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The journey had taken forty days, but it seemed longer than that. The desert had been harsh, and the sun hot. The climb up the mountain was arduous. But the inner turmoil was the worst. Jezebel had sworn to take his life, and Elijah knew her power over the king. He was also quite aware of her passion for Baal and her hatred of him. Before a great multitude, he had shown her god to be a fraud, and then personally slaughtered four hundred fifty of Baal’s prophets. Jezebel’s hunger for vengeance would be insatiable. Added to all of that was his knowing that all of Israel had forsaken the covenant of the Lord God. From the Jordan to the Great Sea, the people bowed to Baal and kissed him. Being very zealous for the Lord, the prophet was heartbroken over all of this. The cave on Horeb brought welcome relief. It was cool, and quiet. He felt safe there on God’s mountain far away from the long arm of Jezebel’s wrath and the prying eyes of her agents. It was a place to hide out. And rest. Perhaps a place to die. But it was the word of the Lord which most stirred him that evening. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Take some time and read the rest of the narrative. Elijah offered his reasons for being there, but they all turned into weak excuses as God demonstrated His great power on the mountain. They were indeed the facts surrounding the situation, but where God is concerned, the facts are often not impressive. The Almighty had everything already worked out! After all, He is the LORD God! Elijah had taken his eye off of the Lord and allowed the problems encircling him to get bigger in his heart than God. And so he had run. We have all done the same. And when you run away, God will come to bring you back. He will stand at the entrance to your hiding place and whisper: “What are you doing here?” Pray that you will listen.

John 21:15-19 Lovers are a unique breed. Have you observed two lovers recently? Did you notice how they dote on one another? They search for one another in a crowd. They “devour” each other with their eyes. They hold hands. They hug. They smile at one another. They talk softly together. They enjoy one another’s company. Lovers find opportunities and even make excuses to be together and do things together. Lovers never want to hurt one another and will go to great lengths to avoid anything injurious. They truly care about one another. God (Romans 5:8) and Christians (1 John 5:2-3) are lovers. Yes, I know it’s not in a romantic sense - IT’S IN A DEEPER AND GREATER SPIRITUAL SENSE! Isn’t God’s main concern on the earth the saving of the lost and the building up of His people? Doesn’t God speak to us through His word and by answering prayers? Doesn’t even His Holy Spirit dwell within us? Doesn’t God shower us with every good thing? Does He not chastise those whom He loves? Didn’t our heavenly Father send His only Son to become one of us and to provide a way for all people to have life eternal with Him? Is this not love? Don’t Christians read and study the Word of God to learn more about their God? Don’t disciples talk with God (pray) all the time? Don’t Christians strive hard to avoid sins which hurt their heavenly Father? Aren’t the saints diligent in trying to please the Father in all things? Don’t Christians anticipate the return of their Savior so they can go and be with Him? Is this not love? After His resurrection, Jesus confronted Simon Peter on the shores of Lake Galilee. Peter had denied Jesus three times before His crucifixion, and now Jesus needed to know something. Three times He asks Simon, “Do you love Me?” It would seem that Peter’s sin was not so much a denial of faith as it was a betrayal of love. If Jesus asked you, Do you love Me?, what would you answer?

This past Lord’s day (as I write this), I was battling through some nasty sinus trouble and a bad head cold. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to teach, but the Lord blessed me and provided the strength and health to be able to do so. I’m sure everything wasn’t up to the usual standards, but the Lord was gracious to help us present the lessons. Afterwards, when everyone was filing out there were several who offered “well wishes” that I would get better. “Hope you get better.” “Get well soon.” “Be well.” And other sentiments were expressed which were very kind, and I was thankful that so many were concerned about me as to say something. But as I reflected on all of this, it struck me that not one person said that they would pray for me. (Others with whom I had prior conversation had expressed they would pray for me.) This is not about me and my wanting prayers such as when Paul wrote to the church at Philippi about their supporting him in the gospel (4:17). He wanted them to be fruitful in good works and so increase their “account” before God. We need to be fruitful in every good work. Sentiments are nice, but they are just that - sentiments. What reason would there be why Christians would not offer to pray for another Christian? I would suggest three things. First, we may not be in the habit of praying very much. It’s not what we do. We are too much like the world in just expressing well wishes. “Have a good trip.” “Be safe.” “Have a nice day.” Nice sentiments, but no substance nor power. In the second place, we may not think that prayer will do any good. Now, you say, “But we’re Christians!.” And then I say, “Then why don’t you offer to pray?” Hmmm? Third, to say that we will pray for someone puts us under obligation to keep our word. That means we must remember to pray and then take time to do it. Are we unwilling to do this? These are some of my thoughts. Love to hear from you.

Matthew 14:22-23 Do you wonder about things, and ask questions about the why and how of what happens? I do a lot of that. Recently, one of my previous questions came to mind again when we had to cancel our Sunday assemblies due to weather conditions. We’ve had to do this before, and other congregations have done the same. But here’s my question: If the Lord’s Day assembly around His table is so important, why does God allow bad weather and other circumstances to keep His people from getting together? Ever thought of that? Is it a test? Should we try to make it no matter how severe the weather? Do we jettison the common sense and wisdom which the Lord gave us and sally forth in dangerous conditions? And what is considered “dangerous”? For elderly folks and those who live out on county/township roads and those who don’t own all-wheel drive vehicles and those with infants, etc., the definition is different. So is God unconcerned about the Lord’s Day when the storm howls, or is He perhaps doing something else? I had these thoughts when our Sunday services were cancelled. Shirley and I had our “assembly” at the dining room table. It was very personal, intimate and uplifting. Jesus was there with us. While eating lunch, we watched out the back door as the ice crystals danced in the air reflecting the much-appreciated sun. It was quite a show. And we marveled at the quiet. Hardly anything moving - people, vehicles. God had shut things down. It was time to stop, reflect and be in awe. In our text, we find one of the instances in which Jesus wanted to be alone as well. He sent away the crowds. He compelled His disciples to get in a boat and cross the lake. He went up on the mountain to pray - He and His Father alone. We all need this time with our God alone. Even the very vital Lord’s Day assembly does not provide us time alone with our Lord. When God “shuts everything down,” He is giving us a different worship opportunity. “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Acts 9:36-43 Becoming and then being a Christian starts in the individual person’s heart. There is faith in Christ, the decision to follow Him (repentance) and the submitting to baptism into Christ. What follows is a growing into the image of Jesus, a “putting off” of the old person of sin and a “putting on” of the new person created in righteousness. This new creation begins in the inner person (mind, heart, soul) where knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, desires, etc. all become informed by the word of God, and the individual becomes a Spirit-led person. This inner change is reflected, necessarily, in the words and deeds of the new Christian. The change of heart produces a change in lifestyle. A good husband becomes a better husband. A selfish husband becomes a loving husband. A good wife becomes a better wife. A contentious wife becomes a husband-respecting wife. A lazy person becomes industrious. A thief takes a job: A liar tells the truth. A blame-shifter accepts responsibility. A greedy person becomes a giver. An inward-focused person turns outward. Skills and talents are put into service for the Lord. Tabitha is a great example of this. Scripture says she was a “disciple” who “was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.” We are told that those deeds involved the making of garments of various kinds for those in need. She had made such a great impact upon those in Joppa that when she died the disciples sent to Lydda, where Peter was staying, with the apparent hope that through him God would bring her back to life. Peter came, and God answered Peter’s prayer to give life to her again. Tabitha had become a real disciple of Jesus, employing her gifts for the good of all. And note this well. This was not some organized ministry of the church. This was a Christian woman changed by Christ. She wasn’t waiting for someone to plan some kind of group effort. Her heart was such that she saw needs and did what she could to take care of them. She was truly a disciple.

Proverbs 1:20-33 Solomon wrote: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Too often when we consider this saying and the remainder of this chapter, we end up in a discussion of what the “fear of the Lord” is and tend to miss the main thrust of the section. Certainly there are some varying aspects of the word “fear” from holy awe and reverence to downright dread depending upon the circumstances, but what is the main point? It’s this: one’s reverential fear for the Lord God will lead him/her to pursue the knowledge of God and seek His wisdom and instruction in how to live one’s life. Those who have this “fear of the Lord” will do this. Those who don’t are called fools. In our scripture, wisdom is personified and is depicted as moving among the crowds of people who are going about their daily affairs. She cries out throughout the city, calling for people to turn from their “simple-minded” and “naive” ways of thinking to consider her words of counsel. She is like a street preacher who is trying to warn the masses of their need for the wisdom of God and of the calamities which will befall them because they have refused to listen to her. And it seems that very few want to listen to her words. She has a very dire warning for those who refuse her offer of counsel and reproof. She says that when the storms and distress come upon them because of their refusal to follow her counsel, she will just laugh at what is happening to them. It will be like an “I told you so.” The wisdom of God and the counsel of His word will be standing in judgment upon the people whose “complacency” and desire for “their own way” have brought calamities into their lives. How true this is of so many today. Not only do they reject God’s word but God as well! In so doing, they invite all sorts of trouble into their lives. We see this daily. May we ourselves follow Wisdom’s counsel and also be diligent to teach God’s word to others. In so doing we will “live securely” and help others do the same. ><> Jeff

Revelation 21:5 God has never been satisfied with the status quo when it did not meet with His purposes. He has always been the God of change and new things. The creation was something new. Never before had anything existed outside of the godhead. (Here I am speaking of all things that were created. See Col 1:16.) God brought into existence a host of living things, including man, to accomplish His purposes. When the sin of mankind became so great in Noah’s day, God chose to do something new. He destroyed the earth, its creatures and human kind except for Noah and his family who began a new repopulation of an earth which itself had been significantly changed by the catastrophic forces of the great flood. Within a few generations God began to do something new with a man named Abraham. He chose him, blessed him and made promises to him that all peoples of the world would be blessed through his descendant. But the Hebrew people were always in a state of flux. A descent into Egypt with eventual enslavement. A rescue and a covenant with the Lord at Sinai. A settling in the promised land. Judges ruled first; then a king, the first of which was removed. Then a line of kings through David. But their drift away from God was substantial and continuous. Finally, the kingdom of Israel is removed; then Judah goes into captivity. They return. A rebuilt temple. At last, the Christ comes. He brings in a new covenant and a new law of grace. Those who believe in Him are born again and become a new creation. What does all this mean for us His people? We should never be satisfied to meander along in mediocre ministry and “rut religion.” We are to be ever renewed and renewing ourselves through the Holy Spirit to reach new levels of service and the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Within the boundaries of holy scripture, let us move forward and upward in 2018 to new ventures and loftier vistas in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 2:1-20 Our text is one of the best known and most beloved in scripture. It’s the brief account of the birth of Jesus and the events which surrounded it. But this short narrative contains so much amazing information that we must pause and reflect upon it. First we see God’s hand in the decree of Caesar for a census to be taken. This plays directly into the fulfillment of the prophecy (Micah 5:2) which speaks of Bethlehem’s being the birthplace of the Messiah. Interesting (as always) that God would use a pagan to help fulfill prophecy. Can you beat that?! As Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, it is noteworthy that all the world was also moving at the time. Everyone was returning “to his own city” in order to be registered. People were traveling, routines were interrupted, and plans were put on hold. Imagine, the whole world was in a state of flux when the Savior was born into the world. Can you beat that?! Little did the world know what upheavals would come as a result of what was transpiring in that stable in that little village during this time of their inconvenience. But God wanted the world to know what was happening, and He did it in His own way - as always! He sent angels to make the announcement of the birth of this Babe who was Christ the Lord. But the angels didn’t appear to kings or priests or prophets or to a great throng gathered at the temple, but to some shepherds, at night, out in the fields. Can you beat that?! Frightened at first, then wonderfully curious, they went to find the Child. And when they did we might say that they were the first humans to speak the gospel for they told those who were there what the angel had said - “today...there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” A pagan’s decree, an interrupted world, an obscure couple, a small village, some lowly shepherds out in their fields at night, and the greatest announcement which the world had ever heard! Can you beat that?!

Psalm 23 It was a good old-fashioned scripture reading contest. Designed to get the men and boys more comfortable in front of the congregation and to get them to read the scriptures with clarity and good diction, the contest was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon. The judges had determined that all contestants should read the twenty-third psalm in order not to give anyone a particular advantage. By the time the day came around, almost twenty had signed up for the contest, and it promised to be a good one. There were men and boys of all ages from pre-teen to well up in years. Some had a good bit of experience reading scripture and even giving a sermon or two. Others were just getting started. Some were still students in school while a couple had advanced degrees. It was a good mix. As the competition progressed and each contestant read the psalm, it became apparent that everyone had practiced and taken the affair seriously. The psalm rang out with sharp enunciation and a good rhythm. It was read with fervor and passion, and with varying emphasis as the reader saw fit. Certainly, there were some stumbles and hesitations here and there, but all in all everyone did well. One brother, however, seemed to hold a clear edge. His reading was flawless, strong, easily heard in the whole room and with decisive intonation. Everyone nodded approvingly when he had finished. Even the judges were seen to smile a little. Finally, the last contestant. He was an older brother, but not the oldest of the group. As he approached the podium, many began to shuffle their feet and look at their watches, thinking the contest was over. But with his first few words a hush came over the place. With power, depth, warmth - rising and falling with the flow of the psalm, he read without effort. Nobody spoke. Some came to tears. Others found it hard to breathe. The judges pronounced him the winner. “What was the difference in the two?” someone asked. “The first knew the psalm. The second knew the Shepherd.”

Genesis 2:7 Few of us pause from our full and hurried lives to reflect upon how we came to be here. We just kind of assume our existence. We certainly realize that our moms and dads were instrumental in our conception, birth and upbringing. We may concur with biblical teaching that we were created by God and are not some type of advanced arthropods who have come to be accidentally upon the earth. However, have we ever paused to consider the implications of the words of Genesis 2:7? Please take time to read this. We note first of all that the creation of man is an act of God Himself. It was His will to create the human race, and unless that desire had been in His heart, we would not be here! (We are not attempting here to address God’s purposes in doing this.) David takes that thought to the individual level when he speaks of God’s forming him in his mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-15). Truly, God has formed every one of us. And this corresponds with our next thought from Genesis 2:7, that God “formed man of dust from the ground.” This indicates something different in the creation of man than with the animals of which scripture says that God just spoke them into existence. This certainly is no small feat, but the one man Adam was formed by God. Then we read that God did something of which it is not said of any other living thing. He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” We know that all life and breath comes from God (Psalm 104:27-30), but this appears to be something special and intimate which God did with the man whom He had formed. God personally breathed life into him! What a marvelous and thrilling thought! God personally willed, personally formed and personally gave life to Adam, our ancestor. How incredibly special is life! We conclude that life is a gift from God. You and I are gifts from God. We are here simply because He wants us to be here! What a glorious gift! What a glorious God! Praise Him!

Matthew 4:5-7 Jesus loved His heavenly Father and was careful to do only those things which He saw His Father doing and which were contained in His will. During His temptation, the devil took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and dared Him to throw Himself off to prove that He was the Son of God. In the devil’s warped mind, God would have to obey His own word and send angels to prevent Jesus from being injured in such a plunge. Jesus, however, does not see the scripture as something by which we should test God to find out if He would keep His word, but as a blessed promise of the faithfulness of our heavenly Father to all of us. It’s fairly easy to see this explanation about not putting God to the test. However, in our own lives it isn’t always so easy to see when we might be putting our heavenly Father to the test. We can drive 50mph on an icy, snow-covered road and expect God to keep us from having an accident. We can maintain poor diets, not get enough sleep and exercise, and ask God for good health and long life. We can smoke cigarettes and pray that we won’t get lung cancer or hardening of the arteries. We can spend minimal time with our spouse and pray that we have a wonderful marriage. We can pamper our children, fail to correct them and teach them God’s way, and pray that they will grow up to be Christians. We can leave our Bibles closed on the table and hope that we will get to know God and His word. We can look at porn on a regular basis and expect that our marriage and our spiritual life will not be affected. We can use the years God has given us in self-gratifying pursuits and a “go to church on Sunday” religion, and expect God to usher us through the gates of heaven.

2 Corinthians 9:15 One of the measures of a man which God considers is his generosity (Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, et al). The capacity of one’s heart to give is a reflection of the kind of heart which a person has. In looking into the hearts of men and women as they are challenged with opportunities to give, God is doing nothing more than inviting us to examine His own heart from whence all giving originated. To Abraham the Lord affirmed a covenant: “...I will make you the father of a multitude of nations...” (Genesis 17:5). In the wilderness the Lord sustained complaining Israel with manna of which everyone had enough to eat. David was given the promise that one of his descendants would forever occupy the throne of the Lord. Solomon received wisdom that others journeyed for days to hear. When Jesus fed the 5000, twelve baskets of leftovers were collected. Let no person ever say of God that He is stingy! And consider this. When the human race needed rescued from its self-inflicted sin dilemma, the Lord God did not drop a book out of the sky and say, “Here, read this.” He didn’t let down a rope ladder out of heaven and tell us to climb up. He didn’t send some angels to talk with us about our problem. God sent exactly what we needed - and more! He sent us His own Son!! When we needed saved, God sent the Savior. When we needed to find the path home, God sent the Way. When we needed to know reality, God sent the Truth. When we needed to be freed from the fear of death, God sent the Life. When we needed forgiveness, God sent the Lamb of God. When we needed to overcome the grave, God sent the Resurrection. When we needed to hear the voice of God, He sent the Word. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!