DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- OUR BANNER

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- OUR BANNER

"You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah" (Psalm 60:4)

A banner or flag is a symbol of a kingdom. When we see the stars and stripes waving in the wind, we know that it represents the United States of America. When I am looking for a Post Office, I often look for Old Glory because I know that it is government property.

When an army goes into battle, the flag is an important part of the troops because it identifies the nation that the soldiers are fighting for.

God has given us a banner and we display it proudly. It announces that we are Christians and that we belong to God. I am not talking about a physical flag, but our loyalty to Christ is evidence of our commitment to the banner of His kingdom.

We used to sing the song, "Love is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart, for the king is in residence here." I think this comes from the English tradition of flying the British flag at Buckingham Palace when the King (or Queen) is present in the house.

God is present in our lives, and we can proudly display the banner. So, "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross. Lift high His royal banner, it shall not suffer loss."

Our banner represents the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we display it with our loyalty and our trust in the King.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- UNSHAKEABLE FAITH

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- UNSHAKEABLE FAITH

"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise." (Psalm 57:6)

David was on the run – fleeing from Saul who wanted to take his life. In the midst of his adversity, he proclaimed His faith in God. His faith was steadfast, unmovable. His trust was in God and it would not be shaken, regardless of how things looked in the natural. This was a choice of the will – "I will praise."

We sing the song, "I shall not be, I shall not be moved, just like a tree planted by the waters, I shall not be moved." That confession is a good one. It declares that our faith in Christ will not be sidetracked just because things are not going the way we want.

Our faith has a firm foundation. We know the nature and character of God. He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. He will never change.

We have His Word. As the hymn says, "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for our faith in His excellent Word."

We have the historical facts of Jesus who died and rose again. Those facts cannot be changed, and they are a strong foundation.

We have personal testimony of the good things that God has done in our lives. He has proven His faithfulness over and over again.

So when life throws me curve balls that Satan would use to tempt me to forsake my faith in God, I can rest on these firm foundations, and I can say with the Psalmist, "I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Psalm 16:8).

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- CONQUERING FEAR

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- CONQUERING FEAR

Today, we will leave Paul hanging in Acts 28, and turn our attention back to the Old Testament, where we pick up in the Psalms. Our thought for today is --

"My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me." (Psalm 55:4-5)

Fear, and its synonyms – worry, angst, anxiety – are common to man. We all experience them from time to time. They are emotional responses to troubling situations or sometimes just a troubled spirit that has no cause. They are often things that are out of our control, or we don't know what the solution or outcome will be. We don't know what is around the corner. So we fret.

God has an answer for fear, but it is not easy to do. A common word from God is "Fear not!" Listen to some of His Words concerning fear and anxiety. Jesus said, "Do not worry …." (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34). His solution was to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (vs. 33). That is setting our priorities in the right place – seeking His agenda rather than ours.

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Be anxious for nothing" (Philippians 4:6). That is a tall order, but his solution was "by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

The Apostle Peter had a solution for fear and worry when he wrote exhorting us to humble ourselves under the hand of the Almighty, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (I Peter 5:6-7).

This was David's cure for fear: "As for me, I will call upon God and the LORD shall save me….Cast your burden on the LORD and He shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved" (vs. 16, 22).

I'll admit again that this is not easy to do because I usually live by what I see and that causes me to fear and worry. But God is present to help us when we run to Him. He is our refuge and strength, our very present help in trouble.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A SERVANT SPIRIT

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A SERVANT SPIRIT

"Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and made us welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand." (Acts 28:1-3)

This passage tells me a lot about the Apostle Paul. Here he was, the great preacher and theologian, the leading voice for the Christian faith of that time. But his position did not go to his head. It was raining and cold, and here was Paul gathering sticks for the fire. There were others who could have done this job, but Paul had a servant spirit and he took the lowly task without complaint. It would seem that this was just a normal thing for Paul to do – to do the humble tasks.

As a former pastor, I have been to many ministerial meetings. But I have observed that it is usually not the pastors of large churches who help with the tasks of cleaning up after dinner. Through the years I have had good thoughts about Pastor Snyder. He did not pastor a large church, but he was always the first one to help clean the tables. He set a pattern for me to follow.

I think Pastor Paul would have been right in there with Pastor Snyder, helping to clean up. That was his evident spirit. Not only do we have the model of Pastor Paul and Pastor Snyder. We also have the demonstration of the Lord Jesus, who was the greatest example of the servant-leader.

Remember how He, "being God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the pains of death, even the death of the cross" (Colossians 2:6-8). And Paul said, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (vs. 5). I don't think Paul would exhort his followers to do what he was not willing to do himself.

We have many examples of servant-leadership. May our hearts catch that spirit and reflect it in our own lives.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SURVIVING THE STORM Part II

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SURVIVING THE STORM, PART II

"Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come." (Acts 27:29)

The ship and its inhabitants were facing certain disaster. They could only see the rocks against which the waves were crashing. They were close to being dashed upon the rocks. Some wanted to jump overboard, but Paul had a word from the Lord that they should all stay with the boat.

They had done everything they could do. The future was out of their hands. So they dropped anchor, and they prayed.

God gave them deliverance. In the morning, they saw a bay that they did not know was there. So they cut the anchors and let the ship drift to run aground. The ship was broken up by the violence of the waves, but all of the passengers and the crew were saved.

That may be the thing we need to do in our own tempests. When we have done everything we can, it is out of our control. But we can still pray, and God can provide an answer in a way that we did not anticipate or see in the middle of the storm.

I have seen this many times in my own life. It seemed that things were out of my control, and all I could do was pray. And God has answered in ways that I did not anticipate. What a wonderful God we serve.

So take heart, if you are going through a storm. When you have done all you can do, then just pray for the morning to come. Morning will come. As the song says, "Hold on my child, joy comes in the morning."

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SURVIVING THE STORMS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- SURVIVING THE STORMS

"And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. On the third day, we threw the ship's tackle overboard with our own hands. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up." (Acts 27:18-20)

The Apostle Paul had appealed to Caesar, and he, along with Luke and Aristarcus, set sail for Italy. Things went fairly well until they ran into a huge storm called Euroclydon – probably a hurricane – and they could not make any headway. The ship was so battered that they had to run cables to undergird the ship to keep it from breaking up. In an attempt to keep the ship afloat, they threw the tackle overboard. Things looked very grim, and all hope of surviving this storm was lost. By God's gracious hand, when the ship ran aground and broke up, not a soul was lost.

We go through our own tempests. Storms toss us to and fro and we do not see how we can survive. Disaster is imminent. Hope is lost. We can trust God to bring us through the storms, but in the process we may find that we need to get rid of extra baggage in our lives – even things we think we cannot live without.

We may still lose everything, but the process helps us see what our priorities are. Is an unforgiven offense a burden we carry? Maybe it is time to pitch it overboard. Do we think we cannot live without some of the amenities of life? Maybe we will find we can live without them. Do we think that life consists in the abundance of the things we possess? Perhaps we will find that the simple life is better.

God allows tempests to toss us around, but they are all in His control. He has purposes, to help us see what is truly important in this life, and look to fix our eyes on the eternal. As the Apostle Paul wrote: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, and not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3).

We can rest secure in the knowledge that our lives are hidden with Christ in God, even in the storms.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- AN UNCHANGING MESSAGE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- AN UNCHANGING MESSAGE

"Therefore, Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance." (Acts 26:19-20)

Paul's testimony was consistent. No matter who he was speaking to, the message was the same: repent, turn to God, and do works of repentance. He "stood before small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come – that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles" (vss. 22-23).

The Apostle Paul was uncompromising in his witness. Whether to the Jews or Gentiles, whether in Damascus or Jerusalem, whether to small or great, his message did not change to suit the listeners.

Even as he stood before Festus and King Agrippa, he did not deviate. His message was unwavering. It was that Jesus Christ suffered, died, and rose from the dead for our sins and that we should repent.

It is tempting to try to make the gospel palatable to people, to conform the message to what we think would be acceptable to the sinner. We want to see people come to faith, so we try to phrase it in comfortable language. We do need to communicate with people on their level, as Paul did with the people at Athens. But we need to be careful to not change the message to make it acceptable to the sinner. The Gospel is not intended to make people comfortable in their sin, but to convict them of sin, and that makes people uncomfortable until they realize that Jesus died to forgive sinners.

The approach to witnessing may be tailored to the listener, but the message of the Gospel must never be changed: Jesus came, died, was buried, and rose again. That is the Gospel.

Love, Dad