Amidst the Tears and Wails

Taken from the Garden

With sword and club and cheers

Sent before three false trials

Amidst the women's tears

Back and forth they sent him

None willing to send to jail

Pilate tried to set him free

Amidst the women's wails

A Roman scourge, a Roman cross

Three blacksmith's iron nails

That pierced the Son of God's pure flesh

Amidst the women's wails

Back and forth between two men

The insults and the jeers

Christ was raised up on that tree

amidst the women's tears

Six short hours suspended

Hung there by those nails

Then he cried, "It's done!"

Amidst the women's wails

He gave up mortal with a sigh

His side was pierced with spear

The water and the blood ran down

Amidst the women's tears

They buried Him in a tomb

Wrapped in linens, aloes bales

The stone was rolled into place

Amidst the women's wails

Come first day's dawn arising

An empty tomb was found

He is risen, Hallelujah!

and now,

He reigns aloft in Heaven

The price for sin He paid

We can rejoice that there we'll be,

Eternally,

No more tears, No more wails!

Are you content or comfortable?

     Are you content or comfortable? The Apostle Paul said he had learned to be content no matter his circumstances, (Philippians 4:11) and we are commanded to be content with what we have in Hebrews 13:5. So what is the difference between content and comfortable?

     Let me make an illustration from my own history. For most of my adult life, no matter what else is going on, I have been comfortable, because I AM HOME. I have my family and friends nearby. I know where everything is (or should be!) I have the food I like, the wife I love, the right pillow and as we phrase it, "all the comforts of home." When I am deployed, I am not comfortable. I can be content, because I have what I need, and I am doing a good thing helping our wounded troops, but I am never comfortable. I am only comfortable when I am home.

     That is the way we need to be in our spiritual life. We have sung on many occasions that, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through," but the reality for many of us is that we are not just content in this life, but we have become comfortable! We have made this world our home, something that is against God's will. That is not right. The only place we should consider ourselves comfortable spiritually is when we get to our home, heaven. We can be somewhat comfortable around fellow christians and in our worship because it is a small taste of heaven, but the bottom line is that we should only be content in this life.

     For those of us who have become comfortable in this life, how do we go back to only being content?

     First, we have to remember that this is only a temporary assignment, like my military deployments. I don't spend all my money and time trying to make myself comfortable in a temporary abode when I am overseas. I am willing to be a little uncomfortable, because I know it is temporary. We need to allow ourselves to stop being comfortable in this life, because it is not our home. Instead, I would argue that we need to make ourselves at least a little uncomfortable, so that we can remember that this world is not our home.

    Second, just like we invest in making our homes comfortable, we need to invest in making our heavenly home comfortable. Jesus put it this way, 'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:34)

My prayer for you this week, and from here on is that you always be content in this life, but never comfortable!

God Bless you in your contentment - Robert

The weight of Sin

    With Thanksgiving just past and the Lord's Day tomorrow when we participate in the Lord's Supper, remembering the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, I thought this would be a great time to consider the weight of sin.

     How does one calculate the weight of sin? Hebrews 12:1 compares sin with weight. In Isaiah 43:24, God says that Israel had burdened him with the weight of their sins. So what does sin weigh?

     Spiritually, each sin is the weight of the executioner's axe, poised above our necks. Emotionally, it can vary from a nearly unnoticeable burden, the feather's weight in our hair, to the weight of the world on our shoulders, leaving us like Atlas, struggling under it's weight, unable to accomplish anything else.

     Physically though, how do we weigh sin? I am not aware of any recorded answer to this question. Consider this. If we were to assign sins a very minute weight, say the equivalent of one drop of water, what would the weight of the sins that Christ bore on the cross be equal to?

     There are 15 drops in 1 milliliter of water. 1000 milliliters is equal to 1 liter. There are about 3.79 liters in a gallon of water. A gallon of water weighs 8.333 pounds. Using these facts, we can extrapolate the theoretical physical weight of sin that Christ bore on the cross.

    There are currently nearly 7 Billion people living on earth. Since the dawn of man, estimates range from 10 Billion and up for the total number of people who have populated the earth. Not knowing when Christ will return, we can take this number as a starting point, and know that the burden will only increase for each additional person. For this calculation, let us use an extremely conservative number of 1000 sins per person. 1000 sins per person times 10 Billion equals 10 Trillion sins. If we divide that by 3.79 we come up with a volume of sins equal to 264 Billion, then we multiply that by our 8.33 pounds per gallon, we come up with 2.2 Trillion pounds!

    That weight is physically impossible for any man to bear. The world record weight lifted by an individual in the clean and jerk is a measly 263 kilograms or 578.6 pounds. Men and women have snapped there tibias, broken their backs and died trying to lift such heavy weights. If sin had any physical weight, the burden on Christ was so overwhelming we cannot comprehend it.

    If we have anything at all to be thankful for, it was that Christ was willing to take on the weight of the sins of you, I, and every person who has ever or will ever live. When you participate in the Lord's supper Sunday, remember this post, please.

    Thank God our Father for his plan, and Jesus Christ for being willing to bear that burden and be our sacrifice. God is so good. Were He only just, we would all die for our sins. He is just, but He is also gracious, because he is willing to accept the blood of Jesus for our sins. Praise Jehovah! Praise Christ!

Thanksgiving thoughts

I received the following in an e-mail. Please take time to click the link and listen.

     Do you remember the famous ABC radio commentator Paul Harvey? Millions of Americans listened to his programs, broadcasted over 1,200 radio stations nationwide. On April 3, 1965 He made an amazing prediction. 

     Remember, this was said 47 years ago and just look what we have going on now. Paul Harvey was a very perceptive person and one who seemed to have a handle on just how things were progressing in a very non-productive and negative way. When you listen to this, remember the commentary was broadcast 47 years ago 
     It's short...less than 3 minutes. You will be amazed. 

                        http://stg.do/9LDc



     If that doesn't make you think we have reached the era of bread and circuses, how about this picture that has been circulating on Facebook?

When you gather around your Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, remember why we are here on this earth. May we all work urgently to spread the necessary Gospel.

God Bless,

Robert

Lets talk about church growth!

     During our Bible class yesterday morning, the teacher was focusing on Saul's conversion in Acts 9:1-31. Saul's conversion account ends in verse 19, so why did he include the next 12 verses? That is where most of us would stop in teaching about conversion, right? Saul was baptized in verse 18, and the conclusion of his baptismal event was him eating and regaining strength in verse 19.

    That is one of the problems facing the church today. We think that when someone is baptized, we have done our duty. We have converted them. Let us look at what follows in this account. Saul spends several days with the disciples, and immediately begins preaching about Jesus. That kind of enthusiasm in our new converts is often squashed, because we think they "don't know enough" to do evangelistic work, or some other equally lame excuse. We need to encourage our new converts. They have access to a whole new pool of lost souls we might never have come in contact with before. We should be right there with them, helping them, building them up, etc.

     While what I just mentioned above is very important, that is not my primary focus today. I want to look at verse 31 of this chapter where it talks about the church growing.

     We read, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and, going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase."

       My question is: are these the requirements for a congregation to grow, in addition to evangelistic effort? Do we need to have peace both within our congregation, and within the congregations we interact with? Do we need to have a congregation that is being built up, meaning encouraged from within? Do we need to be going on (or conducting ourselves daily) in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit?

     The short answer is, I don't know. I do find it important to point out that Jehovah God through the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write these words, associating all these items with church growth. Are these direct commands that we have to follow? I don't see that they are, but my question would be, what harm would there be in ensuring that our congregation and the congregations around us are all at peace with each other? Or that we are encouraging the congregation from within, or conducting ourselves in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit? What would it hurt? Would our congregations not be stronger for it? Would our congregations not be somewhere that we, and those we are evangelizing to, would want to be?

    So my challenge to you today, and everyday from here on out, is this. In addition to being evangelistic, try to be at peace within the congregation you are in, encourage those you worship and fellowship with, and conduct yourself in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit!


God Bless You as you strive to serve Him!


Robert

Christian living is like tight-rope walking!

     I would guess you have never heard this comparison before. If you have, why didn't you share it with me? Anyways, I don't remember when I thought of this, but it is one of the multitude of little notes I have jotted in the notebook I carry with my Bible. Enjoy!

     In Christian living, just as in tight-rope walking, there are some essentials that we must have to be successful.

     For example, in tight rope walking, you must have balance. To achieve that balance, tight-rope walkers will use tools. For example, they have specific shoes, training, and a long pole to help them balance while they are on the rope.

     As a Christian, we also require balance. We can fall just as easily as a tight-rope walker can, but the consequences are eternal, not temporal. We don't use particular shoes or a long pole, but we do have tools that we can use to help us maintain the necessary balance. Bible study is the first and most important tool, followed closely by worship attendence.

     In tight rope walking, you must have focus. Lose your concentration for a minute and, . . .  whee! Down you go!

     Christians need focus as well. We can lose our concentration even easier that a tight rope walker. They have been trained to block out all the extraneous noises, thoughts, or anything else that might cause them to lose their focus. We simply are not capable. We still have to be in the world, so there are always distractions that pull at our focus. Whether it is finances, kids, sports, or who knows what else, we can easily lose focus. We can't afford that, because our fall can hurt so many others than just ourselves.

     Finally, a tight-rope walker needs a safety net. If he/she loses their balance or focus, a safety net is there to catch them. They can get up, and go right back to it.

     We followers of Christ need a safety net too. For some of us it is our family, for others our congregation. Whoever it is, make sure you are involved enough to know that your safety net will be there for you when you need it. Then we too can get up and get back to it. The biggest safety net of all is God's grace. Without it, any fall would be fatal. With it, any fall, no matter how big or small can be forgiven if we are willing to ask. Ephesians 2:8 tells us "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God,"

God bless you as you walk the tight-rope of a life in Christ.

The Penguin

Where to begin?

It has been over eleven months since I last posted on this website. So much has happened since then. You might say I'm a new man.

My intent is to now use this blog to share a biblically related thought or two a week, as time permits. Suggestions are always welcome if there is a particular topic you would like me to address.

Stay tuned for tomoorrow's post: Christian living is like tight-rope walking!