Picking Through Fossils

Picking Through Fossils

Psalm 104:24 KJV

Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

   The boy did not want to go on the science field trip.  Field trips were always boring.  Science field trips were the most boring.  Today’s trip was going to an archeological site to climb around on rocks and look for fossils of animals dead a long time.  Big deal!  Nothing interested the boy less.

   Then, something surprising happened.  The boy was the first one in his group to find a real, genuine fossil.  He held the rock in his hands and traced the fragile trilobite fossil with his finger.  No one really knows how old this was, and there are no trilobites alive in the world today.  He was enthralled by the sight, and a new love was born in the boy’s heart.  He saw the earth as a treasure house of wonders too magnificent to understand.

   I remember sitting in church as a boy listening to preachers and teachers droning on about dead people and things that happened long ago and far away.  Big deal!  What did this have to do with me, anyway?  I saw the Bible as a dead, dusty book full of stories from, “long, long ago.” 

   My attention was elsewhere.  America was in a race to space with the Soviets and there were many other exciting things happening in the world around me.  Who cared what Moses said; I wanted to know what Kennedy said! 

   I felt studying the Bible was as exciting as picking through fossils.  Then something wonderful happened.  My teacher started to teach the Bible as a book of people, real people.  People like you and me who faced real life situations and had real life decisions to make.  And I made a connection.  I fingered the Bible I held in my hand and traced the life of Elijah, and then the life of Elisha.  They were the first two people to come alive before my eyes.  They went from fossils to people.  They went from dry and dusty names to vibrant characters. 

   Have you discovered the joy of reading the Bible?  Pick a story or a character and trace from the account from beginning to end.  If you think as I did that the Bible is a moldy oldie and not worth your time, then I beg you to try it just once.  If the life of Joseph or the story of Esther doesn’t excite you, you’re either dead or comatose.  Run your fingers over the texture of the stories and let these dead people speak to you.  Their lives were recorded to give you direction.  Learn from them.

Stephen Cram                                      October 5, 2014                                            

Colossians 2:8 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. 

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

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Napoleon and the Private

Napoleon and the Private

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

   There is an story about Napoleon, the legendary French leader, which may or may not be true.  But it’s a good story, so here it is.

   It’s true that Napoleon had a prize horse he valued above any other and he rode it everywhere.  I found different versions about his horse, but the horse’s name seems to have been Marengo.  The story goes that one day Marengo was spooked by something and bolted away from Napoleon.  An alert soldier, a private, was already mounted and he spurred his horse and gave chase.  He caught up to Marengo and grabbed the reigns and led the horse back to his general.  Napoleon took his horse’s reigns and said simply, “thank you, Captain.”  The private was surprised and thanked Napoleon and immediately went to his tent and gathered up his Private’s uniforms and went to the Quartermaster and turned them in and drew Captain’s uniforms.  He went back to his tent and packed his belongings and moved to the officer’s quarters.  He then went to his immediate superior and presented himself in his new rank and the superior put him in charge a unit of men.  He never once doubted or questioned his commander’s word.  If the commanding general said it, it was good enough for him.  He believed and acted on that word.

   As Christians, we are similar to the private.  We were of lowly status and really didn’t account for much in life.  But along comes The Commander of the Army of the Lord and by His death and resurrection we are offered a chance to join this army.  We ask forgiveness and suddenly we are accepted and promoted.  No longer are we condemned sinners, now we are soldiers in the Lord’s service.  All we need to do is claim our new rank and begin to function in it.  Christ says we are new creations and we need to grasp that and begin to act like Christians, not like “only sinners saved by grace.” 

   Have you claimed your new rank?  Have you obeyed His Words that tell you you are now promoted?  Move out of your sinful life and move into your new life.  Stop dressing in your sin and dress yourself in clean robes of righteousness. 

   

Stephen Cram                                                          September 21, 2014         

Colossians 2:8 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. 

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

Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv .

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

A Whole Lot a Groaning Going On

A Whole Lot a Groaning Going On

ROMANS 8:20 – 23, 26 - 27

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 

21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

   First, the whole of creation groans and suffers pains of childbirth.  When Adam fell, sin entered the world.  Before the fall of Adam and Eve, the world was perfect – like a garden.  We can only imagine how nice it would be to live in a perfect world.  Imagine   perfect weather, perfect temperatures, no rain or snow, no earthquakes, no volcanoes, no tornadoes or hurricanes.  But after Adam and Eve’s sin things changed.  Sin grew and spread until the days of Noah.  God ended life on this world except for the eight people and the animals on the ark.  He did this by flooding the world which geological evidence shows damaged the earth grievously.  And it still suffers damage to this day.  We see storms, earthquakes and other natural disasters which cause wide-spread destruction.  So creation itself is waiting for redemption from the curse of sin and renewal when God will replace this damaged world with a new heaven and a new earth.  The world will be returned to its original, garden-like state.

   Next, we groan for a couple of reasons.  First, we live in a sinful world which causes us an inward pain in our souls.  Or, at least it should.  Christians should never be comfortable living with sin around them, but the reality of life is that we have to live with sin around us.  It permeates the world we live in and shows up in every part of society.  The sin we see around us should bother us enough and lead us to pray for our friends, neighbors, and family members who are unsaved.  We should never accept sin or rest until we spread the Gospel to anyone who will listen.

   Next, we groan because we know we ourselves are not yet fully grown into the Kingdom of God and that should also trouble our souls.  I know how imperfect I am before God and often find myself praying and suddenly sorrow floods my heart.  I cry out to God asking Him to forgive me my sins and help me grow more like Christ.  One thing that really troubles my heart, however, is how often I don’t feel that way.  It scares me that I can go days without asking forgiveness for my shortcomings before God.

      Lastly, the Holy Spirit groans for us. He intercedes for us here on earth in our times of trials and troubles.  There will come times in our lives when we won’t know how to pray for something.  This is where praying in the spirit comes to our aid.  The Holy Spirit will pray for us and help us in our prayers.  Just imagine!  We have the Holy Spirit, and remember He is a part of the Godhead and has a personality and is not an “it,” interceding for us to God the Father.  Also, we have Jesus, our Lord and Savior, as our Advocate with God the Father. With the Holy Spirit delivering the prayer request for us and Jesus advocating to God for us we have confidence that God will hear our prayer.

   Another reason the Holy Spirit groans for us is that He lives in us and experiences what we experience and feels the pain we feel.  He groans with us over the sin of the world and pain we see others suffer.  He knows how we feel and sympathizes with us, and if we will ask Him to, He will give us peace and calm our fears and heal our hurts. 

Stephen Cram                                                  September 14, 2014                 

Colossians 2:8 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. 

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

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.

Keeping It Simple

Keeping It Simple

Mark 10:15

^“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 

     Complexity!  Our lives are more complex than ever before and getting more complex all the time.  We’re up to our eyebrows in complexity. 

   Tried to buy cereal lately?  Wheat, corn, oats or rice.  You can get gluten-free or vitamin enhanced.  With fruit or without.  Or how about toilet paper?  Soft, extra soft, strong, quilted, fluffy, one ply or two ply.  You can make your choice from dozens of offerings.  If you really like choices, go to a coffee shop.  Used to be you had a choice of regular or decaf, sugar or unsweetened, cream or black.  Simple.  Now you can choose from literally scores of choices.  Last time I visited I looked over a menu board that had more choices than the New York stock exchange.  They even offered a choice of cream, half and half, whole milk, 2% milk, fat free milk, lactose free milk, soy milk or almond milk. 

   Even our church experience often is mired in complexity. We can choose from traditional service, more modern services, several types of music, pews or chairs, pastors in suits, pastors in robes, pastors in jeans and tee shirts.  Take your pick!  Want to be baptized?  You can be dunked or sprinkled.  Many churches don’t even preach salvation so you’re spared the embarrassed of repenting.  Got kids?  There are dozens of Children’s programs during the adult service so the kids can be entertained and the parents can relax.

   And then there are the preachers who take their pilgrims through intricate levels and stages on their spiritual journey through life.  We split hairs and get frayed nerves.  Some churches boast that they have no particular religious slant.  Does it all have to be that complex?   

   As I read and study the Bible, I don’t believe Christianity is not meant to be complex.  Jesus even said how we should approach God.  Come as a child.  And He had some advice to help us through the hard times.  Take what is freely offered.  Trust God.  And when in doubt - be like Jesus.
    God could have made salvation a complex maze of pre-requisites, but He made it simple enough for a child to grasp.  Say “I’m sorry” and turn away from your sin.  And if you do sin again, say “I’m sorry” again and try harder not to sin. 

   I believe the anthem of the church should be an old song that really speaks to Christians in today’s complex world.

“Trust and obey - For there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”

Stephen Cram                                                          September 7, 2014

Colossians 2:8 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. 

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

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible.