DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- EQUIPPED

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – EQUIPPED

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (II Timothy 3:16-17)

Do you want to be a confident Christian, thoroughly equipped to live the Christian life? There is no other way than to know God's Word.

So many Christians muddle along in their faith, not sure what they truly believe or why they believe it. They are informed by what culture says a Christian is, or by a television preacher, or by the way they were raised. But they have not taken the pains to know what God says about Christian living.

God has given us everything we need to have sound doctrine, and His Word reproves us when we are wrong, corrects us when we get off-course, and instructs us in righteous living. These are given for one purpose – they make us complete and equipped for doing His work.

Nothing can take the place of studying and knowing what God says. What comes from the mouth of God surpasses all other sources. That is why it is so important to spend time studying to know God's Word.

Jesus said that whoever hears and does what He said will have a solid faith that will withstand the storms that will inevitably come (Matthew 7:24-27). That is a person who plants his feet firmly on God's Word.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- CLEARLY EVIDENT

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – CLEARLY EVIDENT

"Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden." (I Timothy 5:24-25)

The fact is that we do not see everything as it really is. Some sins are so blatant that they are readily seen, and we bring these people to judgment so that they are accountable for their evil actions. But some people seem to get by with a lot of bad things because they are good at hiding them from view. Many evil deeds which are done in secret will never come to light in this world.

Likewise, some good things are readily acknowledged because they can be clearly seen. We honor those who have done good things. But there are many good deeds that are done in secret and no one knows about them. They are done anonymously with no fanfare.

It doesn't seem fair that those who do evil often get by with murder, so to speak, and go unpunished, while those who do good never receive any recognition.

We can be sure that God sees and knows – both the hidden evil and the hidden good. In fact, the Lord Jesus taught that we should do good things in secret, because "your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly" (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18).

There will be a final day of reckoning. It is called the Great White Throne Judgment when the books will be opened, and the dead will be judged by the things which were written in the books according to their works (Revelation 20:12). In that day, sin will be clearly evident, and so will good deeds.

If we think that there is no equity in this world, we must remember that the final chapter has not yet been written. When my good deed go unrewarded while the people who do bad deeds seem to prosper, I need to trust that God is just and will reward according to what we do in this life – whether good or bad.

It is comforting to know that all my bad deeds are covered by the blood of Jesus and I do not fear judgment. Praise God for His cleansing and forgiveness.

Love, Dad

Virus-free. www.avg.com

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- DEATH ROW

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – DEATH ROW

"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time..." (I Timothy 2:5-6)

The murderer stands before the judge as he pronounces sentence on the guilty man: Death. It is demanded that he pay the price for his immoral behavior. We call it Capital Punishment as a way to soften the idea. The real word is Execution. What a horrible word. It sounds so harsh – so final. The fact is that no one else can sufficiently pay for his felony. He alone must pay the price.  He will sit on Death Row until that price has been paid.

There is a price to be paid for man's sin. The penalty for sin is death. No amount of money or human effort – even as an indentured servant – could pay for man's redemption. Only God could pay that debt. Jesus Himself paid the ransom when He took our place and died. He became the Mediator between the supremely pure, righteous, and holy God and us, as sinful, dirty, unrighteous as we were.

There is a great chasm that separates a holy God from unholy men. It is so great that there is no possibility of humans to bridge that gap. Only God Himself could span that gulf. And He did in the person of the Lord Jesus. There is only one Mediator. That is the man Christ Jesus. He was executed as a criminal for my sins, even though He was blameless – without sin. The Apostle Peter wrote this concerning Jesus, "who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth...Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree...." (I Peter 2:22, 24)

I was on Death Row. I was guilty of sin against a holy God and deserved eternal death. Then came Jesus. "He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace. Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay." Oh, what a wonderful Savior!

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A GREAT SAVIOR!

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – A GREAT SAVIOR!

"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." (I Timothy 1:15)

This saying was apparently a common part of the liturgy of the early church. It was the confession of the Christian community – that the Messiah, the Christ – came into this world and His name was Jesus.

Jesus! What a beautiful name. It is derived from the Old Testament name, Joshua, and takes other forms such as Hosea, Jeshua, and Jehoshua. In the Hebrew, it means "Jehovah is Salvation." That was the message of the angel to Joseph, the espoused fiance of the virgin Mary as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew: "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:22). This is the Gospel in a nutshell: Jesus saves.

The Apostle Paul's view of himself was that he was the greatest sinner that ever lived. And no doubt he was a great sinner. He murdered Christians and did everything he could to stop the cause of Christ. But he was no worse sinner than I am. Any violation of God's law is a great sin, and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When we compare ourselves to God's holiness, we are all great sinners.

But Jesus came and died for people just like Paul, and just like you and I. It is only when a person comes to the understanding that he is a great sinner, that he can receive the forgiveness and salvation that God offers to all who believe.

John Newton, the composer of the hymn Amazing Grace, wrote, "Although my memory is failing, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior." May this be our song of praise to the Lord Jesus – Jesus Saves.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- BUSY-BODIES

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – BUSY BODIES

"For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies." (II Thessalonians 3:11)

There were, apparently, people in the church at Thessalonica who were loafers, who did not want to work to provide for their own needs, so they had lots of extra time on their hands. Instead of using their time to do God's work and bless other people, they occupied their time with frivolous junk.

According to Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the word "busybody" means literally, "to be working round about, instead of at one's own business." They are busy - bodies, engaged in useless, trivial pursuits. They keep their bodies busy with things that are none of their business. They don't have time to do productive work, but have plenty of time and energy to meddle in affairs that are not their concern and are of no value.

Paul's advice, was, "Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread" (vs 12). In other words, quit meddling in other peoples' affairs, and quite sponging off of others to feed your stomach, and instead work quietly at your own affairs. Take care of your own problems instead of trying to solve everyone else's.

The old saying is, "An idle mind is the devil's playground." The antidote is to keep our minds and our lives occupied with godly things, so that we have no time to be employed in useless things.

In our age, we have more leisure time than many cultures have had. May we use that time to do things that have eternal value and advance the Kingdom of God, and not waste it on trivial things. There is much work to be done for Jesus. If we are involved in God's work, we are less apt to spend our time being busybodies, and more apt to be busy bodies for Jesus.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- JESUS IS COMING!

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – JESUS IS COMING!

"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him..." (II Thessalonians 2:1)

There was confusion in the church at Thessalonica regarding the return of the Lord Jesus to this earth. There was the promise that Jesus would return. Remember that when Jesus ascended into heaven, His followers watched as He rose into the sky. Then there appeared two angels who proclaimed that "this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).

The early church lived in anticipation that Jesus would soon return. Apparently there were those who taught that Jesus had returned and there were some who had missed it. The Apostle Paul comforts and encourages the believers at Thessalonica by giving a time-line by which they could judge the coming of the Lord.

First he said that there would be a great falling away, before the man of sin, the antichrist, would be revealed. The Greek word translated "falling away" is the word "apostasia" from which we get the word "apostasy." In another place, Paul wrote that in the last days, there will be a great falling away from the faith (I Timothy 4:1).

Then, Paul said that the antichrist was being restrained, but when that restraint was removed, there will be nothing to keep him from doing his work – of setting himself up in the temple of God and declaring that he himself is God and doing signs and wonders, deceiving many people. But in the end, the Lord will return and consume him with the fire of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming (vss. 6-9).

Whatever happens, we know that Jesus is coming, and He has told us to be ready and look for His return. It has been 2,000 years and He has not returned yet, but 2,000 years is a blink of an eye in God's timetable. We can be sure that Jesus will return in the fullness of God's time. In the meantime, let us be faithful as we look for His return. As the Apostle Peter wrote, "Therefore, since all things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God" (II Peter 3:11-12a). Jesus is coming again. The day is closer now than when the promise was first made. Let us be ready.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE BEAUTY OF JESUS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE BEAUTY OF JESUS

"Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (II Thessalonians 1:11-12)

The Apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Thessalonica that the name of Jesus Christ – that is, His reputation – would be glorified, or made glorious through them and that they would be glorified in Jesus.

The word for glorify means to make splendid, to adorn, to make beautiful. The beauty of Jesus is adorned through us and our lives are made beautiful in Him. As we fulfill the good pleasure of His goodness, His glory is shown to the world.

In his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul wrote that we adorn the doctrine of God our Savior by our fidelity (Titus 2:10). The Greek word for adorn here is kosmeo, from which we get the word "cosmetic." This not to imply that we put on a show by our outward appearance, but that we make the doctrine of Christ beautiful by our lives. A natural result of glorifying Jesus is that we are made beautiful.

John wrote, "We beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). In the same way that Jesus showed the glory of God the Father, we also can show the glory of Christ, and we are beautified by His indwelling presence.

It is His grace that works in us His good pleasure so that we bring glory to Him. So we sing, "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All His wonderful passion and purity. O, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me."

Love, Dad