Forbid Them Not!
Today’s Passages – Mark 10 – 11; Proverbs 21
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 101 – 105; Memorize Daniel 12:3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121
Read a good article by Pastor Paul Chappell – “Stewarding Time”
“But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:14)
I have been saved now for over twenty years, and I have had the opportunity to observe a variety of churches. One of the things that I see consistently in strong, healthy churches is the presence of a lot of young people. As a boy, growing up, I hated going to church. I tried to come up with every excuse as to why we should stay home. However, I am noticing that at our church and at many of the churches we are associated with, we have kids that want to be here. In fact, some of these kids are pushing their parents into bringing them. We also have a lot of kids that come on the bus without their parents. It thrills my soul to see young people who are excited about their faith, and really enjoy coming to church.
It is no secret that our church, and many others like ours, have been going through a financial trial. The money simply is not coming in like it used to. It has become painfully obvious that some things that we enjoy at church will have to be cut from the budget. But one thing I will never stand for cutting is the bus ministry. I believe the bus ministry has been the most effective tool that we have for reaching people. Last night on a rainy night, we had over 60 kids ride the bus to Kid’s Club, and quite a few of those stayed for the adult Bible Study that followed. I saw a lot of life in that bunch of kids. I bet that the Lord was very pleased as well.
Jesus wants the little children to come to church. He wants our churches to love and reach out to these children. For some, the spiritual influence they get from us will be the only light that they will ever receive. Let’s keep our churches “children friendly”. I know that children’s ministries (especially running busses) are expensive; but remember, when we invest in the children of today, we are also securing the future of the church. The kids that we reach today will be paying all of the bills tomorrow.
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Hear Him!
Today’s Passages – Mark 8 – 9; Proverbs 20
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 96 – 100; Memorize – Daniel 12:3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 89:1
“And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” – (Mark 9:5-7)
In our passage today we have the account of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus where a select few of His disciples were privileged to get a glimpse of the Lord in His resurrected glory. But something else that was very strange occurred on the mount that day that caught the attention of the disciples. Appearing to talk with Jesus was Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest men of the Old Testament. It seems that Peter was more impressed with the appearance of the two Old Testament men than he was with the Lord Jesus in all of His glory. He wanted to make three booths on the mountain: one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. In all fairness to Peter, however, notice that it said in v 6 that “he wist (knew) not what to say”. One lesson that we can learn from this is that if we don’t know what to say we should keep our mouthes shut. At any rate, what happens next is amazing. God the Father booms from Heaven, “This is my beloved son, hear ye him.” He sternly rebukes Peter for even considering the other two men in the same category as His Son. Peter was willing to include the Lord, but he did not give the Lord the place of preeminence.
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” – (Colossians 1:18)
I believe that most Christians today are in a way guilty of the same thing. We want God to be part of our life; but we do not give Him the place of preeminence either. He is included in our decision making, but He is not the final authority in our lives. We give Him part of out time, treasure, and talent; but we do not recognize His sovereign right to dictate wholly what we do with them. I believe God shouts down from Heaven, through His word, the same thing to us today. He is telling us to listen to His Son. Forget about all of the other voices of influence out there and give God exclusive rights in your life.
Notice that the Father commands the disciples as well as us today to “hear Him”. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice. I wonder how many Christians today are listening for the voice of the Saviour. It is a wonder that we can hear anything at all with all of the noises and distractions that are a part of lives today. God wants to speak to us, and He will if we will simply get alone with Him and open our hearts up to Him.
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Don’t Lose The Personal Touch
Today’s Passages – Mark 6 – 7; Proverbs 19
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 91 – 95; Memorize – Daniel 12:3)
“And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.” – (Mark 7:33-34)
When we were kids, we would often drink from the same bottle of soda. In the day that we are living in, we rightly teach our young children to not get too close to people. We tell them not to share someone else’s cup, or even their hair brush or comb. It is even to the extreme now where many people refuse to shake hands; they simply “bump” fists. We are petrified that some sort of disease is going to be transferred to us from other people. I guess the medical experts are probably right about the fact that we are less likely to catch sickness if we keep our distance from people; but I wonder how are we going to be able to help the people that God has given to us to minister to by not getting close to their problems. In our text, Jesus stuck His fingers in the deaf guy’s ears. I don’t think he was wearing one of those latex gloves either when He did it. It gets worse. He then spits on His hands, and touches the guy’s tongue. I can see some of you “germaphobes” cringing right now.
I am really not suggesting that we throw out all that we have been taught in recent years about good personal hygiene; but I am asking us to consider the fact that in order to help people we have to be willing to enter into their world, and allow ourselves to be exposed to some of their problems. Jesus got out into the world where people live. He didn’t participate in the carnal things that they did, but he entered into their lives. I am not advocating that we throw our standards of separation out the window, either. I believe that we can live “in the world”, but through our Biblical standards, not be “of the world”. I believe this was the heart of the Apostle Paul when he said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” – (1 Corinthians 9:22B).
The world is changing rapidly today. We are using tools of technology where we have the ability to communicate to people without getting close to them; but I feel we are losing some good opportunities to minister to people face to face in the process. Jesus dealt with people on a personal level. I hope we don’t lose that personal touch in our ministry. I still like to knock on doors in order to meet the people in our community. I still like to go to our member’s homes, and see where they live. I still like to have them into my home for fellowship. I believe it literally opens up doors for deeper ministry. I think if Jesus was still here on earth today, He would be with the people. Just a thought.
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Preparing and Maintaining the Soil
Today’s Passages –Mark 4 – 5; Proverbs 18
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 86 – 90; Memorize Daniel 12:3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1
Read “The Habits of Fruitful Soulwinners” by Dr. Paul Chappell.
Read last year’s post from this passage – “Go Home and Tell Them”
“And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.” – (Mark 4:5-7)
I have always been fascinated by the accuracy of the Scripture. This parable of the sower is a perfect representative of the realities involved when dealing with people in their relationship to God. This story told and explained by the Lord Jesus speaks of four different types of soil, which is representative of four different groups of people. The first type of soil mentioned is hard ground that does not receive the seed, and eventually the seed that is sown upon it is gobbled up by birds. This soil type is representative of the hard-hearted person who will not allow God’s Word to enter into his heart. The last type of soil is the best case scenario, which represents a person who receives the Word of God by first trusting Christ as His Saviour; and then he goes on to produce much fruit in his life.
My focus this morning is on the two types of soil in the middle: the stony ground, and the ground with thorns. These two types of soil represent people who start out well, but eventually fizzle out spiritually. The “stony ground” Christian never lets the Word of God take route in his life. Consider what the Apostle Paul told the church at Colosse:
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” – (Colossians 2:6-7)
If a Christian is going to continue growing and eventually begin producing fruit in his life, he must get “rooted” in the Word of God. This is why our church strongly recommends our discipleship program. Through discipleship the new believer gets a good foundation, and enough strength to help withstand the lure of the world, the tests of the flesh, and the early attacks of the devil. If the new believer is going to survive, he must get in the Word of God.
That brings us to the third type of soil – the soil that is choked with thorns. The thorns represent all of the distractions that can keep the Christian away from the Spiritual nourishment he needs to keep producing fruit in his life. By the way, this can happen to the Christian who, as a new believer, has removed the stones from his soil and has been “rooted” in the Word of God. Thorns have a way of growing up all around us; and if we are not careful we will allow a bunch of things (sometimes even good things) to creep into our lives that will pull us away from God. We need to keep our focus.
In order for us to finish our course and remain fruitful in our lives we must get grounded in the Word; and then we must maintain our walk with the Lord. Anything that pulls us out of the will of God will hinder our ability to produce fruit. We are here to produce fruit.
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Who Is In The Driver’s Seat?
Listen to Sunday Morning’s Message preached by Pastor Erickson, “Thankful for the Crumbs”
Listen to Sunday Night’s Message – Is It I?
Check out our church calendar for information on upcoming events.
Today’s Passages – Mark 1 – 3; Proverbs 17
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 81 – 85; Memorize Daniel 12:3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Micah 6:8
“And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.” – (Mark 1:12)
Years ago, I used to see bumper stickers on the back of tractor trailers that would say, “God Is My Co-Pilot”. As a lost man, I remember thinking that it was a clever slogan, but now that I have thought about it, I am sure that God does not want to be a passenger in your life: He wants to drive. We see in our text that Jesus was “driven” by the Holy Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. While Jesus walked this earth He was filled with the Spirit, lead of the Spirit; and He performed all of His miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit.
It should be the same for the followers of Christ today. We should not to be in the driver’s seat of our own lives. We should be living our lives submitted to the will of God, and yielded to the Spirit of God. Consider the following verses regarding the Holy Ghost:
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” – (Ephesians 5:18)
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. … If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” – (Galatians 5:16, 25)
“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” – (Ephesians 4:30)
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” – (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:” – (John 16:7-8)
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” – (John 16:13)
When I first trusted Christ as my Saviour, I recognized the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in my life. Though, I did not understand it then (nor do I understand it completely now), I knew that there was something inside of me “driving” me toward the direction of the will of God and the Word of God. I realize now that the Holy Spirit was even working in my life long before I was saved. I used to think that the Holy Ghost was kind of like an unseen force in my life; but I have come to realize that He is not a force, He is a Person, and He is God; and God does not take a back seat to anybody. God wants to drive, and we need to be willing to let Him drive us wherever He wants us to go.
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True Love by Pastor Ted Stahl
Listen to Sunday Morning’s Message preached by Pastor Erickson, “Thankful for the Crumbs”
Listen to Tonight’s Message – Is It I?
Today’s Passages – Matthew 27 – 28; Proverbs 16
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 76 – 80; Memorize – Daniel 12:3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Proverbs 27:15
Read this great article by Cary Schmidt, “15 Ways To Affirm Your Kids”.
Today’s Reading: Matthew 27-28
As the people cried out, “His blood be on us, and our children!”; the soldiers took Jesus to scourge Him. The pieces of bone, broken pottery, and metal attached to the nine strands of the whip dug deeply into his skin. And the blood flowed. True love. In the true spirit of hatred, the soldiers stripped Jesus and dressed Him in a scarlet robe: they did this to the Creator of the universe. With cruel mockeries they bowed down saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” With every ounce of hate, our Lord was crowned with a crown of thorns that pierced His scalp. And the blood flowed. True love. Then came the crucifiction. Our Lord Jesus Christ was beaten so badly that Simon of Cyrene was ordered to carry the cross. Long spikes were driven through the hands and the feet of our Lord as He was nailed to the cross. They sat down at the cross to watch Him die. And the blood flowed. True love. The mockings continued as chief priests, scribes, and elders breathed out their hatred. And the blood flowed. True Love. And then He was dead. The Lord had given up the Ghost. The payment for sin had been paid because the blood flowed. True love.
Joseph of Arimathaea, and Nicodemus lovingly wrapped the body of Jesus and placed it in a cold, dark tomb. There lay the body for three days, and three nights.
“In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”(Matthew 28:1 – 9)
True love.
To God, love has always been an action word. Him loving us caused Him to shed His blood paying the price for our sins. We love Him because He first loved us. When they saw the risen Lord, they held Him by His feet and worshipped Him. True love. 1Peter 1: 22 says:
“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently…”
That’s true love. Having that love in us, calling ourselves Christians, how can we kick our brothers and sisters when they are down. How can we destroy families, and cause fellow believers to leave the churches. How can we discourage and not edify Is that true love? Even when we are to rebuke someone who wronged us, it’s to be done in love and only between you and that person. Proverbs is full of wisdom about the tongue:
The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out (Proverbs 10:31).
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit (Proverbs 15:4).
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:21).
Remember the scourging. Remember the thorns. Remember the spitting, and pulling out the beard. Remember the cruel mocking. Remember true love. Jesus said:
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34-35).
Peace (John 14:27).
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Yes, It’s Me.
Today’s Passages – Matthew 26; Proverbs 15
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 71 – 75; Memorize Acts 1:8)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Psalm 55:17
Read “Stewarding Life” by Dr. Paul Chappell.
Read last year’s post from this passage, “Just Me and God”.
“And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? (Matthew 26:22)
“But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” – (Matthew 26:56)
Bear with me for a moment while I tell you a little bit about my morning so far. My alarm clock went off as it does every morning at 5 AM. I am supposed to actually get up at that time in order to take my morning “walk with the Lord”. This morning I didn’t actually get out of bed until close to 6, and then I had to rush over to the church for our corporate Saturday morning prayer meeting. During the prayer meeting, I read an excerpt out of Leonard Ravenhill’s book, “Why Revival Tarries”. Ravenhill states in his book:
“The tragedy of this late hour is that we have too many dead men in the pulpits giving out too many dead sermons to too many dead people.”
“By our attitude to prayer we tell God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the flesh…. Yet ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen, degrees or no degrees.”
I was already feeling pretty bad about my lack of spiritual character and then I came home and read chapter 26 from Matthew’s gospel. If ever there was a passage of Scripture that demonstrates our utter helplessness without the Lord, it is this chapter. When I have morning’s like this, and read chapters like this, I am reminded that I am indeed “but dust”. The problem is that most of the time I actually convince myself that I am God’s gift to the ministry. I often like to look at other people and think about all of their flaws and weaknesses, but most of the time I can’t think of any of my own. Oh, how clever and deceitful our flesh is. In this chapter, we will see how some of the greatest Christians that ever lived failed in their flesh as well. By the way, I am not trying to find comfort from the fact that my weak flesh has some good company. We are not supposed to compare ourselves amongst ourselves anyway; but I do find comfort knowing that our Lord continues to love this bunch of spiritual losers (myself included), in spite of all of their failures.
Consider some points from this passage:
1 “But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?” – (Matthew 26:8) When the disciples observed a woman who worshipped the Lord by pouring a very expensive ointment on Him, they were angry. Why should any of us be angry when someone else expresses their love and devotion to the Lord. Who are we to judge anyone else’s motives, even when we might not agree with their particular action.
2 “Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. … But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. … Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.” – (Matthew 26:35, 56, 74) Notice in these verses the pride of, not only Peter, but all of the disciples. They all boasted about their ability to stay true to the Lord. Unfortunately, we also see that when their faith is tested that it fails miserably.
3 “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. … Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. … And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” – (Matthew 26:36, 38, 40) Notice in these verses that the disciples could not even stay awake and pray with the Lord for one hour; and this was when the Lord could really have been blessed by their support.
4 “Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.” – (Matthew 26:48-49) Here we see the ultimate act of the flesh – a complete betrayal of the Lord.
I want us now to go back and consider the question all of the disciples asked themselves in v 22, when the Lord stated that one of them would betray Him – “Is it I?” The disciples knew that they all were weak enough to betray the Lord, and they all thought that it was a real possibility that they might be the one. I want to ask the question to myself as well, and then answer it. Yes it’s me. Yes, I have gotten indignant and jealous because of what others have done to express their love and worship to the Lord. Yes, I have been proud and self-righteous, and confident in my own flesh as Peter was; and yes, I have certainly denied the Lord more than once by either an action or attitute, or a lack of action. And yes, I have slept when I should have been praying, studying, preparing, soulwinning, counselling, etc. And, Yes I know that my flesh is capable of even betraying the Lord. It’s me, it’s me, it’s me Oh Lord; and I am certainly standing in the need of prayer. “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death.”
Lord, deliver me from this self-righteous, proud, boastful, and always failing flesh. Help me to completely put my trust in You, and help me to never try to steal any of your Glory. Strengthen me through Your Word and through a personal, quiet time of fellowship, prayer and worship. And most of all help me to be faithful to you, and to never deny You or betray You again.
Thank the Lord that even though we are often unfaithful to Him, HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US OR FORESAKE US!
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Where Did They Go?
Today’s Passages – Matthew 24 & 25; Proverbs 14
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 66 – 70; Memorize – Acts 1:8)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 121
Click here to view last year’s post – “Wasting Talents” from Matthew 25
“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” – (Matthew 24:40-42)
For many years I have misunderstood the above verses. On the surface these verses seem to be speaking about the rapture of the church, which is an event yet in our future, when the Lord Jesus Christ will return and take His Bride (the Church) from this earth, and bring her back to Heaven with Him. Consider the following verses that refer to the rapture of the church:
“Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” – (Acts 1:11)
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” – (John 14:1-3)
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” – (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” – (Revelation 4:1)
Note regarding the above verse in Revelation 4 – Revelation chapter 1 deals with the Apostle John’s vision of the Lord in Heaven chapters 2 & 3 are all about the Church Age. When you get to chapter 4, there is no longer a mention of the Church again. The Church (the Bride) has been brought up to Heaven (“come up hither”).
All of the above passages deal with the Rapture of the Church, but there is another wonderful picture of this event taken from the tradition of the Jewish Wedding. In Bible days when a marriage was arranged, the Groom first came to the Bride’s home and paid the price for the Bride. Then the Groom would return to his father’s home and prepare a home for himself and his new bride. When all of the preparations were finished, the Groom would return to pick up the Bride and take her to the new home. By the way, the Bride never knew when the Groom was going to come, so she had to be ready all the time. A celebration would take place for several days back at the Father’s house, and then the whole procession would return to the Bride’s parent’s home. All of this is a wonderful picture of Christ coming to earth (the Bride’s home), and paying for our sins. He is now back in Heaven preparing a place for us, and someday soon He will return for us and bring us to our new home in Heaven where we will celebrate for seven years (Marriage Supper of the Lamb). At the end of the seven years, we will return to the earth with the Lord.
There is a lot more that could be said about this event called the rapture, but I just wanted to briefly explain what it entails. However, the verses above from Matthew 24 do not deal with the rapture of the Church. The entire context of Matthew chapter 24 deals with the Tribulation Period. Now the Tribulation Period is what will take place on the earth after the church has been taken away via the Rapture. The purpose of the Tribulation Period is to awaken Israel from their spiritual slumber and have their eyes opened to the Truth about their Messiah. Notice Matthew 24:15:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” – (Matthew 24:15)
This is obviously a reference to the Tribulation Period.
Now this brings us back to our original text verses at the top of the page (remember them – I know it was a long time since you looked at them). I said at the beginning of this post that for many years I was confused about these verses. On the surface they certainly seem to be talking about the rapture, meaning that the people that were taken away were raptured by the Lord to go to Heaven. However, the context simply does not support this interpretation. What then do these verses refer to, and where are these folks taken to? The answer to that question can be found in Luke 17, which is a parallel passage to Matthew 24. Notice what it says in vv 31 – 37:
“Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” – (Luke 17:30-37)
The disciples ask the Lord where they will be taken. He tells them that they will go where the eagles (vultures) are gathered together. This is a reference to Armageddon:
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.” – (Revelation 19:17-18)
I just thought that I would try to clear up a common confusion regarding these verses. I must confess that I do not understand a lot about these future events, but I think that I have the proper interpretation of these verses.
This was more of a Bible study than a devotion this morning, but that’s OK – we love to study the Bible, don’t we?
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Inside Then Out
Last Night’s Bible Study from Matthew 22
Today’s Passages – Matthew 22 – 23; Proverbs 13
(Second Milers also read – Psalm 61 – 65; Memorize – Acts 1:8)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Proverbs 3:5 & 6
“Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matthew 23:26)
Matthew chapter 23 contains a harsh rebuke by the Lord to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the fundamentalist of their day. They had the right doctrines. In fact Jesus admonished the disciples to do what the Pharisees taught, but He was careful to warn them not to follow their example. They were hypocrites: they portrayed on the surface a godly lifestyle, yet on the inside they were anything but godly. They were a cold and judgmental bunch. They were quick to point out the flaws of others, but they never looked within themselves to see if their own lives were right. They had all kinds of inward problems themselves, yet they focused on pointing out the flaws of others.
Unfortunately, today we see far too often Christians who we thought had “all of their ducks in a row”, only to discover that they are hiding some dark sin in their lives. They looked good on the outside, but they were filthy on the inside. Don’t misunderstand, we all struggle with sin, but we must be careful that we come clean with the Lord through confession, and then do our best to forsake the things that displease Him. God forgives and cleanses from sin. More importantly though, we must not try to appear to others in a self-righteous way. As fundamental Christians today, we must be very careful that while we take our stand for all of the right doctrines, and as we preach the truth about sin; that we make sure that we don’t portray ourselves as above sin. We are sinners just like everyone else. While we try to live our lives as righteously and separated as we can, we are still a people who struggle with sin ourselves. Most importantly, we must not think ourselves to be any better than those that are without. If it wasn’t for the grace of God we could certainly find ourselves involved in some of the vilest sins. We must have a genuine compassion for people who are struggling. We must never compromise the truth, but we should preach the truth with a tear in our eye.
Jesus was very hard on the religious crowd, the ones that didn’t think that they needed any help. However, you will find that though He never once compromised in either His living or His preaching, He always treated the lost sinner with compassion. He loved them to Himself. We must do the same thing. While we strive to live a holy, separated life let us also demonstrate love and compassion to the lost world around us. If they get upset with us for our position, so be it; but let them never be able to find fault with our disposition.
Posted in Thoughts from Matthew by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
The Ministry – Not What I Expected
Today’s Passages – Matthew 19 – 21; Proverbs 12
(Second Milers also read – Psalms 56 – 60; Memorize – Acts 1:8)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 3:1
“But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” – (Matthew 20:26-28)
If you were to ask me 22 years ago, at the time of my salvation, what the ministry entailed, I would have told you that it involved preaching from the pulpit, and perhaps visiting some sick folks in the hospitals. Oh, and I guess that even back then I knew that the minister had to do a few weddings and funerals along the way. Boy, was I wrong. I wish somebody would have showed me passages like this in the Bible so I could have better understood what to expect. It seems that the sons of Zebedee also misunderstood what the ministry was all about. The ministry is all about being a servant. In fact, the word “minister” here in our text comes from the same Greek word that is also translated into the English word “deacon” in other passages. The word “servant” here literally means to be a slave. It is funny that we often picture the minister to be someone who is lifted up; someone who is praised, and even served by others; but we do not commonly view the minister as a servant. My eyes were certainly opened to what ministry was really all about; and it is all about serving people.
I remember when I was in Bible College, I worked a bus route picking up boys and girls for church from the city of Texarkana, Texas. We had a young man on that route that was profoundly handicapped, and one time he had gotten sick at the church and made a mess all over (and inside of) his clothes. We had to clean him up, and then go to the “clothes closet” and get a whole new outfit for him, and help him get dressed. It was a very humbling experience. That situation taught me a very great lesson, perhaps greater than any lesson that I learned in the classroom. I learned that day that true minister of God will be willing to do whatever needs to be done in order to serve the people that God has given him. God used that experience, and others like it, to train me for the ministry that I serve in today. I have had to do every type of menial task imaginable since I have been a pastor, but these things have never bothered me. In fact, I have gotten to the place where I rather enjoy serving behind the scenes, doing things that others might not want to do.
There is an interesting account from the life of Missionary Hudson Taylor that illustrates this point very well. The following was taken from Paul Chappell’s book, Guided by Grace.
An account of missionary statesman Hudson Taylor, pioneer missionary to inland China, mentions two young missionaries newly arrived on the field. To their dismay, there was a backup of the sewer line on the mission compound where they lived, and the problem was becoming serious. The two younger missionaries stood over the pit, looking at the refuse and arguing with one another. The first man pointed to his credentials to excuse him from the dirty task, while the other tried to pull rank, citing that he was older. Their contention grew as they armed themselves with increased reasons why they should not descend into the pit of sewage to remedy the problem, which was becoming worse with each passing moment.
In their preoccupation with themselves and their rights, they didn’t notice when Hudson Taylor himself climbed into the pit of sewage and removed the matter that had created the problem. He then climbed out and went back to work. This account illustrates well that immature leaders will rationalize to excuse themselves from hard ministry, while mature leaders see the need and then take the lead.
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