Table of Contents:

The Call of Duty

The Most Overlooked Aspect of Salvation

The Critical Eighteen Inches

Exegetically Speaking

Following God

Words to Stand You on Your Feet

Jewels from Past Giants

Marks of the Master

Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel

Book Reviews

News Update

Sermon Helps

Puzzles and ‘Toons

___________________________________The Call of DutyBy Alan Stewart

I once read a story that emerged from World War I of a soldier who became so discouraged and defeated during the war that he went AWOL and deserted his fellow troops in the heat of a battle. The soldier made his way to a nearby house and exchanged his uniform for the clothing of a common farmer. From there, he decided to find the coast in the hope of catching a boat that would enable him to get back to his homeland in England.

In the darkness of the night, he became lost and struck a road sign as he walked. The soldier had no idea where he was or what the sign said. He decided to climb the pole hoping to find words on the sign that would tell him where he was and

where to go. When he got to the crossbeam, he held on to read the sign. Taking out a match, he lit it, and looked directly in the face of Jesus Christ. He had climbed an outdoor crucifix! Stunned at what he saw, the soldier now realized the shame on his life. He was looking into the face of the One who had endured it all and had never turned back. The next morning, the solider was found back in the trenches with his fellow troops.

In our generation, there is a growing epidemic plaguing far too many of our churches that I call “quit-itis”. Whether because of doubts, defeat, discouragement, or disillusionment, it does not take long to recognize the fact we are raising a generation of Alka-Seltzer Christians. After you dip them into water, they fizzle for a short while, and then they quickly disappear.

You can tell a lot about man by what it takes to make him quit. Solomon was a

man whose life was marked by periods of unquestioned devotion and periods of unsettling disloyalty. By the end of his life, he discovered many of his pursuits in life had only produced emptiness and dissatisfaction. Out of his doubts and speculations, he reaches the noble conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

Our duty does not have as much to do with our labors as it does our living consciously toward God and our loving commitment to Him. So few are able to finish what they start spiritually because they are trying to accomplish in their work for God what can only be produced by their walk with God. John Calvin wrote, “He who disregards his calling will never keep the straight path in the duties of his work.” Our calling is to walk intimate with God, and

anything less is the making of a life destined for treason. Just how do we respond to our call of duty?

I. There Is an Obedience to Be ExpectedIn John 1:43, we are told Jesus,

“...findeth Phillip, and saith unto him, Follow Me.” This is a phrase Jesus often used in calling would-be disciples, but it was stated in a manner that called for immediate obedience. Jesus knew that true belief demonstrates itself in obedient action.

When a parent is leading a child across a lighted intersection, there is an allotted amount of time before the light changes colors releasing the traffic. For the child to delay, deviate, or be distracted can spell disaster. The loss of immediate obedience always produces consequences that result in the loss of spiritual privilege.

In the Parable of the Great Supper, those invited to come gave excuses and

were told, “none of those...shall taste of My supper.” The three half-hearted followers that gave verbal willingness to follow Jesus but had more pressing matters at hand were told they were not “...fit for the Kingdom of God.” The rich young ruler could not give up his riches to follow Jesus and “went away sorrowful” without eternal life.

Puritan preacher William Secker wrote, “It is our bounden duty to live in obedience, but it would prove our utter ruin to live on obedience.” We are never prepared to follow God faithfully where we do not strive to obey God fully.

II. There Is an Opportunity to Be Embraced

In Joshua 3:3, the Lord is preparing to lead Israel into the Promise Land when this command was given, “When ye see the ark of the covenant...remove from your place, and go after it.” The ark was symbolic

of God’s presence and glory among His people, and the people were told to follow because “...tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” The rising of the morning sun would present a day filled with miracles and memories, and God did not want His people to miss it. However, taking advantage of the opportunity would be dependent upon moving into position to see it all.

Imagine how the soldiers who went home must have felt when they heard all God had done for Gideon’s small army that stayed. Imagine how the Lord’s disciples who went into hiding felt when they heard Mary’s testimony that the tomb of Jesus was empty. Far too often, our lives are like a ship out of position to catch the wind and tide, thus leaving us to drift aimlessly from storm to storm never knowing all was safe in the harbor. No wonder Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote, “Our grand business

is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” A life that stays intimate with God is a life that will always be rich in golden opportunities.

III. There Is an Overflow to Be Enjoyed. In Matthew 14:29, the disciples are

caught at sea in a tumultuous storm, and Jesus comes walking on the water. Hearing Peter’s desire to be with Him, Jesus said, “Come. And...he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”

Jesus frequently used the word “come,” and there is little sense of any forcefulness being spoken. In fact, Jesus used it as a gentle, tender invitation to be near to Him. In His presence, children felt comfortable, the weary found comfort, the rejected found acceptance, and the broken were made whole.

Seventeenth-century minister John Flavel wrote, “Those who give to God only

the shadow of duty can never expect from Him a real reward.” However, the real reward we receive is not the blessings that come from His hand, but rather the pleasure of intimately knowing Him. To linger in His presence is to be capsized by the overflow of peace, love, and joy from His heart.

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 16:11, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” To remain at a distance, a man may only know that in principle but never in reality. Only those who dare to stand close to the waterfall will ever be privileged to feel the spray of the mist.

Our duty of walking with God is not as much an obligation as it is the obedience of finishing what you start. A professor of history once noted, “If Columbus had turned back, nobody would have blamed him—but nobody would have remembered him either.” Those lives that blazed trails before

us and have stood the test of time are those who became conscious of God’s presence, and they never lost that consciousness the rest of their lives. But what a blessing it is to know whenever I lose my way, the Lord will always provide a sign that brings me back to the trenches of His love!  

© 2011 Alan Stewart

Alan Stewart pastors Rechoboth Baptist Church in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.

___________________________________The Most Overlooked Aspect of SalvationBy Joe McKeever

It’s risky talking about the “typical” anything in church—people are as varied as their fingerprints, voice patterns, and DNA—but once in a while, it’s safe to draw a few general conclusions. Here’s one: The

average Christian who goes forth to witness for the Lord leaves out fully one-half of the equation between God and man.

Here’s what that means.Suppose I decide to join the New

Orleans Saints football team. Their offices and facilities are not more than 2 miles from my house, so one morning I drive down, park my car and walk inside. A guard meets me.

“I’m here,” I tell him. “It took some doing, but I finally relented. I’m ready to give myself to this team.”

Being of a suspicious bent, the guard looks me up and down and says, “What are you talking about, mister? Why are you here?”

“I’m joining the Saints,” I say. “I’ve heard by the commercials that you need the support of the community. So, I have studied up on everything—talked to people, read the

books, watched some games on tape—and I am now ready to join the team.”

“Oh, you are, are you?” he says.“Yes sir,” I announce confidently. “In

fact, I want Mr. Benson (he’s the owner) to know that I trust him. I believe he’s got the good of the community at heart. And Coach Payton, well, he’s the best. I feel like I know him personally. And of course, Drew Brees, the quarterback--well, sir, it’s going to be fun working with a champion like him. This is a big day for me.”

“There is only one problem, mister,” says the security guard.

“How could there be a problem?” I ask. “I think I’ve got everything figured out.”

“All but one,” he says. “The Saints don’t want you on the team. You may know them, but they don’t know you. You may approve the owner and the coaches, but frankly, sir, that doesn’t mean squat.”

I’m crestfallen. But the guard is not through. “Sir, you run on home now. There is no place for you here. The Saints will be on television in a few weeks and you can watch their games from home. Get you a pennant and wave it, wear the t-shirt, put a sticker on your car. But you cannot join the team,” he emphasizes, as he ushers me out the door.

The question before us today is this: Even if you decided that you know Jesus, trust in Jesus, and have received Jesus, how do you know that He knows you, trusts you, and receives you?

After all, if Jesus does not know you, you are not saved (Matt. 7:23). And if Jesus does not trust you, you are not saved (John 2:23-25). If Jesus does not receive you, you are not saved (2 Cor. 5:17). In explaining how to be saved, many of us have left off the entire divine side of the operation. In so

doing, we may well have left a lot of people in mortal peril.

I. For salvation to be genuine, you must know Jesus and He must know you.

On one occasion, the Lord said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and am known by my own.” He added, “As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). Later, He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Listen to Joe Baptist as he brings up the subject of salvation to his friend, Bob Churchless: “My friend, may I ask, do you know Jesus?”

Now, to Joe Baptist, that’s the essence of salvation. If Bob Churchless assures him that he does indeed “know” Jesus, unless Joe follows up with something

like, “Could you tell me about it?” then the conversation ends there.

Here’s what the Lord Himself said about that: “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt. 7:22-23).

Sure, Joe wants Bob to know Jesus. But unless Jesus knows Bob too, nothing happens and Bob is still lost in his sins.

II. For salvation to be genuine, you must trust Jesus and He must trust you.

The old hymn invites us to “trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.” No argument there. Trusting is the essence of faith. Listen to Joe Baptist telling a child how to be saved: “You must trust Jesus as your personal Savior.”

The danger here is that our well-intentioned witness may leave the child with the impression that everything is up to him or her, that by simply voicing a little prayer of trust, everything is taken care of. One wonders how many millions of church members have lived and died with a false assurance of salvation because at some point they “prayed that little prayer.”

Here’s a stunner from the Word: “Many believed in His Name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25). They believed in Him. But He did not believe in them.

The question I want to ask you is one I put before myself: Does Jesus Christ believe in me? Does He trust me?

III. For salvation to be genuine, we must receive Jesus and He must receive us.

The verse above all other verses Joe Baptist uses in explaining salvation to friends is Revelation 3:20. Personally, I confess to loving its imagery. Even though in context, it is directed toward a church—and therefore to believers—it makes so clear that the Savior has done everything necessary to get us to Heaven but one thing: He has not forced it on us. Jesus brings Heaven’s blessings up to the front door and knocks. He pays us the highest honor imaginable by inviting us to choose whether to accept His gifts of love. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.”

And so, we naturally ask people, “Have you received Jesus into your heart and life?” Nothing wrong with that. But by

itself, it leaves out another dimension: the heavenly. Has Jesus received you?

Here’s the Scripture: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). For us to be “in Christ,” He must receive us.

I am not trying to make anyone insecure about their salvation. However, untold thousands of church members whose faith in Jesus has made zero difference in their lives ought to be wondering if they have the genuine article. To make an unsaved church member question his relationship to Christ is doing him the ultimate favor.

The man or woman or child who is genuinely born again and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ will know Jesus, trust Jesus, and will have received Jesus. But by the same token, Jesus will know them, will trust them, and will have received Jesus. Without this, there is no salvation.

In conclusion, let me say I am not naive and do not want to be presumptuous. I know the Lord saves whomever He chooses. I have not been handed the authority to announce who is in and who’s out. For that I am eternally grateful. However, the weak status of Christianity in churches and communities all across this most-evangelized of all nations on earth should convince even the most casual observer that something is rotten in Denmark. Something is seriously wrong at the heart of our faith.

Perhaps Joe Baptist needs to ask people: Does Jesus know you? Does Jesus trust you? Has Jesus received you?

Might be a worthy starting place.

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana.

He blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.

___________________________________The Critical Eighteen Inches: The Journey from Head Knowledge to Heart RevelationBy Ken Barnes

“I am not getting fed at this church!”If you haven’t heard this statement,

you probably haven’t been around many churches. Many churchgoers feel that their pastor is not giving to them the deeper truths of the scriptures. In some cases this may be true, but by and large, the opposite may be true. The greatest need for the average person who sits on a church pew is not for a deeper revelation of Gods’ truth, but the application to their lives of the truth they

already have. Although we never totally achieve it, Jesus set the pattern, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 14:1).

And so what do we do? We develop a city-wide ministry and we hop from one church to another in search of that elusive deeper knowledge of the truth. Have you heard of the guy who was stranded on a desert island for twenty-five years? When finally recued, they found he had built a house and two churches. When asked why he had built two churches, his answer was, “the first one is the church I used to attend.” The truth is applied to our lives when we walk through, not around our struggles.

True discipleship takes place only where an intellectual understanding of God’s Word proceeds to a radical heart transformation; when we navigate those critical eighteen inches between our head and heart. Our lives should not only be a

proclamation but a demonstration of the God’s truth. My ongoing journey from head to heart revelation started for me in of all places, a chicken farm!

The Chicken Farm“Lord, do you know that chickens are

pretty stupid animals? You do, huh? I assume that, being God, you also know I don’t like getting dirt under my fingernails!”

I worked for seventeen years with an organization called Youth With A Mission, YWAM for short. One of the first opportunities for service to my surprise, and sometimes dismay, was a Hawaiian chicken farm. A wealthy chicken farmer from California had offered to give YWAM all we needed to start producing eggs if we would provide the labor to build the farm. And here I was, a former schoolteacher who didn’t like to get dirt under my fingernails. The whole idea seemed like a bad dream. There was

one other job option, but believe it or not, it was even less enticing than chicken farming. That option was working on the training center’s sewage system. A missionary honey-dipper would have been an apt description. So being the spiritual giant that I was, I agreed (somewhat grudgingly) to help out on the farm.

The chicken farm was located on a spot of land “mauka” (Hawaiian for “toward the mountain”), several miles from the main training facility. It was a beautiful but isolated location. A supervisor, several other workers, and I reported for work the first day. There we were, with the trees and the geckos, and that was about it. We undertook the task of building the structures to house the chickens, mostly from solid Hawaiian lava rock.

The days stretched into weeks, and the effect of isolation took its toll. Gone were the familiar sounds of the training center’s

activities. My attitude started to change. Work was not exciting. Instead of “Good morning, Lord,” it was more like “Good Lord, it’s morning.” Occasionally, a leader visited the building site and walked past me like I didn’t exist (or at least I imagined they didn’t notice me). Have you ever felt like you have fallen off the face of the earth and no one is looking for you? Returning from work one day, I said to my wife, “Pinch me and see if I’m real. Maybe I’m just a mirage.”

To make matters worse, I had an identity crisis. Sharon, my wife, had become my alter ego. She served as the base nurse, worked in the counseling ministry, and knew just about everybody—sort of the life of the party. Meeting new people at the center took on an interesting twist for me. “Hello, my name is Ken Barnes.” “Oh yeah, you’re Sharon Barnes’s husband.” I would think to myself, “Yeah, that’s me, Sharon Barnes’ husband.”

Things started coming out of my mouth which were, at best, somewhat negative and, at worst, outright grumbling. Little comments to my supervisor let him know that I was not a happy camper. I never came right out and said it, since that would have been too obvious and unspiritual. I was losing my joy.

Things continued in this downward spiral until one day I decided that I was going to have it out with God. Little did I know that an encounter with the Almighty would change the entire course of my life.

That morning I had had enough. When I opened the door of the brooder house, the pungent odor of chicken manure pushed me over the edge. I threw my rake on the floor and complained, “I am tired of working on this chicken farm! I did not come here to work on a farm and clean up after stupid chickens!” In the midst of my tirade, I said something that must have really caught

God’s attention: “Nobody cares whether I work up here. No one even sees me.”

Immediately, God dropped a couple of questions into my mind.

First: “Why did you come to Hawaii?” Without delay I answered, “Because I

wanted to serve you, Lord.” The next question penetrated the

recesses of my heart: “Don’t I see?”I was dumbfounded as the blinders

fell from my eyes. Suddenly I saw myself as I really was—I didn’t serve God like I thought I did.

When I wasn’t noticed, when my purposes were not being fulfilled, when I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do, then I did not serve God with joy and gladness. Though I said that I served him, I saw for the first time that morning that so much of my service was based on rewards and recognition from man. I had to honestly

admit that I had “I” problems. I served myself more than God.

When God shows us a bit of our hearts, we have a choice to make. We can justify our actions by saying everybody is like this and it is no big deal, or we can repent. I chose to repent. “Forgive me, Lord,” I prayed, “and help me to serve you and you alone.”

Although I had prayed the prayer, sometimes words are cheap. God had started to work in my heart. He was in the process of changing my understanding of him from head knowledge to heart revelation, from an intellectual understanding of his Word to the application of it in my life. Our hearts don’t change quickly, or at least mine didn’t. I needed to walk out this newfound truth. I needed to take practical steps to direct my affections and devotion toward him and to place my security in him and him alone.

What did walking it out look like? Right then it looked like picking up the rake I had thrown to the floor in disgust and entering the brooder house. Lifting my rake to heaven, I said, “I’m going to do this for you, today.” Then I added, “Lord, when I start to struggle”—and I did—“and when I crave recognition from people, I am going to look to you for recognition and acceptance.”

And you know what? From then on, when I did that, God was always there. Was there a dramatic and immediate change in my life? No; I had good days and not-so-good days. But I noticed one difference: my joy started to return. It was two steps forward and one step back, but I was moving in the right direction.

I was finally progressing from talking about being a servant, to actually starting to be a servant. I was learning that the way up in God’s kingdom is always down. And it is often in the ordinary situations and places—

not extraordinary ones—that God teaches us lessons of eternal consequences. I was becoming a doer of the Word instead of just a hearer. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). The process was all set in motion by navigating those critical eighteen inches.

Ken Barnes is a teacher and freelance writer from Mechanicsville, Virginia. He previously

served with Youth With A Mission for 17 years.

Adapted from The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places: The Joy of Serving

God in the Ordinary, by Ken Barnes, 2011, YWAM Publishing, Seattle. Pp. 24-27.

___________________________________Exegetically Speakingby Spiros Zodhiates

The Eight Woes—Part TwoMatthew 23:23-36

From Exegetical Commentary on Matthew, 2006, AMG PublishersJesus continued in His pronouncement of a series of eight “woe(s)” (ouaí [3759], interjections of grief or indignation over an impending judgment) on the scribes and Pharisees.

[23-24] The fifth woe condemned the external practice of Law without the internal qualities of justice, mercy, and grace: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint, anise, and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters (from barús [926], weight; literally “weightier things”) of the Law: judgment, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done and not to leave the others undone. You blind guides strain out (from diulízō [1368] from diá (1223],

thorough; and hulízō [n.f.], to strain, filter) a gnat and swallow a camel. (a.t.)

While acknowledging that the scribes and Pharisees “ought to have” tithed these inexpensive spices as part of their general tithe, Jesus argued the futility of such external obedience at the expense of judgment, mercy, and faith. In the Old Testament, the tithe was imposed on animals from herds and flocks (Lev. 27:32, 33) as well as grain, vegetables, and fruits (Lev. 27:30). Mint, anise, and cumin are not mentioned in the Torah, so this was an instance of how the Pharisaic tradition extended beyond the original Mosaic Law.

Jesus commended this tradition—“ye ought to have”—since it was a logical deduction from the general tithe. The heavier things of the Law include judgment, mercy, and faith as typified in the Torah: judgment (Deut. 28, 30), mercy (Ex. 34:6;

Deut. 4:31), and faith in God’s sacrifice (Ex. 4:5–9; 19:9; Lev. 17:11).

The “strain” refers to the ancient custom of filtering wine. The “gnat” exemplified the meticulous application of the tithe to small things such as spices (mint, anise, and cummin), even though Jesus conceded the correctness of the practice (see above). The “swallow a camel” hyperbole, on the other end of the extreme, corresponded to ignoring the weightier matters of the Law. The camel was selected not just because of its size but because it was an unclean animal. (Though it chews the cud, a camel does not “divide the hoof”; Lev. 11:4.) Obviously, a Jew who attempted to swallow a gargantuan unclean animal was not paying much attention to what he was doing. Justice, mercy, and faith apparently had no part in Pharisaic doctrine, ethics, and spiritual life.

[25-26] Jesus pronounced the sixth woe on hypocrisy in general: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside (éxōthen [1855]) of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion (from harpagē [724], robbery, seizure) and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse (kathárison, the aorist imperative of katharízō [2511], to make clean) first that which is within the cup and platter, that (hína [2443], in order that) the outside of them may be (génētai, the aorist middle deponent subjunctive of gínomai [1096], to become) clean also.”

What a contrast! A good analogy would be a bathed robber or profligate. Jesus used these pictures to show the full contradiction between the outer and inner persons by nature. The Law cleaned up the outside like a coat of paint on rotted wood. Sooner or later, extortion and intemperance rise to the surface. Pharisees can fool

people only for so long. But can they fool the Lord? Never!

Jesus explained that cleaning the outside had no impact on the inside, since God has decreed an inside-out change only. The hína clause—“in order that the outside of them may be clean also”—implied that veneers like paint are not cleaning agents. Only regenerated hearts produce both a clean inside and outside (the permanent effect is given in the aorist tense of gínomai).

Did Jesus command the Pharisees to regenerate themselves (the aorist tense of katharízō means “cleanse yourself once-for-all”; cf. “the washing (from loutrón [3067]) of regeneration” in Titus 3:5)? Regeneration is God’s act alone; accordingly, those born “of God” are born “[not] of the will of the flesh” (John 1:13). However, the Lord does sometimes command the will of the flesh to do the impossible. His purpose, however, is

to make us realize that in ourselves we cannot obey; we need the power of the Spirit of God. Thus, Paul notes, “The law [is] our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).

If the Pharisees tried to cleanse themselves once-for-all (kathárison) and failed, they might have conceded their impotence against the power of sin and put their faith in God’s righteousness: “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).

[27-28] The seventh woe was a repeat of the sixth with the added sense of decomposition: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like (from paramoiázō [3945] from pará [3844], proximity; and homoiázō [3662], to make like; “resemble”) whited (from koniáō [2867],

to whitewash with lime) sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but within are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (a.t.).

The veneer of hypocrisy is whitewash. Jesus probably chose this color because of its symbolic connection to holiness and righteousness. The picture here is putrid. The closest analogy is the fictitious “zombie”: a corpse painted with cosmetics (see kosmeíte in the next verse), animated, perhaps beautified on the outside but dead on the inside. Hypocrisy and iniquity are represented by “dead people’s bones and…all uncleanness.” The smell of decay is added to the picture. Among other things, sin, like dead men’s bones, actually stinks, and Scripture implies that it is a stench in God’s nostrils: “And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries

unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odors” (Lev. 26:31, cf. Ps. 38:5; Amos 5:21).

These verses do not actually say that sin is a stench in God’s nostrils, but the fact that He refuses to smell the “sweet odors” of incense implies some offsetting, corrupting stench.

[29] Jesus directed the eighth woe at the scribes’ and Pharisees’ hypocritical claim to be more faithful and reverent of God than their fathers were: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and cosmeticize (from kosméō [2885]) the sepulchres of the righteous” (a.t.). Some sepulchers that they had painted with whitewash and sanitized with cosmetics honored the prophets whom their own fathers had killed. Nothing had changed inside, however; the tombs were still filled with the repugnant bones of dead people.

[30] The woe continued: “And you say, ‘if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers (from koinōnós [2844], sharer) with them in the blood of the prophets’” (a.t.). Children (especially teenagers) often think they are better than their parents. Here, the Pharisees attempted to detach themselves from their spiritual and natural lineages. But Jesus would not allow it because the Pharisees continued the murderous trends set by their natural fathers. They were persecuting Jesus, even planning His execution, just as their fathers had done to the prophets. Consequently, they inherited from their fathers not just their physical characteristics but their spiritual and moral ones as well.

[31] Jesus immediately addressed the self-incrimination: “Wherefore (hōste [5620], accordingly; i.e., a conclusion is coming) you are witnesses against

yourselves that you are (note, the “if” of v. 30 is gone) the children of those who killed the prophets (i.e., not just the natural but the spiritual and moral children of murderers)” (a.t.).

To paraphrase verse 31, Jesus essentially said, “You just admitted that the people who killed the prophets are your fathers! Consequently, you are witnessing against yourself that you are their children!” Jesus called them hypocrites because, although they denied it, they were murderers just as their fathers were. They said, “If we had been” there, but Jesus refuted their “if” with their own testimony to the reality of their spiritual lineage.

[32] Jesus’ language here was strong—an imperative: “Fill ye up (plērōsate, the aorist active imperative of plēróō [4137), to fill up, complete) then the measure (métron [3358], the part) of your fathers.” The aorist tense is proleptic, pointing to the event of

the crucifixion. Jesus gave a similar injunction to Judas: “What you do (poieís, the present indicative of poiéō [4160]) do (poíēson, the aorist active imperative of poiéō) quickly” (John 13:27; a.t.); that is, “What you are doing now, do it once for all (i.e., get it over with; by definition, imperatives command subsequent [i.e., to the imperative] behavior), and do it fast!”

The imperative was a reaction to their arrogance: “We would not have shared with them in the blood of the prophets” (v. 30; a.t.). But this boast contradicted their current attitude and behavior, and Jesus did not let them get away with it. They were personal—“our fathers”—sons of murderers on their own testimony, and their claim that they would not have shed innocent blood was a lie. By persecuting Christ and planning to murder Him, they proved that they were made of the same wicked stock.

[33] Jesus further described His opponents: “Ye serpents (from óphis [3789], a snake; here He defines His enemies with the same nature that belongs to “the serpent” from Gen. 3:1 through Rev. 20:2), ye generation (from génnēma [1081], offspring, products; from the verb gennáō [1080], to give birth to; and the suffix –ma, finished product) of vipers (from échidna [2191], a poisonous snake).

Jesus selected the term “serpents” (óphis), the genus encompassing both poisonous and nonpoisonous species, to identify these persons with the one who “was more subtle [crafty] than any beast of the field” (Gen. 3:1). But Jesus also selected “vipers” (échidna) because this species poisons and kills people, further identifying with the one who “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44; see “the serpent” above). Génnēma is picked to show that these murderers are true vipers from true

vipers, “begotten, not made, of one being with their viper fathers.” Vipers do not birth harmless snakes; they birth vipers. The offspring of a viper is a viper.

This is a terrible picture of natural depravity. The Pharisees were vipers by nature, and this nature determined their choices. They chose to bite, poison, and kill because they were biters, poisoners, and killers by nature. As Jesus addressed them in John 8:44: “You are out of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you choose to do” (a.t.).

Given this nature, Jesus asked, “How (pōs [4459]) might you escape (phúgēte, the aorist subjunctive of pheúgō [5343]; i.e., “how is it possible for you to escape”) the judgment (from krísis [2920], the definite article points to the final judgment) of Gehenna (from géenna [1067])?” (a.t.).

This rhetorical question was intended to make them realize that there was no

“how” apart from God’s mercy! The writer of Hebrews asks his readers the same question: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation [?]” (Heb. 2:3). Vipers cannot choose contrary to their natures. Even if they could choose to become something they are not—like sheep—the choice itself would not re-create them. This requires the Lord’s power. He alone is the Creator, and He alone is the re-creator. “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26). When the Lord so re-creates, Saul the viper who was persecuting and killing off the church like his fathers, became Paul the sheep.

The final eschatological punishment is mentioned here—“Gehenna”: the Valley of Hinnom, the final place of “destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9).

[34-35] Jesus reviewed God’s supply of prophets to Israel throughout its long history of disobedience: “Wherefore (diá

[1223], on account of; toúto [5124], the neuter of the pronoun hoútos [3778], this, i.e., reason forthcoming), behold (idoú [2400], the imperative of eídon [1492], the aorist of horáō [3708], to perceive, calling attention to the extraordinary), I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that (hópōs [3704], so that) upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”

“Upon you” is equivalent to the “upon this generation” of the next verse. However, since Cain and other murderers down the line were guilty of the blood they shed in their respective generations, it was a simple deduction to include them in “you” (here)

and “this generation” (v. 36), generic classes encompassing the entire line of vipers (“generation of vipers,” v. 33) from Cain forward. Some commentators restrict “this generation” to the specific people contemporary with Christ. Yet Cain was the beginning of the “generation of vipers” and therefore was properly included in the classes of “you” and “this generation.” The latter expression, therefore, is equivalent to Paul’s “present (from enístēmi [1764]) evil age (from aiōn [165])” (Gal. 1:4; a.t.), which has stood from the time of Cain.

“Some of them” should not be construed to mean that some prophets escaped. They were all persecuted but not in the same manner. This was implied in Stephen’s rhetorical question just before he was martyred: “Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have slain them that showed before the coming of the Just One, of whom now you have been

the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:52; a.t.).

[36] Jesus continued the theme: “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come (from hēkō [2240], to come, frequently in a hostile sense: Matt. 24:50; Luke 19:43; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 18:8) upon this generation.”

“All these things” will come on the whole line of prophet persecutors and murderers, that is, God’s judgment and wrath including, from the context, “Gehenna” (v. 33). On the Day of Judgment, the whole judgment will descend on the whole “generation of vipers”—the line of prophet abusers starting with Cain.

Spiros Zodhiates (1922-2009) served as president of AMG International for over 40

years, was the founding editor of Pulpit Helps Magazine (Disciple’s predecessor),

and authored dozens of exegetical books. 

___________________________________Following Godby Wayne Barber

Faith Does Not Hold God Hostage to Our Requests

When we walk by faith, we must understand that we do not hold God hostage with the requests we bring to Him. He does not always work the way we thought He would, but always what He does is right. In Hebrews 11:33-40 we see that there are two groups of folks: two groups of believers that trusted God with very different results.

I want to reemphasize that we must remember that faith is based on who God is and on what God says, and whatever He chooses to do is right. It is in the first group mentioned that we see miraculous results of trusting God: “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel

and the prophets” (Heb. 11:32). He says that “time will fail me” if I tried list them all! Included would be all those “who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions” (Heb. 11:33).

Along with Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel, there were the prophets such as Samuel, but who also “conquered kingdoms” as he led Israel into battle against the Philistines. To this list you could add those who celebrated the victory in the miraculous wins they had over their enemy as God went before them.

The author of Hebrews also states that they “performed acts of righteousness.” This means that they heard what God said, they did what God said, and the outcome was that which pointed back to God and not to themselves. He adds that they “obtained promises.” They realized what God

promised only to the degree that they obeyed what God said to do.

Daniel, David, and Benaiah were some who “shut the mouths of lions,” and in vs. 34 Shadrach; Meshach; Abednego were some who quenched the power of fire as they went through the fiery furnace untouched by the flames. In verse 34, we see David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jehosophat, and others who “escaped the edge of the sword or avoided execution.” Add to those who “from weakness were made strong.” Men naturally cowardly or fainthearted “became mighty in war,” turning to fight the armies of the stronger opponents of pagan armies causing them to flee. In vs. 35, on more than one occasion women received their dead raised to life again. Marvelous and miraculous things were seen by these that were too many to name when they trusted God and His Word.

But here the author takes a turn. We must pay attention to this. It flies in the face of those who say, “if you just had enough faith, God would do this or that.” Maybe He will and maybe He won’t. But, rest assured that whatever He does will be good, acceptable and perfect!

He writes in the second half of verse 35, “and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Faith, which is trusting who God is and what God says, doesn’t always end the way we would choose for it down here on earth. The results of faith in God and His Word are totally in His hands not ours. While in verses 32-35a the faithful conquered kingdoms, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, escaped fiery deaths, were delivered from the sword, mighty in war, and raised from the dead, now we see a mysterious turn.

These “others” (in this case translated from the allos, which means others of the same kind) were other believers who trusted God every bit as much as those who saw great miracles as a result of their faith but who experienced grave results. The word “tortured” translates the word tumpanizo which means to be scourged or severely beaten. It comes from the word tumpanon which is the word for drum. Prisoners were bound over a large drum like instrument and then beaten to death with clubs.

The author tells us these were “not accepting their release,” which means that they didn’t take the world’s way out to escape their death. A person who trusts God and His Word will not accept a compromise on what he believes to escape bodily harm. The world would easily lie or compromise to escape bodily harm or death by whatever denial required, but not a believer who walks by faith. The faithful will take torture, not

accepting their release, “in order that they might obtain a better resurrection.”

Here are your martyrs. Faith enables those who suffer for His name to understand that on the other side of death will be a “better resurrection.” The author continues, “and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment” (Heb. 11:36). These faithful believers endured both mental, emotional and physical anguish for the sake of Christ.

“Mockings” translates a Greek word meaning to humiliate and scoff; this was emotional persecution. The word “scourging” comes from a word that was a synonym of the term for a long leather whip with pieces of metal or glass attached that ripped the flesh away when one was beaten.

Jeremiah was as emotionally abused as he was physically abused, and it is not strange that he was called the weeping prophet. He did not weep so much for

himself but for the people who rejected God by rejecting him. By faith he endured, and continued to endure all the emotional and physical pain given to him, including prison, for the sake of God’s Word.

The description continues, “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated” (Heb. 11:37). Tradition holds that Isaiah was sawn in two, and the image of a prophet wandering in the wilderness in animal skins was not just a stereotype. But they had the same faith as those who saw miraculous deliverance.

So, does faith always mean that we see God do what we ask in whatever it is that you are facing? The answer is obvious; No! He goes on to say that these were men that the world does not deserve: “(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering

in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 11:38). Their solace was in God, not in their circumstance.

So, what do we learn? When we trust God in each and every situation life challenges us with, we must be willing to receive whatever results God chooses. We must realize that He only does what is right and we can trust Him no matter what! God is good all the time! Why? Because that is His nature. The hymnist had it so right: “Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey”.

Wayne Barber is senior pastor of Woodland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga,

Tennessee.

___________________________________Words to Stand You on Your Feetby Joe McKeever

The Fruit of the Spirit Is: Love“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22).

Recently in a McComb, Mississippi, coffee shop, a lady whom I had just drawn a caricature for felt she had to tell my pastor friend and I about her switch to another religious system from the Baptist church of her youth.

She said, “Every Sunday the priest preaches about love. No matter what the sermon is on, he manages to mention it in some way.” We said nothing. And even though I know better, what I felt was, “Oh, great. He mentions love. Well lah-de-dah.” You’ll be glad to know I did not speak that. I’m glad to know I instantly rebuked myself for even thinking it.

The simple fact of the matter is that love is a biggie. Love is the very nature of God, we’re told in 1 John 4:16. Anyone who takes God seriously is not allowed to cavalierly dismiss the subject as unworthy of their attention. No New Testament writing is so saturated with love more than this first Epistle of John. It is no stretch to say that those who know the Lord Jesus Christ will themselves be saturated with love.

In his commentary on 1 John, pastor and Bible teacher John MacArthur identifies five reasons Christians are told to love. “Beloved, let us love one another...”: 1) because God is the essence of love (1 John 4:7-8); 2) because love is the example given us when God gave Jesus to be our sacrifice (1 John 4:9); 3) because love is the heart of Christian witness (1 John 4:12); 4) because love is the Christian’s assurance (1 John 4:13-16); 5) because love is the Christian’s confidence in judgment (1 John 4:17-20).

Question: If love is one aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, then why are we commanded throughout the Bible to love? Isn’t it automatic, and not something to be turned on and off at will? Yes and no. For love to be a fruit of the Spirit does mean that when the Lord is guiding and controlling one’s life, He produces love. Love becomes a natural aspect of who we are. We exude love as surely as an athlete gives off perspiration.

As a preteen, when I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ, I still recall being filled with love for everyone I saw. No one told me I should, it just happened. Later, I realized that was a strong indicator of the Lord’s presence in my life. But it became “fruit” only after years of living close to the Lord, staying in His word, and living in obedience to Him.

Love is something the Lord does within us, but love is also something we do in His strength for His glory. We are not to

sit back passively waiting for the Spirit within us to love someone, but must take the initiative—be proactive, as the current catchword puts it—and get up and do loving actions for that person.

Biblically, love is something we do. In Luke 6:23ff and other places, when our Lord told the disciples they were to “love your enemies,” He did not leave them wondering either who that meant or what they were to do. “Do good to those who hate you,” He said. “Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Give to those who would steal from you.” If your enemy is someone who hates you, curses you, mistreats you, and steals from you, then to love him means to do good, bless, pray, and give.

There is an emotion of love, but love is far more than an emotion. There is a fragrance of a rose, but a rose is more than a fragrance. In what way then—if love is an

action—can love possibly be a fruit of the Spirit? How can this be? Answer: These nine qualities Paul lists in Galatians 5 are describing one’s Christ-like nature. So, “the fruit of the Spirit is love” simply means that one’s nature is now to love, to do loving things to others.

Previously, as an unredeemed and thus self-focused sinner, our nature was to take care of number one, to look out for ourselves first and foremost. Now, as the indwelling Lord extends His rule more and more over every area of our existence, we find the Spirit within us wanting to go against those former feelings and to be giving, blessing, serving, helping.

It takes time to produce fruit, especially this kind of fruit. The newborn believer is told to love. He does not sit around waiting for the Spirit to empower him before he does a loving action. He gets up and serves. In doing so, he begins to set the

pattern for the rest of his life. “What is the loving thing to do in this situation?” becomes his watchword. It makes him bite his tongue when formerly he would have passed along gossip or a dirty story. It causes him to get up and help someone in need. Love enables him to encourage his leaders and underlings alike. Love enables him to give credit to others, to forgive anyone whose actions were offensive, and to go out of his way to heal divisions.

As the believer lives in obedience to the written Word and the indwelling Spirit, he will find himself in more and more places where doing the loving thing becomes difficult. As he obeys, the fruit sprouts and grows. Eventually, love becomes second nature to him—his new nature. A loving person is a welcome addition to any gathering.

So, are we finished with the subject of love here? Not until we spend a few minutes

on the opposites of love. What can we expect from religious people who are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit and thus do not exhibit love? Here are some possibilities, that is, variations on this dark theme.

1) Hatred. Watch the gang from that small church in the Midwest that pickets the funerals of American soldiers who fall in battle. (I refuse to dignify their antics by naming the church.) They protest at denominational meetings of churches, they feel, are not strong enough against homosexuals. Their signs proclaim that “[homosexuals] will burn in hell forever.” That is what hatred looks like, and it’s why no Bible-believing disciple of Jesus Christ dares call those people brother or sister. All sinners need the Gospel of Christ, not our condemnation. That’s God’s job.

2) Sectarianism. Once I lose my love for you, my interests all focus on me, mine, and my little group. The disciples said,

“Lord, we saw someone doing religious works in Your name, but because he’s not following us, we rebuked him” (Luke 9:49). That’s what lovelessness does.

3) Division. Within one’s family or a church’s congregation, arguments and disagreements—which are part of the normal fabric of daily life—can balloon into major schisms when love is absent. That’s what the Apostle Paul saw happening in Corinth. “I have been informed...that there are quarrels among you. One is saying ‘I am of Paul’ and another ‘I am of Apollos.’ Or ‘I’m of Peter’ and even ‘Not me. I’m of Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Were you baptized in Paul’s name?” (1 Cor. 1:11-13).

4) Personal Ambition and Competitiveness. When love takes a back seat, our motivation becomes our own advancement. We want to win, to be better than anyone else, to capture awards and recognition.

Far from hating or promoting my little group, far from dividing and pushing my personal agenda, love looks out for the welfare of others. No text presents as full a well-rounded picture of love in the congregation as Romans 12. Here are some of its statements: “Let love be without hypocrisy” (12:9); “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor” (12:10); “Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality” (12:13); “Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not” (12:14); “Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly” (12:16); “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. In doing so you will heap burning coals on his head” (12:20).

The Father is walking among His garden today, looking for fruit. What kind of growth does He see at the tree called you?

Jesus said, “Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8).

Joe McKeever is a retired Southern Baptist pastor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He

blogs regularly at www.joemckeever.com.

___________________________________Jewels from Past Giants

The Parable of the Lost SheepBy Martin Luther

Originally preached by Luther as a sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity (by the liturgical calendar). Translated from German by J. N. Lenker and published in vol. IV of Luther’s Church Postil on the Gospels in 1904. Edited slightly for length and modern spellings.

“Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,

and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:1-10).

The words of the Gospel are living and quickening, if we only comprehend them aright. But, in order that we may learn to understand this Gospel better, we will now place before us two classes of men, namely, public sinners and Pharisees, and will make Christ their judge.

You have often heard that it is our duty, for love’s sake, to serve our neighbor in all things. If he is poor, we are to serve him with our goods; if he is in disgrace, we are to cover him with the mantle of our honor; if he is a sinner, we are to adorn him with our righteousness and piety. That is

what Christ did for us (cf. Phil. 2). He who was so exceedingly rich did, for our sake, empty himself and become poor. He served us with His goods, that we in our poverty might become rich. He was made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Now, the outward works of love are very great, as when we place our goods in the service of another. But the greatest is this, that I surrender my own righteousness and make it serve for the sins of my neighbor. For, outwardly to render service and help by means of one’s goods is love only in its outward aspect; but to render help and service through one’s righteousness, that is something great and pertains to the inward man. This means that I must love the sinner and be his friend, must be hostile to his vices and earnestly rebuke them, yet that I must love him with all my heart so as to cover his sins with my righteousness.

I am commanded to rebuke; but Christ tells me, in Mat. 18:15-18, how I am to do this: “If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone; if he hear thee, then hast thou gained thy brother. But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church; and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican. Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

In short, such an enemy of my neighbor am I to be that I cannot let him suffer. So dearly must I love him that I shall eyen run after him, and shall become like the shepherd that seeks the lost sheep, like the woman that seeks the lost piece of

silver. On this occasion, therefore, we shall speak concerning such great work of love as is shown when a pious man invests the sinner with his own righteousness, when a pious woman invests the most wanton harlot with her own honor.

This is something that neither the world nor reason will do. A work like this cannot be done by honorable and pious men who are actuated only by reason, by men who would prove their piety by turning up their nose at those who are sinners, as here the Pharisees do who murmur and grumble at public sinners.

This is what our monks do. They have gone about making faces at all who lie in their sins, and have thought: “Oh, but this is a worldly fellow! He does not concern us. If, now, he really would be pious, let him put on the monk’s cowl.” Hence it is that reason and such hypocrites cannot refrain from despising those who are not like them. They

are puffed up over their own life and conduct, and cannot advance far enough to be merciful to sinners. This much they do not know, that they are to be servants, and that their piety is to be of service to others.

Moreover, they become so proud and harsh that they are unable to manifest any love. They think: “This peasant is not worthy to unloose the latchet of my shoes; therefore do not say that I am to show him any affection.” But at this point God intervenes, permitting the proud one to receive a severe fall and shock that he often becomes guilty of such sins as adultery, and at times does things even worse, and must afterwards smite himself, saying : “Keep still, brother, and restrain yourself, you are of precisely the same stuff as yonder peasant.” He thereby acknowledges that we are all chips of the same block. No ass need deride another as a beast of burden; for we are all of one flesh.

This we clearly see in the two sorts of people here presented to us as examples. In the first place, we have the Pharisees and hypocrites who are exceedingly pious people, and were over head and ears in holiness. In the second place, we have the open sinners and publicans, who were over head and ears in sins. These, therefore, were despised by those shining saints, and were not considered worthy of their society.

Here, however, Christ intervenes with His judgment and says that those saints are to stoop down and take the sinners upon their shoulders, and are to bear in mind that, with their righteousness and piety, they are help to others out of their sins. But, no! That they will not do. And this is indeed the way it goes.

A truly Christian work is it that we descend and get mixed up in the mire of the sinner as deeply as he sticks there himself, taking his sin upon ourselves and

floundering out of it with him, not acting otherwise than as if his sin were our own. We should rebuke and deal with him in earnest; yet we are not to despise but sincerely to love him. If you are proud toward the sinner and despise him, you are utterly damned.

These, then, are great and good works in which we should exercise ourselves. But no man pays attention to them. Such works have entirely faded away and become extinct. In the meantime, one resorts, in the name of the devil, to Saint James, another proceeds to build a church, a third provides for the saying of masses,—this one does this, the other does that, and no one thinks of praying for the sinner. It is therefore to be feared that the holiest are in the deepest hell, and that the sinners are mostly in heaven.

But it would be a truly Christian work, if you received sinners, if you entered into

your closet and there said, in earnest prayer to the Lord: “Oh, my God! Of such a person I hear so and so, he lies in his sins, he has fallen. Oh, Lord, help him to rise again,” etc. This is just the way in which to receive and serve the sinner.

Moses acted thus when the Israelites worshipped the molten calf. He mingled freely with the people in their sins. Yet he punished them severely, and caused three thousand men to be slain from gate to gate (Ex. 32). After that he went up and bowed down before God, and prayed that he would forgive the people their sin, or blot him out of the Book of Life. Behold, here we have a man who knew that God loved him and had written his name in the book of the blessed; and yet he says: “Lord, I would rather that You should damn me and save the people.”

Paul, too, acted thus. At times he rebuked the Jews severely, calling them dogs and other names. Yet he knelt down

and said: “I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren’s sake” (Rom. 9:3). It is as if he had said: “I would willingly be anathema, if only the mass of the people might be helped.” Such a course as this is much too lofty for reason, and passes beyond its conception. It is thus that we, too, must act, and thus that we must serve our neighbor.

Again, we have an incident in the first Book of Samuel. When the people demanded a king, and would not be ruled by God’s Word alone, but lost faith in the Lord, and said that they wanted a temporal king to go out before them and fight their battles, like all the nations, (1 Sam. 8:20).

Then God came and punished them for the sin of having despised him, and spoke thus to the prophet Samuel: “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” After that the people came to Samuel and besought him to pray for them,

saying: “Pray for thy servants unto Jehovah thy God, that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask a king.” Then Samuel, among other things, said unto them: “Far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear Jehovah, and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He hath done for you” (1 Sam. 12:19-24).

David also acted thus. When the Lord inflicted the plagues upon Israel he spoke unto the Lord and said: “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house” (2 Sam. 21:17).

Such should be your bearing toward sinners; inwardly the heart in service, outwardly the tongue in earnest. God requires this of us; and this is what Christ,

our Captain, has manifested in himself, as Paul says to the Philippians: “Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:4-9).

Christ was filled with all righteousness, and might justly have condemned us all as sinners. But He did not do so. What did He do, then? He gave himself to be our Servant. His righteousness has served for our sins, His fullness for our feebleness, and His life for our death. This we find illustrated, for our example, in the Gospel before us, where He bears himself

with such friendliness toward sinners that the Pharisees murmur. The Lord therefore sets before them these parables in order to teach how they are to receive sinners and be of service to them.

Christ is both the shepherd and the woman; for He has lighted the lamp, that is, the Gospel, and He goes about in the desert, that is, the world. He sweeps the house, and seeks the lost sheep and lost piece of silver, when He comes with His Word and proclaims to us, first our sins, and then His grace and mercy. Christ’s declaration, that He is the shepherd and has laid our sins upon His back or shoulders, makes us trust in Him fully, and makes publicans and other sinners run after him. These would not have come unto Him thus, had they regarded Him as a hard and wrathful judge; for they had previously acknowledged themselves to be sinners and in need of His grace. And so they were

drawn to Him when they heard His loving doctrine. Here comes the sheep out of the wilderness, and here the lost piece of silver is found.

Learn from this, then, that our neighbor is to be sought as a lost sheep, that his shame is to be covered with our honor, that our piety is to be a cover for his sins. But nowadays, when men come together they backbite one another; and thus they would show how zealous they are against sin. Therefore, ye men, whenever ye come together, do not backbite your neighbors. Make not one face at one person and another at someone else. Do not cut off one man’s foot and another man’s hand; make no such traffic of living flesh.

Likewise, ye women, when you come together, conceal the shame of others, and do not cause wounds which you cannot heal. Should you meet with anything like this in someone’s house, then throw your mantle

over shame and wounds, and close the door. A very good reason for doing this is, that you would have others do the same to you. Then, if you have kept the matter secret, bring the parties before you afterwards, and read them a good lecture; and let it remain with you as a secret.

Christ, too, acts thus. He keeps silent and covers our sins. He could, indeed, expose us to shame, and could tread us under foot, as our text shows that the Pharisees did. But He does not do so. All will be brought to light, however, at the final judgment. Then everything hidden must be revealed. Then the virgin must place her crown upon the harlot, the pious woman must throw her veil over the adulteress, and everything we have must serve as a garment to cover the sins of others. For every man shall have his sheep, and every woman shall have her piece of silver. All our gifts must be the gifts of others.

Hence there is, in God’s judgment, no greater sin on earth than that pious men and women and virgins commit when they despise those who lie in their sin and would appropriate to themselves their natural gifts, puffing themselves up and despising their neighbor.

Hence this Gospel is very comforting to sinners. But while it is friendly to sinners, it is a source of great fear to Pharisees. Had this Gospel been nothing more than a good counsel, it would not have been so comforting; but now that it has been commanded I can recognize the mind of God in Christ, since He will have it so, and enjoins that we are to cover the sins of others.

Yea, what is still more, Christ himself does this, and to this end was He sent, for no man fulfills the law of God as perfectly as he. We are scarcely a spark amid the divine

fire and light. He is the fire of which heaven and earth are full.

The Gospel is spoken to those only who acknowledge their sins, and their sins they acknowledge when they repent of them. But this Gospel is of no use to the Pharisees, for they do not acknowledge their sins. To those, however, who do acknowledge them, and are about to despair, the Gospel must be brought.

But at this point the devil sets up a game, and suggests to the consciences of those who acknowledge their sins and long to be freed from them, that this one should resort to Saint James, that one to Rome, this one should take refuge in prayers, the other in confession. And then they are told: “Give six pounds of wax, have so many masses said, do this, do that, and thus you will be freed from your sins.” Thereby they are led farther and farther from the Gospel, and are

brought to the standpoint of works. In this way they must certainly despair at last.

Therefore, when you feel your sins gnawing at you, and feel your heart trembling and agitated, place yourself beside the publicans where they are standing. These are the very ones who shall receive the Gospel. Do so joyously and say: “Oh, God! It is Your word that says there shall be joy in .heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance, and that all the righteous and angels are to interpose and cover up sins. Now, Oh, God! I have come to this that I feel my sins. I am already judged. I need but the one Shepherd who seeks me; and I will therefore freely venture on Your Gospel.”

It is thus that you come to God. You are already the sheep placed upon His shoulders. You have found the Shepherd. You are the piece of silver in the hand. You

are the one over whom is joy in heaven in the presence of all the angels. We are not to worry, if we do not experience or feel this at once. Sin will daily decrease, and its sting will drive you to seek God. You must struggle against this feeling by faith, and say, “Oh, God! I know thou hast said this, and I lean upon Your Word. I am the sheep and the piece of silver; thou the shepherd and the woman.”

You might say: Yes, this I will gladly do; but I cannot atone for my sins. I can render no satisfaction for them. Consider then the publicans and sinners. What good have they done? None. They came to God, heard His Word and believed it. Do the same. His are living words. The Gospel is too deep to be fathomed by human words. Conscientious men who tried it readily understand this. The learned and idle may determine the meaning of the ninety-nine in

the desert. It is enough for us to learn the main thought of this Gospel.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German priest and professor of theology who

initiated the Protestant Reformation. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann

Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther taught that salvation is not earned by

good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ

as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the

Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a

holy priesthood. His translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on

German culture. It fostered the development

of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation

into English of the King James Bible. His hymns influenced the development of

singing in churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the

practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant ministers to marry.

___________________________________Marks of the Masterby The Old Scot

How Old Is Really Old?

Originally published in Pulpit Helps, October 2005.

Imagine that your years stretched back to America’s Civil War. You’d have heard President Lincoln give his Gettysburg Address; you would personally remember all the good times and hard times our country

has gone through ever since. But that’s just 150 years. Suppose you were on that hillside in Galilee, hearing Jesus of Nazareth say: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”! That would be old! But let’s go back further, to the days of Father Abraham, 4,000 years or so ago: that would be really old!

Of course that’s fantasy, as far as any animal life is concerned. But some plants have lived that long. For instance, there are giant redwoods on the West Coast which were already husky trees when Jesus Christ walked on this earth. The species Sequoia sempervirens, which grows from southern Oregon to just north of San Francisco, has several trees among its number which are well over 2,000 years old. These magnificent redwoods are the tallest trees on the face of the earth. The tallest on record is called “Hyperion”, a California specimen which was measured at 379.1 feet and still growing!

But some Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganticum, a chubbier and longer-lived close cousin of the sempervirens) are known to be as much as 3,500 years old (getting close to Father Abraham!), and one great old forest monarch is very close to 4,000 years old.

Even older are some Bristlecone pines. The oldest known Bristlecone, growing high in the Snake Range of eastern Nevada, is believed to have sprouted in the year 2,932 BC—nearly 5,000 years ago! Another in the White Mountains of eastern California is more than 4,600 years old, and several more are well over 4,000 years.

Don’t expect great height and grandeur if you ever see a Bristlecone, for they seem to like it where hardly anything else can survive—high in remote mountain ranges, where they constantly struggle against wind, cold, and drought. The oldest examples are apt to be stunted and even

grotesquely twisted from their battle with the elements. Their top branches will probably be just dead spikes—all that’s left of growth during the rare good years, which died back later because of the terrible cold and drought. But still these ancient survivors cling to life, waiting for yet another good growing season.

By comparison, we humans do well to reach the biblical standard of “three score and ten.” The Bible compares us to grass, not trees: “They are like grass which groweth up: in the morning it flourishes and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth” (Ps. 90:5-6).

Yet there is in each of us a spirit sent from God which never dies. We are not limited to the few years given to our mortal bodies. We will live forever. It will one day be said of us, as it is said now of God, that “a thousand years in thy sight are but as

yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” (Ps. 90:4).

But living forever does not necessarily mean enjoying it! Those who have been born again, through accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, will spend eternity basking in the warmth of His everlasting love. That is heaven. However, those sentenced to live forever under God’s curse—whose “worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched” (Isa. 66:24)—will spend eternity wishing they could die! That is hell.

The Old Scot (Ted Kyle) lives in Newberg, Oregon, with his wife, Marga.

Reference: Ingenious Kingdom, Henry and Rebecca Northen, Prentice-Hall, 1970.___________________________________Advancing the Ministriesof the Gospel

For Such a Time as ThisBy Rafael Restrepo

This column highlights the ministries of Disciple’s parent organization, Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International, a non-denominational missions agency. 

We can read the book of Esther in just a few minutes and see the wonderful design of God in her life, but it must have played out very differently in a day by day, moment by moment description.

For the last 16 years, AMG has been ministering in the southeastern corner of Spain to an innumerable group of nationalities. Each has come to Spain for a different reason—refugees, opportunists, dreamers, those running from something, and the list could go on. The Restrepo family

prepared for ministry in many ways: education, internship, and hands on work in the Bronx, N.Y., Uruguay, South America, as well as Barcelona, but nothing prepared us more than the formation of our early lives.

God had a plan and began to fashion it in our childhood. Rafael, the son of an immigrant family, learned to deal with language, culture, and simple survival. Mary is one of eight children from a rural farm in the Midwest. These are two different worlds brought together to minister to the nations that would congregate in our corner of Europe.

AMG has been doing everything from social work to seeking out employment for the needy, from housing to immigration advisers, and all so that we could win some for the Gospel of Christ. Today, AMG has two churches in southeast Spain in the cities of Murcia and Torrevieja, and one in the northeast in Barcelona. Between the three

churches, we have had over 20 nationalities represented and all the cultural adjustments that this brings. Two of the churches started in a living room. Today, the Murcian church is fully independent and the Torrevieja church is almost there. The Barcelona church has been independent since 1995.

AMG serves the cities of Murcia, Torrevieja, and Barcelona through the ministry of the Restrepo family. Barcelona was added about 3 years ago when the church that had been turned over to a national pastor by missionaries Rafael and Mary, called asking for help after the retirement and then soon death of Pastor Orellano Perez. At this point, AMG (through Rafael) serves more in an advisory position visiting and meeting with the elders and preaching in Barcelona on a regular base.

But the Iberian Peninsula is not the only point of interest for AMG Spain. From Spain, we serve three other countries. One

is Cuba, offering financial and logistical support to the “Las Palmas” Bible school and the national pastors which receive help from Spain and from AMG International in the U.S. The education program is a team effort with the ESEPA Seminary in Costa Rica, Central America, and a coalition of churches and organizations in the USA and Canada. This partnership has existed since 2002 with incredible advancement. God has truly smiled upon this island.

The next area of influence is North Africa. AMG has been helping with supplies and other matters since 2005. Teams have gone in to donate time in orphanages, visit various works, and deliver much needed Christian material in Arabic and local languages. This work is slower than Cuba but just as fulfilling. A new partnership is in development since our last visit in June 2011. Please pray for wisdom and safety. There is much opposition from the Muslim

governments. New projects into other areas are planned, but we must find God’s appointed time.

In September 2010, AMG Spain ordained and commissioned our first Spanish missionaries. Rene and Jenny Cuellar graduated from the AMG Bible School in Murcia in 2009. They have gone to Bolivia to work in the jungles of the plains. Since their arrival, they have been asked to help a group of believers that live over 250 miles into the jungle. They have established a work and have recruited help from a church in Santa Cruz. At this point, they are supported entirely from the AMG churches and families in Spain. Please pray for these dear brothers to remain faithful to their calling and to gain strength and wisdom from God.

After 25 years of missionary work, Rafael and Mary Restrepo realize that God had been preparing them for such a time as

this—to reach the nations that would congregate because of immigration to the Iberian Peninsula and from this peninsula reach to other areas of the world. AMG’s desire is to empower nationals to reach their own. It was longtime organization president Spiros Zodhiates’ dream, and it lives on today through the ministry of others. Won’t you ask God how He has prepared you for such a time as this?

Please pray, please give, please dream as we together empower in others the ministry of the Gospel.

Rafael Restrepo and his wife Mary serve with AMG International in Torrevieja, Spain.

Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International is a non-

denominational, international missions agency based in Chattanooga, Tenn. AMG’s

distinctive has always been its reliance on

national workers to carry the Gospel in their own cultures. Today, they operate ministries

in over 40 countries around the world through partnership with national believers.

___________________________________Book Reviews—8/08/2011

What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary: 25 Lessons for Successful Ministry in Your Church, James Emery White, 2011, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Mich., ISBN 9780801013881, 184 pages, $17.99, softcover.

Books on ministry are a dime a dozen. Every pastor who “successfully” plants a church, grows an existing one, or rises to prominence through public ministry gets offered the book deal, and more than a few accept. I’ll grant that most of the authors of these books have nothing but the best intentions—helping other pastors attain the

same joy they have in ministry—but the result is often an account of what worked with their particular time, place, and people that proves largely non-transferrable to other churches.

With What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary, James Emery White attempts to fill a void in the genre with a book that approaches the goal of pastoral encouragement from the angle of a loving mentor rather than a flourishing entrepreneur. For the most part, he pulls this off quite admirably, showing pastors that the reality they face in ministry is a far cry from the rarified air of academia that permeates even the best seminary programs. His aim is not to disparage seminary education, but to add practical lessons to the theological foundation.

White is at his best when he devotes chapters to confessing and analyzing his own failures in ministry. These segments

come off with authenticity and prompt the reader to prayer and healthy self-examination. By the same token, the book falters somewhat when White, the pastor of a large and growing church in the Charlotte area, lays out a programmatic approach to solving problems or church leadership. Some of these sections take the hand of the mentor off the shoulder and replace it with the weight of comparison and frustration.

The book is well-grounded in the practicality of daily ministry, and that comes through in White’s casual style and blunt tone. Some of his attempts at humor are a bit overdone (and somewhat crass), but his heart of encouragement shows through every page. From chapters on staff issues to ministry vision to family life to personal spiritual battles, his goal is clearly to help pastors avoid some of the ditches he has fallen into and to survive and thrive in the service of the Church for the glory of God.

For this, the book deserves a reading by anyone in vocational ministry.

Justin Lonas

Type: Church MinistryTarget: Pastors, Church StaffTake: Recommended___________________________________News Update—8/08/2011

Muslim Radicals Kill 10 Christians in Nigeria

According to ASSIST News Serice, members of a radical Islamic group, Boko Haram, have killed at least ten Christians in Maiduguri, Nigeria over the past two months in what one Christian leader is calling a “silent killing” of Christians.

In an interview with International Christian Concern, an anonymous local church leader explained, “Boko Haram is

seeking to eliminate Christianity because they want Islamic (Sharia) law. They don’t want to see anything Christian in the northern states [of Nigeria]. That is why churches are being persecuted and Muslims who don’t follow [the hard-line teachings of] Boko Haram are also persecuted.”

ICC says Boko Haram is close to achieving its goal of eliminating Christianity from Maiduguri. In its latest report on the situation, ICC said: “Most of the Christians have fled the city in fear of further attacks by the Islamists. Of the churches that remain, some have felt compelled to suspend their services to protect their congregations.”

The Nigerian government, which has also been attacked by Boko Haram, deployed security forces to quell the violence, but came under sharp criticism from human rights groups for excessive use of force and the indiscriminate killing of civilians.

Religion Today Summaries

Flood-Affected Christians Protest Government Discrimination in Pakistan

According to The Christian Post, a large number of Christians living in southern Punjab province who lost their homes in last year’s floods remain homeless.

Christian residents of the area cite a scheme by the government to allocate land to residents who lost property. Several people were allotted land last month and so far, no minority member has been given land.

“Christians in this area are not rich people. They lost their houses and lands in the floods and should have been given five percent quota in the scheme. Flood victims could have been easily accommodated, but the quota system has not been followed because of which no minority member has been allotted land,” said Hameed.

Religion Today Summaries

Pastor in Iran Awaits Decision on Execution

Compass Direct News reports a pastor in Iran found guilty of leaving Islam awaits the outcome of a judicial investigation into his spiritual background to see if he will be executed or, if possible, forced to become a Muslim, according to Christian groups with ties in Iran.

The court-ordered investigation will take place sometime this fall to determine whether Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, 34, was a Muslim as a teenager before he became a Christian at 19. On Sept. 22, 2010, a regional court sentenced Nadarkhani, who leads a 400-strong house church movement in Rasht, to death by hanging for “convert(ing) to Christianity” and “encourag(ing) other Muslims to convert to Christianity.”

Nadarkhani’s lawyer appealed the verdict to the Iranian Supreme Court, in part because the pastor said he had never actually been a Muslim and therefore could not be found guilty of abandoning the religion. The court issued a written response to the appeal on June 12, upholding the death penalty but ordering the investigation. Even if the investigation releases him from the charge of apostasy, it is likely the charge of evangelizing Muslims will still carry a lengthy prison sentence, sources said.

Jason DeMars, president of Present Truth Ministries, said officials have repeatedly used pressure tactics to force Nadarkhani to become a Muslim, including threats to seize his children and arresting his wife on apostasy charges. On June 18, 2010, officials found Fatemah Pasindedih guilty of the charges, but her conviction was stricken on appeal, and she was released in October.

Religion Today Summaries

Bible Agencies Unite to Strengthen Ministry Impact

Two like-minded Bible ministries with complementary missions have announced plans to merge, forming a vital partnership that will enhance the work of both organizations.

Bible League International (BLI) and the World Bible Translation Center (WBTC), have a common mission of sharing the Word of God around the world so it can be understood and lives can be changed. The boards of both ministries approved the merger unanimously, with the agreement to become final in September. Each ministry brings unique strengths to the relationship; Bible League in Bible distribution and WBTC in Bible translation. The impact of combining these strengths and building together will be global in its reach.

The new united organization will focus on expanding a literacy program around the world, as well as using new digital delivery technology recently developed in a strategic alliance with 12 other ministries.

“One of the directions we see God moving in the 21st Century is ministries are looking at ways to collaborate with other organizations to grow their common mission,” BLI CEO Robert T. Frank said. “This merger will strengthen operations for both of our ministries, increasing the tools available to reach the three global audiences we share: the poorest of the poor, the persecuted church and those walking in darkness.”

Religion Today Summaries

30 Days of Prayer for the Persecuted During Ramadan

Open Doors USA is offering a prayer calendar to use with Christians in Muslim countries during the month-long Islamic fast of Ramadan that began Aug. 1.

Open Doors urges Christians in the West to pray, and the calendar has multiple prayer points designed to guide their prayers.

“Ramadan is a time when Christians are especially isolated in some Muslim-dominated countries,” says Open Doors USA President/CEO Dr. Carl Moeller. “This is why it is so important for us to unite in prayer with persecuted Christians throughout the world. I urge you to use the Open Doors resources to pray with our brothers and sisters.”

Religion Today Summaries___________________________________Sermon HelpsFrom SermonHall.com

Sermon Outlines

Dangers of Sleeping“It is time to awake out of thy sleep” (Rom. 13:11).I. Sleep of Disobedience—Samson

A. Plan (Judges 13:5). Born to free Israel.

B. Power. He killed a lion. (Judg. 14:5,6). He killed 1,000 with jawbone of a donkey. (Judg. 15:15). C. Problems. Disobedience (Judg. 15:2,3). Associations (Judg. 16:1-4). D. Pitfalls (Judg. 16:16-20). Delilah was used to bring Samson down. As the result of sleeping, he lost his hair, strength, and sight, and was made a slave until his death.

II. Sleep of Disrespect—Disciples A. Savior. Jesus’ Prayer, “Not my will” (Matt. 26:39)

B. Sleeping (Matt. 26:40). While Jesus was praying, Peter, James and John were sleeping. C. Sincerity. “Keep alert and pray.” Otherwise temptation will overpower you. “For the spirit is willing, but how weak the body is.” (Matt. 26:41 LB).

III. Sleep of Defiance—Jonah A. The call: “Go to Nineveh” (Jon.

1:2). B. The callousness: “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish” (v. 3) He fled the presence of God. C. The consequences: The storm (v. 4); Jonah asleep (v. 5); Jonah thrown into the sea (v. 15). D. The control: God was in control. He prepared a large fish to swallow Jonah (Jon.2:1,2). Jonah was vomited onto dry land (v. 2:10). Jonah obeys and the whole city repents.

IV. Sleep of Destruction—Foolish Virgins

A. People (Matt. 25:1): Five wise virgins; five foolish. B. Preparation (Matt. 25:3,4): The wise took plenty of oil; the foolish did not. C. Problem (Matt. 25:5): While waiting, they all went to sleep–the wise with oil, the foolish without oil. D. Plan (Matt. 25:6-13): The wise enter the wedding. The foolish went to buy oil, but when they had gone to buy oil the door was shut.

Anonymous

God’s ProvisionNahum 1:7 I. God’s Personality (v. 7a): “The Lord is good”II. God’s Protection (v. 7b): “A stronghold in the day of trouble”III. God’s Perception (v. 7c): “And He knoweth them that trust Him”

Croft M. Pentz

IllustrationsPerpetuity of the Bible

It has often been reviled; but it has never been refuted. Its foundations have been examined by the most searching eyes. In Hume, and Gibbon, and Voltaire, and La Place, not to mention a multitude of vulgar assailants, the Bible has had to sustain the assaults of the greatest talent, the sharpest wit, and the acutest intellects.

To make it appear a cunningly devised fable, philosophers have sought arguments amid the mysteries of science, and travelers amid the remains of antiquity; for that purpose, geologists have ransacked the bowels of the earth, and astronomers the stars of heaven.

Yet after having sustained the most cunningly devised and ably executed assaults of 2,000 years, it still exists—a

glorious fulfillment of the words of its Founder—”On this rock have I built my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

Anonymous

Mistaken ValuesThere is a beautiful picture, by Dort,

of a woodland scene, with its solemn growth and undergrowth, its warm, brooding twilights, its glimmer of broken sunbeams, and with a still pool in which a male deer is beholding itself as in a glass.

The buck is admiring its beautiful antlers, but complains bitterly that nature has given it legs so slender and disproportionate. Shortly afterwards the creature, hearing the deep baying of the hounds, makes off in terror, and finds that, whereas its beautiful antlers delay its speed and threaten its capture, its safety is

secured by the slim legs which enable it to fly as swift as the wind.

The picture, which illustrates a fable of La Fontaine’s, illustrates also how we foolishly admire the ornamental, and despise the useful, and how often our estimate of values is mistaken.

Anonymous

Bulletin InsertsOn Worry

Don’t worry about whether or not the sun will rise. Be prepared to enjoy it.

Do your best and then sleep in peace. God is awake.

The person who fears God has nothing else to fear.

Worry is like a rocking chair; it will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

These four via The Old Union Reminder

Worry is a tiny stream that broadens and deepens as it makes its way to the sea.

The stronger your faith in God, the fewer the problems and worries you’ll have to deal with on your own.

Worry is both a sickness to be cured and a sin to be forgiven.

Never yet has worry prevented an accident or paid a debt or kept a loved one alive.

A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of hard work.

Don’t let the clouds that may come tomorrow hide the sun that’s shining today.

What you pray about you needn’t worry about, but what you worry about you need to pray about.

These seven via R. Whitson Seaman

___________________________________Puzzles and ‘ToonsFollowing Pages

Church ’Toons by Joe McKeever

Answers to last issue’s puzzles:

Father Abraham and Hidden WisdomBy Mark Oshman

Originally published in Pulpit Helps, March 1994