Fill My Cup Lord

Fill My Cup Lord

1 Kings 17:15&16
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

   When the widow met Elijah, she was gathering sticks to cook a last meal for her son and then they were going to starve.  There was only enough flour and oil for one small cake and then they would be out of food.  Elijah told her to make him that cake first.  Her decision was to make him the cake and then starve with her son or give the son one last meal and then starve with him.  But Elijah reassured her that giving him the cake was what she needed to do and then to have faith in God.  Her choice.
   Often, God wants us to trust in Him, even when common sense tells us there is no reason to have hope.  Laid off from your job and no more money in the bank account and the bills are due and the pantry is nearly empty and the pastor is telling me to TITHE?  Is he kidding?  No, he’s not kidding.  He’s asking you to trust God in a difficult situation.  Do you trust God?  Will you trust God?
   The widow decided to do as he asked and she cooked that last cake and gave it to Elijah.  I have always seen her as pouring the last few drops of oil over the last handful of meal leaving the flour bin empty and the oil jar empty.  Then after she serves Elijah, she sees a little more flour and a little more oil.  And the next day she uses the last of the flour and pours the last of the oil and makes Elijah a cake.  Then she goes back and there is a little more flour and a little more oil.  God honored her faith and she and her son had enough to eat.
  We don’t want answers from God like this.  We don’t want to have our faith tested day in and day out.  We want our cup filled till it runneth over!  We want abundant answers and we want them RIGHT NOW!  We don’t like it when our faith is stretched and we need to depend on Him every day.  Couldn’t Elijah just pray for a full bin of flour and a full jar of oil?  Sure, but it takes less faith to believe for one big miracle.  It’s a bit more of a stretch when the miracle meets your needs for just a day at a time.  Or for just one meal at a time.
   Is God testing you?  Do you need to keep pouring the last of the oil and scooping the last of the flour every time?   Are you praying for a full cup running over and getting just enough to get through today?  It’s hard but you’re growing in your faith.  Growing up is never easy.  Here’s what you need to do.  Ready?  Say “Thank you, Lord, for meeting my needs today.”  Then go and share the Gospel and live life and relax knowing that God has your back.

Stephen Cram                                                                                        July 28, 2013                  

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.





 

The Wheat and the Tares

The Wheat and the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 

25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 

26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 

27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 

28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 

29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

   The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, (or weeds,) is a story with a strong spiritual truth.  And in spite of the clear explanation of the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew 13, this parable is often misunderstood.  Many commentaries and sermons have attempted to use this story as an illustration of the condition of the church, noting that there are both true believers (the wheat) and those that say they believe but don’t, (the tares,) in both the church in general and also in the local churches.  While this is true, Jesus explains that the field is not the church but the world.

   Even if He hadn’t specifically told us the world is the setting for the story, we should know it can’t be the Church.  The landowner tells the servants not to pull up the weeds in the field, but to leave them until the end of the age.  If the field were the church, this command would directly contradict Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18 which tells us how to deal with unrepentant sinners in the church.  He instructed us to put them out of the fellowship and treat them as unbelievers.  Jesus never instructed us to let unrepentant sinners remain in the church until the end of the age.  So, Jesus is teaching here about the kingdom of heaven in the world. 

   In the agricultural society of Christ’s time, many farmers depended on the quality of their crops.  An enemy sowing weeds would have sabotaged a business.  The tares in the parable were likely a weed that is called darnel, (Lolium temulentum,) because that weed, until it grows to maturity, looks like wheat.  Without modern weed killers, what would a farmer do in such a dilemma?  If he tried to pull out the tares he would pull most of his wheat out, too.  He would end up with little or no crop.  Instead of tearing out the wheat, the landowner would have to let the two grow together until harvest time.  Then he would harvest the whole field and separate the good wheat from the bad tares and throw the weeds into the fire. 

   Jesus declares that He Himself is the sower.  He spreads His redeemed into the world like seed to grow into mature Christians and bring the Gospel to the world. 

   The enemy in the parable is the devil.  He opposes Jesus and he tries to destroy Christ’s work by placing false believers and teachers in the world among the true believers to try to lead many astray.  Chances are you know someone who looked and sounded like a Christian but later you find out they are not and only claimed to be.  They are usually revealed by the fruit they produce.  Sooner or later their actions will cause reproach on the name of Jesus. 

   So why do we let them grow alongside and not go and rip them out by the roots?  Often, immature and innocent believers get injured by these actions.  And, as a reminder from history, just look to the failure of the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades to see the results of men taking upon themselves the responsibility of separating true believers from false.  This should be left to God alone Who will clean up His Kingdom in His own time.

   Another problem with trying to do God’s work is many times an immature Christian might have gotten into some bad teaching and in your zeal you might uproot a well-meaning but wrong person who could be brought back to Christ with a little wise counsel and love. 

   Jesus Christ will one day establish true righteousness in His Kingdom.  After He takes His Church out of this world, God will pour out His righteous wrath on the world.  During that tribulation, there are some who will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and be saved out of this wrath. 

   Pray for those who you believe are bearing bad fruit.  Pray that God’s Spirit will speak to their hearts and, if possible, bring them to Jesus.  Those who do not believe will be cast into the lake of Fire and, like the tares of the parable, be burned up – a fate to be avoided if possible.  I would rather see them live and receive a chance of salvation than be cast into the fire.

Stephen Cram                                                                                July 21, 2013

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.

Who Are You Lord?

Who Are You Lord?

Acts 9: 5

And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

   Saul of Tarsus was a man on a mission.  He was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus to arrest Christians and drag them back to Jerusalem for trial and imprisonment.  Jesus had a different idea for Saul.  He appeared to Saul in a bright light that probably outshone the sun and spoke to Saul – “Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me?”  And Saul asked, “Who are You, Lord?”

   First, calling the voice “Lord” is not really an acknowledgement that Saul knew this was Jesus because Jesus hadn’t told him yet.  But he knew this was the voice of someone with enough power to blind him with a light that outshone the sun.  I think his response of “Who are You, Lord,” is appropriate.  And then Jesus identifies Himself – “I am Jesus…” 

   Saul, whose name means “asked for,” would call himself Paul, which means “small or humble,” and he would spend the rest of his life wanting to know more completely the answer to that question.  Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 

   This is a question we need to answer.  This is a question for us to get away from the hubbub of the world and find a quiet place and pull this question out and ask again, “Who are You, Lord.”  We know a lot about Jesus and can fill our heads with information about Him.  We can follow His life and make charts and fill books with words about Him.  But this question is not a head question.  This question is a heart question.  If you only know Jesus in your head you’re missing the point of knowing Jesus.  Jesus wants to be the focal point of your life.  He doesn’t want to be the first among many in your life, He wants to first of just one – Himself.   I will confess I haven’t gotten there.  I still make Jesus co-inhabit my heart with other cares.  I have removed a lot of debris cluttering the corners of my heart, but there is more to remove. 

   But one of the most fascinating things about the Bible is searching it to learn more about Jesus.  I once heard a teacher say that if you are puzzled by some passage in the Bible, put Jesus right in the middle of it and see if it makes more sense to you.  I tried it and he was right.  I find myself asking, “How does this teach me about Jesus” and then He pops up out of the passage.  (I know I’m not saying this right, but try to follow me.)  This same teacher said that the volume of the Book (the Bible) is about Jesus.  The more I study it the more I’m sure he’s right.  The more I look the more places I see Jesus. 

   “Who are You, Lord?”  The more I ask that question, the smaller I feel.  Sometimes I feel so small I’m a little kid sitting at the feet of an adult trying to understand what He’s saying.  I get some of it, but some of it really stumps me.  I read those passages in multiple translations and read many commentators and come to realize I am not alone in my quest to understand His words. 

   I challenge you this week to read Jesus words and let them sink into your being and become a part of you.  Don’t just fill your head with knowledge, fill you heart with Him.  Talk to Him and pray to Him and read of Him this week.  Open yourself to Him and keep asking this question over and over – “Who are You, Lord?”    

Stephen Cram                                                                                                  July 14, 2013                     

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.  Colossians 2:8

Touching Christ

Touching Christ

Luke 6:19

And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

   How do we touch the living Christ?  The answer to this question depends entirely upon your relationship with Him.  If we go to church to receive a touch and have to work yourself up to “enter in” during worship and then wait for the sermon to feel that you’ve “received” from God, you are sorely lacking in relationship with Him.

   If you are sitting in the pew, do you feel as though you have to get God’s attention?  Do you feel as though you have to live a good Christian life or have to work hard to fulfill an obligation to Him to receive from Him?  If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” you need to step back and begin again.  Just leave all this failure behind and determine to begin again.

   First, you need to get your head straight.  Tell yourself these simple truths. 

You do not need to try to impress God because you can’t. 

You do not need to work hard to earn His favor because His favor can’t be bought. 

You do not need to get His attention because you already have it. 

Your relationship is free and available and the only hindrance is you, yourself. 

Got that?  Good, now that you know these things, you can begin again.

Start by humbling yourself before him and say, “I am wrong.”  Stop there.  “I am wrong” does need any modifiers and there are no excuses needed or accepted.  Simply, “I am wrong.”  That hurts, doesn’t it?  Being wrong and messing up your life by wrong understanding or by bad attitudes is hard to accept and hard to admit to but when you do, healing can begin.  It’s like having a thorn under the skin of your finger.  It’s a sensitive area and digging the thorn out will hurt like the dickens but you will never heal until it’s gone.  So you take a knife and cut that sensitive skin and open the sore flesh up and pluck that thorn out.  You need to cut through your sensitive pride and open up your sore soul and pluck out the bad thinking so healing can happen. 

   Next just accept that you’re the child and He is Father God.  He will make decisions that you won’t understand and you will go through things that are there to help you grow and you will not understand what’s happening and why it’s happening.  Just trust your Father and keep in mind He knows what’s going on and trust Him in all things. 

Scary, isn’t it?  You are not in control and never will be in control of your life.  The only recommendation I can make is this:  picture yourself on the side of a cliff.  You can’t go back and you can’t climb down.  You hear the voice of your Father calling to you to trust Him and jump.  He says He’ll catch you.  You can’t see Him.  What do you do?  Trust God!  Go ahead and jump!  What are you waiting for?  It’s not going to ever get easier to learn trust than to leap out and let God take control.

   Now, (if you’ve gotten this far,) the biggest thing.  Study His Word.  And no excuses!  You can learn from His Word.  Everyone can.  A quote I once heard says, “the Bible is shallow enough for a child to wade in but deep enough to drown an elephant in.”  What that means is that anyone can study the Bible and anyone can learn from it.  The simple person can glean enough to live by it and the scholar can dive in and never reach the bottom of it.  He can find enough in the Bible to keep him studying the rest of his life.  You might never be a biblical scholar, but you can learn as much as you can learn.  Whatever you learn, you will be ahead of where you are now.  Right?  So open that Bible up and begin.  If your church has a Sunday school, go.  If not, might be you need to find one that does.  Join a Bible study group.  Whatever you do, you need to get the Bible into your life.  Why do I think Bible study is so important?  Because the only place you can learn about God and Jesus and Christian living is the Bible.  Does it make sense to you that if the Bible is your only source of reliable information, you should learn what it has to say to you? 

   Still with me?  This message is not a joke: I am very serious here.  You will never touch Jesus until you humble yourself, learn to trust Him, and learn about Him.  When you do this, you won’t have to “get in the Spirit,” you will live in the Spirit.  This message is not for the multitude, it’s for the individual.  You can’t make this journey with anyone else, you make it alone.  If I’m speaking to anyone, take that first step.  Jesus waits to welcome you back to Himself.

Stephen Cram                                                                        July 7, 2013                     

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ. Colossians 2:8