My neighbors have done it again.  I stepped outside a few weeks ago and saw flashing red and blue lights up the hill, far more than one vehicle’s worth.  Since the original neighbor died, his heirs have moved on to the property and begun tearing apart the old trailer he used as rental property.  First they peeled the metal off the sides and sold it for scrap.  Then they tore down the rest.  Insulation and paneling littered the yard.  The trailer itself was nothing more than a pile of rubbish about four feet high.  That day they decided to burn it.

           We have a new neighbor who lives right across from them, an older woman who raises goats and lives a quiet, orderly life.  She looked outside on what was probably the windiest day of the driest month of spring to see flames just across the lime rock drive from her own house.  So she called 911.

            That was by far a smarter move than the other neighbors had made that day, for quite soon the fire got away from them and started spreading.  Imagine that!  Then, to cap off the whole ridiculous escapade--evidently some ammunition was left in the old trailer and it suddenly started going off, at least one shotgun shell and half a dozen solid bullets.  Before it was over three fire trucks, an ambulance, a forestry truck, and two deputies were crowding my narrow little road.  Somehow, no one was hurt.

            No, my neighbors were not too bright that morning, starting a fire on a windy day in the middle of a drought and failing to make sure that all they were burning was wood and insulation.  What could we expect though?  These were the offspring of a man who, on another windy day in the middle of a drought 15 years ago, gave his children some matches to play with so they would stay out of his hair.  That time we were the ones almost burned out. We did lose a portion of fence when the firemen broke through it with a bulldozer while building a firebreak, but nothing else thanks to their hard work.

            You know what?  We often play with fire exactly the same way, with even worse consequences.  The Proverb writer says, Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on, 4:14,15.  We go where we have no business being, where temptation sits waiting to strike, and then wonder how we got into trouble. 

            We turn away from good advice and listen to the bad, avoid the righteous and hang around with the wicked, because we are certain we are strong and can handle the traps.   The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.  In everything the prudent acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly, Prov 13:14-16.  I have always thought it amusing how little God cares for political correctness and tact.  He calls us fools when we act like one.

            God even told the Israelites not to covet the idols their neighbors had.  Why?  The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, Deut 7:25.  God has always pictured wealth as a snare to his people.  Yet what do we always wish for?  What do we think will fix all our problems? But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction, 1 Tim 6:9.  Let’s not get on our high horses because we understand that a Christian shouldn’t play around with liquor, with drugs, with gambling, or with illicit sex.  For one thing, we are just as vulnerable as anyone in those areas.  For another, we are just as bad when we think money is the be-all and end-all.  We are playing with dynamite that could explode in our faces just as easily.

            Are you playing with fire in your life?  Are you too sure of yourself, so confident in your ability to overcome that you place yourself in harm’s way and practically dare the Devil to come get you?   Remember God’s opinion of such a person.  I don’t want him to call me a fool on the day it matters the most.
 
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death, Prov 6:27,28; 14:27.
 
Dene Ward

Today’s post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
A dear senior widow was our first volunteer to care for all the church’s class materials.  She saw to the filing and organizing, she ordered supplies, she found things for you and did errands.  But, “Woe unto thee” if you did not put things back where they belonged!  More than a year after she passed an elder found a note stuck up under a podium in the foyer that was used for visitor greeting supplies.  It simply asked, “Do you remember me?” with her name.  Of course we did and missed her greatly.  I thought of her again when I re-read the following and wonder, “Do you remember?”
 
Is Ephraim my dear son?  Is he my darling child?  For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still.  Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the LORD. (Jer 31:20).

God penned these words by the hands of Jeremiah a hundred years after He brought the Assyrians upon Israel (Ephraim) in a final judgment—a captivity wherein they were scattered and lost their identity as a people.  We can read Hosea 11 to see God’s attitude toward the sinner He must punish.  But, 100 years after judgment day, God still remembered and wished and promised mercy.

When someone leaves the Lord, whether it is the child of a member sowing wild oats or one who must be withdrawn from, or one who just drifts away into immorality, how do we feel a year later?  Do we still petition God for mercy and to bring such a one to repentance?  Or, have we forgotten all about him/her?  Do we feel they brought it upon themselves and it is sort of sad, but that is just the way it is, or do we imitate our heavenly father with yearning to have these lost ones back and just how ready are we to offer mercy?

The prodigal father is not the only picture of God seeking the sinners and mourning their recalcitrance and offering mercy to the indifferent.


Repent. God is waiting for you.
 
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Ezek 33:11
 
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2Pet 3:9
 
Keith Ward

The other morning I noticed Chloe’s left ear sagging to the side.  No matter what was going on or how excited she was, that ear would not stand up as it normally did, over half as tall as her head in the manner of all Australian cattle dogs’ ears.  She reminded me of the antenna that sat on top of our television when I was a child, one leg of it straight up in the air, and the other at nearly ninety degrees.

            Then she started scratching at it and shaking her head and I knew—ear mites.  So we searched through the cabinet until we found the white squeeze bottle of ear mite treatment.  We had never used it on her so she came willingly, even when she saw us with the bottle.  In fact, we had not used it in so long that it took a while to get any out of the bottle, and then when it came, it came with a rush, completely filling her ear canal.  We held her long and massaged it in, but it was still too much.  As soon as we let go she shook her head and slung a big glop of it right into my eye.

            Canine ear mite medicine is not made for human eyeballs.  I rushed inside half blinded and flushed my eye for several minutes, then used up several vials of saline completely clearing the stuff out of my burning eye.  I think the contact lens helped shield it, or it might have been much worse.

            Some things don’t need medicating, especially with the wrong medicine, and some things we think need our ministrations just need to be left alone.

            John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he followed not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us, Mark 9:38-40.

            Many times we disagree with a brother about a subject that makes no difference at all in our ability to worship together.  Many times we disagree with each other about things that seem fairly important, but we can still sit on the same pew and worship our God in complete harmony.  The disharmony is caused only when we make something out of it.  As long as your beliefs do not hinder me from mine, where is the problem?  As long as I do not force mine on you as a condition of fellowship when it shouldn’t be, why can’t we get along?  You say you see something you believe might lead to a problem?  As long as it isn’t one, don’t force the issue.  Don’t deliberately do something that will bring discord into the family of God and call it “fighting for the truth,” when it is only wrangling about words or, at its heart, bickering about power.

            Sometimes we need to remember the Lord’s reply to his overzealous disciples:  “He that is not against us is for us.”  And we especially need to remember his absolute loathing of anything and anyone who disrupts the unity of his body.  Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that Christ came to create unity, and that we are “one new man,” “one body,” “fellow citizens,” and “a family.” Why did he do that?  So that we might “grow into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God.”  The God of peace cannot dwell in a temple that is not at peace.  We destroy the mission of Christ when we make it so.

            Be careful about diagnosing others’ beliefs.  Be careful about making things matters of spiritual life and death, when they are simply non-life-threatening “bugs.”  Maybe by our sitting together every Sunday, studying together with respect for one another instead of accusations, we can come even closer to agreement on those very bugs, and they will run their course and disappear.
 
One man esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.  Let each man be fully assured in his own mind…Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God, Rom 14:5, 10-12.
 
Dene Ward

And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem where was a great woman, 2 Kings 4:8.
 
            Shunem was a town in the tribal lands of Issachar, three and a half miles north of Jezreel, the home of the summer palace for the kings of Israel.  If you have a newer translation, you already know that, at least in this passage, “great” means “wealthy.”  Yet this woman was great in our own vernacular as well.

            The very fact that she recognized Elisha as a man of God and wanted to help him was amazing in itself.  Israel was headed headlong into rampant idolatry and immorality.  Jehoram reigned, a son of Ahab, a king of whom the scriptures say, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.  Although he put away Ahab’s pillar to Baal, nevertheless he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it (3:2,3).

            This woman in the midst of an apostate people managed to remain faithful to Jehovah, to recognize his servant and to offer him a permanent room on his journeys.  This was not a spare room in the house, but one she added, increasing the expense of it.  It began with her invitation to a meal, then another, and another any time he passed by.  He couldn’t offer her a schedule or phone ahead.  The terms were always “whenever.”  Thus it began and grew to the greater commitment of a furnished room.

            Unlike so many other examples of Biblical hospitality, she was the instigator, not her husband, and she did it without looking for a return.  Indeed, when a thank you gift was offered, she was surprised.  I dwell among my own people, she said, indicating she did not think herself special or worthy at all.  This utter humility of a wealthy person is amazing when you see the opposite in so many today.  And how many of us would be expecting not only a hostess gift, but the singing of our praises to others as well?  She seemed to view Elisha as the worthy one, not herself.

            Truly, her greatness was about her faith.  She served Elisha, not to gain glory but because he was “a man of God.”  She recognized that wealth was to be used in service to God not to self.

            Several years later Elisha did her a great favor, warning her of a coming famine.  Arise and depart with your household and sojourn wherever you can, he told her.  It will come upon the land for seven years (8:1).

            How many of us would have the faith to leave everything at one word, not knowing whether we would ever get it back?  Wealth was measured in belongings in those days, land and crops and flocks and herds, not in bank accounts, investments, and stock portfolios.  She could take none of it with her.  When she left, she virtually impoverished herself.  Would we do the same, or does it all mean just a little too much to us?

            God in his providence took care of this faithful woman.  When she returned to the land seven years later and made petition to the country’s wicked king, Elisha’s old dishonored servant Gehazi “just happened” to be there, entertaining the king with stories about his days with the old prophet.

            “Why look here!” he told the king.  “This is the woman I told you about,” and being in a generous frame of mind, the king restored her land along with all the produce of the fields from the day she left till now (8:3-6).

            That “great” woman had no idea she would get it all back.  Elisha had never promised her anything except her life and her family’s lives if she left.  But she was so “great”—wealthy—in faith that God chose to reward her.

            Don’t make any mistake about it.  We fit the bill; we are the wealthy ones the scriptures talk about.  How is our faith these days?  Is it “great” or impoverished?  Are we rich toward the world or “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21)?  We show the answer by how we use our monetary wealth.  We show it by how we expect to be treated by others who are less fortunate.  We show it by the importance we place on it.

            How would we measure up against this “great” woman?
 
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. 1 Tim 6:17-19
 
Dene Ward
 

You might want to check the posts on July 27 and 28 if you missed the beginning of this subject.
 
            I think the bruises have healed now; dare I approach this topic again?  Yes, because I left it completely one-sided.  Now, do not take that to mean that anyone who is at fault—just as I was, oh, so many years ago—has an excuse now not to improve.  Other people’s failures never make mine acceptable in God’s eyes.  On the other hand, there are people who may well stand in line with me and take their rebuke as well.  The problem with short articles is you cannot cover every aspect at once.  So here goes:  Some people out there help create these hot messes.

            Parents!  What are you teaching your children?  When you teach your daughters that they are little prima donnas who are to be waited on hand and foot and every desire indulged, you are making it nearly impossible for them to function as the workers at home that God commands them to be.  Even if they want to work, they won’t know how.  They need regular chores.  They need instruction on how to accomplish those chores and what you expect of them before those chores are considered “well done.”  They need to actually sweat a little and to understand that work is not a punishment.  Work is the life God has ordained since Genesis 2.  It became “hard” work in Genesis 3 and that is totally OUR fault, not God’s.  Teach them to face the facts and deal with them.

            Don’t make whiny sissies out of them, either boys or girls.  If they get a boo-boo, give it a hug, a Band-Aid, and a mama’s kiss, and send them off to play some more.  Tell them [their favorite super-hero] would just laugh it off and keep on saving the world.  That’s exactly what the world will expect of them.

            Mothers!  Do not teach your sons that they have no duties in the home by picking up after them like a slave. Except on birthdays or other special occasions, do not cater to their every whim by cooking their own special meal even when that is not what is on the menu that night.  My mother used to tell me, “I am not running a restaurant.”  When you go out of your way, especially when it means your already stretched time and energy are spent mollycoddling him, and the grocery budget is blown because he hasn’t learned to eat what is put in front of him, you are making it extremely difficult for your future daughter-in-law.  If everything has to be just so before he is satisfied, your indulgence on him will impose far more labor on his already overburdened wife than even the Lord expects. 

           Fathers!  When he sees you requiring all these things of your wife—his mother—he will grow up thinking that’s the way the “king of the castle” is supposed to behave.  It is hard enough to overcome being a “hot mess” without the other so-called adult in the house making your life even more difficult.  Do not turn him into a liability instead of an asset to your new young daughter.

            And that brings us to young husbands.  If your mother treated you like a little prince, it’s time to grow up.  When you married, you took on the leadership of a home and the buck now stops with you.  If your overworked and frenetic young bride becomes a hot mess, you may well deserve some of the blame.

            Is she picking up after you?  Does she have to clean your mess from the previous evening off the table before she can even feed the children every morning?  Is she picking up adult-sized clothing in practically every room of the house?  When you leave for work in the morning, are your breakfast dishes still on the table?  Why can’t you get up early enough to clean up your own mess before you leave the house—like a responsible adult should.  NO SIR!  That is NOT what SHE is there for.  She is not your slave any more than your mother was.

            And as for the children, the last I checked, they are yours too.  It raises my hackles like nothing else to hear a young father tell his friends that no, he cannot go watch the ball game with them tonight because he has “to babysit the kids.”  You have to stay home tonight because you are a FATHER!  Parents do not “babysit” their own children!  Especially if the activity the mother is leaving the house for is a Bible class, the young man ought to be ashamed of himself.  (Yes, I have heard that one more times than I can count.) As the spiritual leader of the home, he should willing to do whatever necessary to help his wife grow spiritually.

            And you need to tell her often, not just on her birthday or Mother’s Day, that you know how much she does for the family and how much you appreciate her.  Tell her you are proud of her and her work.  Tell other people in her presence how much she means to you and that you don’t know what you would do without her.  Don’t fall for society’s disdain of a woman who is “just a housewife.”  No woman who follows the guidelines set out in the Bible is “just” anything—and “housewife” is a demeaning description.  She did not marry a house, although sometimes it becomes apparent to all that she did marry a spoiled child.

            For a couple of years in our marriage, when we had two children under the age of 3, my poor husband was working two part time jobs, preaching by appointment three Sundays a month, and going to school to finish his degree.  Yet every evening he took those two babies and bathed them right after supper so I had time to do some things I needed to do—washing dishes, folding laundry, picking up toys, and sometimes just sitting down for a moment.  He also wanted special time with his children.  I had no excuse for falling into the hot mess mentality.  That was totally on me.  I give you him as your example of what it means to be a leader in the home.

            Regardless the cause, giving in to the “hot mess” mentality is still wrong.  But maybe if all of us examined ourselves and the effects our behavior might have on our children’s long term future, from parents to husbands to young women themselves, maybe this thing would disappear altogether.  We are here to help one another—with examples, with service, with advice, and yes, even with rebuke. 
 
Her children rise up, and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: Many daughters have done worthily, But you excel them all. Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman that fear Jehovah, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; And let her works praise her in the gates. Prov 31:28-31

Dene Ward

We never kennel the dogs when we leave for a week.  Australian cattle dogs need to run at full tilt for a distance.  A daily walk behind the vet’s office simply will not do.  So we leave them with the full five acres to run in, a bed of warm, clean hay in the doghouse, and a neighbor to keep them fed and watered.

            When we come home you would think we had been away for a year.  They race up to the gate the instant they hear us coming—they must recognize the engine.  Before we can get it unlocked they are prancing and leaping, squealing high-pitched yelps, even whining a little because we aren’t fast enough to get through that gate and back to them.  They push each other out of the way, each one trying to get to us first, tails wagging hard, tongues at the ready for wet kisses and reassuring sniffs.  Then they race the car back to the house, ready to do it all again. 

            I don’t think anyone has ever greeted us the way our dogs do.  Even when I am gone just a few hours I get a better greeting from them than from Keith, and truth to be told, he probably gets a better one than I give too.  They must think we have been gone far longer than we actually have.  We have started calling it “dog time.”  When I am leaving for just a couple of hours I tell them we will be back in a few days, at least it will seem like that to them.  If it’s going to be most of the day, I tell them we’ll be back in a week.  And when we’re gone a week I always say, “We’ll be home in two or three months.”  I know they don’t understand any of this, but it reminds me of what our absences mean to our pets, so I give them a little extra attention the day before we leave and the day we get back.

            Actually, people have the same problem of perspective.  Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation...But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, 2 Pet 3:3,4,8.

            People who take that verse literally are missing the point.  It isn’t that each day is exactly 1000 years with God.  God dwells outside of time.  He doesn’t count years any more than He counts days.  Therefore we should not try to bind an Eternal God with our notions of passing time.  When we do, we give up on Him, His promises, and the hope they are meant to give us.

            We also start making far too much of this life.  When life becomes the destination instead of the journey, you place more importance on it than on preparing yourself for the eternal life in an eternal home.  If eternity were pictured as all the water in all the oceans and rivers and lakes on this Earth, our lives are not even one drop of it, and 1000 years perhaps a scant teaspoon.  But even that is a feeble attempt to explain eternity because it cannot be contained.  It cannot be measured and never runs out.

            Just remember this:  For all practical purposes, eternity will come very soon for each of us, for once you die time ends for you.  It could happen far sooner than you think.  Illness strikes.  Accidents happen, and then all the time in the world you thought you had will be gone.  Make the most of it now.
 
O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah, Psa 39:4,5.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

I read through Isaiah last year, rather more slowly than I’d like to admit. I began to notice something, a repeated phrase. God kept referring to Himself as “The Holy One of Israel”. I saw it so many times I became intrigued and looked it up. Turns out that “The Holy One of Israel” is used as a designation for God 30 times in the Old Testament and 25 of those 30 are in Isaiah. It is used once in Kings, twice in the Psalms, and twice in Jeremiah, but the overwhelming majority of instances are in Isaiah. It seems that God had a point to make in His message through Isaiah. So I skimmed over the book again and noticed a major theme of the book: His holiness, and His people’s lack thereof.

To be holy means to be set aside for a specific use or purpose, and to be used only for that purpose. God didn’t find this in His people, Israel. In regards to Jerusalem, where His Temple was situated, God says in Isa. 1:21 “How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.” A harlot! Can you imagine anything less “set apart”? The people as a whole are mentioned in the next chapter: Isa 2:6 “. . . they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.” Instead of remaining holy, they have adopted other customs and accept as friends anyone. Pretty much all of Isaiah’s preaching against Judah addresses this issue. (Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem/Judah before, during, and just after the time that the northern kingdom of Israel was taken away captive by the Assyrians, which took place in 722 B.C.) A quick perusal:

In chapter three God rebukes the nation’s leaders, who should be setting an example, for instead oppressing the poor. Isa. 3:14-15 “Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses: what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.” He then turns to the women, as a class: 3:16 “Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet”. Adultery is in the land. Even Isaiah himself was not all he should have been. If you think of the throne scene in chapter six you will remember that Isaiah’s fear was that he was a “man of unclean lips”. The angel burned his uncleanness away with a coal.

After spending several chapters prophesying the fates of the various nations, God returns to Judah’s failings and in chapter 28 He complains that the land is filled with drunkards. But it is not just the commoners: 28:7-8 “And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” The priests and prophets were perpetually drunk! If anybody should have been keeping themselves holy for God it would be the priests and prophets. After all, the priests were consecrated to God and His service and were charged with teaching the people the Law when not serving in the Temple and the prophets brought the people new messages from God. And they were drunk! Apparently blind drunk (“they err in vision”). Finally God takes them to task for relying on treaties with other countries instead of trusting in Him. 30:1-2 “Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!” Sound like a people set apart for Him?

After detailing their failings, God gives some hope. He is going to send His servant, who would make the people holy again. 49:5-6 And now saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered unto him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God is become my strength); yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” What is the servant (Jesus) going to do? Bring Jacob again and gather Israel to God. They have erred. They are less than holy. He is going to bring them back. (And, by the way, be a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the world.) Then God begins to describe the new kingdom He is going to set up, at about chapter 60. Guess what? It will be a holy nation of holy people. And because of that it will be radiant and glorious. And that is fulfilled in the Church. And that is Isaiah in a nutshell. Or at least a thin sketch of one of the major themes of the book.

What is worrisome to me, however, is how familiar that verse from chapter two sounded. Recall: 2:6 “. . . they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.” They began to be influenced by the nations around them. They used other customs. They took up astrology/omen reading like their former enemies the Philistines. They were overly friendly with those who didn’t share their faith. Gradually, they became less and less holy. They weren’t set apart at all. Is this me? I watch the world’s TV and movies. I read their novels and magazines. I have many friendly acquaintances and some close friends from the world. Am I becoming filled with their customs? Are my core beliefs and basic evaluations being affected? Am I set apart to God and His service or not? We each need to ask ourselves these questions and examine ourselves closely. Remember Peter’s warning “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.” 2 Pet. 2:20

Lucas Ward

Normally a Florida summer begins in May, if not late April.  True to form, the first two of weeks of that month brought temperatures in the 90s.  Air conditioners hummed in every neighborhood.  The tube of sun block sat at the ready whenever we wandered outside to check the progress of the garden, or actually work awhile weeding and fertilizing.  Keith cleaned out the fire pit because summer had arrived.

            Then on May 16 we woke to a temperature of 48 degrees.  The thermometer on our porch never broke 70, and a stiff breeze blew leaves and sand all over the carport.  The moment I stepped outside, I stopped, turned around and headed for the calendar.  Did someone turn back the clock?  No, it was still May, but as the week bore on, we were once again sipping coffee by a fire in the early hours of the day.  Even the sparrows were confused.  They always fend for themselves in the summer, leaving the bird feeder to their avian kin, but a couple of them landed that week and took advantage of the free meal.  This unseasonable weather had everyone mixed up, but we all enjoyed it nonetheless, knowing it would soon disappear and the heat return, as it most certainly has.

            The Bible talks about things being “in season and out of season,” especially preaching the gospel, 1 Tim 4:2.  We have actually lived places where Keith was told that he should not preach about certain subjects.  In one place it was “not the right time” for it, and in the other he was to avoid those subjects “from now on.”  Why?  Because certain people in the audience might not like it.  Did they need it?  Yes, but they might not like it.  Asked when the right time was, the answer was, “I don’t know, but not now.”

            Have you noticed that preaching styles change about as much as fashion styles?  Some of the preaching I heard as a child would never be accepted today.  Some of the preaching I hear nowadays would never have been accepted when I was a child.  That tells me that what makes something in season or out of season is the hearers, not the preachers.  We have a couple of good examples in the book of Acts.

            After preaching a sermon on the day of Pentecost that accused the listeners of murdering the Son of God, they were “pricked in the heart.”  They said, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”  They experienced a heartfelt repentance and obeyed the command to be baptized (Acts 2).  That preaching must have been “in season.”

            Stephen experienced the opposite.  After a sermon accusing his listeners of being “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,” and “resisting the Holy Spirit” they were “cut to the heart.”  (Acts 7)  Was Stephen’s sermon any tougher than Peter’s?  No, not a bit.  Both preachers hit what they aimed at—the hearts of the listeners, one audience being “pricked in the heart” and the other being “cut to the heart.” But the reactions were certainly different.  Stephen’s audience stoned him to death.  I guess that sermon was “out of season.”

            Too many times we expect the preacher or teacher to perform according to our rules and expectations, forgetting that he has a higher authority to answer to.  God warns him that he will be held responsible for the souls he speaks to if he doesn’t tell them what they need to hear.

            The next time we think a sermon is “unseasonable,” remember, that probably means we need to listen to it.  Our reaction is not the preacher’s fault, but our own.  We are responsible for our hearts.  It is just as wrong to tell a preacher not to preach when it is “out of season” as it is to withhold the gospel from a good and honest heart, a time when it is “in season.”  That’s what Paul told Timothy.  When we do so we may be condemning souls to eternal death, along with our own.
 
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  2 Tim 4:1-5.
 
Dene Ward

After one particular surgery a few years ago, I had bled far more than the surgeon expected.  I needed a transfusion, he said, but given the state of the world these days, and the fact that a couple pints would have done the job, he took the conservative approach instead.  For the next few months I took a prescription iron pill, one more easily absorbed by the body than the over the counter varieties.  I don’t claim to know the entire effects of “running a quart low,” but I do know this.  I started every day tired and it only got worse.  And I was constantly cold.  Even though it was summer in Florida, I was wrapped in a blanket most of the time.

            Aside from the obvious Biblical applications about atoning blood, I find another worth mentioning.  John 6 is not about the Lord’s Supper.  John 6 is about commitment. 

            A sizable crowd had begun following Jesus on a regular basis.  They had been hanging around long enough to see several miracles, hear several parables, even be fed at his hand from five small loaves of bread and a couple of fish.  It was time, Jesus decided, to ask them to be more than hangers on, more than groupies enamored with the publicity of the local celebrity.

            Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 6:53-55.

            Far from believing he meant this literally, I think when they said things like, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they were just trying to avoid the obvious.  They were not in this for the long haul.  They didn’t want to get that involved.  They just wanted something fun and interesting to do for a few days.

            Jesus forced them to a decision.  This is not something you can do half-heartedly.  This is not something you can do while giving a lot of yourself to something else too.  I must be your sustenance, he was saying to them.  Nothing else should matter to you. 

            And they knew exactly what he meant. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him, v 66. 

            I am afraid some of us are not even that honest.  We want to pretend we are living off the Lord, eating and drinking him night and day, when it is merely a pleasant pastime on the weekends, a source of comfort should a family member become ill, and a handy group for wedding and baby showers.  (Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves, v 26.)  The Lord tells us we might as well leave with the rest of the crowd.

            Why?  Because when we are running a quart low of Jesus, we will be too weak to withstand temptations and trials.  When we are running a quart low, our zeal will eventually grow cold.  We need as much of him as we can hold to overcome, to grow, and to change our characters, ready to live faithfully even to the point of death.  We cannot do it any other way. 

            Lev 17:11 says, “The life of flesh is in the blood.”  I have a new appreciation of that fact since that long summer of anemia.  Don’t make yourself spiritually anemic, and then expect God to reward you with eternal life.
 
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:57,58.
 
Dene Ward

To get the whole effect, please read all four of these in order.  Scroll down for parts 1, 2, and 3.

Why do we follow the pattern?  The way God set up the church as a spiritual rendition of the Old Temple should make it obvious.  If you change any one of those things, it loses its significance.  We would no longer fulfill the real meaning behind each carefully planned (from before the beginning) detail.  Is that really important?  God thought so.

            And see that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown you in the mount. Exod 25:40.  God made that statement to Moses immediately after giving him the detailed instructions for building the tabernacle and its furnishings.  The Hebrew writer sees its importance and repeats it in Heb 8:5:  They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”  In fact, this is so important that Stephen even included the reference in his sermon, the one that got him killed (Acts 7:44)!

            If it was important then, and every part of it has a parallel in the church today, why wouldn’t it still be important?  In fact, you find Paul saying several different times something akin to this:  That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 1Cor 4:17.  We are supposed to be doing the same things in every congregation of God’s people all over the globe.  Am I really going to tell God I don’t see the importance of following things He designed so carefully in such intricate detail?  The only reason I even have the opportunity to complain is because God was gracious enough to let me in here to start with.

            The Greek word for “pattern” is used 15 times in the New Testament.  Two of the words it is sometimes translated by are “example” and “ensample,” defined as “a model for imitation.”  Everything from “You have us as an example” to “Your baptism is a form (pattern) of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection” (Phil 3:17; 2 Thes 3:9; Rom 6:17).  The Bible is full of patterns!  To deny their importance is ignorance or obstinacy.  And if you have followed this all the way through, ignorance is now no excuse.
 
Show yourself in all respects to be a model (pattern) of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, Titus 2:7.
 
Dene Ward