Glad you stopped by. I am reflecting on many years as an ordained minister. I may have gained a little bit of wisdom as I look back, much of it passed me by when I should have been paying more attention. I want to share some of my insights now, as well as a little of my poetry. Thank you for your interest. I look forward to reading your comments.
Life can be complicated. I run into difficulties.
Do you run into Jesus Christ? It is written:
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9
Yes, but how realistic is that in day to day living?
The only real life is in Christ. This is true for everyone:
For in him we live and move and have our being.
Acts 17:28
Well, I have some decisions to make right now. Things are urgent.
You do not need to make those decisions. Remember:
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:19-20
Look, I have some real issues that I must work out.
No, you do not. You have died.
If I have died then where is my life?
Your life is with Christ:
Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Colossians 3:2-4
Your life is hidden with Christ. You still have it.
Yes, but other people do not see the hidden life, do they?
Yes, they see Christ in you:
What does that mean? What do they see?
They see the real you. They also see the glory of God revealed in you. That is what the world is looking for today.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27
It would seem to reason that a responsible and caring person should be obedient in responding to needs of others. This was not our Lord’s obedience, however. His obedience was always to the will of His Father. His total trust was in the Father alone.
That should be true for me as well. Only God the Father knows what is needed. Our concern must be following the will of God the Father. How do I do that? I follow the example of Jesus. I become like a little child. Jesus said:
Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
Matthew 18:5
That may seem strange, at first, but Jesus came as baby, giving and entrusting himself to me. Am I allowing myself to be transformed by the indwelling life of God the Son? The Father’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me. Only then can I be sure of doing the Father’s will.
Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political point of view. It is based on ideology and not the facts. Why. do people believe it over the truth? Because it supports their way of thinking which they do not want to change.
The Pharisees thought that Jesus was a fraud. Their thinking was not based on what they actually observed as much as what they wanted to observe. A great case in point is Jesus healing a man born blind. They questioned this man again and again, to get him to say what they wanted to hear. When he told the truth, the Pharisees did not believe him.
They questioned the man’s parents, hoping they would reveal what “the truth” they wanted to hear.
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
John 9:19-21
Notice that the parents did not want to answer the question directly. They probably understood what was going on, but kept their opinions to themselves. They did not want to be be put out of the synagogue. The power of propaganda will cause many people to stay silent rather than telling the truth openly. Silence is compliance. It is as much a lie than the propaganda itself.
After interrogating the blind man’s parents , the Pharisees interrogated the man born blind one more time:
The second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
John 9:24-34
The Pharisees resorted to using religion as their argument against the truth. We remember the conversion of Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus. The truth of what Jesus was saying to her began to seep in. She parried him with this question:
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
John 4:20-23
Propaganda and religion, or Spirit and truth, these are our choices. Jesus told us that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. It that what we want? Or does our ideology or religion keep us from wanting to know the truth.
Jesus said:
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32
Are we free to believe and speak the truth today? To speak it and to preach it in love:
14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Ephesians 4:14-15
A sudden insight just came into light
when choosing the right it’s not always right.
Throughout our days we have many choices
We reach those crossways and hear many voices
A certain way may seem better for you
and one other way will simply not do.
When Abraham said go this way or go that
His nephew Lott chose the land that was flat
He did not know the way could be fraught,
Abraham’s Lott just chose the wrong lot.
Abraham was surely the one who was blessed
Lott and his family were those greatly stressed
Sodom and Gomorrah were destined for flames
so let us be careful when making our claims.
We may choose the better o’er all of the rest,
but the better we choose is not always the best.
Our God will always be raising the bar
His plans are always the better by far.
To follow his plan, we must trust and obey,
and if we so can there’ a brighter new day.
In our moment of choice this may not be clear
But soon we will see when our best’s drawing near
Now there are those times with no clear direction,
Do we make a wild guess? No wait for correction.
If we’re to avoid the nightmares of wraith.
We must simply learn to live by our faith.
Jesus said:
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
John 15:9-10
While it is true that God is love and that he loves us unconditionally, experiencing his love firsthand is a matter of being in his presence. The psalmist wrote:
One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.Now my head is lifted up
Psalm 27:4-6
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Apparently, the psalmist did not always feel the presence of the Lord in his life. He continues:
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger,
Psalm 27:7-9
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
Do we want the Lord’s presence? Do we seek his face? God is a holy God. He does not condone deliberate sin. God warned Moses that his people would turn against him. This would bring about serious consequences:
The Lord said to Moses, “Soon you will lie down with your ancestors. Then this people will begin to prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in their midst, the gods of the land into which they are going; they will forsake me, breaking my covenant that I have made with them. My anger will be kindled against them in that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them; they will become easy prey, and many terrible troubles will come upon them. In that day they will say, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?’ On that day I will surely hide my face on account of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:16-18:16-18
That was the Old Testament. What about the New Testament. Are there any examples of God hiding his face from Christian believers? Jesus told this parable:
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
Matthew 25:1-12
This is a parable about Christian believers. By our actions, we are either prepared or unprepared to enter into the presence of God. There are requirements for our abiding in the love of God. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3-10
Jesus is describing those who desire to do his will and keep God’s commandments. Does that include us? We are unable to keep his commandments without his help. Thus we must humbly seek his presence and prayerfully ask him to assist us in keeping his commandments. Our heart’s desire must be to thank God for his grace and to please him in all that we do.
The Apostle Paul had a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. Most of us will not have a conversion so dramatic, but our con must not be no less complete. Conversion is the beginning and not the end of our spiritual growth. Nonetheless, it is important to understand on which conversion is based. What is the most important question of all? Reading from Mark’s Gospel:
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Mark 8:27-30
Peter knew who Jesus was. God, the Father, had revealed him to Peter. But Peter was not expecting what Jesus would say next. Again, from Mark:
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Mark 8:31-33
Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ, but he did not understand the mission of Christ. He did not understand the cross. Jesus began teaching what that meant:
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
Mark 8:34-35
Jesus was speaking about two crosses, his and ours. They are not unalike. In Philippians 12, the Apostle Paul writes:
Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,
who, though he existed in the form of God,
Philippians 2:5-8
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul writes::
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12,1-2
On the cross, Jesus paid the price of our sins. But he also made it possible to be free from sin. Our conversion to Christ is not complete until we submit our souls and bodies to him for his cleansing. The psalmist writes:
Who can tell how often he offends? cleanse me from my secret faults. Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me; then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offense. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:12-14
As we grow in Christ, more and more we love him and we love his Word. Do we love Jesus enough to give ourselves fully to him? This is the second most important question of all.
Come to me my sheep, I Am,
Your shepherd in the pasture green.
For I the lion and the lamb.
will show you now what is unseen,
a river flowing, yet is still
to lift the burdens from your soul.
and bring you to the Father’s will,
far above the dead Sheol.
The river’s deep, the river’s red.
it washes ov’r our days and life.
I gave my all, so do not dread,
to take away your inner strife.
I’ll lift you on my wings on high
and you will soar above the fray,
and for your sin, no longer die,
for now begins a brand new day.
I hold your life within my quiver
to shoot you on a world corrupt.
Your life began in my still river,
but now this world you must disrupt.
Not against the flesh and blood,
we fight to set the captives free.
We fight to stop the rising flood.
of lying lips and tyranny.
My Word goes out through time and space.
It will not cease til all is done
Shore up yourselves to win the race
we must not stop to all is won,
Put on all my armor from above.
You are the ones the powers now dread.
Speak the truth, speak it in love.
Ensure the seeds of life are spread
Testify to what I’ve done.
Remember that by power above,
the dark will fade, the victory’s won,
and all that’s left is flowing love.
Do we envision the coming of the Lord as ominous? This was not the case for the Prophet Isaiah:
Comfort, O comfort my people,
Isaiah 40:1-2
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
God entered the world through his Son to restore all that was lost through the falling away of man into lawlessness. The Gospel of John makes this very clear:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17
All that is required of us is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This simple message must go forth:
Get you up to a high mountain,
Isaiah 40:9-11
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
What needs to be accomplished is what God has already done and is continuing to do:
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Isaiah 40:28-31
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
While we live in this world we will suffer persecution. Nonetheless, God’s comfort is still with us when we call upon Jesus.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Not only does Jesus comfort us, but he also grants us peace that passes all understanding:
Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:6-8
Our work is to believe. Our work is to allow the Spirit of God to enter our hearts and minds. God’s work is to renew us and restore us. He will do what we cannot do. Do we think that is a good bargain? Trying to clean ourselves up on our own in preparation for the return of Christ is futile. Jesus is entering the world now by his Spirit. If we allow him to enter our hearts we will be more than prepared for his return.
Spiritual discernment has little to do with human reasoning or intelligence. It is not human intuition. The Apostle Paul wrote:
We speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15
Discernment is a gift from God. In order to obtain discernment we must humble ourselves before God and ask for it:
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
James 1:5-8
Human wisdom falls short The Apostle Paul writes:
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:13-14
Paul is saying that the human mind or carnal mind does not understand God. Not only that, he is saying that this mind is not capable of understanding his thoughts and ways. To understand God we need to have our minds transformed:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
The world, if we focus on it, will continually draw us away from God and his truth. Then good becomes evil and evil becomes good. Jesus said:
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31-32
REFLECTIONS ON MINISTRY 