amazing. They never got onions or sweet potatoes or strawberries. They always got turnips. Why? Because turnips is what they wanted.

Why do we sow to the flesh and not to the Spirit. Patrick Morley puts it this way, “Our lives…are consumed in action as we react to the…endless menu of options which vie for our attention, time, and money. Spiritually, too many of us are just ‘playing church,’…We show up…but the message we come away with doesn’t do for us what it does for…(others). We don’t know exactly why and, before we spend much time thinking about it, our minds (and bodies) wander to (the next item on our agenda)” (Morley).

THE FRUIT OF WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

You can know if you have sown to the Spirit (verses 22-23). It is possible to know if you have sown the right seed. When we lived in East Berlin, we decided that we were going to plant a small patch of carrots. We worked the ground, we bought some seeds and we planted them. We got plants but we did not get carrots. For some reason, the wrong seeds were in the package. We still don’t know what we got. I remember when my son, Phil and I went out to pull the plants, how disappointed we were to have just a plant. No carrots, just a plant. Spiritually, this is what happens when someone thinks that they are doing well spiritually and then fall into a sin unexpectedly. They have sown to the flesh and didn’t even realize it.

This list, however, is what you can expect, if you sow to the Spirit. We mentioned earlier the list of the works of the flesh as the things that you can expect when you sow to the flesh. As we look at this list, I do hope that you understand that it is probably not complete.

Love - the epitome of self-sacrifice. I preach a lot about various aspects of this and will continue to do so. If you love with sacrificial love it is because you have sown to the Spirit of God and not because of any good thing in you.

Joy - this is where spiritual and emotional reality should meet in our lives. Last week we looked at the epistle to Philippians. There you will find the seeds of joy. Sow them in your lives.

Peace - peace is not the absence of war but the knowledge that God is in control and doing well for you even when the conflict seems greater than you can bear. That is true peace.

Longsuffering - patience. When I snap in impatience at my wife and children, I show that I have taken the flesh of the cross. I need to crucify him anew and learn again from God’s Word and live intentionally to be patient with others, with myself, with God, and with the circumstances in which I find myself.

Kindness - perhaps your translation has “gentleness”. It means tenderness. I think the best way to explain it today is “being merciful, being forgiving.” Every Lord’s Supper I encourage you to examine your hearts and forgive others, show them mercy, give them what they don’t deserve, kindness. Do you do that?

Goodness - goodness is more than not doing what is bad. It is living in a way that people admire. Does anyone admire you for your goodness? If not, why not? It is possible. You have the Spirit of God in you. You have no excuse. Strive for goodness in your life.

Faithfulness - Can you be trusted? Are you loyal? Do you stand fast no matter what the consequences may be? Is your “yes” a “yes” and your “no” a “no”. Do people know that you will not compromise what is true and good and right and loving.

Gentleness - some translations have “meekness” here. Humility, thinking of others before yourself but not in a “woe is me, I’m beating myself down for Jesus” but in a way that shows we really do care for others first. You know, there is another word, a modern word for flesh. It is “ego”. Crucify your ego on the cross every day.

Self-control - Paul once wrote that the spirit of a prophet is subject to the prophet. I guess he was saying that believers really are in control of themselves if they want to be. In other words, through sowing to the Spirit we can develop self-control in our lives.

SOWING, HARVESTING, ENJOYING

You can Enjoy the Fruit of the Spirit (5:26-6:2, 6:8b-10). You enjoy the fruit of the Spirit when you share with others what God has done in your life (5:26-6:5 & 6:10).

Sharing your harvest by not lifting yourself above them (5:26 and 6:3-5). We have no reason to lift ourselves above others but we do, we call them out, we challenge them, we provoke them and if we can’t do that then we burn inside with envy of what they have or are. Why? Because we want to lift ourselves up. When we lift others up though, we begin to enjoy the fruit of walking in the Spirit, of sowing to the Spirit.

Sharing your fruit by lifting those who have fallen (6:1). When one is walking in the Spirit, there is always the danger of stumbling. That is the picture here. It is a joy when you are living in such a way that you can with clear conscience help someone else when they stumble in sin. It is humbling, it really doesn’t lift you up because you realize that you are no better than the one who you are lifting but it is a joy to be used of God in such a way.

You share your harvest by helping those who are hurting (6:2). Not everyone who is hurting is hurting because of sin but we are to stop and care for every brother and sister in Christ. A praying heart, an encouraging word, a thoughtful act, and many other ways are available to us to help the hurting. You don’t have to feel like it and you don’t have to wait until you know how. Just do it. Let people know you care and then care for them.

You share the fruit of the Spirit by not waiting until it is too late (6:10). We don’t have forever. Teens, if you wait until you are grown up, you have waited too late. If you wait until you are out of school or have a career or a family or until the children are older or grown or until you have retired, you have waited too late. You can never sow too early in God’s field.

AN ETERNAL HARVEST

You enjoy the fruit of the Spirit when you receive from God an eternal harvest (6:8b). Certainly, heaven is part of this but also the treasures that we can lay up for ourselves in heaven are in view here. We are to live for eternity. Too many believers are living for the house God has given them, the family God has given them, the career God has given them and have forgotten to live for the eternal God who gives those wonderful blessings that we have.

We receive our enjoyment when the time is right (6:9). It takes persistence but when the fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten, it is enjoyable to eat. Spiritually, it is true also. We don’t always know when we will get to fully enjoy the individual fruits in our lives but if we keep walking in the Spirit we will bear fruit and we will enjoy that fruit.

INVITATION: Have you taken the first step to remove evil from your life? Have you trusted Christ as Savior? If you don’t allow Him like a fire to remove the evil from your heart, all the plowing and weeding and watering and sowing you do will produce nothing. He died for you and He died for your sin. Will you trust Him today?

If you are a believer, do you deal with your sin daily through dying daily. Perhaps you need help in this area. We all struggle to some extent but perhaps you feel absolutely defeated and would like someone to talk to. We have counselors in the back who will show you some practical ways to die daily, who will share with you what they practice in their lives. Or write me a note and let me know that you would like some practical help in this area.

Some of you need to commit yourself to learning the Word and growing in it, that is applying it. We can help you in that area also. Or perhaps you need to start living on purpose, living intentionally in your spiritual life. We can assist you in discussing your priorities, your struggles. The church is here to help you sow to the Spirit. Would you take that step, whatever it may be and begin today?

For Last Wednesday's Questions and Discussion, Click Wed. Study on the Navigation Bar.

Learning to Read the Epistles Using First Peter (Forget the Verses)

1. One should read the epistle at least once in one sitting (after all, this is the way a letter is normally read) before looking at it in more detail and should take short notes about the writer and the recipients of the letter. One might also write down “questions to be answered later” that occur during reading. What is the main thing to keep in mind when you are reading the epistle through in one sitting?

2. What do you think is meant by “forget the verses”?

3. When thinking paragraphs, what is the one question on should repeatedly ask?

4. What is normally the best number of paragraphs (not verses) to consider at a time?

5. What are the verse numbers for the first three paragraphs of First Peter?

6. In one concise sentence, what is the point of each paragraph? Relate to the previous or following paragraph in some way.

u-m-M-M-MH! The Terrible Parable of Roast Beast!

(This was written to my husband’s niece when she had her first baby.)

Well, Christy, how is that baby, growing? Let’s see.. .he’s two months old already! Isn’t it amazing how fast time flies when I’m not the one changing 20 or so diapers a day! Pretty soon he’ll have enough teeth to start the ever—popular “gnawing” stage where EVERYTHING goes chewed, whether or not it’s edible.

So kids grow if you can sneak in nourishing food when they aren’t looking. So what else is news? Nothing. But the Bible says Christians are supposed to “grow” no matter how young they are OR how old and cranky they get. And speaking of “old and cranky” and of having to “sneak in nourishing food,” who should pop into my mind but your Uncle Doug!

Now, Unc was spiritually “born” in a field when he was already old and cranky. (He was only 28, but he got cranky early in life.) But since that made him a spiritual “baby”, I expected him to act like the Bible says a newborn spiritual baby SHOULD act:

He was supposed to have a DESIRE to study the Bible and mature!

Well, to make a long story short, the pastor and Unc became good friends and the mouth of your Unc’s mind was pried open long enough for him to “taste” the scriptures. He found, much to his surprise, they weren’t broccoli flavored at all...but roast beast and mashed potatoes sandwiched between black leather covers. Then he found there was HISTORY in them thar hills...er, between the black leather covers. I had been feeding him doctrine--my idea of dessert--while there was HISTORY to sink his teeth into. Same restaurant--different menu.

Amazing book, that one. It has portions for every taste and it changes the lives of those who study it and grow by it. It’s SMART, too. Look what the Bible has to say about itself:

(And it tastes rather like roast beast to the stranger ones among us.)

Text taken from Philippians 3:1-8 and John 4:19-26.

When I was kid, we went to a Baptist camp meeting almost every year. This camp meeting had a great and positive influence on me. It was the place where God first spoke to my heart about going to the mission field and into the ministry. It was an emotionally charged atmosphere. There was a lot of shouting and running of the aisles and waving of hands and handkerchiefs. The public display of praise of God was encouraged at this camp meeting. Often the last part of 2 Corinthians 3:17 would be quoted, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The purpose was to encourage people to let go of their inhibitions and openly and publicly praise the Lord. Now there is nothing wrong with encouraging people to openly and publicly praise the Lord but the verse quoted is not about worshiping in the Spirit. This morning I want to explain from God’s Word that it takes an inward change to worship in the Spirit and that this change is revealed through an outward form.

WORSHIPING IN THE SPIRIT MENTIONED TWICE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

There are two places in the New Testament that mention worshiping in the Spirit. One is the passage from Philippians that we have just read. The other is John’s Gospel, chapter four where we find Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well. She asks Him a question about worship. She asks, where are we supposed to worship? Now the picture behind that word was of one coming to a king or a lord and bowing before them and kissing their hand. It was a recognition that the one before whom they were bowing was supreme over them. Now this word for worship is not the one used in Philippians 3:3 but the concept is actually the theme of the first eight verses of this chapter.

TO WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT, YOUR GLORY MUST BE IN JESUS CHRIST.

What do I mean when I say our glory must be in Jesus Christ? First of all, I mean that we as believers should have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:2, 3b-8). Paul says that before He met Jesus, he had reason to be confident in the flesh. He had it all. He kept the Ten Commandments. He could prove it because he was blameless. He came from God’s chosen people. He could prove it, he had papers, he was a blueblood. He was zealous. He could prove that also. The outer robes he held while Stephen was being stoned spoke to his zeal. The dungeons of Jerusalem could testify to the zeal Paul had for his Jewish religion. He had put many believers in Christ there. Outwardly, he worshiped God. But then he met Jesus!

Look at verses 7-8. I gave it up, he says. My reputation I‘ve thrown away. My race means nothing to me. My zeal is a matter of shame to me. All these things are rubbish. Paul, why can’t you boast in those things? I’ve gained a new master and His name is Jesus.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WORSHIP THAT IS CONFIDENT IN THE FLESH

There are three characteristics of worship that is confident in the flesh. We find them in Jesus conversation with the Samaritan woman. In John 4:20, the Samaritan woman asks, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." That is part of what Paul is speaking of in verse six when he speaks of being blameless in the keeping of the law.

WORSHIP THAT IS CONFIDENT IN THE FLESH IS OFTEN BOUND TO CERTAIN RULES. That is the whole source of the worship wars between traditional and contemporary worship services, between liturgical and non-liturgical worship services. What is our outward form? We are more concerned about what kind of worship service we are going to have than the God who we are to glorify.

WORSHIP THAT IS CONFIDENT IN THE FLESH IS OFTEN BUILT ON SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DISCERNED WITH THE SENSES. Naturally what we see, hear, touch, and even smell and taste are contained in the different forms of worship that we practice here. Jesus, however answered the Samaritan woman that “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." You can’t see, hear, touch, taste, or smell the Spirit of God but if you are going to worship God, you must learn to worship in your spirit. God cannot and will not be worshiped primarily through forms. God is worshiped by a bowing of your spirit to His and recognizing His sole authority in your life. That only comes about through an inward change.

WORSHIP THAT IS CONFIDENT IN THE FLESH DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH TRUTH. That is why Paul used such strong words in verse 2. “Beware..”, he says. Look at those who teach that outward forms are the way to God and recognize that those who teach such things are dogs, evil workers, mutilators of those who follow their teachings.

REJOICING AS BOASTING IN GOD

We as Believers can Rejoice, can Glory, can Boast in Christ Jesus (verse 3). Now rejoicing as an emotional, spiritual characteristic is a good thing and is even commanded in verse 1 of this chapter but Paul is speaking of a different kind of rejoicing. Paul’s philosophy of ministry could be summed up in the phrase, “bragging on Jesus.” Paul was convinced that there was no higher task than to boast in Jesus Christ. Look at Philippians 1:20. That word “magnify” means to make someone or something large, to build someone up so that everyone will recognize and respect that person. In this political season, we have a lot of mud-slinging but we also have a lot of magnification. "Look what I’ve done." "If I was able to do this, then you know that I will be able to do more of this because I am capable, I am a man or woman of the people." "I know what you need and I know how to get it for you." That is what magnification is. As a believer in Christ we are to magnify Him, we are to glory in Him, we are to boast in Jesus Christ, telling the world about who He is and what He can do.

Perhaps you remember the story of Puss-in-Boots. The story is told of a young man whose father died and all that he left him was a cat and a pair of boots. The young man was ready to try to make it in the world and since he had no way to provide for the cat, he was going to drown him in the well. As he was about to do this, the cat spoke up and promised that if the young man didn’t drown him and would give him the boots to wear, he would serve him faithfully. The young man was compassionate on the cat but he still didn’t have any money. The cat told him to wait and he would go to the king and get the king to give the princess’ hand in marriage to the young man. The cat was successful because he was able to brag convincingly about his master and prove through trickery that his master could live up to his new reputation. That is what worship in the Holy Spirit is. Showing that our confidence is in Christ. Of course, we don’t have to resort to trickery as the cat did because our Lord is able to do “exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think.” Look at the last two verses of Philippians 3. Paul says I am confident that what Christ has promised, He will perform. Look at Philippians 1:6. This is a man who is confident in Christ and whose confidence leads to true worship, boasting in Jesus Christ.

THE NECESSITY OF AN INWARD CHANGE

This not about religion or religious practices. Religion without Christ is dangerous. This is about an inward change. Millions of people today are trusting in something that they or some other man can boast about. John 3 teaches that religion without being born again will send you to hell. One preacher said it this way, “You can say your prayers five times a day…you can listen to Billy Graham, you can take the Lord’s Supper, you can light the Advent candle, you can even drop a million bucks in the offering plate, and if you don’t know Jesus, it won’t do you a bit of good.” (Ray Pritchard)

Perhaps you are like the Samaritan woman, like Paul, like the followers of the mutilation who were worshiping God in their own way. Jesus came that you might know the true way to worship God. It is not based on a place or a religious direction. It is based on trust in Jesus Christ alone. He died for you and rose again, that you might worship the only true God. Trust Christ as your Savior from sin today. Let us show you from the Bible how to be saved, how to accept this message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Believer, did you worship this morning or did you just enjoy yourself? Did you focus on submitting yourself to Christ this morning? We should never wait until the invitation. We should enter those doors submitting ourselves to Christ, ready to work hard at serving Him with our lives. We should wake up in the morning acknowledging that we serve Him and only Him. Bow before Him now in your heart and submit yourself and everything and everyone you have totally to Him.

Learning to Read the Epistle Using First Peter (Introduction)

1. What books of the Bible do you feel are the easiest to interpret (understand)? Why? Do you think the epistles to the first Christians should be easy or hard to understand?

2. Are all epistles alike? What significant differences or similarities come immediately to mind?

3. When studying an epistle we should always look first at details about the author and details about those to whom the letter was written. Let’s skim 1 Peter and see what we can discover about the writer and the readers (1:1-3, 6-7; 2:11, 3:1, 7-8; 4:12: 5:1, 5, 12-13). Note: When reading an epistle, we need to realize that we have the writer’s answer “…but we do not always know what the questions or problems were, or even if there was a problem." (quote from "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth” by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, page 46; copyright 1982 Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

4. How does Peter describe himself? How is he different from the recipients and what does he have in common with them (1:1-3 and 5:1)?

5. What is his attitude towards them (2:11 and 4:12)?

6. What if any similarities can you see between yourself and either Peter or the recipients of this letter?

The kid was a chip off the old block.. .had inherited his mom’s sweet tooth! I STILL love chocolate chip cookie dough. And since Bryan was also a chubby, tow-headed CHARMER at that age, culprit or not, I probably just smiled and gave him another spoonful of cookie dough. I had very few defenses against some of his tactics!

It seems to be the ability of all small children to develop tactics which outwit adults, allowing them to obtain the desires of their little hearts. I’ve been told that I was the imp of the family when I was small too, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised at Bryan’s ingenuity in getting his own way. When he was a little older and allowed to go to a few houses down the block, he was SUPPOSED to knock on the door and wait to be invited in. Instead, he’d march straight in, flash a huge smile and announce to surprised adults, “My Mommy SAID I could come in.” NONE of the neighbors would make him go back out and knock first--despite repeated requests from me not to tolerate his monkeyshines.

That was 30 years ago and I THINK he knocks now before going into someone else’s home. He’s getting married this August. I know he and Alice want to have children and I can hardly WAIT to see if their offspring will be chips-off-Bryan’s-old-block and act just like him!

God PLANNED all this chip-off-the-old-block stuff, you know. He uses human traits to explain spiritual relationships which He has founded, not on a block, but on The Rock.

God is referred to as “the rock” in many places in the Bible:

are members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets...”

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes... .Ronaans 1:16

My chip-off-the-old-block would walk into neighbors homes and cheerily announce, “My Mommy SAID I could come in!” He didn’t know it then, but he was doing EXACTLY what God says we can do as “pebbles-off-the-Old-Massive-Rock”--walk up to the enemy gate, cheerily announce, “My Heavenly Father SAID I should come in!,” explain the good news of the Gospel until someone understands, believes it, and slips through the crack we put in Satan’s gate. Can’t you just SEE Satan stomping around as he loses another soul to Christ? Don’t you just LOVE IT?!

Are you one of God’s “pebbles” through faith in Christ? You are? GREAT!! Let’s go try to put another crack in Satan’s gate!

by Carolyn Houghton

Lately I’ve been thinking about God’s handicaps. Now, I realize people rarely think of God as handicapped, but He’s dealing with multiple and terrible handicaps, and one of the worst is...me.

Creating the universe was “finger play” for Him! THINK about that for a minute. God started with nothing and “doodled” a universe into existence! How many of you have doodled (let’s go easy on you here) a cloud into existence lately? A star? What about one tiny little mountain? No? Then we’re talking real POWER here! How can He possibly be handicapped!? Easy. He’s running a “family” construction business.

Anyone who is involved in a human family can understand the handicaps involved in having family members do ANYTHING! You could do most jobs that your children “help” you with quicker--and with less frustration——yourself. As my old diary reflects...

Sound familiar? Sure. Why do parents and people with family businesses encourage family members’ participation? They have fond hopes that SOME day the children will be mature enough to be a help rather than a hindrance. Many times that happens, but many times

--approximately a day and a half after they become really mature and helpful--kids fly the coop and go to live on their own. And you have to start training someone else for their job. That’s life.

SO! God is building a body for Christ. Christ is the “head” which means He’s the brains of the outfit and in control. Your head controls YOUR body, right? And your body doesn’t resent being controlled. God needs “living bricks” to become “arms”, “hands”, “feet”, “fingers” and “toes” that work together as a “body” to carry out His plans. It’s MOST helpful to Him if His “body parts” work in harmony with the “Head”. (Not that they always do!)

Just that quick, God had grabbed up His trowel, slapped permanent mortar on me, and cemented me into Christ’s body/church. When I started causing Him problems, He sighed and shook His head. He could see I was going to be a trouble maker who had few plans to cooperate with the “Head.” But it was too late——the mortar was permanent.

I didn’t cause big problems immediately. I started out small and whined that I didn’t like my lowly spot in His body. I wanted to do GREAT things.. .wanted to be a “mouth.” “No, Carolyn, that’s part of the Head and that position is TAKEN,” God told me sternly. “Besides, the mouth you have now causes Me enough trouble. I need you to be part of the fingers.” He graciously didn’t tell me I was barely of any use to Him even as a lowly finger since I hadn’t grown enough to learn the “business” yet. So I chomped at the bit to be doing something “more important,” but started studying and learning more and tried to hand Him “living bricks” “one...at…a…time”. However, if the truth were known, my “help” probably slowed construction in my area of the body to a dead stop!

Eventually, I hit the rebellious teenage years and, when things went wrong, blamed Him instead of myself. I was such a bad representative for His business that He shelved me until I got over being rebellious and angry. I was a useless member of the family business. He tolerated my bad attitude for a long time but finally got tired of my pouting and grumbling and took me for a couple well-deserved trips to the woodshed. I got the message! Straightened up my act. Decided to follow what the “Brains of the outfit” wanted me to do again.

In the meantime, how about it? Are you one of God’s bricks through faith in Christ? If not, come on in! The mortar’s fine!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether it matters what I believe. This rises out of the Sunday School class I’m teaching on Galatians. I’ll never forget hearing Dr. Kenny McComas describe Paul’s writing of this epistle with his warpaint on.

Who (political correctness demands what instead of who but biblical accuracy demands who) was Paul fighting? Here is a quote from a blog. I forgot to write down where I got it from but this really explains well, who the problem was.

If you would like to respond to Carolyn's "Terrible Parable", you may do so at fourtalleys@verizon.net .

Oh, dear! If the Bible is true, there goes your theory. It seems God won’t compare you to other HUMANS when he passes out either judgment or eternal life. He’ll compare you to HIMSELF and here is how you’ll stack up:

NOW! If I’m reading this correctly, your goodnesses (and my wonderfulness) in comparison to God’s goodness comes out as filthy shop rags or a gaping hole with decaying matter inside. How many greasy shop rags and open graves do you suppose will be welcome in heaven?

You have several options at this point:

If you have God’s righteousness instead of your own faulty righteousness”, you’re sliding past those pearly gates...

But--REJECT Christ and God’s gift of righteousness and you get...

(DIRECTION: Put your name in this next blank* ONLY if you reject Christ. Otherwise, put in “whosoever”)

Have you ever thought of the prayers in the Bible that God delayed answering and why he delayed the answer?

1. Daniel 11 - In this case, the delay was a vital part of Daniel’s prophecy. God delayed to confirm that the kingdom of Greece would follow the kingdom of Persia.

2. Matthew 15:23 - We find that Jesus at first did not answer the Syrophoenician woman’s prayer but again there was a purpose. Jesus (as well Matthew and Mark in their gospels) used this situation to show the difference between outward and inner righteousness.

3. Psalm 13, David asks four times, how long? There is no answer given in the Psalm but we do find that David continued to pray anyway and expressed confidence and joy in the Lord because he knew God personally as a merciful God.

4. Psalm 89:46, Ethan also asks “how long” but in this case knows that the reason is based on Israel’s unfaithfulness. See also Deuteronomy 32:19 and Zechariah 1:12ff.

5. Job 13:24, Job expresses in this chapter the same sentiments as David did in Psalm 13 but unlike Ethan in Psalm 89, he is not certain why he is not being heard but is simply speculating.

6. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 had his answer denied or at least delayed until after his death when his thorn in the flesh certainly was removed. Why? That God’s strength would be made perfect in weakness.

7. Revelation 6:9-11 - The martyred saints’ answer to their prayer is to be delayed until the last saint is martyred.

8. There may be others. Can you think of any?