Cup A Joe

Dirty Harry

  I almost lost my big toe. Want to hear about it?

  Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. It all started with a car jacking. My car. Getting jacked. Or so I thought. I usually get a cup of coffee on the way to work each morning. I had to find a place that is open before 6:00 a.m. to get it but I have found just such a place. It is not far out of the way of my normal drive to work but it is in kind of a rough part of town. Well, a few days before Christmas, I pulled into a parking lot at this store and I was met by a big dude with a big gun pointed right at my face. He told me to get out of the car and walk behind the store. I went. Scared to death. When we got back there, he placed the barrel directly above my nose and between my eyes.

   I said nervously, "You can have my wallet and...and my car." He replied through clenched teeth, "I don't want your (bad word) wallet."

  I recognized this guy. I had actually seen him a few times at our church. I believe that I actually spoke to Him a time or two but couldn't remember his name. For the sake of this story and because of that big ole gun he was pointing at my face, we'll call him Dirty Harry.

  I asked Dirty Harry, "Well then what do you want?" He then said words that shocked me, "I want you to deny Christ."

  "What? What do you mean?" I stuttered. "You know exactly what I mean," he hissed. "I want you to look straight into my eyes and say that you don't believe in Jesus Christ. If you don't, I am going to put a bullet in your brain."

  I closed my eyes. I prayed silently, "Lord help me. I can't do what he's asking. GIVE ME STRENGTH!" Suddenly a calmness came over me and with my eyes still closed, I saw a quick vision of a flame and a viciously beaten, unrecognizable and bloody mess of a man on a cross. Don't know what that was but I was suddenly ready. I slowly opened my eyes. My eyes found his and I said very clearly and confidently, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is the Savior of the World."

  He suddenly grabbed me by the back of the neck and whispered angrily in my ear,"Don't give me that crap. Open your mouth." Didn't know what that meant but figured he wanted me to open my mouth and say the words he had commanded. When he let go of my neck and stood back in front of me, he pointed the gun between my feet and fired. It was a deafening roar that echoed through the quiet parking lot. It scared me to death and left about a six inch wide hole in the ground, just about an inch from the bottom of my big toe.

  I looked down at the hole and saw it suddenly fill with a slightly foamy, clear liquid. I suddenly realized that I had wet my pants. My legs then buckled and I guess I began to faint but this big man grabbed my shirt, along with a few chest hairs and pushed me hard against the wall. He then repeated his request, "Open your mouth." I did and he put the gun barrel in my mouth. I felt it, or I actually felt the gun sight at the front tip of the barrel, push hard into the back/top of my mouth. I actually heard it bang against my "molars" or whatever you call the teeth towards the back. He then said, "You get one more chance. Are you gonna deny Him, yes or no?" Weakly but surely, I shook my head no. I then closed my eyes, silently asked the Lord to take care of my family and waited for an explosion and then, death.

   Suddenly, he pulled the gun out of my mouth, let go of my shirt and backed a step or two away. Then, in his normal voice he said, "Mr. Smith, I am terribly sorry but I want to talk to someone about Jesus and I have heard a lot of Bull(squat) talk from a lot of bull(squat) religious people and this time I had to be sure that I was talking to a true believer. Would you PLEASE forgive me and talk to me about Him?"

  I stood there and blinked at him a few times. I then took one quick step forward and then kicked him in his forbidden zone with the tip of my steel-toed work boot. As he doubled over from the intense pain and let out a loud cry, I hit him with a vicious right cross that landed about halfway between his left ear and the tip of his chin. He and the gun hit the ground hard. I then jumped over his body, standing with one foot on either side of his head. I then bent down and began lightly slapping his face, because he was a little woozy from the punch. I said, "Hey. HEY!! You dumb jerk. Can you hear me?" He shook his head yes. I then said, "I've got to go home and change my pants and I am already late for work because of your dumb little trick. But if you really want to talk, meet me at 5:00 at the Old Dunkin' Donuts. I'm not gonna tell the cops about this unless you don't show. Hear me? Do you UNDERSTAND what I just said!?

  He managed to whisper a very painful "Yes sir, thank you."

  So I left him there. I ran to the car and headed home. On the way, it suddenly hit me that I had not denied my Savior in what I knew would be the worst moment of my entire life. I fell apart. I had to pull over into the Sonic parking lot in the pitch black dark so as not to endanger the other drivers on the road. I then proceeded to have a big, fat Cry/Praise-a-thon. Glorious!!

   I want tell you any more but I will tell you that Dirty Harry received Christ that day at about, Ohhh, 6:20 PM while drinking coffee and eating nasty donuts with a true Christian whose authenticity he had tested himself.

  And one more thing I will tell you and that is that, of course, this story is not true.

 Tomorrow we will begin Chapter 13 and that is the chapter in which Jesus tells Peter that he will deny him three times. We kind of give ole Pete a hard time about that sometimes but I really believe that if Peter had been "Me" in the above story, he would not have denied Christ either. After all, just maybe an hour or so before he denied Christ three times, when the guards first came to arrest Jesus, Peter pulled a sword and sliced off the ear of one of the guards. He would have kept swinging that sword too, if Jesus hadn't stopped him. But later in the night, while Jesus was inside being interrogated by the religious officers, Peter snuck into the outside courtyard to try and see if he could hear what was going on inside. He was straining to hear without revealing his interest, he was fretting over Jesus and what might happen to Him and was caught off guard when He was first asked, "Aren't you one of His?" 

  After the first denial, the next two came in quick succession. Immediately the cock crowed and Jesus suddenly turned His head away from His accusers and looked at His beloved friend. Both of their hearts were broken. Jesus then headed to the cross and Peter headed to the countryside alone to experience heartbreak that I can't even imagine.

  I'd like to tell you another, much more believable, personal story. It won't be long at all. I promise.

  Today I woke up in a bad mood. Something set me off and I yelled at my wife. I stopped to get my coffee on the way to work and flirted with Miss Prettylittlething at check out because she was wearing a plunging neckline thingy. Hey, I'm a man. I couldn't resist. I thought about her the first hour of work and told one of my work buddies about her. He said he knew some delicious stories about her. He told me a few and I gobbled them up. That led to a few sly little sex jokes that I laughed uproariously at even when the boy whose salvation I had been praying for, walked up. He joined the fun with a few jokes of his own. Pretty funny stuff really. 

  Then during the rest of the day, with all this talking and laughing during work, I realized that I had made a few bad parts on my machine. I make thousands of these parts a day, so I knew that I could hide the bad parts with the good and nobody would ever know. Problem solved. Then at lunch, I felt guilty about yelling at my wife, so I called her to apologize. But her attitude didn't seem to lighten much after my apology, so I ended up hanging up on her. The weekends are when me and her have our "ALONE" time with each other if you get my drift. That's the real reason I had tried to apologize anyway. Now I even messed that up and would experience a somewhat different meaning of "alone."

  When I got home that evening, the phone rang and Cheryl answered it. She then came into the room I was in and whispered to me that Mr. Bob Somewhatcranky was on the line from the church wanting to know if He could take me out to dinner to discuss some church issues. I whispered back to her that she should tell him that I wasn't home and you didn't know when I would be home and that my cell phone was broke and that I had an emergency at work that might last all night or maybe even all weekend and not to ride by work to see me because even though my car wasn't at work, I was and I was too busy to stop and talk to him for even one second. But also be sure to tell him how I will be so upset when I find out that I missed his call. She did it, too. She told a little, teeny, white lie for me. God bless her.

   I then walked into my study and found myself staring at my Bible...again. This time it actually spoke to me. It said, "You know I am the Word of Almighty God, right?" I went over and wrote on the Bible with my finger, you know the way you write on a dusty car windshield that hasn't been touched in a while. On my Bible, I wrote on the dusty leather book cover the words "Soon Lord" and I actually believed it. It made me feel much better, too.

  That night I stayed up late after everyone else went to bed and found myself surfing through some of the "Bad" channels. Not to see any nekkidness(that means naked, yankee), mind you. Just looking for a decent movie. But dang wouldn't you know, Angelina Jolie suddenly passed by and she was nekkid. I kept going but then it suddenly hit me that my wife was not real happy with me so I probably "deserved" to see a little bit of nekkidicity. After all, I'm only human and a MAN human at that. I couldn't resist.

  So let's see, Peter denied Jesus 3 times on his worst day. I denied him what, 12-15-20 times and it was just a normal, average, nothing special day.

  Only one thing in either of these "stories" about "me" is true and that is:

  "Dirty Harry" IS looking for a true Christian to talk to.

 

Sons of Light

  Will finish Chapter 12 tonight. Better put on a seat belt for Chapters 13-21. 

  Verse 31-Now is the time for Judgement of this world- Jesus is dying on the cross as a judgement for our sins, all of our sins, the sins of the world. If I ever think that my sin isn't a big deal, I look at the cross. If I ever get a bad break and think that Jesus doesn't care or doesn't love me, I look at the cross. I have settled in my mind forever, that Jesus loves me, because of the cross.

  The prince of this world is Satan himself. This world, the world that you see and experience everyday, is currently ruled by Satan. Think about that. Understanding that will unlock a lot of truths for you. Jesus will not drive out Satan totally until He returns but the cross is the beginning of that process.

   Verse 32 is sometimes misinterpreted to mean everyone will be saved but this is one of those verses that must be further explained elsewhere in the Bible. Universalists preach that all will be saved but that can't be true if Matthew 7:13-14 is also true. Jesus speaking:

 ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

  What most commentators believe Jesus means and what the Bible itself teaches that this means is that Jesus is not just the Jewish Messiah or Savior but the Savior of the whole world. Men(human beings) from ALL nations, all races, all cultures will now be drawn to Christ once He is literally lifted up on the cross. They must just look to Him and His horrible/wonderful cross and believe.

   In verses 35-36 Jesus again goes back to His description of Himself as THE light in this dark world. Is this world not dark, even today? He is the light and if we believe in Him we are "Sons of Light". 

 1st John:6-7- If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

  What is the darkness I walk in now? If he doesn't let me know, if he doesn't shine the light, I won't even realize that I am walking in darkness. Kinda scary but scary kinda forces me to cling to Him. A good thing.

  Verse 37-Even now, after 3 years of miracles and perfect teaching, most of the Jews did not believe. In Verse 38 and 40, Isaiah, writing 600 years earlier, explains why. God has hardened their hearts to Jesus' message. 

Voice in my head: HEY!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!!

Me: OK, well Jesus had to be rejected by the Jews before he could offer Salvation to the Gentiles. That's me and you, baby.

Voice: But why? It's Jesus. He can do it however he wants.

Me: You just said it.

Voice: Said WHAT!?

Me: It's Jesus. He can do it however He wants.

Voice: Alrighty then....Well played.

Me: Thank you

  Verse 47 and then we are done. Again Jesus is saying he didn't come (this time) to judge the world. Judgement was passed on the world long ago, during the time of Adam. Jesus has come to save FROM this judgement on sin and that judgement is DEATH. The second judgement, the one where Jesus DOES judge the world (Book of Revelation) is just a judgement on all those that wouldn't except Jesus saving us during this visit, His first visit that ended with the cross.

 

²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”   Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. ³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. ³⁴ The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” ³⁵ Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. ³⁶ Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. ³⁷ Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. ³⁸ This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

   “Lord, who has believed our message 
   and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

 ³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

 ⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes 
   and deadened their hearts, 
so they can neither see with their eyes, 
   nor understand with their hearts, 
   nor turn—and I would heal them.”

 ⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. ⁴² Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. ⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.   ⁴⁷ “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.

 

More Johnny P. below. This is on John 3:16-21 but is explaining my darkness and Jesus light as only he can. Spectacular! 

 

 

Palm Sunday

   For those of you that went to Sunday school when you were a kid, what is happening in today's scripture reading, is what we used to celebrate as Palm Sunday. You probably got a little cross made of palm leaves with a pin for attaching it to your lapel or pretty little dress.

   Hosanna comes from a Hebrew word Hoshana meaning please save or save now. Here it means that the one who will save us is here. The Saver or Savior is here. The quote in verse 15 is from the Old Testament book written by the prophet of the same name, Zechariah. It was written some 550 years before Jesus is riding this donkey into Jerusalem.

  Verse 19 is another verse that reveals the true heart of the Jewish leaders. No concern but that He is becoming greater, in the people's eyes, than they are.

  Verses 25 and 26 are two very important verses. These are two clarification verses. I call them that because these are so tough and if you don't study this MAN and the things He actually said, you will be fooled. Hating your life means that if anything gets between you and Jesus, you must hate it. Hate it enough to get rid of it, to kill it, so to speak. I think I've already used this quote in this study but it is worth another look:

 “Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. … Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’” -C. S Lewis, baby.

  Jesus means the natural self, your life, even the stuff you think is OK, He wants it gone. He hates it and He wants you to hate it, so that together, you can kill it. Get rid of it. I say together because He is not gonna get rid of it is against your will. And your will, is another way of saying your natural self or your life. The Lord's Prayer says, Thy will be done, not mine. Verse 26 is a "the reverse is also true" statement. In other words my Father will not honor the one who does not serve me. That's tough but Jesus is the King of tough love. He really wants you; ALL of you.

  I love verse 27 because Jesus is troubled. He is scared of the horrible pain He is getting ready to go through. It makes it easier for me to serve Him, knowing He is scared of suffering in this way. But He came here to suffer on our behalf, cause He loves us. Isaiah 53 is a great and short read, a prophecy of Jesus, the suffering Messiah.

  I think I'll stop here tonight because I really want you to go read Isaiah 53 and I really want you to spend a moment on verses 25-26 below and ask yourself some questions. It's not a bad thing to admit yucky truths about yourself, especially when it is Jesus' words in scripture that are pointing this out for you. It's the only way to grow the way Jesus wants us to grow.

 

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,   “Hosanna!”   “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”   “Blessed is the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,

 ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; 

   see, your king is coming, 

   seated on a donkey’s colt.”

 ¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. ¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” ²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.   ²⁷ “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

  John Piper is the king of American Pastors and he lived in Anderson for a while when he was a youngin'. You can safely soak yourself in his teachings. You can get there at the top right of Cup A Joe.

 

 

 

The Outlaw

  I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday. I know I promised the "Money" post over the holiday but I am having a real problem with a few graphics that are imperative to my writing the post the way I want to. I know that makes me a dirty, rotten, filthy liar but I just can't post it yet.

 

MOM! Joey doesn't have his life jacket on! MOM! Joey's on the roof! MOM! Joey's wearing your clothes, AGAIN!!

Hey! How'd that last one get in here. That last one is NOT true. I SWEAR!!

I've been tattled on and usually it was deserved but never for raising the dead.

MOM! Joey's raising people from the DEAD! That just sounds wrong on so many levels.

Of the group of people that witnessed Jesus raising someone from the dead, many believed, as you might would expect. But others, unbelievably, run and tell the Pharisees and the Pharisees reaction kinda' shows where their heart has been at for these 3 years of Jesus' ministry. They haven't been concerned with someone coming and leading the people astray. They weren't concerned that there was a heretic on the loose, changing the great teaching of Moses that was the Hebrew religion. No. They were afraid that the people would deem him more "popular" and they would lose their "standing" in the community as is made clear in verse 48. So Jesus now becomes an Outlaw-Wanted: Dead.

   The problem with the Pharisees, at this point, is a most common one. Every time that they see a miracle or hear a teaching of Jesus and don't surrender to Him, completely, their heart gets a little harder and less open to Him. And we are like that, too. We sit in church for years and hear about Him but if hearing about him doesn't lead to total and complete surrender, the heart gets harder. Or if we come to Him again and again but don't surrender, it gets harder and harder to surrender at all. We seem to think that it is ok, to keep Jesus waiting but it's not. Jesus doesn't like to be flirted with. He only wants total commitment.

   In this group of religious, arrogant blowhards, Caiaphas would be the chief blowhard, the blowhard of blowhards, Don Blowhardio, the mayor of Blowhardville. He is the one that will oversee Jesus' trial and will ask Jesus whether He is the Christ, the son of the Living God. Jesus' positive response to this question causes Caiaphas to dramatically tear his garments and condemn Jesus. He will also later have His battles with Jesus' disciples, once having John and Peter flogged. And then God did what he often does, he used an enemy to glorify Himself. Like Pharaoh. Like Judas. With Him or against Him, God can use you for His purposes. Might as well be with Him, yeah? He causes Caiaphas' statement endorsing Jesus' death to be a prophecy of just why Jesus came to the earth. It's amazing:

 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!  You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

 

   So we move on to the 12th chapter below and we enter the last week of Jesus' life on earth. Can you jump John 11:45-57? It's only about 7 inches. I know you can make it.  I'll meet you on the other side, my friends. Go ahead everyone, JUMP:

 John 11:45-57- Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.   “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵² and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to take his life. ⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. ⁵⁵ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think?  Isn't he coming to the Feast at all?” ⁵⁷ But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.

   Did everyone make it? OUTSTANDING!!

  Are you weirded out because Jesus is sitting at a table eating with a man that used to be dead. Don't be. Happens all the time in the spiritual sense.

  Martha here gets caught serving again. This time, Mary isn't sitting at her Master's feet, soaking in His words. This time, she is using her hair to apply expensive perfume to His dirty, dusty feet. Mary seems to get it. One of the disciples, who have now been with Jesus for 3 years and have seen and heard it all, obviously doesn't get it. Judas, talks about the poor and sacrificing for the poor and selling this expensive perfume for money to give to the poor. All great things to do. WE should do those things. But the guy suggesting these good things is about to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The guy who said these things will be dead in a week of suicide. He heard every sermon and he saw every miracle. He prayed with Jesus and slept in the same room with God Almighty. But: 

John 15:5- I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

  That doesn't mean you can't do anything. That doesn't mean you can't give to the poor or volunteer at church or the Lot Project or teach kid's Bible stories. What it means is if you are not IN CHRIST and He is not IN YOU, none of it matters. Not even a little bit.

Romans 8:1- Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:27- To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

    In this culture, the culture during the time of Jesus, a women's hair was of great importance, a sign of her feminine beauty. Mary is saying here, that she surrender's all, that nothing is more important to her than Jesus. And washing someone's feet, which Jesus will do very soon for His disciples, is saying that there is no task to low, if it will glorify my Master. And Jesus tells Judas that it is proper, what she is doing. He says, "You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me". The poor can wait?! This expensive perfume can be used to wash feet?! Only Jesus can say these things and it make any sense at all?

  One last thing to point out, then we'll be done:

  Lazarus, is there. A living, walking miracle that proves that Jesus is the master of Death itself. And many believed in Jesus because of what He did in bringing Lazarus back from the dead. And the Pharisees want to kill Lazarus because of the people believing in Jesus  as a result of this miracle. Really nothing to add to that.

 

John 12:1-11- Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.   ⁷ “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸ You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” ⁹ Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹ for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

 

   

A Deep Sleep.

  It's all here. The teaching about Jesus as the light, His mastery over death, an incredible miracle, His close friends and disciples still not truly knowing and understanding Him and His deep, emotional love for His friends. Oh how I want to be a better friend to Him.

 Lazarus and His sisters, Martha and Mary, were close friends of Jesus. There is a wonderful short story about these two here. The lesson in that story is don't be so busy working for Jesus that you miss Jesus.

   This miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead is chock full of good little lessons. One is, that if a man is prayed up and walking THE path, He is not going to make the horrible mistake of doing something very good when something great is there for the doing. And make no mistake, Jesus was a devout prayer. The night before He chose His disciples, He prayed by Himself all night. The night before his murder, He prayed most of the night. The Gospels are full of times when Jesus left the disciples sleeping, as He went off before dawn to pray alone or up a mountain to pray alone. Kinda makes my excuses for not praying seem rather dumb. If the Son of God feels the constant need to pray... I'm ridiculous. 

  Anyhoo, this whole idea of choosing the great over good is important. Jesus could have left immediately upon hearing that His friend Lazarus was sick. He could have gotten there in a nick of time and saved the day by healing Him. That would have been good. Heck, that would have been great! But Jesus waited. He didn't want to get there until Lazarus was dead. He didn't want to get there until Lazarus was real dead, four days dead, rotting and stinking D-E-A-D, dead. I'm sure that when His Father gave Him instructions, the night before, when Jesus was talking to Him about it, that Jesus was filled with Joy but also some trepidation. He had to feel great Joy that He was getting ready to give the greatest gift one friend had ever given another. But having the patience to wait, knowing the incredible but temporary pain He was going to have to let His friends go through, so they could have the incredible gift of knowing Him better, had to be excruciating for Him. It's still like that, friends.

   God disciplines me and it is usually quite specific. Whenever I first enter into a season of discipline, it usually sends my world, in some area, spinning out of control. I usually attribute it to bad luck or something else but usually I come to the realization, that God is changing something in me and it is usually something that I didn't realize about my self. It's very hard, Jesus showing me ugly stuff about me. But eventually, as I become more and more sure that this is God, I will buckle down and get to work on whatever it is. The whole process is tough but I go from out of control, to mad, to confused, to recognizing God's hand, to repenting and asking forgiveness, to buckling down and listening...to something so sweet and personal that I can't describe it to another human. I know Jesus better. He taught me. He was there all along. He loves me enough to show me my gunk and help me clean it up.

   This story has always helped. Jesus hurts when He allows me to hurt, even though He knows the good that is coming. That really helps even though I know it will be a lifelong process. He really knew what He was doing when this was the first verse I memorized after I was saved:

Philipians 1:6- being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

  So hang in there, whoever you are.

  Jesus has forgotten us. Why didn't He come? I know what He is doing is important but He's our friend. He loved Lazarus.

  Rejection. If you are Jesus' friend, He doesn't reject you He just doesn't give you everything you think you need because he knows best. Period. If you are not Jesus' friend, how in the world have you gotten this far in this study without rectifying that. Wowser!

   Jesus is a strong man. He never cried for the Pharisees. He never cried over Judas betraying Him. He never cried over the life He had to live. But here, a very strong man, a very tough man, cries for His friends. It seems the best cries are bittersweet. This one had the bitter of seeing loved ones hurting but I really think they are mostly the sweet tears of great Joy. Knowing what He knew about what He was getting ready to do, how could they not have been tears of pure JOY!? Can you see the clean trail of tears down His dusty face. You can almost see Him stifle a giggle of sweet anticipation.

Colossians 2:12-14- For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

 I played a round of golf once in Barnwell. On the front nine I was a dead man but somewhere on the back nine Jesus shouted:

Joey, COME OUT!!

John 11- Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.” ¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.  ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” ²⁸ And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.   “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.    “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.   Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

 

Theme from a Spaghetti Western

  Did anyone catch the eclipse last night? I walked outside around 4:00 AM in my boxers and T-shirt(you're welcome for the visual). I looked up and said "Yep" and walked back in and went to sleep.

  The ancient Chinese used to think that a giant dragon was eating the moon when Eclipses happened in the past. They would actually shoot canons at the moon to try and scare the invisible dragon away. They are recorded as doing this as late as the 1800's. It seems so stupid now that we know it is actually the cookie monster that eats the moon....Dragons!? People sure were stupid in the olden days. 

  I think this might be my favorite chapter in the whole Bible. However, I am not gonna have time to write tonight. I will do this wonderful chapter tomorrow night. I am not sure what the schedule will be over the holidays. We are getting ready to hit some awesome stuff in the next few chapters as we head to the Cross. I know many will be busy and traveling, so I may not cover another chapter until Monday. I really don't want you to miss chapters 12-14. I will definitely post the long promised "Money" post for sure. I've pasted chapter 11 about Lazarus if you want to read ahead.

   At the bottom is the theme from one of my favorite movies, "Once upon a Time in the West" with the great Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards and directed by Sergio Leone. Beautiful stuff.

 

John 11- Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  ⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. ⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” ⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” ⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.” ¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” ¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.  ²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” ²⁸ And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. ³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.   “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.    “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.   Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

 

 

 

The Gate

 

  There will be a total eclipse of the full moon tonight. A lunar eclipse. And this one is special because it is the first one to happen on the same day as the winter solstice (Dec. 21st) in 372 years. There is a good little lesson that a lunar eclipse illustrates.

  If Jesus is the Sun, then you could say that we as believers are the moon, reflecting His light. But sometimes we don't reflect His light and for the same reason that we have lunar eclipses; The World gets in the way.

 John 10- Jesus now begins His famous teaching on sheep and the shepherd. The first 16 verses echo the teaching of John 14:6:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

  In verse 7 Jesus says ,"I tell you the Truth, I am the gate for the sheep." The sheep pen is the Kingdom and no one will enter except under the terms set by Jesus. This is another place that it is imperative that we understand that Jesus is who He says He is and I am who He says I am. I know I say that often but here is an example of a place where, if we don't realize this, we will miss the importance of what Jesus is saying.

  I'll just ask a few questions based on certain verses:

Verse 4: Do you recognize His voice?

Verse 5: Would you recognize a strangers voice? Even if that stranger said things that were very close to what Jesus said. How would you know?

Matthew 7:15- Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Acts 20:29(Paul speaking)- I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

  How would you recognize a wolf that was in sheep's clothing. That description insinuates that they would be difficult to spot. I got the following little story from Henry Blackaby. He was Canadian:

  One of the jobs of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is to recognize fake money. They have an entire division devoted to this. You would think that they would study all of the ways that money could look different but they don't. The only thing they study is real money. They study it until they know exactly what the "real thing" looks like. That way, when a bogus bill is inspected, they can spot the difference immediately.

   My first few years as a Christian, I studied cults and religions a great deal. I studied Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, Prosperity Gospel, Catholicism, Jim Jones, David Koresh, Jehovah's Witness and all kinds of false teachings. But if my interest was in spotting a false teaching, I learned that all I really needed to study was the Bible. If you get to know that, then any false teaching or false teacher will be easy to spot. This mirrors another teaching: 

1st Peter 5:8(Peter speaking)- Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

  What Jesus is saying is that all other shepherds are people that Satan is using to fool you. What He is also saying is that if you don't cling to Him, you will be fooled. Satan is smarter than you and any group of you. You can't hope to outsmart him. You can only hope to be wiser than Him and whoever He may send your way. To recognize Jesus' voice you must study His voice and His voice is found in this Bible.

 Verse 10 I have highlighted and it is an example of a teaching that has been twisted by wolves in sheep's clothing. The King James Version of the Bible states this verse like this:

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

  And that verse has become the cornerstone verse of the Prosperity Gospel, the blab and grab it crowd. Essentially their interpretation is that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy and to have an easy life. And if you don't it is because of a lack of faith. But anyone who knows their Bible will immediately recognize this teaching as completely false:

• Stephen gave one speech and was stoned to death
• Paul was stoned, whipped five times with whips and twice with rods, shipwrecked three times, beaten, jailed, bitten by a snake, always on the run and eventually beheaded.
• John the Baptist lived in the desert and ate honey and locust. He had a short season of ministry and then was jailed and beheaded.
• All of the disciples but John were executed

  Is that the abundant life, the full life that we are being taught these days? No. The abundant life is being able to face these horrors with head held high and joy in our heart because we know we are doing hard, tough work for Jesus. Knowing at the end, He will welcome us by saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Can a life be any fuller than that?

  Verse 16 speaks of us, the Gentiles. We are the other sheep but for right now, He is speaking to the Jewish sheep.

Verse 18 is just saying that Jesus is in control of this whole shindig. They can't kill Him against His will but He is laying it down for His sheep.

Verse 24- Unbelievably, these Jewish leaders ask, "Uh, are you the Christ or not?" Jesus 1st points to the Miracles and why not? What else could these miracles mean? He then tells them that they are not understanding Him, not hearing His voice, because they were not His sheep. It is not "politically correct" preaching to talk of Hell and tell someone they are going there but that is exactly what Jesus has told these respected men.

Verses 29-32- I love these verses especially verse 32 where Jesus shows a little righteous sarcasm. I wish my sarcasm could be so righteous.

  The picture at the bottom was taken about 10 days ago out the back of my place of employment, around 7:20 AM.

 ¹ “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. ³ The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. ⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.   ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.   ¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” ¹⁹ At these words the Jews were again divided. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” ²¹ But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” ²² Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴ The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.” ³¹ Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, ³² but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” ³³ “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶ what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? ³⁷ Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. ³⁸ But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” ³⁹Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. ⁴⁰ Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed ⁴¹ and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.” ⁴² And in that place many believed in Jesus.

 

   

Time and I Don't Know

There is a lot of power in the words "I don't know". Depending on how you use those words, they can be very liberating. So I would like to introduce you to Apophis:

  



 Apophis is an asteroid. It is roughly the length of the Empire State Building at a little over 1,100 feet long. When scientist first discovered this asteroid in 2004, they calculated that is had a 3% chance of colliding with the earth. If this asteroid were to hit earth, it would unleash power equivalent to 880 megatons. The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in World War 2 has a yield of a fraction of one megaton. An explosion of that magnitude, if it hit in the center of the Southeastern United States, say Atlanta, Ga., would cause the extinction of all Rednecks. Seriously, that would leave a crater roughly the size of Georgia and you would be dead.

  It is calculated to hit or have a near miss encounter with our planet on Friday the 13th of April, 2029. I'm 44 now. I will be 63 then. Since it's discovery, it's course has been recalculated to have only a 1 in 250,000 chance of hitting us. That is much better odds. However, it will fly closer to earth than our communication satellites that are now orbiting the earth and that will be close enough to the earth that our gravity will cause the path of the asteroid to bend, putting it on a different path. This new path has scientist concerned that when Apophis passes this way again, in April 2036, it may be an even greater risk for a catastrophic encounter with the earth. By then I will be 70 and probably want care.

Did you know that?

You have never seen a star, you have seen the light from a star. Almost all stars are at least several thousand light years away, and most are millions if not billions of light years away. What that means to you, Mr. or Mrs. Stargazer, is that when you look up and see a star you are not actually seeing a star but the light from that star. So if you are looking at say the star that Scientists call Deneb, which is one of the 20 brightest stars in our night sky, the light that is just now reaching your eyeball has been traveling through space for about 1,550 years.  Since all of the heavenly bodies are always moving, there is no telling where that star is now.

  The thing you see as a star is actually the light from that star. Those stars that scientist say are billions of years old that we can see with powerful telescopes, probably don't even exist anymore. Light travels at a certain speed in the vacuum of space and I can't remember exactly what that speed is but the vacuum of space means that there are no outside forces, like gravity, that might change that speed, the speed of light. That light speed has been measured as far a way as 13.7 billions light years away and that is why scienstists now say our universe is at least 13.7 billion years old and that is one of the the main reason most "intelligent" people don't believe in the God of your Bible. 

 Did you know that?

  Many of you have a GPS system in your car. GPS stands for Global Positioning System. There are 24 Satellites circling our earth in precisely placed orbits that will pick up signals from your GPS and send back information telling you where your are and how to get where you are going. Probably invented by a woman because men don't need directions. The Satellites are each constructed with an ATOMIC clock, the most precise clock that man has yet created. This clock is set to run a few nanoseconds(small fraction of a second) faster than the clocks we have on earth because the gravity on earth causes time to run slower than it does in space. These atomic clocks are also constantly being adjusted to account for this loss of time. If this wasn't accounted for, this slowing of time, eventually you would be driving in Honea Path but your GPS would say Anderson, a mistake no one wants to make. Confused? Maybe this will help:

Still confused? Well I don't why you would want to but you can go to this article and it may help. It is the best article I've read for explaining this without all the equations and the big words.

  Did you know all this? Did you know that scientist have now proven(and seen) the existence of Black Holes and are now saying that most mature galaxies, like ours, have a large black hole at it's center. These phenomena are called "Black" because they are areas that are so incredibly dense and therefore have such strong gravitational pulls that nothing, not even light, can escape. Not only that, the scientists say that black holes are so dense and the gravity so great that time almost completely stops inside of a black hole. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! But the link I have given you on Black Holes(few sentences back) is helpful and easy(sorta) to understand. So when I say that Gravity can bend light or "pull" light or can change the course of an asteroid or can literally effect how we experience time, well, that should be pretty interesting to you.

Did you already know any of this? Were you aware that an extinction size asteroid was bearing down on us and our children. Well, don't be afraid:

Revelation 8:8-9- The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

  Ok. Maybe be a little afraid.

 

  
All of these little bits of information are just examples of observable proof of Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity. This theory is no longer theory or at least large parts of it are not. This theory, in a nut shell, is just a Mathematical (Advanced Physics) explanation of how gravity, light, space and time are all interrelated. The Brainiac Hall of Fame is called the Albert Einstein Brainiac Hall of Fame. He was the greatest mind to ever live and even today, we are still trying to catch up with His ideas. Here is an interesting quote from Him:

 

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are never the less pretty Childish. For me, the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions" (Einstein was Jewish).

 

:This is Stephen Hawking. He wrote an incredible book called A Brief History of Time that gave me cramps in my brain. Stephen is maybe the smartest person alive today. He, as much as anyone, has expounded upon and even improved upon the ideas of Albert and made them somewhat understandable for the common man. I highly recommend his book because it gave me a greater appreciation of the Creator. Here is an interesting quote from him

"So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?" 

 

 

 

This is Jesus Christ. He's real smart too. He is a Creator. He knows all the things that Albert and Stephen are striving to know but he hasn't revealed it to them or anyone else yet. Here is a little quote about him. 

John 1:2-3- He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

This means that he created the Grand Canyon, my little girls almond shaped eyes, strawberries, the color royal blue, Angelina Jolie's face, the Apophis asteroid, grass, trees, the beach, my wife's laugh, depression, the moon, grief, corn on the cob, joy and some other stuff.

  But he also created gravity, light, space, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and time. So Albert and the boys know a lot more about time than I do but Jesus knows infinitely more about time than Big Al, being the creator of it and all. He created time as some kind of a box that we all live in. So we can only understand time as it is contained in this box. You were born. You graduated high school. You're reading this blog. You will die. There is a past, present and future. If someone were to ask me, "Who was the guy that set Mrs. Taylors yard on fire in 1977." I would say, "I was" even though Ley Pickens was just as responsible. If you were to ask me "Who is writing this blog I would say, "I am". If you were to ask me, "Who will eat the last piece of pie in my freezer right now," I would say "I will" and you can take that one to the grave.

  But if you were to ask Jesus who was the voice in the bush talking to Moses over 3,600 years ago he would not say "I was" but "I AM". Or if you asked Him who will eventually rule the earth and make everything right, He wouldn't say "I will" but "I AM". Scientist have discovered that time stops in black holes but Jesus, as God, lives in a realm where there is no time to stop. And no one can even come close to understanding how a creator who not only lives outside of time but actually created time itself, interacts with creatures who do live inside of a time box (Dimension).

  And so you have these controversies like the Trinity, The Creation Story, Predestination/Free Will, I AM WHO I AM, Prophecy, etc. All of these are mysteries to us because God is outside of our understanding but time is usually the issue we can't get past. Here's kind of a simple explanation of the Trinity issue:

 Let's say the Universe is a Mini-van and God(the Father) is the driver. Well His kids in the back are becoming unruly, so without stopping the car, God (Jesus) goes into the back to try and make them behave. Well, who the HECK is driving the car! Want we crash!? Well, God is driving. And God is in the back of the car and we don't get that because our limited thinking, based on our experience living in time, can't comprehend it. And the analogy is virtually the same when God (Jesus) goes back to heaven and God (the Holy Spirit) comes down to live inside of believers. Read this paragraph again, but without the words that I have put into parenthesis, and you might faint.

  So early church fathers, at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, came up with this idea of The Trinity to help us to understand that God was one, but existed in 3 persons or natures, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Still to this day, it is not understood very well but this Trinity idea was accepted as our feeble human attempt to understand beings that are not contained or limited, by time. Trinity is never mentioned in your Bible but you can see all 3 here:

 ²¹ When all the people were being baptized, Jesus(the Son) was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am(Father) well pleased.”

 And the creation story is the same. Man can't understand because the time that we measure to tell us how old the universe does not account for a creator without limits. It's sorta like this:

  I'll take you as an example. Yes you, the 33 year old male. You don't know this but I have created another you. I have creator-like abilities. So last week I began creating you and it took me roughly 6 days, give or take some time for lunch breaks and stuff. After you were finished I took you to see Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and some of their assistants. They studied you and poked you and carbon dated you and did hundreds of tests. Their conclusion was that you were a 33 year old male. When I revealed to them that they were wrong, he was only 6 days old, they laughed at me and told me to go build an ark. So I called down fire from Heaven to destroy them.

  Time is the issue and our lack of understanding of it and the Creator of it. But I trust Him. He really loves me a lot.

 There's more. I know this kind of stuff isn't for everyone but I know enough of you who dig it to warrant writing it. Next weekend I may explain a little more about Predestination/Free Will, Prophecy, etc.

  What I seem to be trying to get across to you, in this posts and others, is that we ain't got a clue. That's me. That's you. That's Albert. And that's Stephen. If you have allowed modern philosophies and sciences to disprove, for you, the God that is revealed in the Bible, it is my belief that you are standing on sandy ground. Right or not, if it is my belief AND of utmost importance, I would be wrong to not speak about these things in the most passionate and creative way I know how. It's Okay to be seen as ignorant in this world, if for the right reasons. It's good to say "I don't know" if you trust the one who does know.

 Tired. 

True Grit

   I remember the day Taylor, my oldest, was born like it was yesterday. It was quite a long struggle, as Cheryl was in labor for 23 hours and had to push for almost 5 hours. It was brutal for her but he finally came into the world. We were both filled with joy at the miracle we had just been a part of. I looked at my beautiful wife and I leaned in so she could hear me and I whispered, "Who do you think was the better Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher?"

  Several years ago, Cheryl and I were at one of Joseph's, my youngest, football games. Taylor and some other boys were playing a pick-up football game back behind the stands during Joseph's game. Suddenly one of his buddies came running up to us yelling that Taylor was hurt bad. I went running back there as fast as I could and I saw Taylor rolling on the ground and groaning in pain. His leg was obviously broken. I'm not gonna lie, it really scared me and as I ran up next to him I said, "If you forgot to cut the grass today, you're gonna be in big trouble MISTER!"

  During Dabo Swinney's first season coaching at Clemson, his greatest victory was over the hated Gamecocks. Whether Dabo was asked to stay on as the Clemson coach or not was riding on whether he could beat them or not. At the end of the game, there was mass hysteria because it had been a long, trying season but it was ending with this great win. I scrambled onto the field along with thousands of other fans who wanted to celebrate and show Dabo and the team how proud we were of them all. I really wanted to get to Dabo and I was finally able to break through the crowd. Suddenly he was right in front of me and as I grabbed his hand I said, "My wife's Hospitality Pie is DELECTABLE!"

   John 9:1-41- Jesus does all these amazing miracles and often, the first thing that the Pharisees say is, "What day is it? THE SABBATH!? ON NO HE DIDN'T! Somebody tell me he didn't heal a blind man on the Sabbath! Tell me this isn't happening!!". It amazes me every time and makes no sense. There hadn't been a prophet in Israel since Malachi and he had lived a little over 400 years ago. So people hadn't been seeing miracles for some time. It's not like they were bored with them, if that would even be possible:

She- Honey, I am going to run down to the Jerusalem Wal-Mart and Supercenter. I'll be back in a few hours. I need some water money for the donkeys.

He- But I thought we were going over to the temple this morning to see the Jesus guy. He's doing miracles and fighting with the Pharisees. 

She- Well honey, I would love to see Him and the Pharisees go at it but I really need to get this shopping done. We're out of everything.

He- Oh alright. But you know how my knee has been acting up on me. I thought maybe we could let the miracle worker touch it. The church basketball team really needs me.

She- Basketball hasn't been invented yet, Sweetie. Naismith? 1891? Hello!? Why don't you just come with me and we can maybe stop by on the way home.

He- Me? Go grocery shopping? That's just weird. You go ahead Hon. And be sure you keep your ankles covered. I don't want any strange men checking you out.

  That type of conversation never happened. Everyone but the religious leaders are amazed at what Jesus is doing. It's so unbelievable, this total lack of amazement at what Jesus is doing and saying, that there must be another reason for there hardness of heart towards Him. There is and Paul, an ex-Pharisee himself, explains it all in Romans, Chapters 9 thru 11 if you would like to read it yourselves. But the verse below, is a brief explanation:

Romans 11:25- I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening(of heart) in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

  Up to now, the time of Jesus, God has only worked through the Jews. Other people groups and races had their own Gods but they were idols, not God. The one true God had chosen to reveal himself through the nation of Israel, up to this time. But God's plan, His plan mind you, was to send His son to Israel, have them reject and murder Him, thereby causing the Gospel(The good news from God) to be spread away from Israel and to the rest of the world.

Well I am sorry but I just can't understand how God can PLAN for the murder of His Son and then hold those who followed the PLAN accountable(say this in the voice of an older, English noblewoman for fullest effect).

   People often say these things. I'm sorry but I just don't understand...something in the Bible as if they've found some sort of loophole that alleviates them of any responsibility towards their creator. Whenever I hear this, I always immediately agree with them:

English noblewoman- OOhhh. You agree with me that it is unfair of God to hold them accountable. Finally, a voice of reason from a citizen of your ignorant country.

Me(ignorant citizen)- Nooo. No. I am agreeing that you don't understand it. I don't understand it either but I do trust the God whose plan it is. So as soon as you go from not understanding and thinking it is some sort of Cosmic pass to not understanding but still trusting, you will be on your way. Oh, and you're welcome.

English noblewoman- Welcome!? For what, you fool?

Me(the fool)- For bailing your sorry butts out of WW 1 and 2. Otherwise Joe would have had to learn to speak German for this little Bit(say this like John Wayne for full effect).

   I once talked to a man who was on house arrest, had been to jail for drug dealing, would try to kill himself by overdose 2 weeks later and lose his family a few weeks after that. But when I talked to him about Christ and Christianity, the reason he gave for not being able to believe it all was that he couldn't understand how Cain(Adam and Eve's son) could have had a wife. What?

  We are so like the Pharisees. They were so blind but so are we, in the Christian world. We argue about the gifts of the spirit, over the proper way to baptize, over contemporary vs traditional worship, Calvinism(Predestination) vs Arminianism(Free Will), Creation vs Evolution, etc. And all these sings separate us, these things we hold dear. And that is what is happening with these Pharisees, they won't let go to what they hold dear, even when God visits them and tells them that they must...let go. 

  The scripture here speaks for itself, without my explaining it further, but I still hope that my attempt at humoring you will help some. I always try to explain in a way that transfers the lesson of scripture to similar attitudes and beliefs we might hold today. Applying it to our lives. There are just a few more things I would like to point out that are interesting to me:

  I have highlighted the conversation between this ignorant beggar and these brilliant Jewish leaders. He's ain't smart but He makes these Pharisees appear to be the morons. That's amazing but it is a Biblical principle that an idiot like me clings to:

1st Corinthians 1:18-20- For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

   “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; 
   the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

 ²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

  Jesus makes mud with his own spit. Yuck. I don't know why he does this when he can just speak the healing on this man. Jesus with mud and spit on his hands. I don't know why I dig it so but I do.

  And I like that this miracle is undeniable. Everyone knew this man. And I like that Jesus later found the man for a quick personal conversation and leading Him to belief in Him. And also, the last verse (41) is worth a second look.

  And the timing. I honestly believe that if someone asked Jesus to heal them 10 minutes before the Sabbath day officially began, He would say:

"Sure. No problem. But could you hold on for about 11 minutes."

  Make no mistake. Jesus was looking for a fight. He was trying to get the Pharisees lathered up enough to kill Him. He wanted to get the Gospel out to the whole world but first had to be rejected by the Jews. I don't understand all the reasons He wanted to do this but I do know reason number 20,254,489,357:

Me

 He wanted me to spend eternity with Him and this was His plan for accomplishing that. So I am groovy with it, poopy pants.

¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”   ³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. ⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “ Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.   Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” ¹⁰  “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. ¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” ¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.   “I don’t know,” he said. ¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”   But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided. ¹⁷ Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”   The man replied, “He is a prophet.” ¹⁸ The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” ²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” ²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” ²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” ²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” ³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” ³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” ⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

 

Clark W. Griswold and Eric

 

What exactly were you wanting us to do with the Stop sign and that last paragraph, Joe?

  Good question but first I would like to tell you a story:

  Several years ago my family and our neighbors, who we are very close to, decided to go on Vacation together down to Fernandina Beach, Florida. Their names are Clark, Ellen, Rusty and Audrey Griswold. So we both got in our "family trucksters"(station wagons) and started heading south down I-95. We were all very excited about spending two weeks down at this beautiful beach together.

   Well about halfway down, right outside of Savannah, Cheryl and I both got an uneasy feeling that something wasn't quite right. We almost always get that feeling when we are heading somewhere that requires quite a bit of packing but this feeling was quite a bit stronger than normal. We went over our mental checklist several times and tried to make ourselves comfortable that nothing was missing but the feeling wouldn't go away. Finally I just couldn't take the discomfort any longer so I called Clark on the cell phone, even though cell phones didn't exist yet, and told him that we were going to pull over and check our luggage because we felt strongly that we had forgotten something important. I told them to keep going and we would meet them down there. He told me that that would be fine because they had to stop at Ellen's Aunt Edna's for a quick visit anyway.

   So we pulled over at the next rest area and began to methodically unpack everything we brought, looking inside each suitcase and bag to see if we could discover what it was we might be missing. Nothing. We then asked our kids to get out of the car and help us and that is when we discovered that we had left our cute, blond headed youngest son, Home Alone. We had forgotten Joseph! As we headed back home I was so glad we hadn't kept driving, ignoring this feeling, as if nothing was wrong.

  So, back to the question. And this is not just as it concerns this study but in everything we do. God works like this sometimes, an uncomfortable feeling that something may not be quite right. And it is not always a huge thing like, "Oh my goodness, I'm spiritually blind!" It could be something as simple as, "Hey Joe, the trouble maker at work is spoiling for a fight this morning. Be WISE my friend!"

  You might say "But Joe, God is so clear how he feels when he let's His son be nailed to a cross or when he explicitly tells us that we MUST be born again. Why can't he be that  clear when he is trying to talk to us now?"  Because God wants you thirsty enough to make a move. That what makes spiritual ears grow. And you will find, that as you begin to obey these little promptings, that God's voice does become more and more clear. 

  So last night's little stop sign thingee and today's big phat lie about my trip with the Griswolds is my way of asking you to pull out of the fast lane and do a little spiritual inventory. This study is just plain tough. Jesus is tough. I have been amazed again, after going through John with you this time, how incredibly relentless Jesus is. It's almost unbearable at times, isn't it? It has caused me to stop and pay attention to the feelings that this has been giving me. If I don't keep my nose in the Gospels, Jesus begins to soften in my mind because the soft Jesus is the one that sells tickets. But he is not soft by any stretch. He may begin to feel softer, the more we obey but that is just a result of us beginning to find joy through obedience. Finding Joy and comfort in trusting Him more and more. But He is not changing. He is changing you. And that makes things feel different.

  There will be no study tonight on the 9th chapter of John. We will do it tomorrow and I think we can cover it in one post. Read ahead if you like. It's about a really cool miracle that Jesus does with mud. He likes to get His hands dirty. I LIKE THAT!!

 Since we are short tonight, I will give you a few groovy quotes. And YES, C. S. Lewis will be well represented:

And by the way, Fernandina is where my wonderful mom lives. Hey there, Mom!

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. -C.S. Lewis

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.-C.S. Lewis 

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." -C.S. Lewis

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.- Oswald Chambers

To be clothed with Humility is to be clothed with a praying garment. Humility is just feeling little because we are little. Humilty is realising our unworthiness because we are unworthy, the feeling and declaring ourselves sinners because we are sinners.....There is no Christ without humility. There is no praying without humility.- E. M. Bounds- The Essentials of Prayer

The first effect of Christianity is to make people stop and think. ...They say, “No, I must face this. I must think.”..the greatest trouble is that men and women go through life without thinking. Or they think for a moment but find it painful, so they stop and do—anything to forget." -Martin Lloyd-Jones

John Piper- I tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story form the 1998 READERS DIGEST: A couple "took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells....Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment. " Look, Lord. See my shells." That is a tragedy.

John Ortberg- Suffering causes people to ask questions like no other force in the world. It snaps the threads of our illusions of control and sufficiency.

Rob Bell- If Jesus Comes to town and things don't get better, then we have to ask some hard questions.

 A. W. Tozer: Before God uses the man, God will break the man.

Jack Handey: If you happen to drop your keys in a pool of molten lava, just forget about 'em, man... cause they're gone.

Alice Cooper- Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel is easy. But being a Christian, that's tough. That's rebellion.