Scattered Word

“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

In earlier days the Bible was maligned by even the religious establishment.  The church itself was against the translation of the Bible into languages of the people.  There were some who wanted the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, for themselves, for their own personal reading.  This evoked bitter and awesome persecution.  This privilege was denied the people for hundreds of years.  Martin Luther was a grown man when he said, “I have never seen a Bible,” and he had been in church all the days of his life.

John Wycliffe translated the Bible into the language of the people.  He wanted it to be possible for anyone who wanted to know the Word to have it.  He said, “I’m going to make it possible that a plowman will know more of the Word of God than the priest himself, than the king himself.”  John Wycliffe died before men could burn him and try him.  But even after his death they exhumed and publicly burned his body, then cast his body as ashes upon the River Swift.  If anyone was found with a Wycliffe Bible , the Bible was hung around his neck and he was publicly hanged and burned.

What the English inquisitors did not realize was that when they burned the body of Wycliffe and scattered his ashes on the River Swift, that river flowed into the Avon, and Avon flowed into the sea, and the sea loved the shores of the continents of the world, including the new land of America.  Wherever the sea carried the ashes of John Wycliffe, there God scattered the truth of the Word of the Living Lord.  Isn’t that glorious?  Over the whole face of the earth the Word of God has traveled.  That’s God!

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    “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt” (Ecclesiastes 5:13).

    There have been many that have made it big with their money. They have worked hard and spoke loudly of the way they live by the money they make. Maybe the words aren’t loud, but the spending is.

    After a certain amount of time the money flows and the items are bought and the road continues…until. It looks as if all is going well. Then it happens. Darkness falls. The children grow up. The dad and mom have done so much together, but the grave calls.

    Now the children are seated in a funeral home, alongside their dad. The mom is gone. The aged father is not thinking of their gain. The hurt is very real. Time is gone and nothing seems the same. The things accrued, the times spent, are a distant memory. What are we to do to ensure we feel fulfilled and contented when the time comes and death beckons?

    Wealth is given by God so that we can give it to others. Children and others need to understand that dad and mom love God more than they love money. Who gives the money anyway? Who gives the ability to earn? Who owns it all? Is it not the God that gave His only Son?

    We need to own the needs around us and toward distant lands, and distribute that wealth to help others into the kingdom of God. There is “A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away” (Ecclesiastes 3:6). God in his sovereignty has allowed us the choice. Through our disobedience we bring forth sin into the world, and death by sin (Romans 5:12).

    There are way too many memorial services which are empty and void. Why? Because most lived for gain and not for giving.  It is an emptiness that does betray the soul. Why? Because money and stuff can never fill the soul. But that which is given does. Whether rich or poor may we give away that which is not ours to keep.  Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt. And he has his reward.

     

  • Don’t Build A Golden Calf

    “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.”
    –Exodus 32:9The children of Israel were too fast to blame Moses and easily became critical. Out of bondage they were led from a life that was not fulfilling nor appealing. God sent them a deliverer and his name was Moses. Moses led them under God’s discipline and direction and yet the children of Israel were not mature in their feelings and thoughts. They always gave this man a hard time but Moses loved them.The Word of God gives us the illustrations (I Cor. 10) so the 21st century church can learn. The rebels came to Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him” (Exodus 32:1). So quick to blame Moses and in their state of impatience and lack of faith they wanted something to see, to feel, and to quench their flesh’s desire.

    At another time the Lord Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “How long should I be with you before you get it?” We have a God who disciplines and directs us, but we must wait upon Him so that we may learn. Moses was up in the mountain meeting with God and God was giving him the instructions for lawful living and also the instructions of how to build the tabernacle, so that God could come down and dwell with His people.

    God gives to us the test of patience, purity, and faith in His seeming delays.  The question to us is, “When we do not see the tangible presence of God will we continue to trust Him?” Joseph was placed in situations where he did not see the presence of God but when Potiphar’s wife wanted him, he fled. He did not fail in patience and purity but he placed his faith in a Faithful God. Will we? Or do we have to see to believe?

  • Sinners and Their Enticement

    “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Proverbs 1:8).

    The culture will try to dictate what you are to believe and how to behave. The culture changes but the culture should not change us. We are to go into the culture and choose to confront the culture with the gospel.

    It is the job of the father and mother to teach their children the right way, which is God’s way. The father and mother choose to be the professors in the home, using the Word of God as their main text book, and with total dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

    When parents live with an agenda that says, “Me and no other” will rule and reign in my child’s life, they are setting themselves up for a fall, and their children. We are to live in the fear of God and not by our own set of fears. When we live with God’s total control over any thing that takes place in our children’s lives, then we can know God’s power. The culture entices but God’s leadership through the parents can be much stronger when children are taught with truth and love.

     

     

     

     

  • Third Day Newsletter

    For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

  • Mastering Emotions

    “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

    There is a lot out there that can bring sorrow to your heart and life. Sorrow can numb you and cause you to shut down from God and others. We can routinely go through the pain and yet become hardened at the same time. Not realizing that we can limit the Holy One of God in our daily lives, we live withdrawn and tired. We dream about places we love, we long for something to fill, and for people to understand, and we become forlorn and miserable on the inside and it shows.

    Some people are lonely and it’s their own fault. They can live so self-centeredly and become so wrapped up in their own little lives and live as if the world should revolve around them. When we are wrapped about our lives we become a small, tight package that is about us and others are not in the picture except for our criticism.

    The lonely wants friends but usually only has a few, if any. The selfish and lonely person can make a demigod out of himself and not even realize it. He desires a circle of admirers who will compliment and admire him but usually finds he is not surrounded by any. How sad and how lonely we become when it is about us and really no one else. We judge others by our hurt (imagined or real), and we aren’t aware of the real problem.

    There is no life so empty as the self-centered life. There is no life so centered as the self-emptied life. The Lord Jesus made Himself of no reputation. He was despised, rejected, and ridiculed. The only reason we can love others is that first God loved us. When we realize His grace for us and we accept His acceptance of us then we are free to love others and then fellowship happens freely. The life of the believer is free to love unconditionally. What freedom!

    Why do we try to impress others with our gifts that God has given to each of His born-again children? Why do we work so hard for a little slap on the back by someone who notices? Why are we so dissatisfied with life and with others? Could it be that we are not dependent upon the grace of God?

    Our Savior was faced with misunderstandings, false accusations of His character, insults on His person, chicanery against Him, threats, trumped up charges, torture, abuse, and finally a horrendous death and yet in His loneliness He never became selfish. No one has ever been as lonely as the Lord Jesus. He was cut off from Heaven and earth and yet He still was not selfish. He continued to reach out to the thief upon the cross and to those who heard Him as He suffered. And He is reaching out to you and me today.

    You and I need someone to love, someone who understands, and the need to be needed and wanted. Jesus is the One who fulfills these three needs. You say, “I need someone who is real.” That’s part of our problem. He is real. He lives in you, He walks with you, He goes with you, He is our living hope!

    You may have seasons of loneliness, but that feeling does not have to master you. Because Jesus is with you, you never need to be really lonely. Recognize your problem and go to Jesus and confess your need of Him so you can love others in Jesus.

    Father in Heaven I pray for each of us. We allow too much to knock us around and to keep us down. Forgive us for knowing the stories of the Bible and even teaching them to others while we ourselves forget that You love us, need us, and understands each of us. Forgive us for not allowing You to capture us so that we may capture others in this same out-flowing of Your love through us. Oh what love you give. Can’t wait for Your name to be glorified so that we may see revival. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

  • Mere Life

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    Too many people walk through life with gloves and a raincoat on, refusing to observe and experience the beauty and the wonder of the world around them and above them. So many have forgotten the privilege of not only earthly delights, but also of our unearthly purpose.
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