DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A LETTER FOR ALL AGES

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – ROMANS, A LETTER TO SAINTS OF ALL AGES

"Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God....to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 1:1, 7)

This letter to the church at Rome was written by the Apostle Paul before he was able to travel there. Scholars think it was written in perhaps the winter of 58-59 A.D. while he was in Corinth.

As we saw in the last part of the Book of Acts, Paul had a profound desire to go to Rome and minister to the Believers there. And it seems that they had a great love for Paul. When Paul finally landed in Italy, a group of the brethren came to meet him at the Appii Forum and Three Inns, some 40 miles from Rome, which in those days would be several days of travel.

But back to the book of Romans. Paul wanted to make sure that the saints, the beloved of God in Rome, had a good foundation of the Gospel. The letter to the Romans is a very theological book about the sinfulness of man and God's plan of Redemption. He makes it very clear that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," but that we are justified by God's grace and our faith in Christ (Romans 3:23-24), just as Abraham was justified by faith. In God's great plan, Jesus was the second Adam who came to do away with sin and its wages of death (Romans 5:12-21), and we no longer need to live under the power of sin (Romans chapter 6).

He also writes directly to the Jews about their place in God's divine plan.

In the final chapters of the letter, he speaks in very practical terms about what it means to walk the Christian life.

As we do Gleanings in this letter to the Romans, may our hearts be open to receive God's word to us today. It is a powerful book, not just for the first century believers in Rome, but saints of all ages, and for us today.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE END OF THE STORY

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE END OF THE STORY

"Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus will all confidence, no one forbidding him." (Acts 28:3-31).

Don't you wish that Luke, the writer of this book, would have written the rest of the story? It does not seem to have a conclusion. What happened to the Apostle Paul? We know from other sources that he was martyred in Rome. But the Book of Acts kind of leaves us hanging.

Perhaps it is because the story is not finished. As we have mentioned before, this book, known as the Acts of the Apostles, is really the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles.

The Holy Spirit is still active in our world today. He has not gone away, but is still doing great and mighty things in our world through Believers. The story is not done until Jesus comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, and makes all things new.

We are still writing the book today as we live our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit. What words might my life write today to continue the story of God's amazing grace?

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE SINKING SHIP

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE SINKING SHIP

"And when it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves." (Acts 27:39-41)

Here they were, at sea at the mercy of a tremendous storm. The lives of the ship's crew and passengers – 276 people in all -- was in danger of being lost. But Jesus appeared to Paul and told him that even though the ship would run aground, all of them would be saved if they obeyed God's word to Paul.

It happened as Jesus had told Paul it would.

Playing the "shoulda-woulda-coulda" game does not help the situation. Paul tried that game. He said, "You should have listened to me" (verse 21), and not sailed from Crete. But this did not help the situation they were in. Trying to correct the problems of the future by mourning over the past does not help. We face life as it really is.

We live in a society where the it seems the ship is going down. Our culture and our nation are being tossed about by harsh winds. And on a personal level when it seems my life is being battered and broken by the violence of the waves, I can trust God. It does not help to play the shoulda-woulda-coulda game because I can't change the past. I can move forward trusting God. He is my Savior, regardless of the storm.

There is safety if we will listen to what God says and do it.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE HAVEN OF REST

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE HAVEN OF REST

"When we had sailed slowly man days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.....And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority adVIsed to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there." (Acts 27:7-8, 12)

The Apostle Paul and his group were on their way to Rome being guarded by a centurion. They were traveling by ship and were at the mercy of the weather. They sailed from port to port, and finally came to the harbor of Fair Havens. That sounds like a good place to be, but apparently it was not equipped to handle winter harboring. So they decided to sail to Phoenix to spend the winter.

I can appreciate this because I am a Snow Bird who winters in the Phoenix area of Arizona.

Leaving Fair Havens was not a wise choice, because they ran smack dab into a storm called Euroclydon, a southeast wind that causes heavy waves. It was so tempestuous that the ship eventually disintegrated under the pounding of the waves.

There is a need for us humans to have a safe harbor, where there is peace and safety from the storms of life. I'm not primarily thinking about the turbulence that we all go through as a fact of life. I am thinking about peace in the soul. People try to find that place of peace with all kinds of substitutes. There is only one real harbor of peace and rest from the storms that buffet the soul, and that is in the Lord Jesus.

Remember the song: "I've anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest. I'll sail the wild seas no more. The tempest may sweep o'er the wild stormy deep, In Jesus I'm safe evermore." Jesus is my Fair Haven, my Phoenix, where I can anchor my soul and find peace with God.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- MARCHING ORDERS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – MARCHING ORDERS

This is the testimony ot the Apostle Paul as he stood before King Agrippa, of his vision of the Lord Jesus on the way to Damascus and his commission or marching orders.

" ' While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So I said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now sent you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:12-18)

The Apostle Paul was recounting to King Agrippa the events surrounding his conversion to Christ. He had received a commission and authority from the chief priest to find those who had converted from the Jewish faith to faith in Christ and put them in prison (vs. 10).

But when the Lord Jesus appeared to him as he traveled to Damascus, he received a new commission. Now he was under the marching orders of the Lord Jesus to open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel, to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance along with other believers who were sanctified, or set apart, by faith in Christ.

Times have not changed from the 1^st century. People are still walking in darkness under the power of Satan. They still need forgiveness of sins, and the assurance of an inheritance in heaven.

We are not the Apostle Paul, but we still have the privilege of sharing the Gospel, the good news that Jesus has come to save from sin. These are our marching orders.

Love, Dad

Yo, schiewek0079skeeter

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DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

"Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy....So when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul." (Acts 23:13, 16)

Have you ever found yourself at the right place at the right time to be of help to someone in need? Paul's nephew was such a demonstration of this. He heard of the plot to assassinate the Apostle. He was the right person in the right place at the right time, and he helped save Paul's life.

Just this past week, Mildred and I found ourselves in such a situation. We had just pulled into a parking space at Safeway when we notice an elderly man clinging for dear life to a handicapped sign post. We immediately went to him because it looked like he was in dire straits. "No one will help me," were the first words out of his mouth. Other people then gathered and someone called 911. We stayed with him until the ambulance took him to the hospital emergency room. We were in the right place at the right time.

Some would call these occurrences mere coincidence. But as a believer in the Lord Jesus, I think they are more than that. I believe they are divine appointments in God's providence that guides our path to help someone.

We could be like the priest and Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, and walk on by, ignoring the opportunity to minister. Who know but that God has put us in that place for His purposes? We can make all kinds of excuses to avoid getting involved, like Queen Esther who was afraid to go to King Ahasuerus because the King had not called for her for the last month. She knew that her life was a risk. But, as Mordecai said to Esther, "Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). In other words, Mordecai said, perhaps God has place you as queen for this very purpose – to save the Jewish nation from annihilation.

We don't always know God's purposes for being where we are at a given time, but our lives are not ordered by chance, but by the very purpose of God. May our spirits always be sensitive to these "divine opportunities" to be God's representative as He guides our steps.

Love, Dad